Enfield Officials Investigate Economic Growth Strategies
James Bailey Brislin
The Carpet City Chronicle
The Enfield Press, May 1, 2008
“Policy can influence growth, either for good or ill, in many ways. The task is thus to try to exploit as many as possible of these avenues for good.“
-Arnold C. Harberger
As the current decade unfolded, Enfield has been challenged by the loss of major employers. Phoenix Life sold its Bright Meadow Boulevard campus, outsourced jobs, and consolidated its operations in Hartford. Lego Systems moved its assembly line and distribution operations to Mexico. Casual Corner liquidated its retail stores, eliminating the need for employees at its Enfield home office. Cuno was bought by 3M.
The departure of these businesses has been accompanied by major layoffs and significant unemployment. In recent years, Enfield has seen the loss of over 2,500 jobs. These declines have exacted a human and economic toll on the people of Enfield. We all know someone hurt by these departures.
However, the current town council has shown that it takes this issue seriously. At a meeting arranged by Sen. John A. Kissel (R-Enfield), town officials sat down with Economic Development Commissioner Joan McDonald to address these issues.
Commissioner McDonald is one of Gov. Rell’s most respected appointees. A skilled public administrator, she spent much of her career working at the MTA, in its Metro-North Railroad division. Last year, she was appointed to head the Department of Economic and Community Development.
The meeting produced some good suggestions about what can be done to promote economic growth. Let me add my two cents to the ideas offered:
(1) Public Integrity and Institutional Culture: The town council should continue its efforts to support transparency in government and promote public integrity. Public integrity gives businesses a green light to set up shop in Enfield, because they know that the application of laws and regulations will be fair and uniform. Recent transparency initiatives are a move in the right direction. Future efforts should include strengthening the ethics regulations and promoting awareness of ethics by town employees and elected officials. Additionally, the institutional culture of town government needs to become less bureaucratic and more customer friendly. Citizens and businesses are customers to be served, not subjects to be ruled. Efforts to promote public integrity and customer service will improve public perceptions of Enfield and contribute to economic growth.
(2) Zoning: Perhaps, the scarcest resource in the Enfield is land. The scarcity is exacerbated by state and local regulations that prohibit building on wetlands. Meanwhile, the town’s grand list has seen annual growth of 1%. In effect, we can no longer build out; we have run out of land. Consequently, the only place left to build is up. Unfortunately, Enfield’s zoning code prohibits the construction of buildings taller than three stories. However, Thompsonville is ideally situated for such an enterprise. It features an urban streetscape built on high ground. The urban streetscape provides streetfront commercial space for the kinds of businesses frequented by young professionals. With high ground comes the ability to franchise views from high-rise condominiums. There is no reason why builders cannot construct high rise condos that are as spacious and luxurious as single family housing.
Some will ask, “Who would want to live there and why?” Who? That is a realistic question; most Enfield residents do not harbor dreams of high-rise condos. However, many of them have children and grandchildren who do. Eventually they will tire of exorbitant rents in D.C., New York and Boston and want to return home. Why would they want to live there? The assumptions that inspired the growth of suburbs are no longer valid. (a) Gasoline is no longer affordable. (b) As the internet and the global economy have shattered the forty-hour work week, work has crept into time traditionally dedicated to do-it-yourself home repair and chores. People no longer have time for the rituals of gardening and mowing their lawns. (c) Land in the suburbs is no longer cheap. Although these are fairly recent changes, they are expected to have a durable lifespan.
The expansion of the twenty-something population is crucial to the expansion of jobs. Employers want to draw from a stable population of educated people.
(3) Taxes: State and municipal governments need to take steps to establish a tax environment more favorable to business. Money held by business creates far more jobs than money held by government. Thus, the imperative to keep money in the hands of the job creators is obvious.
Connecticut has some of the best schools in the country. However, the high taxes used to fund these schools have made our children an export class of their own. It is a blight upon our state that its native sons must go elsewhere to find employment.
Controlling taxes means saying “no” to union greed. In the past decade, liberal politicians have attempted to curry favor with state and municipal unions by implementing wage and benefit increases well in excess of inflation. This cannot continue; the tax increases are unsustainable and will continue to be met with declining revenue growth.
It is easier for politicians to support pro-growth policies when they have the backing of their constituents. If any of these ideas catch your fancy, make sure you let your councilman and state representative know. Their names and addresses are available on the town website, http://www.enfield-ct.gov/.
April 30, 2008
Enfield Officials Investigate Economic Growth Strategies
Posted by James Bailey Brislin under Commentary & Politics, Connecticut, Enfield, The Enfield Press, Town Council | Tags: Assumptions, Bureaucracy, Business Climate, Casual Corner, Connecticut, Cuno, Customer Service, DECD, Department of Economic and Community Development, Economic Growth, Employeres, Enfield, Ethics, Expansion of Jobs, High-Rise Construction in Enfield, Institutional Culture of Town Government, Joan McDonald, Land Management, Layoffs, Lego Systems, Millenial Generation, Phoenix Life Insurance, Public Integrity, Sen. John A. Kissel, Smart Growth, Suburbanizations, Taxes, The Dirt Gap, Thompsonville, Transparency, Unemployment, Union Greed, Urban Streetscape, Zoning |Leave a Comment
Enfield Officials Investigate Economic Growth Strategies
James Bailey Brislin
The Carpet City Chronicle
The Enfield Press, May 1, 2008
“Policy can influence growth, either for good or ill, in many ways. The task is thus to try to exploit as many as possible of these avenues for good.“
-Arnold C. Harberger
As the current decade unfolded, Enfield has been challenged by the loss of major employers. Phoenix Life sold its Bright Meadow Boulevard campus, outsourced jobs, and consolidated its operations in Hartford. Lego Systems moved its assembly line and distribution operations to Mexico. Casual Corner liquidated its retail stores, eliminating the need for employees at its Enfield home office. Cuno was bought by 3M.
The departure of these businesses has been accompanied by major layoffs and significant unemployment. In recent years, Enfield has seen the loss of over 2,500 jobs. These declines have exacted a human and economic toll on the people of Enfield. We all know someone hurt by these departures.
However, the current town council has shown that it takes this issue seriously. At a meeting arranged by Sen. John A. Kissel (R-Enfield), town officials sat down with Economic Development Commissioner Joan McDonald to address these issues.
Commissioner McDonald is one of Gov. Rell’s most respected appointees. A skilled public administrator, she spent much of her career working at the MTA, in its Metro-North Railroad division. Last year, she was appointed to head the Department of Economic and Community Development.
The meeting produced some good suggestions about what can be done to promote economic growth. Let me add my two cents to the ideas offered:
(1) Public Integrity and Institutional Culture: The town council should continue its efforts to support transparency in government and promote public integrity. Public integrity gives businesses a green light to set up shop in Enfield, because they know that the application of laws and regulations will be fair and uniform. Recent transparency initiatives are a move in the right direction. Future efforts should include strengthening the ethics regulations and promoting awareness of ethics by town employees and elected officials. Additionally, the institutional culture of town government needs to become less bureaucratic and more customer friendly. Citizens and businesses are customers to be served, not subjects to be ruled. Efforts to promote public integrity and customer service will improve public perceptions of Enfield and contribute to economic growth.
(2) Zoning: Perhaps, the scarcest resource in the Enfield is land. The scarcity is exacerbated by state and local regulations that prohibit building on wetlands. Meanwhile, the town’s grand list has seen annual growth of 1%. In effect, we can no longer build out; we have run out of land. Consequently, the only place left to build is up. Unfortunately, Enfield’s zoning code prohibits the construction of buildings taller than three stories. However, Thompsonville is ideally situated for such an enterprise. It features an urban streetscape built on high ground. The urban streetscape provides streetfront commercial space for the kinds of businesses frequented by young professionals. With high ground comes the ability to franchise views from high-rise condominiums. There is no reason why builders cannot construct high rise condos that are as spacious and luxurious as single family housing.
Some will ask, “Who would want to live there and why?” Who? That is a realistic question; most Enfield residents do not harbor dreams of high-rise condos. However, many of them have children and grandchildren who do. Eventually they will tire of exorbitant rents in D.C., New York and Boston and want to return home. Why would they want to live there? The assumptions that inspired the growth of suburbs are no longer valid. (a) Gasoline is no longer affordable. (b) As the internet and the global economy have shattered the forty-hour work week, work has crept into time traditionally dedicated to do-it-yourself home repair and chores. People no longer have time for the rituals of gardening and mowing their lawns. (c) Land in the suburbs is no longer cheap. Although these are fairly recent changes, they are expected to have a durable lifespan.
The expansion of the twenty-something population is crucial to the expansion of jobs. Employers want to draw from a stable population of educated people.
(3) Taxes: State and municipal governments need to take steps to establish a tax environment more favorable to business. Money held by business creates far more jobs than money held by government. Thus, the imperative to keep money in the hands of the job creators is obvious.
Connecticut has some of the best schools in the country. However, the high taxes used to fund these schools have made our children an export class of their own. It is a blight upon our state that its native sons must go elsewhere to find employment.
Controlling taxes means saying “no” to union greed. In the past decade, liberal politicians have attempted to curry favor with state and municipal unions by implementing wage and benefit increases well in excess of inflation. This cannot continue; the tax increases are unsustainable and will continue to be met with declining revenue growth.
It is easier for politicians to support pro-growth policies when they have the backing of their constituents. If any of these ideas catch your fancy, make sure you let your councilman and state representative know. Their names and addresses are available on the town website, http://www.enfield-ct.gov/.