From Keila Torres Ocasio, CT Post:
When Bridgeport Jai Alai opened in 1976, East Side business owners were told it would be a boon for their establishments. In reality, visitors rarely strayed from the facility to check out the local haunts, according to Eduardo Reyes, owner of El Coquito, an East Main Street eatery that sells Latino food and tropical ice.
“The only way it affected us was the (increased) traffic,” he said. “And then attendance dropped, it dwindled out and it was gone.”
That’s why Reyes doesn’t want to get his hopes up about the chances of the activity at the massive Steel Point development spilling over into the area.
Full story here.
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Really, I don’t think anyone should expect, think or believe this project will be an economic boom for neighboring businesses. Those suburban individuals who go to Bass Pro will get off the thruway to go and get right back on to leave.
They compare this project to Stamford, remember Stamford chased a lot of blacks out of the community with exorbitant rents and home prices.
There is no connection or pedestrian flow between Harbor Yard, the Arena and Downtown. So how does the elected official say they will accomplish that here? Repeating the same mistake repeatedly constitutes insanity.
Donald Day, I remember Stamford when it looked like Bridgeport. I commuted there for 10 years. The fear of gentrification is and has always been the stall of major developments. It wasn’t only black people forced out of Stamford it was white people and every lower-class individual. Today, Stamford is spectacular and a draw for business and Donald Day working-class successful black people are loving the life of downtown Stamford as well as every minority community. Downtown Stamford is vibrant, exciting, culturally diverse, a magnet for the arts and business. Mr. Day the only hope for the Bridgeport taxpayer is that one day in the 22nd century we could be like Stamford and Norwalk. We may never live to see it but as the largest city in the wealthiest county and highest taxed I think most homeowners would like to see Bridgeport get just a taste of success.
Steve Auerbach, you have the wrong group of people involved with gentrification, it’s blacks and Hispanics who get displaced.
And replaced with successful black and Hispanics. I know, hard to believe, Mackey, but true. Stamford CT is part of my stomping grounds and I am telling it like it is. You do know there is a large population of educated black and Hispanic white-collar workers who live in Stamford, right?
It’s really time for people to stop dreaming. There will be no luxury apartments built, after all who would pay a large rent to live at the foot of East Main St?
When people come to Bass Pro they are not going to ride around the neighborhood because there is nothing of substance there. Steel point if it gets built is really not for the residents of Bridgeport, it’s for the rich suburbanites.
Andrew C Fardy, you and Donald Day are right, nobody is going to visit anything, they will get back on the 95 when they are finished. When Steve Wynn of Las Vegas came to Bridgeport and spoke about getting support to put a casino on this same property, well businessmen were asking him about the so-called 20,000 people who would come daily to his casino here about how would those people be able to come downtown to their businesses and he told them it was their problem to get them downtown.
Did I miss the job fair Bass Pro had for East Side residents? East End residents? How about any old Bridgeport residents? That was one of the things Ed Gomes and Elaine Pivirotto were fighting for on the city council. Guaranteed jobs for Bridgeport residents. Guaranteed construction jobs and apprenticeships. But did other council members join in? No. The city leaders told them not to push for things like this because the developers wouldn’t build. Well it took them long enough and still the city won’t fight for its own. But they will print maps if someone actually ventures off the point. Laughable. Insulting. Embarrassing.
Bob Walsh, great point. The City has no Affirmative Action Officer to watch the hiring, they did away with that position when the late Senator Alvin Penn had the position. Now we are to trust Mayor Finch and the developers to provide construction jobs and apprenticeships for Bridgeport residents, please!!!
I think the business owners who are saying they expect nothing and will take anything are spot on. And I think once again Kooris is showing he is full of it. If the city wanted to grow the East Side then they would have been an integral part of the plan since day one. Right now it looks like too little too late.
Steelepointe sucks, it is going to fail. We need only low-income housing in Bridgeport and we can advertise to all displaced blacks in Stamford. The poor white people prefer Waterbury? I want to join the chorus of Ron Mackey, Donald Day, Andy Fardy and Bob Walsh. This city sucks. The 12 new ballparks all over the city is expected to raise property values and that is not good. Rents will go up. Now I know why Ernie was so successful, he kept all development including a grocery store on the East Side so slumlords can get their section 8 rents and developments can happen in Milford and Stratford as well as Norwalk and Stamford. I have always believed one day Steelepointe would happen but I was hoping it would wait another 30 years so all Mayors who had the dream pass into oblivion and Bridgeport realizes its true potential as a low-income welfare city. We all know Bass Pro is not going to happen and you know if maybe 10 cars go to their parking lot how will STARBUCKS and Chipotle survive? A hotel on the site? As long as the city sees the Holiday as a 5-star hotel why bother, we should be looking more for a Motel 6 or Howard Johnsons. What the city needs is to elect Joe Ganim, he is the only experienced person to take the helm and guarantee all development comes to a halt. This city really does suck and I commend the Town of Trumbull for their outstanding development efforts on Bridgeport’s borders. We can thank Ganim, no? Let’s keep up the great job of keeping the city down. The kids in the elementary schools think the city sucks. Mostly the minorities. Their parents think the city sucks and they are the beneficiaries of nearly every social service. I say we need a mayor who can attract more of these disgruntled miserable individuals to help litter our streets and take everything and contribute little. Let’s do all we can to tax the homeowners to the point the houses are given away via foreclosure for nothing. Let’s keep the downhill spiral going. Thank you Mackey and Day for reminding us daily if it is not black centric it is not relevant. I agree. Let’s continue to keep the city down. Let’s keep the whites from moving back because gentrification might happen. That’s all we need G-d forbid not just whites, but Jews and Italians. No, absolutely not! Do not build housing or business to attract them. Let’s just accept our lot in life. A city that’s bankrupt with storefront churches. That’s what we are. Run Joe, run.
Stevie,
I never kissed Ganim’s ass, Fabrizi’s ass or Finch’s ass. I always spoke out for what I thought was right AND what was being done in other cities.
One of the biggest reasons Bridgeport continues to be a shithole is because our so-called leaders believe that is exactly what we are and kiss the ass of any developer who comes into town.
So there Stevie, go hide under your covers ’cause the bogeyman has spoken.
I ain’t afraid of the bogeyman! Bob, I appreciate your rare voice of reason. But at least let’s agree Bridgeport is a real shithole and we cannot allow Finch to make any improvements. You know if the Jews start moving back to Bridgeport there might be a real delicatessen, that cannot happen. We must continue being a magnet to the less fortunate making the wealthy slumlords rich rich in Bridgeport, don’t you agree? We can also attract displaced individuals from Ansonia and Derby. In fact, wasn’t it part of Bridgeport’s goals in the ’60s to take as much money for substandard subsidized housing while the suburbs prospered? I think Charlie Coviello may be the ticket. Who am I kidding, Ganim 2015.
Sidebar: saw two excellent films this weekend, Child 44 and Danny Collins, both 4 star. And of course dinner was Vietnamese Pho Hong Tom phenomenal on Wood Avenue.
I’m glad you spread your optimism into our restaurants in the 132nd, Steve!
Bob Halstead, even my 87-year-old mother spreads the word on Pho Saigon and Ruu Thai Kitchen as well as Pho Hong Tom. You have some of the best Mexican and Asian restaurants in CT. Most authentic.
Steve, your problem is you wear rose-colored glasses. It’s great the city built 12 new ballfields but the problem is no one uses them, baseball is on the decline. We just lost Park City little league after 60-plus years, that’s 300 fewer kids playing.
Steve, the city under Finch has spent money like drunken sailors. Do we really need all these new parks he built? Look at the park on Knowlton St, it cost $7 million and no one uses it.
Getting back to steel point, it’s been 30 years and we have a Bass Pro. BFD. Put up luxury apartments, really? Put up another hotel? For what?
Did you ever ride by Target, Best Buy and Kohls and see the parking lot full? Did you ever ride by Walmart and look at their full parking lot? The politicians and Timpanelli and his crew think Bridgeport is too good for these stores. Think of the fanciest store you can, then put it at steel point. Do you thing Mrs. Farnsworth from Westport is going to shop there? I doubt it. We need to be realistic.
Fardy, we agree Bridgeport sucks. I can understand why a senior citizen thinks a new ball park is a waste. Who wants those improvements in their neighborhood? Then, you have Maria who doesn’t know the kids at Roosevelt do not live and breathe Soccer. Let’s do our best to fight all the good stuff. It will make the other candidates look good. Btw, I just saw a clip of Joe Ganim in a commercial standing on Steelepointe that’s going to start airing as a commercial from 1997-ish. It will make you realize all the lost time. I am glad people like you and Ron Mackey keep reminding us we live in a shitbox that is getting worse and worse every day. Sooner or later you will be buried in this shit and spend eternity knowing you were a part of creating this reality. Nice!
Auerbach, the problem with you is you live in a dream world with sugarplums and honey. Get a fucking grip. There are no kids who live around Roosevelt school, they are all bused into the school. As far as the 12 baseball fields, big deal, who uses them? You can take that senior citizen comment and stick it, I was still coaching inner-city kids when I was in my mid 60’s. Steve, where do you get the time for all these posts? Who pried your lips off Finch’s ass?
Andy, you really are a bitter old man. I work with seniors and Alzheimer’s patients and I forgive your ignorance. Speaking about Westport, when I was at Mario’s it was a young couple at the next table we were chatting with who turned me on to the Ruu Thai kitchen on Wood Ave. Btw I think it is commendable you coached inner-city kids baseball. What decade was that? Was that when inner-city youth were Italian and Portuguese? 🙂 Andy, do you get out of the country much? Or is Bridgeport all you have ever known and yet never attending any of the finer things in Bridgeport. You are just a mean-spirited lousy individual. Who are you supporting for Mayor? If it is Finch, please put a sign on my lawn.
Andy, just because students are bused into Roosevelt does not mean they do not desire or are passionate about soccer. It is all they want to play at recess. In Bridgeport soccer is huge and we can thank Mayor Fabrizi for the great fields in the North End.
Steve, I know about soccer and $900K for a soccer field is a lot especially when you could use the money to build the four missing classrooms.
Steve Auerbach, Andy Fardy can speak for himself but let me say this, Fardy was involved with Park City Little League for years and worked many days with Italian and Portuguese but also black and Hispanic kids. The Firebird Society of Bridgeport for a number of years would make a donation to the league.
Ron Mackey, how lucky Fardy had you to verify there were blacks on the team. I was being facetious with him.
Steve I did a six-year hitch in the navy and saw most of the world so what’s next, Steve? The last time I coached baseball was five years ago and most of the kids were black and Puerto Rican. Steve, what’s wrong, you don’t like seniors? Gee I feel bad. The one thing is I got here and you have got to get here. The finer things in Bridgeport? Is that according to you? If Finch took a dump in one of the parks you would call it a green moment. BTW next time you visit the zoo look at the plaque on the rain forest building and look at the plaque at the carousel and you will find my name there.
Oh Andy, you know I’m like a Nazi when it comes to seniors. I believe in less senior services and less senior housing and more housing for displaced black Stamfordites as we agreed the white Stamfordites displaced go to Waterbury. You know Andy, you and Ron are both mediocre politicians. You intentionally misread or interpret a line in a post and then attempt to turn an otherwise boring blog into a cat fight. Save it for the other idiots. Thank you for serving in the war. I assume safely most men I know your age did also and I thank them also.
By the way, the phenomenon of foreclosure limbo of historic landmarks in the Washington Park neighborhood has reached epidemic proportions. More vacant homes every day and the sales prices for those not buried in mortgage debt is plummeting. So I guess the ripple effect of this much-heralded development obviously is not reaching the neighborhood.
The article is kind of a propaganda piece when it speaks of development of hotels, hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial and residential development as something that is “expected.” “Expected” by whom?