I spoke with WFSB's Dennis House at last nights Budget Hearing at Bulkeley High School.
He told me that he had done a posting on his blog and put a link to "We the People" on there. While looking at his blog, he had a posting directed to the taxpayers of Hartford and questions they should be asking regarding "economic development", or the lack thereof in Hartford.
Here are his suggested list of questions:
The City of Hartford is beginning budget hearings to talk about Mayor Perez’ proposed tax hike. Citizens aren’t happy about paying more taxes and there are some questions taxpayers should be asking city officials.
1. Why has the city lost so many taxpayers since 2005? ING, Mass Mutual, Met Life, WFSB, the Goodwin Hotel, T.J. Maxx, and the list goes on, and on.
2. Rather than raise taxes on an already burdened citizenry, why not attract new business to the city?
3. Why have dozens of companies opened stores and restaurants in the surrounding towns, but avoided Hartford?
4. What is the city doing to recruit new business to the city?
5. Why are there so many empty storefronts downtown?
6. What additional services will we get in exchange for paying higher taxes?
7. Does the administration feel responsible for the loss of thousands of jobs in the city, and the loss of millions in tax revenue?
To view Dennis's blog click below or he can be found at wfsb.com under "blogs"
Click here to go to wfsb.com and read "the Hartfordite"
Very fine questions. Of course, the mayor and council cannot be held responsible for loss of tax base/commercial activity. After all, isn't one of the duties of our "Department of Development Services" to "create an environment in Hartford conducive to growing and attracting business throughout the City and its neighborhoods..." In particular, this department "Provides technical assistance to neighborhood businesses and entrepreneurs interested in starting new businesses.
ReplyDeleteCorporate Development, and works with industrial companies, commercial service firms and chain retailers on projects that retain and create new jobs and spur investment in the city." Obviously, what is needed is to increase taxes so that we may increase he capacity of this department to continue its fine work.
Mean while, over at HIMC site, Matt Ritter laments the city's inability to use "stimulus" funds to hire more city workers! And, in order to maintain "vital services" Hartford must "continuously look at tax increases..." PB
ReplyDelete"Ritter made it clear that Perez’s trial is a sideshow that he would prefer to to avoid. “This has been a difficult time for the city,” Ritter said. “We have a budget to pass. We have to pass a balanced budget – that’s the priority. The trial is a distraction.” Ritter described the House passage of a deficit mitigation plan which maintains municipal aid as “positive”, but lamented the continued plight of cities such as Hartford that have to continuously look at tax increases as a means of maintaining vital services. “We have to focus on the effect on raising taxes on homeowners,” Ritter said. “I’ll be stunned if we don’t have to raise city taxes.”"
"While the Democrats and Republicans at the Capitol and in Washington D.C. have focused on job creation for the middle class, the poor in urban and rural communities have been overlooked. Hartford leads the nation with a 33.5% poverty rate. While the national unemployment rate for whites has decreased since December, it has increased for people of color. President Obama has resisted calls from the Congressional Black Caucus to initiate targeted job creation for communities with the highest unemployment rates as a means of addressing the racial disparities in joblessness, income and net wealth between whites and blacks / Latinos. Ritter believes that a two-fold strategy is needed to address the poverty issue, which cuts across racial lines. “There is a preparation gap in Connecticut. Kids in West Hartford and Greenwich are entering kindergarten with strong literacy skills. That’s not happening in Hartford. This will be a big focus for me,” Ritter said. “Also, towns should have been given more hiring flexibility with federal stimulus dollars. Here in Hartford we were unable to hire more city workers due to a technicality regarding the employees who took early retirement. The restraints on local and state government in terms of hiring must be removed.”
If Matt feels that way, maybe he should have joined Deutsch in pushing to get Eddie out of office so his trial will be less of a "distraction."
ReplyDelete