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WFSB Broadcast House replaced by High Rise


grock

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I hate to be oversimplistic but the Democrats at the state level have been very anti-business and very pro-union.

Ironicallly, unions are the one of the leading causes of job loss. The UAW has just about destroyed the auto industry in Michigan. To be fair they had help from slow-to-learn auto executives. But the high cost of doing business in Michigan sent hundreds of thousands of jobs out of state.

Almost all the high growth states are right to work states and business friendly states. Big Democratic states like California are big losers. The Govinator has slowed the loses but they still have serious problems.

Connecticut is aware of this problem but has not moved aggressively to fix it. Until they do, we will lag in growth behind the rest of the country.

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I hate to be oversimplistic but the Democrats at the state level have been very anti-business and very pro-union.

Ironicallly, unions are the one of the leading causes of job loss. The UAW has just about destroyed the auto industry in Michigan. To be fair they had help from slow-to-learn auto executives. But the high cost of doing business in Michigan sent hundreds of thousands of jobs out of state.

Almost all the high growth states are right to work states and business friendly states. Big Democratic states like California are big losers. The Govinator has slowed the loses but they still have serious problems.

Connecticut is aware of this problem but has not moved aggressively to fix it. Until they do, we will lag in growth behind the rest of the country.

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Yes, it's all the democrats fault. Forget the fact that nearly any successful city in the nation is more than 70 percent democratic and is often run by democratic leaders. :wacko: Forget the fact that Republican policy has long favored suburbs, sprawl, and wealthy people and ignored urban centers. Get real. Republicans are good for giving money to BIG business like Walmart, not attractive downtown businesses required for a city like Hartford.
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Blame Wal-Mart. Why? Because they don't have unions and treat their employees like dirt. So yes, unions are needed. Maybe when Americans vote for universal health care and more social programs, employers won't need to provide these benefits and the city won't be stuck dealing with all these poor people. But without them doing so, the people who live in Hartford are going to stay poor and revitalizing Hartford will be useless. Pick your battle.

Also, you're comparing auto workers to hotel workers. Come on. We're not going to lose all of our hotels because of unions, like Detroit lost it's automotive industry. But again, the federal government could have stopped that but didn't.

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Yes, it's all the democrats fault. Forget the fact that nearly any successful city in the nation is more than 70 percent democratic and is often run by democratic leaders. :wacko: Forget the fact that Republican policy has long favored suburbs, sprawl, and wealthy people and ignored urban centers. Get real.
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the city has done little, if anything, on its OWN - w/o state aid - to better itself. perez has not endeared himself to state pols either. his strongarm tactic with the real estate reval last year did him no favors. best bet is to get him out. i live downtown because i work downtown and don't have any kids, however, i won't be living here for much longer, out to the burbs. taxes are lower, crime is lower, schools are much better and there is more for the money. i don't understand why hartford markets itself as 'centrally located between boston and nyc'. is that supposed to make me want to live downtown rather than avon? as a person of means, why live in hartford and commute to simsbury or windsor? i'll pay less than half what i now pay in taxes and insurance living in hartford when i move to the burbs. won't have to pay for parking either.

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A business leader is whats needed because the city needs to be run like a business. It needs to cut spending, create jobs and be profitable.

30+ years of the democratic tax and spend philosophy has made Hartford a center for social services and one of the poorest cities in the nation. Compare Hartford of the 50's and 60's to the Hartford of today.

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Yes, it's all the democrats fault. Forget the fact that nearly any successful city in the nation is more than 70 percent democratic and is often run by democratic leaders. :wacko: Forget the fact that Republican policy has long favored suburbs, sprawl, and wealthy people and ignored urban centers. Get real. Republicans are good for giving money to BIG business like Walmart, not attractive downtown businesses required for a city like Hartford.
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How are you going to cut spending in Hartford when so much is broken?

The real problem is that the outside towns lure people in with large spaces and lower taxes.. and people abandon the city. You cannot run a city without spending, or it will turn into a hellhole. The state needs to curb sprawl and help the cities, not help people move to suburbs.

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Blame Wal-Mart. Why? Because they don't have unions and treat their employees like dirt. So yes, unions are needed. Maybe when Americans vote for universal health care and more social programs, employers won't need to provide these benefits and the city won't be stuck dealing with all these poor people. But without them doing so, the people who live in Hartford are going to stay poor and revitalizing Hartford will be useless. Pick your battle.

Also, you're comparing auto workers to hotel workers. Come on. We're not going to lose all of our hotels because of unions, like Detroit lost it's automotive industry. But again, the federal government could have stopped that but didn't.

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I think it is you sir who needs to get real. Fact is, without John Rowland, NOTHING would be happening in Hartford right now. You sure can't thank the democratic city council for anything.

Last I checked this was the USA. If you don't like the way your employer treats you, look for another job. Unions serve themselves. The sense of entitlement in this country is out of hand. The workers who retained their jobs at The Hilton are inept. The level of service at that hotel is horrible and its because the employees know they can't lose their jobs. So who suffers? The business owner and the customer. My company has stopped placing business travelers in that hotel because the service is so awful.

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Republicans didn't "run" NYC. Simply having a republican mayor means nothing when the state senate is democratic and the majority of people are as well. NYC is 80 percent democrat and the only reason a republican mayor won was because the alternative guys running were so appalling. There is nothing wrong with a republican mayor by itself so long as ridiculous republican policy is curbed.
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When Rudy Giuliani took office in 1994, New York City was a crime haven. He immediately made it a priority to curb small crimes like subway turnstile jumping and graffiti through his "broken window" philosophy in order to get a handle on bigger crimes. He enacted laws making it easier to lock up repeat offenders. It worked. During his tenure, crime fell over 40% and murder fell an unbelievable 60%. New York is now regarded as one of the safest cities in the nation.

Giuliani also spearheaded the largest welfare to work program ever cutting welfare rolls in HALF in NYC and getting hundreds of thousands of people who should be working back to work. He turned Times Square from a sex shop and peep show neighborhood into a family attraction and one of the biggest tourist attractions in the country. And he slashed city business taxes spurring one of the greatest development booms ever in Manhattan. He cut city payroll by 20,000 jobs making government more efficient and lean. The end result was an inherited billion dollar deficit transformed into a muti billion dollar surplus. Giuliani did all this. He initiated it. Not "the state senate"... not "the majority of people" and certainly not David Dinkins.

Yeah. Tax and spend policies and creating more useless social services jobs in order to keep people dependent and poor and governemnet bloated is the way to go. You must be joking.

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I can first hand agree that Guiliani did alot for revitalizing NYC, and showing that it was manageable. In Hartford our situation in different. We have far more poor and marginaized people as a percentage of the population.

I think the only way to solve our problems is stop allowing Hartford to be a welfare city and really focus on quality of life. As much as Perez says that Hartford is much safer, it just doesnt ring true. Our Downtown is about six city blocks deep, I never see cops down there. Guns are too easy to get and used for dumb things.

Look at thta brazen robbery near Trumbull Kitchen last weekend. They leaders in Hartford just dont get it.

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CTman spoken like a true democrat, no ideas just demonize the opponent.

Interestingly, the crackdown on small time quality of life crimes was started by David Dinkins and continued by RG. But for some reason Rudy gets all the credit.

Dinkins also made some very tough financial decisons, like partially closing libraries. This was very unpopular but he left the city in much better financial shape than when he took over. In fact, Dinkins took over a city swinning in red ink and stemmed the tide. He gave Rudy a house in much better order than the one he took over.

David Dinkins was a very good mayor but gets very little credit for the turnaround that started under his administratiion.

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daroberts -- Good point, another of Dinkins accomplishments was stemming the flow of corporations from the city. If you disagree with me about Dinkins, please point out a single factual error in my post.

As I stated, Dinkins -not Rudy- started the quality of life crime crackdown includiing the fairbeater program.

DD made the tough decisions to reduce city services to put the city on firm finacial footing. (Not popular and probably cost him the election.)

Screamimg like a school girl that Dinkins was a disaster is not a fact, it is hysteria. A common tactic for those without a clue.

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Yes, it's all the democrats fault. Forget the fact that nearly any successful city in the nation is more than 70 percent democratic and is often run by democratic leaders. :wacko: Forget the fact that Republican policy has long favored suburbs, sprawl, and wealthy people and ignored urban centers. Get real. Republicans are good for giving money to BIG business like Walmart, not attractive downtown businesses required for a city like Hartford.
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Building Plan Has Merit

January 3, 2007

Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez's idea of creating a redevelopment zone that includes the empty former Clarion Hotel building and the soon-to-be vacated Broadcast House building, both located on Constitution Plaza along Columbus Boulevard, makes sense.

The city may go so far as to take over the 12-story hotel building by eminent domain to get the project started - a controversial step that should be a last resort. But in this situation it may be the only answer.

The hotel has been an abandoned eyesore since 1994, not long before it was purchased for $1.5 million by the Maharishi School of Vedic Sciences, which has done little more than try to sell the building for a ridiculously high price of $10 million, roughly $50 a square foot.

Comparable properties downtown are priced at about $20 a square foot.

Broadcast House, which is right next door to the hotel, appears headed in the same direction now that WFSB, Channel 3, is moving to more spacious quarters in Rocky Hill.

Converting both parcels into a mixed-use condominium-office complex would help revitalize a key gateway to the city at the foot of Founders Bridge by bring more foot traffic to the plaza. It would also advance the mayor's goal of increasing homeownership in the city.

The school of Vedic sciences to its credit has been paying the city about $375,000 annually in property taxes on the empty 42-year-old building. But the building is deteriorating and is a blight on the plaza. The owner would get appraised market value if eminent domain powers were used.

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Another NYC bit of info.....

NYC residents pulled together when the city, state and goverment wanted to build a highway through lower Manhattan that would have destroyed areas like Little Italy, Chinatown and what is now known as SoHo. Residents fought for years and finally they won and a freeway was not built. SoHo thousands of historic buildings were preserved, artists, restaurants and botiques moved in. Chinatown is thriving today. This all would not have been possible if a highway was built...similar to a highway that was built through downtown Hartford.

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What Republican who would run for mayor in Hartford would feel that way? That's absurd. If you want to make that argument about a governor, fine, but no mayor wants business to leave a city! I'm a Republican. I live in Hartford. I work in Hartford. I want nothing more than to see Hartford thrive, and I despite the local-rule tradition in Connecticut that is in large part responsible to competition from suburbs for our tax revenue (e.g., WFSB's move to Rocky Hill). We need somebody who is business minded to make Hartford the place to do business. Then, support retail and restaurants to keep people downtown after hours. The mayor says that's his plan, but he is held back by his pandering to the unions. Moreover, we need a surge in policing. I know several people who would make the move downtown (lawyers, under 35) who are concerned that it is unsafe. Create all the restaurants, shops, even grocery stores you want ... if people don't feel safe, they won't move.
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