the challenge
The economy of Hartford, CT is slowly dying. The city government has been near bankruptcy for many years. Major corporate HQ’s and small businesses continue to leave (although we caught a break with Aetna) and the downtown office vacancy rate continues to climb, further depressing property values and tax revenues for city government. Why is this happening to a city which was once one of the wealthiest in the country? There are many historical reasons why this has happened, yet one thing stands out as a major contributor of today’s challenges, is that an overwhelming number of Hartford’s residents live in poverty. Combined with a high property tax mill rate, most small businesses cannot be profitable in the Hartford economy and many have left or closed their doors for good. Thriving small businesses are necessary for a successful urban area.
The property tax system in Connecticut doesn’t support urban areas, all of which suffer from decades of high mill rates and a lack of services. Millennials are fleeing the state looking for real opportunities and good paying jobs in modern, innovative urban centers.
Our vision
We propose to redevelop Hartford into a modern, transit-oriented city that will attract young adults and the companies that seek to employ them. This would include high-speed rail from NYC to Hartford and Boston, high-speed internet throughout the city using fiber optics, development of the new road systems needed for self-driving cars, and a public transit system that eliminates the need to own or park a car in the city. This TOD redevelopment of Hartford should also include a redeveloped Brainerd Airport that is ready for the personal air-based transportation innovations of the future.
Why choose between New York or Boston when you can have both. Greater Hartford is in a prime region centrally located between the global cities of New York and Boston and close to many natural recreation resources including ocean beaches and mountains. A proposed high-speed rail project could move employees from either location to Hartford in less than an hour. CT is known for its high quality of life. We can re-develop the Greater Hartford region as a modern, quality place to live and as a profitable place for businesses to locate.
REDEVELOP ALL OF HARTFORD'S BLIGHTED PROPERTY
The city of Hartford owns a significant amount of blighted properties throughout the city's neighborhoods. The city is broke and cannot make the investment necessary to redevelop any of these properties using traditional methods. The Hartford Development Co-Op will purchase these properties and redevelop them in partnership with the neighborhoods, the NRZs and merchant associations. The city would gain revenue from the sale (as well as from the licenses, permits and fees) and the properties would be renovated and leased out to new tenants, generating income for the Development Co-Op to pay back the loan, maintain the properties as well as generate profit and dividends.
What is a Citizen Land Development Cooperative (CLDC)?
A CLDC is a for-profit, professionally-managed, citizen-owned-and-governed community land planning and development enterprise, designed to enable every citizen of a community of any size to acquire a direct ownership stake in local land, natural resources and basic infrastructure.
A CLDC is a unique business centered solution to a centuries old problem of income disparity and redistribution of wealth to ensure continued success for EVERYONE!
An innovative legal and financing tool empowered to borrow with pre-tax dollars on behalf of all citizen-shareholders to meet the capitalization and operational needs of the cooperative. The CLDC shelters from taxation the equity accumulations of citizen-shareholders and protects the outside assets of the citizens in the event of loan default or if the enterprise fails.
A means for every man, woman and child, as a fundamental right of citizenship, to gain a single lifetime, non-transferable ownership interest in all the cooperative’s assets, share equally in property incomes from rentals and user fees from leases or use of the cooperative’s assets, accumulate appreciated equity values from enhanced land values, and gain an owner’s voice in the governance of future land development.
What is a Citizen Land Development Cooperative NOT?
It is not socialism or communism (which are systems based on the abolition of private property in the means of production). It does not take away property rights from present owners, nor does it redistribute current accumulations of wealth or income.
It is not the Wall Street model of capitalism (where ownership of the means of production and ownership power are concentrated in the top 1% of society and artificial barriers exclude non-owners from equal ownership opportunities).
It is not a non-profit Community Investment Corporation, Community Land Trust, Land Foundation or any other legal vehicle in which ownership of land, natural resources and basic community infrastructure are owned collectively (i.e., where no one has a property stake) or by any state monopoly income.
Make the Vision a Reality in 3 easy steps!
Help us create the development co-op and join Hartford development