The Sludge Meter, Kohut Calls Sewer Plan A Stinker

Neighborhood watchdog Jeff Kohut, an alternate member of the city’s Ethics Commission, is holding his nose as the city pursues an agreement with Trumbull and Monroe for a regional wastewater authority that would generate upwards of $40 million in one-shot revenue for the city while processing additional wastewater from suburban towns. In short, the three communities would create a mini municipality to purchase the wastewater treatment infrastructure from the city. Processing crap generates lots of dough.

Monroe has no sewers and wants to open up development. Trumbull has sewers but no wastewater treatment plant. Bridgeport has two treatment plans and needs desperately to separate storm and sanitary systems to avoid rowboats on the East Side during heavy rains and raw sewage flowing into the harbor from rain-swollen treatment plants. Mayor Bill Finch wants the deal done for 2011 so he can keep taxes down in an election year. The deal requires approval of respective water pollution control authorities, legislative bodies and state Department of Environmental Protection. Critics such as Kohut say the short-term revenue infusion will betray future development opportunities for the city as businesses bypass Bridgeport for the suburbs. In addition, how would this deal impact water rates with the regional authority purchasing so much debt? Read Kohut’s observations:

Potentially-lethal, sewer-borne, parasite (Trumbullus Municipalius)

Truly, from Bridgeport’s perspective, this deal stinks to high heaven! It is an insane, no-win situation for Bridgeport. This proposal is nothing more than an addendum to the unholy compact signed between Trumbull and Bridgeport during the Tedesco Administration of 50 years ago, which allowed Trumbull to usurp Bridgeport’s development prerogative and steal our tax base, with the added injury of ruining our Trumbull-border neighborhoods (hence, the North End traffic-safety/air/noise/light-pollution nightmare – attributable to the effects of Trumbull Shopping Park and the Old Town Road/Lindeman Drive/Reservoir Avenue, and Park Avenue border-development by Trumbull).

When we accepted Trumbull’s sewage, we effectively committed economic suicide!

Coincident with the deal was the establishment of Trumbull Shopping Park and the beginning of the painful, on-going death of our Downtown – with the consequent loss of a mighty piece of tax base! Along with Downtown retail/commercial tax base, a large number of East Main Street and Main Street retail/commercial businesses fled to Trumbull (as border-development/Trumbull Center expanded) – as did a significant portion of our middle class.

In addition to our huge loss of extant and potential retail/commercial tax base, we also eventually lost a significant amount of extant and potential industrial tax base to Trumbull (e.g., Trumbull Industrial Park). Bridgeport’s socioeconomic collapse would have been averted if Trumbull had been forced to accommodate their own sewage/tax-base growth dilemma!

Now we want to expand Trumbull’s use of our sewage capacity and include Monroe in the bargain! Insane! Do you hear the whoosh as our remaining, and potential, tax-base exits or by-passes Bridgeport via the 25-8 Connector?! (The 25-8 Connector was part of the same “regional development scheme” as the Trumbull-Bridgeport sewer link-up, and had a huge synergistic effect in regard to the exodus of the Bridgeport economy and our prosperous middle class …)

No amount of bribe money from the suburbs for our sewer capacity will ever be able to even make a dent in the losses we will suffer from the tax-base theft and development diversion (around Bridgeport!) that will result from such an ill-conceived (undoubtedly corrupt!) deal. Bridgeporters, we must not allow our “leaders” to make any such deal with the suburbs! We must remember history’s lessons. Our response to overtures from the suburbs for such “regional cooperation” must be “Never again!”

To even consider this proposal should be enough to impeach/fire all Bridgeport officials involved! All developers/business “leaders” pushing this deal, along with the political lackeys doing their bidding, should be carefully watched by the FBI.