Bridgeport on Friday had a good day courtesy of the State Bond Commission chaired by Governor Dan Malloy. Among the items awarded to Bridgeport:
— $2.5 million for Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo to build a new Andean bears exhibit.
— $1.5 million toward the demolition of an abandoned East Side factory for a second railroad station.
— $1.5 million for Housatonic Community College to create a welding-laboratory division in its Advanced Manufacturing Center.
— $1.5 million for Hall Neighborhood House to expand an arts program for 325 children.
— $2.32 million for debt repayment obligations at the Achievement First Academy Middle School in Bridgeport.
— $1 million from the state housing development fund for the purchase and rehabilitation of owner occupied multi-family properties.
— $712,698 for new classrooms and a new pre-kindergarten program at New Beginnings Family Academy in Bridgeport.
News release from State Rep Auden Grogins, the blonde banshee from Black Rock:
State Representative Auden Grogins (D-Bridgeport) is proud to announce the State’s grant of $2.5 million in bonding money for the Bridgeport Beardsley Zoo, which was approved by the State Bond Commission today. The bond from the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is for the construction of a unique state of the art Andean Bear Exhibit at the Zoo, which will be a showpiece of the South American exhibit.
“The Beardsley Zoo is such an important educational institution in Bridgeport, and I am so happy that I was able to secure funding for this new exhibit,” Rep. Grogins said. “I want to thank the Governor and the Bond Commission for recognizing the significant economic impact of the Zoo for Bridgeport and for our state.”
The $2.5 million state grant will help the Beardsley Zoo, the only accredited Zoo in our state, construct a new Andean Bear exhibit. The Zoo does not currently feature an Andean Bear, but in the past it was one of the top three favorite animals as rated by Zoo visitors. The Andean Bears will be featured in the “Spirit of the Cloud Forest” exhibit, which will be the anchor exhibit of the South American section of the Zoo. The Beardsley Zoo was founded over 80 years ago in Bridgeport and provides Connecticut’s children with unique learning opportunities through animal exhibits, plantings, and graphics.
“Connecticut’s tourism industry is an important economic driver, contributing billions to our economy and employing more than 110,000 workers,” said Governor Dannel P. Malloy. “Nearly 300,000 residents and visitors will make the trip to Beardsley Zoo this year. This investment in the state’s only zoo is a small part of our much larger investment to market all that we have to offer and bring even more people to our state by demonstrating what we already know–Connecticut is a great place to live, work, and play.”
The grant-in-aid from the DECD is given out with the purpose of providing financing for culture, tourism or entertainment projects and programs.
GREAT NEWS!
More money to be pilfered and pillaged.
Maybe Mark IV can get a few of the projects to pay for legal costs.
What’s in your wallet?
Well, it is not a Capital 1 credit card. Chosen 1, could you be a little more positive?
I live in Bpt. Pay highest taxes in the US and have no house value. Work 3rd shift and see the dregs of a once-beautiful “Park” city.
Should I go on, Mr. Sunshine? We all can’t be happy and gay like you.
Chosen 1, I realize you are bitter and miserable. I wish you were a gay happy sunshine kind of guy, instead of a pathetic loathsome creature. Why not do yourself a favor and move! The city would do a lot better without you here. Make a change. You will be a lot happier. When in despair, Jesus is there. Seek and you shall find. Knock on the door and it shall be opened unto you.
Speaking of Jesus and gay, The Bijou Theatre is showing The Corpus Christie documentary. Depicting Jesus and his disciples as gay and living in Texas during the 1950s. Sunday. I’M JUST SAYING!
Ah yes, re-election year …
Ever since Governor Malloy and Auden Grogins signed on to the POT bill, they seem to be hallucinating again.
What Bridgeport really needs is a freaking tax break, Rep. Grogins!
Not $2.5 Million to take Andean Bears into captivity at Beardsley Zoo.
Maybe this will help Gov. Malloy & Rep. Grogins.
Bear conservation: Andean bears are an endangered species listed by the IUCN Red List as vulnerable to extinction and there are thought to be fewer than 20,000 wild Andean or spectacled bears. In order to save the bears, we work in several different aspects of bear conservation.
Andean Bear Rescue is unfortunately necessary when local people illegally take bears into captivity–usually cubs orphaned when their mothers are shot. By rescuing these bear cubs we not only save them from a life of captivity but also return them to the breeding population in the wild to help with conservation of the species as a whole.
Find out more about Andean bear rescue.
Bear Rehab & Release-when possible we rehabilitate and liberate rescued Andean bears so that they can go on to breed and strengthen the genetic diversity of this endangered bear species.
www .andeanbear.org/index.html
Jim, I think you may be misunderstanding something here. The State cannot provide funds for tax relief. Ergo, the next best thing is to bring people to Bridgeport to spend their money! That helps everybody. Further, the mil rate is set by City Officials and has nothing to do with the State nor could it. Lastly, the Andean Bears being brought to the Zoo ARE a part of conservation because they are, as you mentioned, an endangered species. So why be so critical when you clearly don’t have your facts straight?
And BRG, don’t get me started on your idiot comments. Universal background checks on all gun sales, strictest gun laws in the nation. Please come out of the sun–your brain is melting.
TwoForOne,
I’m sorry, for a second there I had her as another tax and spend Democrat, after all she campaigned on tax relief and we all know how that’s working out. Too bad she didn’t show up at the City Council to speak out against our new taxes in Black Rock. I’ll put her down as a Finchette.
But not a word about doing something about the street violence.
Auden, it’s nice you got money for manufacturing courses but what good is it if Finch and his BRBC bosses are only encouraging residential real estate and the so-called opposition mainly the GOP and and the BR coffee klatchers are also uninterested in this, seeming more interested in gentrifying B’port than fixing it and bringing it back to what it once was … a great manufacturing city with great parks and schools instead of an annex of Stamford … a successful city but one with no soul, no heart.
No Smoking on this blog, please!