One thing I have found while campaigning for Hartford City Council is that we have a lot of "politicians" that are good at identifying Hartford's problems. The problem with that though is that the solutions to our problems, for the most part, seem to be in short supply. At the candidates forums I keep hearing the catch phrases for Hartford's troubles... "crime and public safety", "economic development", "education" and "jobs".
This may sound self-serving, but we have plenty of "politicians" capable of identifying problems, what we need are leaders to come up with solutions to those problems.
Back in July, I posted here on the blog one of my plans to spur economic development,
you can read that posting here.The idea now seems to be gaining some traction. It is only part of the puzzle to turning Hartford around, but I guess others beside just myself see the possibilities
Last Thursday, former Councilperson and now State Representative Matt Ritter called me regarding the plan. I guess Matt sees the merits in the idea and he wanted to let me know he was interested in moving the idea forward. He was meeting with the Metro Hartford Alliance and wanted to gauge their support and he apparently plans to move it forward in next years legislative session..
Ironically, that same afternoon I met with the editorial board of the Hartford Courant and laid out my thoughts to them also. Tom Condon posted an editorial on line tonight which I would imagine will be in the print edition tomorrow. Unfortunately the message of the editorial is about another Hartford business closing its doors in large part because of Hartford's tax burden on its small businesses.
In the editorial, Tom Condon mentions my plan as an idea "worth exploring". It's not the solution to everything, but it is a start.
Here's what Tom wrote; "A way must be found to entice small businesses back to the city. Blogger and city council candidate Kevin Brookman has an idea, one that state Rep. Matthew Ritter has picked up on, that is worth exploring. It is to offer the region's average tax rate to any business that will locate or expand in Hartford. So say the region's average is 35 mills. That's what the business would pay in Hartford, for some period of time."
We need the vision and the ideas for possible solutions, just identifying the problems doesn't change anything.
To read Tom Condon's editorial, click here
