The Day, the New London, Connecticut, newspaper brings us the latest dispatch from New London, Connecticut. The New London Developmemt Corporation, those wonderful folks who gave us the wretched Kelo case, in which they sold their planned vision of the Fort Trumbull redevelopment project to the U.S. Supreme Court as being so great and so carefully thought out that it was above and beyond judicial review. As our readers know, the redeveloment project went nowhere, a viable lower middle-class neighborhood was destroyed, and some $80 to $100 million in public funds, was wasted, with nothing to show for it.
Now, the NLDC is in trouble. We quote from K. Edgecomb, NLDC’s Budget is Down to “Bare Minimum,” The Day, Nov. 7, 2009:
“It’s a long way from the heady days of 10 years ago.
“Back then, the New London Development Corp. had about $130 million is state money and private donations and an operating budget of more than $400,000 to develop Fort Trumbull and the state pier, revitalize downtown, finish the Waterfront Park and overhaul Ocean Beach Park.
“On Friday morning the NLDC executive committee proposed to reduce the annual operating budget to $142,000 and recommended [that] the executive director become part-time and the financial officer be contracted for just 20 hours per month.”
No comment appears necessary, but we can’t help wondering about the identity of the folks who came through with those “private donations.” Could it have been the Pfizer company?