Well folks, here we go again. New London, Connecticut has announced another project in the Fort Trumbull area. Not the same area that was taken by eminent domain in Kelo v. New London, but as best we can figure it out, close by. So why are we writing about it? Because this bit of news is accompanied by whoop-tee-do cheers about what a great, fiscally sound place New London is. Check it out: Colin A. Young, New London Audit Reveals Nearly $850,000 Surplus, The Day, March 24 (revised 3/25) 2015. That title says it all. Click here, http://www.theday.com/local/20150324/new-london-audit-reveals-nearly-850000-surplus
What else is new in New London? We also learn from the local newspaper, The Day, that the grandly named Renaissance City Development Association (which is the new moniker for the old New London Redevelopment Corporation) has recommended to the city council that it approve an $18.4 million proposed new, nearby development consisting of 104 apartment units, two 12-unit townhouse structures, a clubhouse, etc. What is remarkable about it is the developer’s assessment of the situation in New London: “What attracted us was the growth of New London, the direction the whole city is going in. It’s a dynamic city, and we really wanted to be a part of it.” Colin A. Young, RCDA Sends Proposal for Fort Trumbull Development to City Council, The Day, March 24 (updated 3/25) 2015. Click here http://www.theday.com/local/20150324/rcda-sends-proposal-for-fort-trumbull-development-to-city-council
So let’s see now. When talking to the US Supreme Court (and the state courts) New London represented itself to be a down-at-the-heels burg, on its way down economically and socially, well on is way to hell in a handbasket, that could be rescued only by the grandiose Fort Trumbull redevelopment project (that would actually destroy an unoffending lower middle-class community to be replaced by upscale structures that would cater to the well-paid scientific employees at the nearby Pfizer pharmaceuticals research facility).
But as you probably know, that didn’t work out. The city and state blew some $100 million in public funds for the 91-acre site of that redevelopment, but its site where the home of Susette Kelo and her neighbors once stood (after blowing some $100 million in public funds), is a useless wasteland, generating no taxes and doing no one any good. As for Pfizer whose economic wellbeing and job creation was the ostensible purpose of that redevelopment project that was said to be the justification for the destruction of Susette Kelo’s neighborhood, it used up its tax advantages, and then moved out of New London, taking some 1400 jobs with it. But as you can see, New London is doing OK and the tale of imminent collapse it spun for the Supreme Court was just that — a tale.
And that, folks, is how the redevelopment game is played. Your tax money at work.