Housatonic Economic Development Council Told To Think Regionally

By Kaaren Valenta

Planning that crosses state lines is vital to economic development in Connecticut in the 21st Century.

 That theme resounded throughout a presentation December 3 by David Russell, director of intergovernmental affairs at the state Office of Policy and Management (OPM), at a meeting of the Housatonic Valley Economic Development Partnership at CL&P’s regional office in Newtown.

Mr Russell presented a report prepared for the Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21st Century, a coalition of public, private and institutional representatives formed to develop a framework for understanding economic activity and organizations in the state.

“One new creation we have in this study is the New Atlantic Triangle, an area which extends from Boston down through New York City to Northern New Jersey, and west to Albany, New York,” Mr Russell said. “It is part of a super region that extends from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Norfolk, Virginia, and west to Chicago and St Louis, Missouri.”

“It is extremely important [for Connecticut] to work with New York and New Jersey to build our economic future. To ignore them and consider ourselves only part of New England is a serious mistake,” he said. “We went into this thing thinking New England… and went out thinking the New Atlantic Triangle.”

Mr Russell said Connecticut’s educational system is among the best in the country as is its quality of life – the environment, culture, arts, and proximity to major and minor league sports. The major problem, particularly in the Housatonic Valley region, is congestion on Routes 34 to New Haven and Route 7 to Stamford/Norwalk, and the lack of a freight rail route across the Hudson River. Connecticut’s bridges are too low for rail traffic, and there is a lack of deep-water harbors east of the Hudson.

“Of vital importance is the super port planned for New York,” Mr Russell said. “This location was a decision by the major container corporations, who also considered ports along the East Coast. But because there are no significant rail crossings over the Hudson River, a firm that wants to ship goods from Shelton has to send them to Albany and then down to New York.”

Mr Russell said that Gov John Rowland has indicated that he intends to push for more cooperation with other states through his role as chairman of the New England Governor’s Council next year.

Although Connecticut has the highest per capita income in the country, it also has two of the poorest cities in the country, Mr Russell said, so there must be more emphasis on revitalizing the state’s urban areas.

“In Connecticut the growth center is Stamford, but the new economic center is New Haven, most notably Yale University,” he said. “That is the site of development of the biotech industry. Yale and UConn offer significant potential for economic development in this industry.”

Plans for a high speed train from Boston to New York already are causing the value of properties along the shoreline rails to go up, but the Danbury area’s primary connection south is by way of Route 684, not Route 7, he said.

Mr Russell’s remarks brought responses from Danbury Mayor Gene Eriquez, US Rep Jim Maloney, and Newtown First Selectman Herb Rosenthal. Mr Eriquez and Rep Maloney said the area needs to be more effectively connected to the shoreline communities.

“I know this is a sore point, but it has to be done,” Congressman Maloney said. “I’ve made repeated calls to the state Department of Transportation asking for a study to be done.”

Mr Rosenthal  said the Route 34 corridor needs to be improved because it is a winding two-lane road for most of its distance between Newtown and New Haven.

The institute report identified three principal economic regions that cross state lines: The coastal corridor from New Haven to New York through northern New Jersey; the central I-91 corridor through Hartford/Bradley/Springfield to Amherst, Mass.; and the southeast corridor from New London to Newport, R.I.  Waterbury and Danbury were identified as traditional economic centers that function somewhat independently, but need to strengthen their connections to the adjacent economic regions and the global marketplace.

The report urged the governor, legislator, local political leaders, and the private and institutional sectors to provide the partnership and collaborative approach needed to address economic opportunities from the perspectives of the state and the three economic regions.

“The institute has found that our historic approach to economic development, namely a series of aggressive but often unconnected plans and actions at multiple political levels, must be replaced by a more comprehensive and coordinated discipline to analysis, planning, and execution,” it concluded.

The Institute recommended development of a mechanism to develop more detailed strategies for addressing the economic challenges; adoption of a multi-modal transportation strategy; adoption of a plan to increase the number of engineering and other technical degrees generated by Connecticut’s schools; and support of the commercialization of technology created by the region’s institutional and private research activities.