Missed opportunities in your city.

[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.

[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]

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).

[runawayjim]

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.

[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]

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

[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