6 replies to this topic

[The Voice of Reason]

What were your cities biggest mistakes, or missed opportunities?

Try and keep it to between 3-5 examples, because I am sure we can all add long lists.

For Hartford, I have a few but will start with the ones I think I like the most.

#1 Letting Connecticut put UCONN way out in the boonies, and not finding a way to keep all that youth, creativity, life and jobs close to downtown.
Not having a major university near downtown is a damn shame.  The ammount of good that schools bring to cities the size of Hartford is amazing.  The number of downtown residents, and the ammount of street life, and even all the cultural and academic entertainment brought with it wold be great.  Its not like building UCONN in Storrs was cheap.  the state recently spent billions out there.  Imagine if that money was spend in Hartford.  Bring the museums that are run by the school all the way out there.  bring in the theater, the recitals, the concerts, the public speakers.....  I could go on and on.  Also campus security would be an additional source of safety around here real of percieved.

#2 Giving the Connecticut indian tribes casinos all the way out in the boonies but not allowing a billion dollar casino downtown with a convention center.
If you are anti-casino, you ban them all together.  If you are going to allow them, then do it in a way that would benefit the state. right now the tribes pay serious taxes, but they have built massive complexes and created all kinds of sprawl while further destroying New London and Norwiches chances at vibrant downtowns.  Imagine 2 mega malls parked a short drive away.  Does downtown Norwich have any chance? and now all the sprawl in the area is horrible too.  mid sized hotels popping up all over strip malls housing developments cheaply built in the middle of what was once pristine rural CT  
The casino Wynn wanted to build downtown would have been connected to the airport via rail, and increased flights at Bradley BIG TIME, it would have built a convention center without taxpayer support and showcased all the events they showcase now, but have done it in hartford not in the boonies.  The casino brought tons of lower level jobs to the middle of no where, but In Hartford it would have kept the poorer residents of Hartford working.  The population was all ready here and would love to work.  SE CT is importing all kinds of immigtrants willing to work for lower wages putting strains on the schools etc...  The casino would have provided additional tax revenues for police to keep downtown safer. (casinos are very security concious) and helped to bring people into the city. I bet the whale would never have left.  I bet stores would be begging for space.  Hotels would be build all over the place, and packed.

#3 Letting the government build I-91 between the city and the river.  What was wrong with East Hartford?
I am glad the highway brings people through hartford, but did it have to go right through Hartford?

could you just imagine a real riverwalk with marinas and tons of greenery and condos overlooking the water?
well you likely would not have to imagine it if the road didnt seperate us from our water.

Sure there may be better examples. I might even change my mind as this thread developes, but those 3 bother me literally every day I live here.

Edited by The Voice of Reason, 15 December 2008 - 04:59 PM.

[runawayjim]

UConn being where it is was because of the land grant.  It was given to the state.  It used to be the Storrs Agricultural College (not much agriculture going on in Hartford).  At the time, the land was super cheap, and even still, it's cheaper there than in Hartford for expansion.

Considering the size of UConn and the types of programs offered, it would be very difficult for it to be a city school.  It's one of the top agriculture and natrual resources schools in the northeast (may be one of the only).  Very few colleges of that size are in densely populated cities (NYU comes to mind, but NYC is an extreme).

[The Voice of Reason]

runawayjim, on Dec 15 2008, 07:34 PM, said:

UConn being where it is was because of the land grant. It was given to the state. It used to be the Storrs Agricultural College (not much agriculture going on in Hartford). At the time, the land was super cheap, and even still, it's cheaper there than in Hartford for expansion.

Considering the size of UConn and the types of programs offered, it would be very difficult for it to be a city school. It's one of the top agriculture and natrual resources schools in the northeast (may be one of the only). Very few colleges of that size are in densely populated cities (NYU comes to mind, but NYC is an extreme).

JIm, maybe I should have been more clear.
The fact that there is a school out there does not bother me one bit.  I am well aware of why it is there and how it came to be.  But it did not need to be the only realy UCONN campus.  it could have just been a small ag college.  it could have become a major ag research school as a satalite to a main campus in Hartford.  you may think downtown hartford is expensive, but UHARTs land was attained only 50 years ago.

[runawayjim]

The Voice of Reason, on Dec 15 2008, 08:02 PM, said:

JIm, maybe I should have been more clear.
The fact that there is a school out there does not bother me one bit.  I am well aware of why it is there and how it came to be.  But it did not need to be the only realy UCONN campus.  it could have just been a small ag college.  it could have become a major ag research school as a satalite to a main campus in Hartford.  you may think downtown hartford is expensive, but UHARTs land was attained only 50 years ago.

Again, look at other state universities of a similar size to UConn.  They're not in cities, at least not their main campuses.  UMass, UNH, UMaine, URI, even SUNY.  UVM is an exception, but Burlington is a very small city and VT is an odd state as far as population is concerned.  While they all have campuses in major cities, they tend to be satellite campuses.  UConn does have a West Hartford campus and a downtown business school.  That's the kind of thing they should be doing in the city, in my opinion.  I don't know about Hartford, but I wouldn't want URI's main campus in Providence because that's a TON of land that would become tax free.  If Hartford is the same way with the colleges there, that'd be almost all of downtown Hartford that would be tax free land.

UConn is not at all far from Hartford.  It's only half an hour tops (I went to UConn).  Honestly, I would have rather seen a school like ECSU be used to boost up Willi or WestConn to boost up Danbury, or even Southern to boost New Haven (not that it needs it with Yale).  I wish UB and SHU would be better for Bridgeport.  I lived in CT for 24 years before I moved to RI.  I do understand the state of the cities, but UConn is a HUGE college and would have taken up more land than was likely possible in Hartford, even in 1881 when it was founded.  Today, UConn would be stymied by the city with its ability to grow as much as it is.  It's got Hartford to grow with things like the business school.  If Hartford was smart, they'd try to lure the med school out of Farmington and into some of the Hartford hospitals (or have affiliation if they don't already).  Public health is becoming big.  Perhaps UConn should start a school of public health.  Hartford would be a great place for that, too.  But the main campus is just too big and growing too much to have been located within the city limits.  I'm not sure Hartford would have seen all the insurance companies located downtown if there was such a huge college there.  And that becomes a toss up.  Is becoming solely a college town more important or having all the huge corporations more important?

[The Voice of Reason]

Think Fordham or UBuffalo

UCONN  Could have easily established an urban campus years ago, and really the Whart campus is a joke.  
The school could have moved a major component of the campus in the heart of the city for the same cost it took for them to expand every damn program out there in Storrs.  Also just this month UCONN and the city hospitols started working together.  quite a big deal!

Hey lets be streight, I do not want Yale here, I want NYU
I want a city school

but no matter how much you disagree, I think it was a mistake for the state university system to completely ignore the biggest city in the state.  I think it was a mistake to buils such a massive rural campus and ignore hartford.  

so Jim, what were Providences errors

[Lowerdeck]

runawayjim, on Dec 15 2008, 10:46 PM, said:

Honestly, I would have rather seen a school like ECSU be used to boost up Willi or WestConn to boost up Danbury

Why Eastern will not be so helpful to Willimantic:
- Too close to UConn, the kids who live on campus will want to head up there for the action instead of downtown.  You can almost say the same with Hartford, it's close enough to draw away from Willimantic.
- Willimantic is seen as a crime infested hole
- Eastern's student body is 96% Conn. residents, much of it are commuters.


As for Western... the Midtown campus has been increasingly been helpful to downtown Danbury and the city in general.  The development of Brookview Commons is evidence enough, several hundred students living downtown close to the 'entertainment and dining district' and to campus. Businesses have been booming by catering to the WestConn group. Western also benefits more than Eastern from having more out-of-state and international students, more residential students.  It's also far enough away from places of interest to a college student... like Hartford, New Haven, SoNo, NYC.

And just think... Western about 20 years ago wanted to move everything to the Westside campus, several miles outside downtown and cut off from the rest of the city except one big hill connecting it to Route 6/202.  But that never happened.  So now they're making the best out of both campuses, and it's done well.  The place (city and school) has changed big since I first was a freshman there in the fall of 03.

[The Voice of Reason]

Hartford missed out on the 1990 building boom by about 3 months

Cutter Financial center
City Place II
Society for Savings HQ
180 Allyn Street
Lafayette Place