Their Hands Weren’t Out

Urban leaders accompanied gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont to Science Park to praise his plans for cities — then said they’re not expecting an extra nickel to come their way.

That unconventional campaign script unfolded in New Haven Tuesday.

Lamont, one of two Democrats running for governor, held a press conference outside the high-tech incubator to unveil an urban agenda focused on school reform, mass transit, and gun control.

“When we talk about renewing our cities, we’re talking about renewing our state,” said Lamont.

“If you want our young people moving back to our state,” he said, ​“that starts with the cities” — and with schools parents feel comfortable sending their children.

Click here to read the full plan Lamont released Tuesday. (Click here for a previous story in which both Lamont and fellow Democratic candidate Dan Malloy discuss their different approaches to cities.)

Pressed by reporters about how he plans to pay for expensive new programs when the state’s broke, Lamont responded that many key ideas involve changing policy or shifting money around rather than raising revenues.

That prompted an unusual non-demand from two politicians standing by Lamont’s side, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano (at right in photo) and Hartford City Council President Pedro Segarra (at left).

(Click on the play arrow at the top of the story to watch excerpts from their remarks.)

“I certainly don’t have any expectations of [increased[ state funding,” DeStefano said. ​“We have to get our own house in order in the city” through reforming medical benefits, pension plans, and work rules for municipal employees. ​“That’s a reform we have to undertake to drive down our cost of doing government.”

Segarra spoke of how Hartford had to eliminate a looming $50 million budget deficit this year to avoid raising taxes. He said the city did so by ​“scrutinizing” how it spends money. Labor accounts for 80 percent of the city’s costs, he said, and that cost was going up 3 1/2 percent a year automatically.

Rather than count on cash-strapped governors to bail them out, municipal leaders need to ​“take responsibility for doing what we need to do on our end,” Segarra said.

DeStefano said Lamont has proved he can bring labor and government management together to figure out compromises to make such structural reforms. (An example: A ​“blueprint” he put out last year on reforming state finances.)

He also spoke of how the big changes needed to improve schools have to do with systems reform such as ​“how do we evaluate teachers?”

“The best thing that the state can do for New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury, is to get jobs created in the private sector,” the mayor said. ​“Without doing that, we can’t do anything.”

Lamont echoed those themes in presenting his seven-part urban agenda.

He spoke of shifting money now spent on trying to lure big companies to the state, over to retaining manufacturers and helping new businesses start, such as the technology companies hatching at New Haven’s Science Park, which inhabits the former Winchester rifle factory complex.

“Look at the thousands of jobs that have been created here,” Lamont said. ​“These are the jobs of the future.”

Science Park Development Corporation chief David Silverstone, present at the press conference, later said about 1,500 people work at the complex.

Like DeStefano, Lamont (pictured at the podium) argued that school reform is essential in luring jobs to cities, and that many of those changes — such as those required by the Obama administration’s ​“Race to The Top” funding competition — deal with policy and systems, not necessarily more cash. The ​“Transform Urban Education” section of his plan includes replicating New Haven’s new teachers union contract’s emphasis on ​“link[ing] teacher and student performance, turn[ing] around failing schools and help[ing] teachers excel.”

He called for sending retired execs as ​“ambassadors” to local manufacturers to keep them here and help them grow and using ​“the state’s purchasing power” and ​“expanding electronic health records” to help employers control health care costs.

On mass transit, he vowed to ​“make cities the hubs” for regional employment in part by issuing ​“smart cards” that commuters can use on both bus and rail; upgrading Waterbury’s rail network to the Naugatuck Valley, and emphasizing ​“transit-oriented development.” The latter idea means encouraging private builders to put officers or apartments or shops right next to train stations and help pay for transit improvements.

Other proposals included a new ​“registry of the state’s worst gun offenders” (Lamont didn’t have many details when pressed by the press) and at some point fully reimbursing cities for tax-exempt properties under the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program. Lamont acknowledged that the PILOT promise is a ​“goal,” not a result he can produce in his first years in office.

Dan Malloy issued a statement Tuesday afternoon in response to Lamont’s press conference:

“The state needs to do more to support our cities and urban areas, and I’m glad to see Ned taking an interest in that discussion. But urban revitalization requires a much more comprehensive, holistic approach than what Ned suggested today. I should know; I spent 14 years turning a city [Stamford] around.

“Yes, job creation is a huge piece of what we did; almost 5,000 new jobs. But that wouldn’t have been possible without the other issues we focused on: we lowered crime by 63 percent, expanded access to health insurance, made pre‑k available to all children, built thousands of units of
affordable housing, improved transportation and mass transit, dramatically overhauled the city’s infrastructure, and made government smaller and more effective. That’s why Stamford has been recognized as one of the safest, best cities in the nation.

“I welcome Ned to this discussion, and I again urge him to have that discussion with me in cities and towns across the state.”