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Bridgeport Unmasked
Bridgeport Public Librarian Adam Cleri hosts talks & interviews on all things about Bridgeport, CT, the Park City!
Bridgeport Unmasked
Mayor Ganim on Bridgeport Organizations
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim joins Librarian Adam Cleri to talk about happenings at extraordinary Bridgeport organizations.
For more information about mentioned organizations:
MIRA (Mayor's Initiative for Re-entry Affairs): https://www.bridgeportct.gov/government/departments/mayors-initiative-reentry-affairs
Bridgeport International Academy bridgeportacademy.org
DSSD/Colorful Bridgeport colorfulbridgeport.com
Bridgeport Public Library bportlibrary.org
Hello everyone, and welcome to Bridgeport Unmasked, the Bridgeport Public Library podcast about all things Bridgeport. Today I am joined here in the Beardsley Brand Studio by Mayor Joe Gannum, Mayor of the City of Bridgeport. And we're going to talk about extraordinary organizations doing excellent things in Bridgeport, Connecticut. So please stick around.
SPEAKER_00:Stupid joke that uh I don't get credit for the good weather, but when it storms or there's a flood or something like that, uh Mary gets blamed. But um yeah, uh in a serious note, I don't know when this is gonna air, but you know, it's it's always good to remind, especially when we anticipate the weather changing. Um it can get cold fast. Um I don't know if we're getting ice, what we're getting for, snow. It's gonna be sloppy, it's uncomfortable. If you have anything that might be, you know, something I don't want to say a physical handicap, a disability, but if you're like me, adverse to in inclement weather that can be more hazardous, you know, stay home. Stay home and check on other people too, even if it doesn't get bad, bad, bad, like it could be in other parts of the country right now.
SPEAKER_01:Oh no, absolutely. Um uh you know, tough weather is uh no joke, and please drive carefully as well. Um, so yeah, but uh we are here today at uh Beardsley Branch Library, and uh we're in one of the two podcast studios here at the library. Um so Mayor Ganem, I understand that you might be looking into doing dabbling in podcasting yourself and doing some uh work in that area. Have you have you made any thoughts about what you might want to be doing? Absolutely awesome.
SPEAKER_00:I am inspired. First of all, thanks for having me, Adam. Of course. And uh the British Republic Library, this podcast studio. I know there's a video being made, but I don't think it's gonna be part of what's uh put out there. But the room, uh just described inadequately my words, is just I mean, it's really cool. I mean, be and the colors and just the way it's designed, it's comfortable and it's state of the art, and it is giving you or giving us the opportunity to talk uh to you um with a venue I never would have even thought about. So I don't know what I'm thinking about with podcasts, but when I was talking to our head librarian, and I'll tell you what I kind of a roundabout way to get it my thoughts in about the library, when I uh complimented her about the great um library system that we have. Certainly in the buildings and the facilities just being a prime example, brands new state of the art uh for podcasts, but the entire branch, I call this the Upper East Side Branch, I guess is what we're talking about. Um the uh new Newfield branch, state of the art beautiful, right off of Stratford Avenue in the East End. The North End branch, which is, you know, it's just a beautiful building. It's it's more than a couple years old now, but it's still brand new. Downtown, the historic downtown main branch, right next door to our offices, 999 Broad Street, right next door, um, are part of one of the best, I say the best library system in the state. And so that the building parts, but Adam to you and to the library head librarian and everybody that makes up the system, uh, it's because of the quality individuals that care and are part of the library system here. So thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thank you very much for that. But it's also our connections uh to the community, and uh we are going to have a number of uh or organizations in the community uh mentioned today that uh we work pretty closely with and that help people. Uh one in particular is uh we are uh trying to work with uh Mira, the uh mayor's initiative for re-entry affairs. Um, absolutely, absolutely. And um uh helping people get uh back on their feet. Um and um the reason I bring them up specifically is that um we're we're looking to make make an agreement where we the two of the library and Mira can help patrons get um technology assistance and even access to devices that they wouldn't otherwise. Uh now um uh Mayor Ganon, I know uh this recording devices and podcasts, that type of device, or um if I if I understand correctly, more like refurbished laptops and and and uh and yeah, no, um uh computers um uh ideally to take out. Uh uh that's still a work in progress there. Uh but uh but uh could you um I know I know Mira was uh one of your projects. Uh you started that back in 2016. Could you tell us more about what you thought it would be then and how it's come now?
SPEAKER_00:Very important. Trying to reduce the barriers, eliminate the obstacles for reentry. Um numbers, just short two or three sentences on perspective. It's estimated that you have about a thousand uh individuals returning citizens on an annual every year on an annual basis to Bridgeport. Also, similar statistics for Hartford, New Haven, uh, I think Waterbury as well. So so what Myra is able to do, there's a welcoming center now in um Give Career Resources and Scott Wilderman a lot of credit and other organizations that say, hey, wait a minute, it's not only better and the right thing to do to say to someone, whatever your situation was, you're on your way out, you're you're paid your debt to society, whatever it is, and it's in everybody's best interest for that person, that individual, that return citizen to succeed. Um it's it's somebody contributing as opposed to being a ch a challenge to society. There's a family, there's always some semblance of a family, it could be father, mother, son, brother, sister, whatever. Uh then they're part of a neighborhood and are in a city, so it's it's real important. And um the Meyer program um has, I think, blossomed even more in the last couple of years. I don't have the statistics off the top of my head, uh, hundreds of to thousands of individuals that have um sought and received some level of of support. It doesn't have to be financial support, although sometimes it is. It it's um uh it goes all the way to preparation for and practically placement uh in in very um very desirable uh fields of employment. And the trade unions have been great, uh other organizations that partner uh with us, the state of Connecticut has been real really forward, I think, on the concept of re-entry and the element of um of not only uh uh punishment, the punitive aspects, but the rehabilitative aspects of of all the money that we spend on on uh uh uh individuals before the returning citizens. Incarceration and judicial system and and just take one little segue here, and and and this is not taking credit, but it's an observation that um impacts the library as well. Um in general, you know, one of the things that's going on in the city of Bridgeport, I think when we get beyond the library system, which I want to talk about a little bit more, uh that's going on right now, is that the city is probably at its um uh safest levels um with relation to what we look at as metrics for incidents that are happening that you know might uh uh involve a crime, um violent or nonviolent anything, or at its lowest levels historically, and we'll talk more about that. Um and uh Myra, I think um, you know, uh again, recidivism, reduction uh plays a uh a role in that. We think on the on the positive end plays a real constructive role.
SPEAKER_01:Myra does uh whole bunch of things from uh you know uh resume help to behavior health uh is assistance. So uh another thing that uh the City of Bridgeport uh has done uh recently uh is created the Bridgeport Promise Program. Uh for those of you listening, especially uh students in Bridgeport High Schools and people with high school students in their circle, the Bridgeport Promise Program is a uh financial assistance program to that can be used towards college and university costs. Mayor Gain, what what can you tell us about?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely, and you know, so you you you capture for a couple minutes concept and hopefully, in fact, understanding awareness of the MIRA program and you know on that end of the spectrum what it does to kind of help um individuals uh reintegrate back and become positive, productive citizens and all that, which is critically important. The promise program is way, way, way at the beginning. And it's like you're coming out of high school in Bridgeport, Bridgeport Public Schools, and um we've set a uh an opportunity, a goal and an opportunity for you. Um we're calling it the Promise Program, the Bridgeport Promise Program, and it says to you as a Bridgeport public school student, um if you want to pursue um a higher education and um you uh have a need, a financial need, and that you meet a criteria, uh uh then we will give you the opportunity to reduce, hopefully eliminate what would be a financial financial barrier to taking that individual taking the next step. It's money, uh the city put aside a million and a half dollars. Um and I'm not clear whether there's other public money from the Board of Ed, and still trying to get uh that defined, but then it is a philanthropic effort, uh fundraising with nonprofits to people that want to help continue to support, creating the opportunity for a Bridgeport high school student graduating from one of our high schools who wants to go on to college for whatever career it is, um, to be able to fill the gap on with some financial support uh in the form of scholarships.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, obviously a very important program for students. Uh also kind of an uh interesting story there of how something starts as an idea and goes through city hall channels and then actually becomes a thing. So uh no, no, uh pretty impressive program there. Uh that was uh just recently done, right?
SPEAKER_00:Uh relatively Well, you you you know, this the the motion you made with ups and downs, that was like three, four, five years.
SPEAKER_01:Okay because fair enough, fair enough.
SPEAKER_00:But uh uh unusually government is usually nuanced and and and and you know slow, but you gotta remember we did have a couple years of COVID there. Sure. Because we started um uh getting our arms around the concept pre-COVID, and then you know everything literally went dark, we know in the whole world. So um it took us a little bit of time to to restart it, and then I think to get the right partners. Um, even though we had examples and we, you know, we interviewed, for instance, there's New Haven Promise and Waterbury Promise and Heartfruit Promise. Um, we modeled ours mostly after the Waterbury Promise, but also got technical support from uh New Haven. So it's that kind of effort. And I'm actually, you know, I'll do it right here. I don't know who listens to this, but advocate for what I thought was a concept before Mayor O'Leary from Waterbury uh retired. He called me one point and thought it'd be a great idea if with all the big cities, and and it could extend beyond the cities, but there's the greater financial need in the city maybe than some other communities, certainly in our ring communities, um, to um to put in a state uh what do they call a line item uh in a bill that says, you know, promise money and will match, you know, it could be a moving target or a stable number, whatever, but it will match uh the contributions made on a local level to create even uh uh a higher ability to contribute, whether it's number of students or whether it's amount of dollars per student. And I think it'd be great, and I'm gonna advocate for that in this next legislative session.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, no, absolutely. Um, and I mean this this uh certainly doesn't take place inside a vacuum, and it's not the only thing that's going on uh education-wise. Uh one of the one of the bigger stories I I'd say of recent times is the new Bullard Avens Technical High School. Cool, right? Uh yeah, no, no, that's pretty that's pretty awesome. I hope I get the an opportunity to visit as a librarian because I do visit uh, for example, uh I've taught a number of uh research lessons at uh Bridgeport International Academy, which is an interesting school. You know, some uh some of its students are taken uh uh excuse me, live in Bridgeport, and others uh have come uh from from other countries. Including Spain, Haiti, Uganda, Vietnam, Canada, and many others besides. For more information, feel free to check out Bridgeport Academy.org. But anyways, um I I did want to ask, like, what where do we stand on the New Haven uh I'm sorry, where do we stand on the new Bullard Haven's uh technical high school? Um I know uh all I know is the very basics. It's a technical high school focuses on teaching high school students 13 different um uh technical fields. Uh what else is going on there?
SPEAKER_00:Sure. I mean it is uh it was an exciting day. I used the word amazing. Someone said exciting milestone, and I said let's make it one word amazing. It's an amazing new physical structure that provides in the area of high school, direct high school uh uh through high school uh uh uh trades. And so you can't get that at uh the other high schools in Bridgeport and a lot of high schools across the state and country. It's specifically focused on, and I go there, uh they I laugh because at the graduation I said you don't recognize me without my white apron on because I come and bake there. Oh nice they teach them you know culinary skills and baking and um uh how to build a house. You can hire, you can hire, you and I, anybody could hire a bird haven't you have to wait in line, but they charge you nominally just for the materials, and they'll design and build, let's say, a garage for you. Um, you know, it may not be done in four weeks, it might take four months or longer, but you know, they create those opportunities, they create um mechanics, uh plumbers, electricians, I don't know all the trades, I assume. And that is it's a phenomenal opportunity, uh especially because it's in contained within the high school uh uh curriculum. Uh so that you're when you finish high school, you're you know, you're there. Uh you know, again mentioned trade unions, they've they they contribute and provide some training for individuals uh in the in the trades, but to get it right in high school like you do there is unbelievable. Um the in and three months before that, and Boathaven's technical schools uh is part of the state uh technical high schools, it's a state high school. But just two months before that, we opened the new Basic High School, which is right down the road. And when I spoke there, I said, you know, within a triangle, we're here at Boathaven's, and I could almost throw a stone, I was exaggerating, down to um to Harding, off over to the right, which really was close and is close. And the new Harding is fantastic. It's got um one of the uh uh stock rooms where the you know it looks like the stock market going around. If I wish I had known that, learned something in high school about stocks, I probably would have saved money coming out. But and then Bassick, just right next to and on the campus of the University of Bridgeport and Seaside Park. Brand new state-of-the-art school. I mean, when I walked through Bullard Havens, I was in awe, but it reminded me very much of the awe that I saw at Bassing High School just a few months uh earlier. So that's a real um, those are real statements about um uh the commitment that um I want to be a part of and lead on um with our education system to have the best quality physical structures and then of course to build in the classroom the best opportunity for our students to be successful. The promise program on the back end of that is is important. Uh the academics there, and I think it was pointed out the technical stuff that you can learn that right here in Bridgeport at Bullard Haven's is a great thing.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, absolutely. I mean, uh people will always need to live in a place and people will always need to eat. So uh among the other things taught at Bullard Havens, uh those are skills that are always going to be useful, marketable, and all of that. Um okay, cool. So yeah, so um pretty extensive um uh educational presence in Bridgeport. We have something like 20 elementary schools, uh the the four high schools, and we have two um post-high school uh uh educational places, uh Husatonic Community College and uh University of Bridgeport. Now um uh you got half a Sacred Heart. Oh, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. No, no disrespect to you. Yeah, no, no, I didn't need to be able to do it. But you're right.
SPEAKER_00:Primarily, we always think of UB and Husatonic downtown, and uh Sacred Heart's grown on us.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, so um this with us. Absolutely. And I mean like during your time as mayor, uh interesting things have happened at both Housatonic um came to its current location, and the University of Bridgeport actually became the first university in the country to have a college of chiropractic practices. Um and also I I will give you the ball in just a moment, but I I do get a little excited when I talk about Husatonic. I have another a number of completely coincidental connections to Husatonic. Uh one, I got my associate's degree there. Then years later, I returned to do my internship program for my master's degree in library science. And now, by chance, I happen to work in the downtown Bridgeport Public Library, which means I am right next door to Husatonic. So they definitely get my phone calls when I need their help uh researching stuff, and also uh they know me very well at the cafeteria. Uh Mayor Gandham, anything else about these, you know, colleges or educational things in Bridgeport generally?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I can't say enough. I mean you think about it for a minute. I when I tick off all the things that are happening in the city, you know, you go around, um you talk about Hoseatonic, which is right next to my offices at 999 Broad. Yes. And you're great, you must have done your homework because you're too young to have lived the history of the transition that I lived there when Lil Wiker was governor, and and and I'll tell you that story. But I'm I would and that was a big deal at the time. That was probably the biggest uh uh transformational physical event that was happening in the Brit Bridgeport because it was bankrupt at the time. Very difficult. And I'm thinking, I'm gonna go back to that in a sec, but right now you've got um 400 units, the first phase of 1200 units going up on the waterfront for steel point a project that was like push push trying to push start a car for years and now it's taken off. And everybody's going, wow, this is this is really crazy. Right next to the amphitheater, uh only uh divided by not only the harbor, but the recently demolished or de uh imploded uh former power plant on 23 acres there that's going to be cleared and developed into uh housing and commercial development and open space and and I hope uh more marinas because our harbor is just so cool. So um and you know you go around the city and and keep pointing to things like that. But it was in the days back then, you're right, where um who's a tonic, who's tonic community college was in, as Ro and I talked about, was in uh Warehouse on the east side. I don't remember who the owners were. And it was situated okay. My brother Ray was went to school there. I remember going down there and at the university at the time. He was a student there. And then we had an opportunity, the the Dario family, Dave Di Dario, who's still a friend. They were owners of the mall. Remember, there was the High Hall Mall downtown? That's where the college was. It was a shopping mall. And um we did a financial transaction with the city. And the governor was really uh Liker was really big on it because we said we need to kick start the downtown. And so uh what was a failing mall, it just was an urban mall still challenged now, even more so. But at the time, uh they just built Stamford and that was Ua and Trumbull Mall. And so I think it it made it very hard to compete at the time. Anyways, it created an opportunity to get a centerpiece for downtown with Hoozatonic uh Community College. Forget about the art collection. You know, they have uh beautiful it's got some of the most magnificent art in the world. Uh there was a President Darnowski, and uh he the the students got mad at me because uh you know we we we orchestrated the move uh with the governor, with the the Dario family, and and we got that and the governor put the state police barracks downtown at the time. Across the street used to be like uh, I don't know if it was a firestone or something, a tire place or a auto mechanic place. Again, the Dario family, uh very generous with the city. Um he said, I'm gonna put the state police there. They used to be they were in Westport at Exit 18. If you're old like me, you remember that. Um, right where exit 18 and the post road used to be the state police barriers. They made it into so and he said, I'm gonna move them downtown. If you're gonna have extra in this way, they'll drive through the city. You know, it was it was the right thing to do. It was showing his commitment. Then he opened the governor's office in Bridgeport in Ernie Trezor's building for a number of years. So that was a transitional period for the city of Bridgeport, and you're right. University of Bridgeport, um, you know, the relationship there um on on many levels, uh, many levels. One, uh the mayor's office itself uh in the city of Bridgeport, and the Board of Trustees for the University of Bridgeport by charter uh contained uh a position of ex officio member uh to the mayor. So I've been an ex officio member for you know 20 years on and off. Um so there was that. And um the university in the city, and no other, no other uh university I know has that type of relationship with their city. And um I personally went to school there, went to law school there, graduated from law school there. Um from UB. From the University of Bridgeport. I um used the I work out there, I worked out there today in the gym because I'm an adjunct professor there.
SPEAKER_02:Cool.
SPEAKER_00:And I had I had this uh wonderful cast of uh guest speakers this morning at my class. I teach a class at the University of Bridgeport in the mornings at eight o'clock. Law related? It is, it is business law. Okay, and I'm with adjunct professor Thomas Gaudet, and we share the pleasant experience of teaching a course there uh for a number of semesters. This morning I had examples of successful entrepreneurs. I don't know if it's preneurs or preneurs, uh, but I go with preneurs myself, but uh don't take my words. One of the preneurs was was Rowena White uh and her communications company and what she does in order to um not only help people um with uh well the social media, uh promotions, branding, their businesses, um, but worked as a communications director for the city of Bridgeboard for a bunch of decades through COVID. We have again Sacred Heart as well, but I think the prominent role that UB has played in in Bridgeboard along Bridgeworth waterfront, one of the most beautiful, I think it's 300-acre campuses now with with Bassock High School there, you know, it reminds me a little bit of Fairfield and Fairfield Prep. You know, there's a college they're offering courses to our students there, so they do a phenomenal thing. And who's at Tonic does more to provide opportunities for higher education because if it's it's low cost, um the ability that you can commute uh and and what a beautiful facility is right in in Bridgeport for people that otherwise wouldn't have the chance or the opportunity. So we're really we're really lucky, and I I want to support both of those, all those uh or those universities and and colleges in every way that we can.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, absolutely. And um who's atonic um uh serve serves its students in more ways than one, not just academic. Um recently went to an event at Who's Atonic was representing the library there actually, and uh that's where I learned about uh their food pantry, which is open to students, both for grab and go snack type deals and also to get foodstuffs that they could bring home, things like non-perishables, fruits and vegetables, meat, hygiene tote bags. Uh the notion is that students should be able to focus on their studies, which they can't do uh if they're hungry. Uh and so um there are certain requirements uh to get the food, uh, but as long as you're a student, uh they'll work with you, they're not gonna turn you away. Uh you know, they're not gonna turn any Husatana community college students away. Uh that's hardly the only uh food pantry and food assistance uh organization we have in Bridgeport. Mary again, if you want to talk more about your work with uh with food pantries here in Bridgeport.
SPEAKER_00:It doesn't get much more basic than that. Certainly provided opportunities in public safety are critically important, keeping Bridgeport affordable. But when you get down to the level of some levels for individuals, affordability means the ability to buy food just to eat. You know, uh, you know, uh we often say um, you know, you look at that situation if you've never been in it, um maybe you just need to take a minute and think about it. And and others were maybe we're luckier by the grace of God, we're not ever placed in that situation, but people are. And then when there are um catastrophes that happen, when they when they cut in Bridgeport, 31,000 uh residents, 31,000 people in Bridgeport were gonna get their SNAP benefits cut. Uh people know the SNAP benefits are are are assistance, federal assistance. You have to meet quality for qualification, financial qualification dead ratios. In other words, you basically have to need the money. Uh very poor usually mothers with children situations, and um that don't have another means. So that's um challenging. And then there are a number uh we're really lucky to have a number of organizations that you know step up all the time, and many of them have been stretched to the stretched to the bone. Um, but they do it. My the list is so long, I have actually have it in front of me, but some of the churches, for instance, uh Summerfield United Methodist Church, um uh Bridgeport Pride Center, Salvation Army, Bridgeport Rescue Mission, the Merton House, uh King's Pantry, you know, and the churches uh go down Asada, the Spanish uh uh development association, uh Nourish Bridgeport, uh Park City Initiative. Um so there so there's a number, but I don't want to I don't want people to think because I read a large number of organizations that were anywhere have our arms around uh the challenge, snap benefits aside. Uh in other words, even with them continuing uninterrupted without a scare or or that. Um you look at the facilities around the city when they do provide a hot meal and there's always long lines. People will wait in line, even for even the coat giveaway we went to uh a few weeks ago, the line was down the road. You wouldn't think for coats, um there would be people would wait hours in line, but they did. So there's a need in the city. And you know, we're blessed in this in in in many ways in this community, but we have challenges a city this big, the largest city by population, and growing in the state of Connecticut each year. Uh we have you know, one of one of our beauties is for instance in the schools they speak 54 languages. So it's a multi mult multicultural uh city. Uh people from all over the world have come here to um to live and and and make it the American American, you know, live the uh opportunity for the American dream generations uh on and on. So it's it's quite a place with a lot going on. Um and there's there's so many that are still of need, and uh it helps um all that we can do. And the city tries to support. We do um turkey, we just gave out I don't know how many thousand uh turkeys, uh which we do every year. And we give them out through the churches, through the churches, because the churches are the ones that are are really in touch with um they provide with the soup kitchens. Many people go to the churches when they reach out, when they have no other place to go, when they don't have uh snap benefits, or the snap benefits run out, or they need food. Um and so uh I find that to be really the backbone or or the center in each of the the neighborhoods where the churches are, and I I I really thank them again. We make sure, try and make sure they have enough to to to meet the needs that they get confronted with.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, absolutely. Um I remember, and sorry the name escapes me, it was some time ago. Uh we worked with one church that had a different service to the community each day of the week. Right. They had one day they had a um a hot food kitchen, another they were having a community meeting uh about whatever about what was going on in the community and things of that nature. So here comes to the major um the major conundrum of this talk is that uh I want to talk about great things in Bridgeport, and we would be here for a few days if we went down the whole list. Uh I agree with you, honestly.
SPEAKER_00:I know what we were just saying, but there is there is a long list, and and I'm gonna I'm gonna interrupt you, but it was funny we were talking about it today. So go ahead, and I want to I want to fill in it then. There is a long list.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, absolutely. Um and uh just just two that I would like to hit because they cover wide spans in and of themselves. Uh uh one organization we have in Bridgeport that is the mother organization that connects uh uh uh events going on downtown is uh DSSD or Colorful Bridgeport. Uh one of their responsibilities is to make sure downtown organizations are promoted and uh their 96 volunteers also help to beautify downtown Bridgeport. The other organization, and I'm I'm probably biased here, I'm sorry, that reaches uh over Bridgeport, maybe unlike other organizations we have here, uh, is Bridgeport Public Library, right? And we have both uh we help patrons both with uh computer work and technology and books, sure, but we're also a community hub, a place where you can come and be in a safe environment for free, and you can get any information that you need. I insist on people time and again, please ask us questions, even if they don't sound library-like. So um, so uh the thank you for uh letting me get those two big ones out there. Uh you were you were saying before, my apologies.
SPEAKER_00:No, uh and and downtown, I think uh the library, I always love going in the library. Um I love the physical building itself and and um always enjoy interacting a little bit with the staff there. Um I think there's a lot going on downtown. Uh you know, you can mention uh the arena of the amphitheater. I know it's the wintertime now, but I think the fact that they each year now have logged in, I don't know how many hundreds of of uh of nights of entertainment, and then uh couple that with uh I think the growing restaurants, uh growing number of restaurants downtown, their popularity. Um goes a long way to I think seeing what we want to see continue to grow uh in the downtown Thursday night. We're gonna be doing the uh tree lighting, our December 4th tree lighting. Um and you know, one of the things that I think has impacted a downtown and now all of our neighborhoods is something that we were pushing for for decades, was to get the beautification projects along with, you know, we planted thousands of trees and flowers and esplanades and built parks and continue to do all that. Um but in addition to that, um to beautify with murals and artwork. And we talk about Bridgeport being the uh arts capital of Connecticut, the music, Mecca, whatever terminology they use in large part because of the uh uh the amphitheater and and and such. But the mural work and the artwork in Bridgeport, I think it at one point we were lagging behind what I saw in other cities and was inspired by, and now I think that we're a leader probably in the number of an impact that uh murals are having in our city. And I give a large uh degree of credit to the uh arts community, some homegrown, if you will, uh some imported that have said, hey, wait a minute, we want to take the opportunity to beautify, leave their own um signature art, but beautiful art nonetheless, and always, from what I've seen, you know, through a filter of not only appropriate, but enhancing and sometimes tied into, often tied into not only Bridgeport as a whole, but sometimes the building that it's on, the neighborhood that it's in. And uh, you know, so you're capturing uh one of the great prides you have in an old industrial city is your history.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. Uh for example, we have the right across the street from where I work, the mural of the uh Men in Black, the the the aliens uh, you know, uh on the side of a building very close to where they allegedly, you know, reached out to, I forget his name, but reached out to a gentleman who was living on Broad Street at the time. And also uh North Branch uh just got a mural uh a few.
SPEAKER_00:I saw it. I was with the Unveiling, yeah, the same artist that did the steps. Yeah, she's wonderful. The steps were um we're calling the Broad Street steps. You go up to Golden Hill Street. Oh, I know the Broad Street were one of the first that really captured the attention. It was like, hey, and you're like, wait a minute, what am I what am I looking at here? Because if you know the art, it's it's kind of a different color, and it's lines, it's not flowers, it's not landscape. And so you look at it, you say, wait a minute, and you look at it, and it's like, wow, that's really cool. So I give that a lot of credit for it. I'm not sure it was actually the first first one, uh, as far as murals go, but probably was. I can't think of anything that was before that. So yeah, that's cool. And and we'll never do more. Look, you can't do enough. I we had problems with the underpasses because you need to, you know, basically enact the Congress to do an underpass. It's ridiculous. The railway tracks we did years ago. I don't know if we ever got permission, but we just painted them. It's 20 years ago, and we'll be happy to do them again on the city's dime, even though they're owned by the you know the railway or the federal government, but it's it it for beautification purposes. And part of that is um you mentioned the universities. We're doing a$10 million uh street streetscape uh gateway down Park Avenue. Obviously, Park Avenue is the great name for the park. It's got uh the esplanades down the street, but it goes right into the uh Perry Arch, which is the historic federally funded archway, uh commemorating, I think, the end of World War II, but I'm not sure if it looks very much like in Paris the art there. If you've never been to Seaside Park, entering the 300 acres Seaside Park, but going to the University of Bridgeport, uh$10 million beautification, which is probably gonna not only deal with parking, but um lighting and enhance that uh sidewalks and brickwork, uh granite curbing, uh the type of stuff that really I think accentuates your entranceway to the university, your entranceway to Seaside Park, and you know, the the anchor end of Park Avenue in the Park City, you know, Bridgeport's Park City.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, absolutely. And uh, you know, I can only imagine what that'll look like because uh Seaside Park is already knock yourself over beautiful, right? So uh it'll be quite it'll it'll be cool to see how how how uh it looks after this project. Um so any places people can go to find out um events and uh and occasions and initiatives going on in the city of Bridgeport. Yeah, the city's webpage I think is pretty comprehensive and up to date.
SPEAKER_00:Uh our Facebook is too. Um and you know, any of any of this any of uh the um social media sites usually carry everything. We try and get stuff into the mainstream uh media and news sometimes, but sometimes uh you know I can make my own uh reasons why, but it'll be the kind is that they get inundated with stuff and sometimes they have a hard time fitting our good news in as often as we'd like. But um we try and get it out there. We think it's important that people know. Um you have to, you know, this this concept, people should know this. When you're involved in a big organization, as clumsy as is is the city government organization can be, even the best run. And frankly, I I I don't just think I know we're one of the best run cities in the country. Um not that we don't have good mayors in other cities, they do a great job, but having been at this this long, uh and you look at the numbers and the outcomes of of of uh you know going from worst uh in many uh financial worlds and public safety to I don't say first, but from worst to uh to the you know where the Wall Street I'm sorry, the Washington Post is writing a uh I don't know how many thousand-word um flattering not only history but uh perspective of where Bridgeport is and where it's Bridgeport's going from an old uh industrial town to reinventing itself in in every way that a city, especially Northeast City, um would want to uh strive for. We're succeeding at that. So it's um so it's it's good. And I just want to turn it back over and and ask you. I mean, what I see, I guess, and and it's hard from my perspective. One because I've been at it for so long and I look at it through my eyes as certainly trying to do it as just someone else who lives in Bridgeport, but as mayor. And whether it's um well, I know what that was like before, and now it's better for worse, you know. I know that because I've watched it more closely, whether it's the fact that uh you went back to when Hoosatonic was moved. Well, the city was bankrupt then. We weren't opening new library branches, they were closing library branches. They closed library system was matter of fact, my first press conference, my first press conference as mayor in 19 uh whatever it was, uh elected in 90, what is it, 91 um was in our downtown library. I had all the mayors in from the other cities. The mayor Hartford came down, mayor of New Hampshire should I find this picture? You know why we did it in the library? Because the lights were off in the library, and we wanted people to know how desperate the situation was that we literally uh were not funding the libraries. And that was a picture, I don't know if it made national news, but it certainly went around the state saying, you know, and I had just taken over as mayor, and so uh my my my job is to fix the problem, and we started with that. So, what am I saying? Financial stability. Uh, you know, people don't really pay attention to that. They do hopefully in their own lives, but you know how you keep a city afloat financially, how you you build its financial reputation with the credit agencies, how it reduces your cost of borrowing and therefore able to build things like libraries at a lower cost to taxpayers, whether it's efficiencies in in government. The point is the city of Bridgeport has has has transformed itself internally financially. We've fine-tuned some of the management challenges that you normally would have because we've been at it so long with consistency. And then you see things like the lowest uh crime rates in decades with violent crime being at a historic level, lifetime low, um in in a city that was once called, if you read the beginning of that Washington Post article, it talks about Bridgeport's history where there were, you know, 50 and 60 homicides in one calendar year. It was it was treacherous. And then to see where it's gone where we've come now is is is tremendous progress. So I think there's a lot of things going on around the city, but I think what people are going to look at physically in the future, they're going to look at the waterfront. Because it's the most visible, because it's the most dramatic. And you see that right now with the with the with the harbor uh with the uh with the amphitheater uh with all these new units going up I think it just begins to uh make it even harder and harder for more buildings not to be built um in that proximity. Yeah no no so I I as I'm going to have to use my reference librarian skills to find this article it seems like you would put it in the real real reminding the reason I mentioned the article and and and I've shared it with people that I you know all over um is uh it reinforces um what I I I am very um emphatic about how proud I am of our city and the residents you know you can take the mayor and I joke when we came in about the weather I get bet blamed for the bad weather and if it's good weather you know God did it of course right but um in in the in the in the real perspective of progress sure a mayor and administration has a role to play and I think you know this is not a it's a self-serving statement maybe but consistency I think if there's a degree of competency and there's consistency then you're probably gonna make progress you know you you could argue about the direction you could argue about certain things but when you see things consistently over time and you're able to see consistent progress in public safety we're able to see what's going to happen our grand list uh if people know what a grand list is it's a basis upon which the city gets taxes and if you're paying them taxes a bad word but the reality is they're a part of they're a part of life whether we like it or not in our structure of government we don't have uh any other and and so in bridgeport because of the growing uh financial and economic strength of the city and again this sounds like I'm patting the city on the back but it just happens to be true the growth the real mathematical growth the numbers value in Bridgeport has gone up to a grand list of 14 billion dollars and I think it was 8 billion before that so you you know it's almost whatever the math is on the 80 percent what then the percentage is incredible but the raw number a 14 billion dollar grand list in the city of Bridgeport it was$2 billion when I in 1991 by comparison and they don't always have to go up by the way the value they can go down and it's development it's a growth some of the things we mentioned um so so what does that mean? It's like yeah Joe who cares I mean that that's really nice good job uh you know but how does that affect me? Well how it affects me uh you the homeowner the taxpayer the resident of the city of Bridgeport uh automobile owner is that it it one you know what you if you own something and you're paying tax on it as much as you know you hate to pay tax uh the real story is thank goodness you whatever you have is causing you to have to pay taxes on it means your values in Bridgewood have gone up dramatically condominiums have doubled in value in the past five years these are not my numbers these are the uh property assessors these are the professionals they've gone through the city we do this every five years it's required by the state of Connecticut it's called revaluation and usually it's one of those things you want to run away with uh run away from as mayor why because it it shifts it changes uh because it updates uh the actual value recorded in the city records with the actual value in the market and it's done by you know very sophisticated it's just real simple if a similar situated house uh based on the formula is valued a hundred thousand next uh and and and they start selling for two hundred the value of your house is probably two hundred meaning if you sell it you're probably gonna get that and so the city recognizes that your value's gone up so everybody who that happens who's who gets the they're gonna get a letter from the city very soon who sees that the value on that letter of what their house is if it looks higher than what they thought it was or what they paid for it or what it was last time they looked they probably made money if they sold it if they sold it so I haven't stocked it's only but that's good that's what you want that's part of that so-called formula that I guess uh home ownership is is called the American dream but the if it works with real estate if the value goes up and you're able to pass that on in other words either you use it for your own or you pass it on to your children because it can be that type of asset you know it helps uh create the perpetuation of the opportunity for the American dream so that's really important so your values have gone up in Bridgeport is what I'm telling you. It's not just a theory I'm not just saying if this happens they've gone up. I dare say unless you've done something uh uh you know in a bad way to your property it's valued substantially more than it was five years ago in Bridgeport and that's like a good thing. Now we're not completely unique most values have gone up across Connecticut even in the you know in cities and towns but ours have gone up faster at a higher rate than probably any other community and right now they're still going up and that's not a uh I mean that's what I see in Black Rock Black Rock section of Bridgeport um I house sold uh as far as I know this is the highest sale price in this in the city sold for$3.5 million dollars I don't know anything else about it but three point five million dollars for a house in Bridgeport has got to be a record um another one sold for 2.6 so the values have gone up substantially I don't know what the house was worth five years ago but I bet you it was like book on the books for a million bucks or something like that which is a lot of money uh don't get me wrong and not the average in Bridgeport that's Black Rock but across the board people will see I think the values are going to go up I can't imagine somebody's value going down but that I guess it could happen. It's up to the evaluators the appraisers but what I can tell you is because we all get treated the same on this number this is this number that the city can control. We can't control the value of your house we can't control what you're you know it's assessed at because that's dictated by the market and the professionals what we can do is we can control the mill rate and that's the rate at which we tax and that's the only authority they give us. And what we're gonna do regardless of what the assessment is regardless of what the value is now is by the assessor is we're gonna cut the mill rate. Okay that's what I like to do as mayor. Anytime I can cut the mill rate I want to cut the mill rate and they people know that the 20 years or you know roughly 20 years I've been in office we never raise taxes. We hold the line on taxes. We have to deal with this revaluation sometimes it's a good thing sometimes it's a negative thing usually anytime there's change people get unsettled. What you have to be careful with is sometimes the values of one neighborhood are one category category of of of property like houses uh multifamily houses versus single family houses versus condominium that's what I mean by by categories uh or commercial property you know the big uh MT bank is commercial property downtown right um office buildings are commercial property industrial property sometimes uh closely aligned but we've had situations in the past where one category of property goes up much faster than another and if you're any good at math you can figure out that it probably has some impact different than uh being equal and if it happens to be heavier on the residential homeowners um that's that's a burden sometimes or seniors on fixed incomes who may have even if they paid off their home if they're lucky enough right and have equity in it their taxes go up their their uh a fixed income doesn't go up and then they begin beginning to squeeze and that's a very difficult thing. So so these are some of the things around the city.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah and all these and all these numbers uh ultimately relating to the quality of life of you know Bridgeport residents uh and and the patrons I get to work with on a regular basis. Uh Mary again anything else you want to throw out there that the people out there should no I think it's uh what I'd like to do is first I want to say thank you.
SPEAKER_00:You're well so the um the attractive is coming in and saying wow I really want to check out the libraries I really check out the new um room for a podcast to participate in a podcast has been uh kind of fun and cool um suggested that we we should look for opportunities in the future to to do more and what I'd like to do is create an opportunity for um some people that are important to us uh in Bridgeport I'd invite you know if I do another one I'd invite maybe we can invite I'll invite the governor to come down let him do a couple podcast with us some other elected officials uh people that might be of interest on different topics on housing public safety I know our police chief is you know uh adamant about making sure uh he talks to people I guess what I was gonna say before which I last thing was on the transparency uh word the word transparency we do everything we can and and this is one opportunity for us so thank you for allowing us the more I get to talk to people the more they get to listen if they want to the more we get stuff out there that transparency is is important for us transparent for us means to be able to get through the the the the noise out there and get the message and the information out to people you know that's that's the battle for us just getting this stuff out the door and letting people know what's going on in the city good or bad good or bad um but I think you know when you look at it right now you said it unprompted I said it there is just so and we were talking about it earlier there's just so much going on in the city of of huge magnitude the schools uh the the you know the waterfront all the things that we that uh we needed the the gateway projects uh the stuff we talked about in Ditton um that I'm probably gonna come on and want to do uh more informational sessions so this might create a great opportunity if nobody wants to listen that's okay but sometimes it's good just to have the conversation and and make it out to get it out there to people so they can know what's going on in the great city of Bridgeport the city that I love uh love to serve and um really appreciate the support um that I've been able to um rely on for all these years you know you go through the cities go through uh just like life in in in uh terms up and down so uh it's greatly appreciated and look forward to talking to you again.
SPEAKER_01:Okay well well thank you very much and yep as long as you have a library card from a public library in Connecticut you are welcome to record and do podcasting here. I have so so so yes no no no just uh yep show your uh Bridgeport public library card and uh you're all you're all said to go the um uh and all that uh well then with that everyone out there thank you for listening to episode 11 of Bridgeport Unmasked we have been talking with Mayor Joe Gannum the mayor of the city of Bridgeport about excellent things going on in the park city whether you've been listening to this while eating Thanksgiving leftovers or long after those leftovers are gone I hope you've enjoyed yourself today. May it now be so cheeky as to recommend that you now listen to another episode of Bridgeport unmasked