Governor Dan Malloy and Mayor Bill Finch on Tuesday hosted a groundbreaking for construction of housing units in the city’s West End called the Cherry Street Lofts.
City officials say the development will be constructed in two phases, the first of which is 157 residential units on property that will also serve as the new home for the Great Oaks Charter School. Construction is scheduled to begin in January 2016 with a two-year completion date.
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Thank G-d for the Cherry Street Lofts, I almost gave up all hope!
Bill Finch will be down at Saint Mary’s and Seaside Park in January, competing with the seagulls for stale bread and chicken wings.
Since 2007 until 2014 Bill Finch has accomplish NOTHING! Except to raise our taxes!
Bogus project after bogus project, the creation of low-paying jobs, every one of Finch’s
projects have a completion date after 2015 if at all.
He’s the MASTER OF LIES!
Senile, sad. I hear a fat lady singing and there is absolutely nothing wrong with fat ladies.
Baghdad Steve,
You shouldn’t talk about your mother that way. Shame on you.
What I found interesting is not only was this an awesome press conference I would have loved to attend, Governor Malloy emphasized the brownfields and how the State of CT has invested more than the federal gov’t. More specifically Bridgeport because the other day it was apparent Bridgeport Kid was totally unaware the city was focused on cleaning up brownfields for development. Kudos to Mayor Finch and David Kooris, just another large project as the economy is improving as opposed to past administrations that would start a project as the economy was going south and the projects never came to fruition. Between Steelpointe and this project, 150,000 cars passing daily will acknowledge great things are happening in this city. I am very proud! Considering this is a total anti-Finch blog, the results of the poll tell a different story. People are loving Bridgeport again and that is great!!! I am very happy for all the families and young people who will live in these lofts. Lofts are awesome!
Baghdad Steve,
Hope you have a decent supply of booze on hand for the night of September 16th. Ganim is going to prevail. Polls don’t lie but people lie to you. You’re going to be bitching and moaning about Joe Ganim until the general election. He’s leading Finch by at least 25 points in many areas of the city.
Everyone else is tired of Tax Bill’s broken promises. No one wants another tax hike, no one wants to pay for another down-county developer’s get-rich-quick scheme. Finch is giving away the city while the schools deteriorate, violent crime goes up. All he could say to the assembled crowd at Cathedral of Faith was “I built a water park and no fire hydrants were illegally opened! Ain’t politics great?!”
You will be whining about Joe Ganim’s felony record all the way to November. Glad the surgery went well. Too bad the physician couldn’t surgically remove the cellphone from your paw.
The CT Post commented on this announcement by saying nothing had been announced that had not been already announced.
A 20-minute video. Did anyone notice about 17 minutes into it, everyone is supplied with a bottle of water? It would have been amusing to see how many people, if any, were in the audience. The ministry of public enlightenment must keep that podium in the trunk of his car for the frequent (and unnecessary) announcements.
On the serious side, more section 8 housing. Yes sir, Bridgeport better every day.
Oh boy! More workforce housing for the Gold Coast! The champagne corks must be popping in Stamford! All that affordable labor to build up the Stamford grand list, and Bridgeport gets to pay for it. Sweet deal!
Bridgeport’s Economic Development Director, David Kooris, is a CITY COUNCILMAN in what city?
Did I hear STAMFORD? BRIDGEPORT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, DAVID KOORIS, IS A CITY COUNCILMAN IN STAMFORD? REALLY? (How is that working out for BRIDGEPORT’S TAXPAYERS?)
Jeff, how does BPT labor build the Stamford grand list? Unless you are implying this is housing for construction workers. If I own a bakery in Stamford and employed 100 BPT residents, that does not make my bakery more valuable as the value of the bakery is the value of the land, building and equipment within. Hence, no increase in the Stamford grand list. Greenwich and Darien have very little industry and large grand lists. Those towns are basically bedroom communities for people who work in NYC. Exactly what percentage of BPT residents work in Stamford? Please provide that data since it is the crux of your theory.
Your candidate for mayor is a resident of what city? Did I hear REDDING? BRIDGEPORT MAYORAL CANDIDATE JOE GANIM IS A RESIDENT OF REDDING? REALLY? (How is that going to work out for BRIDGEPORT’S TAXPAYERS?)
Nothing is going to change here unless we get rid of this one-party rule. Everything that is wrong with this city is the fault of the Democrats. 30+ years of the same old failed policies with the same old regurgitated Democrat politicians.
If the Democrat politicians are the cause of the problems then why don’t you put the Republican party together to take power and make the changes instead of just posting on OIB?
Malloy and Finch are going to charter a new 12-step program, Losers Anonymous.
Commute patterns have long been tracked by regional planning agencies and, to some degree, by the US Census Bureau. Those of us who have been involved in efforts to identify issues and influence priorities are aware of patterns, including employment in lower-wage jobs along the gold coast dominated by Bridgeport residents. Why does the availability of low-wage workers help Stamford? Investors look at the potential revenue of investments and paying lower wages could be a factor in overcoming the high cost of commercial real estate. Bridgeport provides the low-wage workers so the commercial real estate market in Stamford can be viable investments. Most of the ‘development’ touted by the Finch administration has been ‘affordable housing.’ The Finch administration through the obedient city council even adopted an ordinance allowing tax breaks for ‘affordable housing’ projects. Bridgeport, better every day.
Affordable housing is a well-known neighborhood improvement theory. Areas with a high level of renters are less desirable than areas of owner-occupied homes. Renters and landlords do not tend to have the same level of property pride owner/occupiers do.
Good project but too little too late. Making a better face for Bridgeport for Metro North riders and I-95 commuters? Not really. This is just a small fraction of the blighted property along the Northeast Corridor in BPT.
Take note, the article doesn’t say how this is going to be financed except for more State grants. Same as Downtown North. Take note also, this project hasn’t actually started yet. A lot can happen to stop a closing. Just look at the Wire Mill in Georgetown CT.
Thanks, Tom. BOE SPY just can’t get it, but your explanation might help to enlighten some bloggers not averse to circumspection. But also keep in mind if Stamford doesn’t have to host its own workforce, if they can get state- and federal-level development policy to force our “square” economy into the “circular” role of “housing hub” for the region, then they don’t have to provide services for their own (locally housed) workforce. Thus they get all the high-value tax base and get to keep and maintain it at Bridgeport’s expense (via a “remote” workforce). Sweet deal, for the Gold Coast. That is why all the Gold Coast officials endorsed Finch, it is in the interest of their base/homeboys (Blumenthal-Himes-Malloy-Jepsen, all from Stamford-Greenwich. Only Murphy is not of the Gold Coast, but his “Connecticut woods” base plays with the Gold Coast and likes Bridgeport as it is). (Unfortunately for Bridgeport, there are still a few Bridgeporters like BOE SPY, who simply can’t understand this situation. That is why I question whether or not BOE SPY is from Bridgeport.)
Jeff, he gets it. BOE has to be Adam Woods because his reply to anything against Finch, he comes back with information nobody else knows plus he only crawls out from under his rock when he’s getting hit hard.
Again, this makes no sense. The same low-wage workers make the commercial real estate market in BPT a viable investment. The problem is not labor cost, it is taxes. The real estate cost in BPT is much less expensive than Stamford. Or is it? You would have to do a cost analysis to know which one is better. On average 7 billion for 16 (land area) square miles would be an average value of 437 million per SqMl in BPT. In Stamford you would have 19 billion for 38 (land area) square miles for an average of 500 million per SqMl. Then calculate the tax liability. BPT @ 42 would be 18 million. In Stamford @ 25 would be 12.5 million. That is what is going to kill you. This analysis is simplistic but it also shows Stamford is just a little more developed than BPT (500 to 437 million/SqMl). Stamford is just larger.
It is not a mystery workers go from where it is cheap to live to where the jobs are. That same traffic pattern extends all the way to NYC and then suddenly reverses. I.e., People who live in Northern NJ also commute toward NYC. At one time in the distant past the commuting went TO BPT. Hence, all the highway development in BPT. With the loss of manufacturing in the country, CT and BPT, those highways are working in the other direction.
Your analysis of the worker/traffic pattern is a little racist. Why do BPT residents only get low-wage jobs in Stamford? Does the same problem affect Fairfield and Stratford residents? What is the average salary of those commuters? Stamford offers jobs from minimum wage to 7 figures. Teachers get paid more in Stamford but it is not cost- or time-effective to live in the BPT area and travel to Stamford. If you move to the Stamford area your living costs increase would cancel your wage increase. It appears you are taking a number of BPT problems (high taxes, poor schools, untrained labor force, recent immigrants, etc.) and squeezing them into one unified conspiracy theory.
You have tied together a number of issues under one cause and effect. You created a post hoc ergo propter hoc, a logical fallacy that states “Since event Y followed event X, event Y must have been caused by event X.”
Your theory is Stamford et al. need low-wage workers and Bridgeport provides them. This keeps BPT poor and underdeveloped. This was not always true. The opposite could also be true. BPT is, currently, underdeveloped and that makes BPT poor and forces the workers to seek employment elsewhere. Or some third variable, not explored in your theory, is at fault. See the following example.
The number of drownings and sales of ice cream may be highly correlated but that doesn’t imply one causes the other. Drownings and sales of ice cream are obviously higher in the summer months when the weather is good. Third variable aka good weather causes them.
Tom, just to let you know there were about 50 more people as an audience for this event as well as pizza cooked fresh on site by fire engine pizza company and paid for by the builders. It was a great announcement and I will happy to see the fire-ravaged side of the building demolished and the rest of the structure put back to good use.
BOE SPY. You’re confusing yourself. These matters are obviously way over your head. Stay away from math. Stay away from abstract thinking. Leave the driving and heavy lifting to the smart guys from Stamford and the ‘burbs in the Finch Administration who have made life sooo good for us.
Good night!
Jeff–numbers don’t lie. If I am in error feel free to point that error out. I am always open to seeing the other side of the story. There is the possibility you are the guy who made life sooo good for you and the rest is just a simple coincidence. Bring on your rebuttal evidence but please skip the rumor and innuendo.
Good morning.