$500 Million not enough? Here’s over $700 Million
Why does the CT continue to prop up Bridgeport and turn a blind eye to its many misdeeds? In the state’s attempts to reform to meet today’s challenges, recent school construction contracts show its biggest obstacles come from within.
In Connecticut, Democrats and the construction industry have formed a troubling alliance, leveraging control over a few key committees and obscure state agencies to build endlessly, regardless of broader priorities. This system, in place since the post-WWII era, spans party lines and gubernatorial administrations. It is rooted in decades of entrenched practices that exert enormous control in Hartford. The governor and elected officials have virtually no ability to effect change, as they cannot impact the systems in place. In fact, the grip has tightened as builders look to make their 2025 wish list a reality, at the expense of CT’s 3.6 million residents. A close reading of their lengthy punch lists embedded in bills before us, ready to become law, paints a downright dystopian future. It is the blueprint for hundreds, even thousands of buildings throughout CT’s 169 towns. Higher, denser construction. Total control of the code from Hartford. Sterile architectural erections that are nothing more than white boxes in the sky when you strip off their facade. The bigger the better: a nice home might be 3,000 square feet; a building may be 300,000 square feet — 100x larger. Where would you be as a builder?
The trouble is that the beast is insatiable. This huge, multibillion-dollar industry constantly needs projects. The result is that this massive machine, with so many players and increasingly limited opportunity, has no regard for people, the environment, or even its own employees, but itself, and money. There is no limit to the greed and gluttony for the handful at the top.
You get a situation where they can exert total control (Bridgeport) and go back to the well again and again. It doesn’t matter that it’s six schools, including a special needs center. It may need little more than lipstick and rouge, or maybe there is mold or a leaky roof. Parents and a student said one school had a hole in the bathroom wall and needed an ADA ramp, but the fact that these aren’t fixed is more of an issue of apathy than ability. We don’t know until we inspect it for ourselves. If they need anything it’s energy audits, so they can replace the window-unit A/Cs and fossil-fuel boilers in the basement, for starters. None of them have had the proper HVAC or energy-production investments over the years to be smart buildings, because maintenance and upgrades aren’t as profitable as new construction.
In ancient Rome, public service was considered the highest calling. Contrast that with today, where the countless dedicated public servants fighting to improve our lives are often overshadowed by systemic inefficiency and corruption. These individuals — the 99.9% working to make a difference — deserve better. Even our elected officials’ pay is kept artificially low; a state senator makes just $40,000 for a two-year term. They are forced to find other sources of income, making their public service a side hustle, or opening themselves up to be influenced, as they need the money. And there are many ways bad actors will leverage that. We should increase our elected officials’ pay to a living wage, and ask them not to do other jobs or take money, especially campaign funds. Then we can have career public servants instead of career politicians.
Q: The state of CT is fully aware of Bridgeport’s methods of operation. Why does it allow it to go on unabated?
A: It is universally agreed that the pursuit of power and/or money (usually money) drives virtually all of the world’s actions.
Political Control Means Power
Maintaining Bridgeport as 100% Democratic ensures the party’s dominance in Hartford, where Democrats hold a 2:1 supermajority. With this power, they can override vetoes and control the legislative agenda, silencing dissenting voices, even within their own ranks. Party members who challenge the status quo risk being “primaried out,” replaced by handpicked candidates loyal to the establishment. They have no tolerance for new voices or outside opinions. I approached both parties when running for office earlier this year and neither party wanted anything to do with me.
Dems keep Bridgeport painted solidly blue. Its 20-person city council doesn’t include a single Republican or independent representative. This political strength dates back to Bridgeport’s days as Connecticut’s manufacturing hub and its deep ties to labor unions. There is a long trail of electoral misdeeds predating the recent arrest of the mayor’s campaign staffers. They — and the mayor — were just doing what they were told and have always done.
Political Control Means Money
Bridgeport is CT’s Old Faithful geyser for large-scale construction projects, primarily schools. In just the past 25 years, the allocation of massive capital improvement funds worth hundreds of millions has drawn Hartford-centric contractors and developers like bees to honey. Large, well-built schools like Cesar Batttaglia, Harding, Bullard-Havens, the new Bassick under construction on the south side… It’s a long list of expensive new builds of dubious necessity. Today, as just one unneeded eyesore, Harding sits vacant, a waste of perfectly usable space that could be anything, such as a school, again.
Routine maintenance, conversion to energy smart buildings, and especially more and better-paid teachers and paras would accomplish the real goal to make the schools better. Train moms & dads of the students who live in the neighborhood for the needed skills. Now, a handful of individuals and their companies are swimming in it, while untold thousands of students get a substandard education. The district fights for every scrap for teachers and paras: the boots on the ground that make the difference. It is obscene that right before our eyes, schools are closed solely for the purpose of building new ones. There’s not even a PTA on the East end of Bridgeport. Many of the parents are minorities working multiple jobs who don’t even speak English at home. How can the children possibly get a high-quality education when their parents are so disenfranchised from the schools? It has nothing to do with education and everything with the priorities of who’s running the show in this state.
The Problem: A System Stuck in the Past
Connecticut’s governance operates like a relic of a bygone era, where state agencies with arcane names like the Office of Policy & Management (OPM) and Department of Administrative Services (DAS), plus the grandaddy of them all, the Department of Transportation (DOT), function as independent fiefdoms. Despite Google now making information accessible and interconnected, these agencies cling to outdated methods, burying critical public data under mountains of inaccessible paperwork. This opaque system thrives on stifling progress through secrecy and inefficiency. To boot, most operate with a philosophy of willful ignorance, i.e., Hear no evil. Even then, like when it turns out that Bridgeport gave the new Bassick school asbestos abatement contract to a firm for millions of dollars over another’s bid, no action is taken to remedy the process. There’s no accountability and nothing changes.
Proposed Solutions
- Restore the 8 Counties. The Council of Governments (COG) pilot program has caused significant harm. COG split Fairfield county in two. In addition, it combined Hartford and Tolland (UConn) counties to create a super-region called the Capital District. It is fake – UConn is not part of the Hartford market. The only ones as good at getting federal money as politicians is higher education. So UConn and the Capital District formed an unholy alliance. You can look at the contracts and bids from each of the States “regions”. You’ll see the Capital region going great guns and receiving awards and grants, while the Metro region flatlines. Reestablishing Connecticut’s historical counties would bring governance and accountability and end Fairfield County discrimination.
- Make Public Information Accessible, like who’s the money and members behind many LLCs. Now, it’s almost impossible to find who the officers really are. Stop burying documents. Digitizing and indexing public records would expose questionable deals before they start, fostering transparency and accountability. This is a new age but the system is still stuck in the past, retaining control by keeping everyone in the dark. If you don’t want something online, it makes everybody think you’re hiding something. There should be no private records, except for things that have to be redacted, in the public sector.
- Electoral Reform. Introduce measures to ensure fair elections, prevent corruption, and encourage diverse voices within the political system. I ran for office as a non-affiliated candidate in the 21st District Senate special election just to see it from the inside. I also filed a complaint concerning it. The major parties are supposed to nurture and encourage engagement, not treat everyone as competition . The ruling Democratic party has made it prohibitive to even appear on the ballot, much less educate the public to have a fair chance to win. Dems have a big mouth and iron fists but are blind and deaf, and like it that way. GOP’s hands are dirty, too; witness the recent CT Senate special election, where the party held its convention at of all places, Testo’s, in Monroe.
- Reorganize State Agencies. Remove purchasing authority from state departments like DOT, OPM, and DAS. These departments need to be streamlined and integrated, not run like personal kingdoms, with a reminder of what public service is all about.
- Regional Oversight for Bridgeport. Make Bridgeport a ward of Fairfield County. The 22 neighboring towns should take shared responsibility for its finances, education, and social services, ensuring greater oversight and resources. Develop New Park City on the east side, focused on homeownership and community investment to revitalize the area. The residents there have suffered injustices and discrimination for far too long. Not unimportantly, Eversource and Avangrid are responsible for a lot of those environmental injustices and should be held accountable
- Establish a People’s Authority municipal utility for water, electricity and other energy needs. Fairfield county is currently the victim of a duopoly of Eversource and Avangrid for electricity, with decisions coming from elected officials and agencies they control, like PURA. For water, a sketchy deal between Eversource and the New Haven-county Regional Water Authority aims to claim the water rights for all of Fairfield county, Losing control of the drinking water, lead levels, plastics, water tables, filtering, cybersecurity and more to a distant money-making entity is not in the best interests of the 1 million people of the county.
- Energy and Environmental Justice Plan. Create a comprehensive plan to address climate and energy challenges while ensuring environmental equity. The goal is for Connecticut to be 100% renewable energy in 15 years; we are now at 3%. As just one example, all six of the aforementioned schools could be converted into smart buildings, with modern HVAC and sustainable energy, like geothermal, solar, and batteries. They could be energy positive, meaning they produce more than they consume, and can distribute surplus to the neighborhood. It’s called community sharing and it’s a big piece of gaining energy Independence and not being reliant on fossil fuel companies.
- Job Training Programs.Expand training in construction, healthcare, education, and social services to prepare residents for meaningful careers. Again, the schools are a perfect place to start, using parents at night school. It would mostly be women in education, healthcare and social services coursework, and construction for the men. This obviously would mingle but such is the nature of each gender. UConn should have night school and training in these subjects to improve the schools themselves. If they won’t do it, then we should form an allegiance with the SUNY system of New York, which is outstanding.
- Restore Local Control Over Development. Prevent industrial interests from dictating local policies. Communities will have the final say in their planning and development. The way it is now is nothing short of tyranny.
- Establish County Services. Create a centralized county services hub to increase efficiency, communication, and accountability across jurisdictions. Award contracts and oversight to Fairfield County companies.
- Make the state’s Elections Division and SEEC independent, with real teeth. Act on long-standing documentation of financial improprieties in Bridgeport politics. In other words, stop pretending that they don’t exist, investigate them properly, and start earning the public’s trust back.
- Victim’s Fund: Establish a fund to reimburse individuals who may have been coerced into contributing to Mayor Ganim’s campaign during the recent mayoral race. Over 300 contributions were made, many of which raise concerns about whether they were given entirely of free will. These donors include city employees, retirees, out-of-town vendors, huge corporations, and others with vested interests in Bridgeport. If even one donor felt pressured—be it through coercion, patronage, or undue influence—that is one too many. The last election saw contributions from a wide range of individuals, from janitors and retirees to large corporations. County Services could take the lead in contacting these contributors, offering them the opportunity to reclaim their donations anonymously, should they wish to do so. Everyone deserves the right to give freely, without fear of pressure or obligation.
- Joe Must Go: Mayor Ganim must step aside to address the serious questions around the purchase of 37 Thorne Place. St. Mary’s by the Sea, Black Rock, Bridgeport, just for starters. As previously reported, he bought a beautiful home on the water for less than half of its list price; secured a whopping 67% property tax reduction, from $30,000 to $10,000 a year, then flipped it to sell for over a million dollars. Plus, there was a valuable hidden lot reported as worth nothing, and, maybe most egregiously, city officials were ordered to alter official records. This has nothing to do with elections but a lot to do with financial & tax fraud.
Source: www.landworks-studio.com, Robert Benson Photography
