Submitted by Michael Spilo
The DesegregteCT and Mansion tax bills are the latest diversionary tactics by politicians trying to hide
decades of failed policies.
These failed elected officials shout “look racism” to draw attention away from CT’s more serious problems of scarce jobs, a shrinking economy, declining home values and an exodus of people and businesses.
In the case of New Haven Mayor, Justin Elicker, whose father and grandfather worked for the same white-shoe law firm, as well as the Mayor’s chorus of media-echoes who also attended private schools and Ivy League universities, it’s blatant hypocrisy. They pretend to relate to the needs of low-income minorities, having never experienced either poverty or racism.
Meanwhile, CT keeps falling further and further behind our neighbors who are trailing the country. Those suffering most are minorities, but our biggest problem is not racism, it’s incompetent leadership. Yet reading the media-echoes you would never know that CT has fewer people employed now than in the 1980s:
You would never know that CT’s economy is stuck in reverse:
And the proposed bills might lead you to believe that CT’s struggles have something to do with expensive housing due to rampant racism, when in fact CT has LOWER median home values and LOWER rents than NY and MA, and CT rents are declining.
Mayor Elicker’s New Haven has failed to attract and retain businesses in its core industries for over 30 years. New Haven’s core is education and healthcare, in Hartford it’s insurance and real estate. And we have similar failures throughout CT in finance, technology, pharma, and defense all of which are busy moving to more business-friendly destinations.
DesegregateCT and “Mansion” taxes are slogans, not solutions to any real problems. DesegregateCT will increase housing stock, and both will lower already lagging property values. This WILL hurt working families whose homes are their largest investment, decimating retirement savings, and hurting their ability to fund their kids’ education.
People moving out of New Haven will NOT be the neediest, who cannot afford a suburban lifestyle even near a train station (Does Mayor Elicker believe low-income families will shop at Whole Foods and Saks near the Greenwich station?) Only people with better prospects will move out of the cities, destroying what remains of the city economies.
Mayor Elicker should stick to his Yale MBA and focus on ways to keep entrepreneurial graduates from the 11 Colleges and Universities in New Haven and the surrounding area, helping startups with venture capital attracted by low taxes, a healthy real estate market and vibrant suburbs.
New Haven should also focus on programs which improve outcomes in public education, inviting charter schools, and holding schools and teachers accountable.
And, if Mr. Elicker really wanted to tackle racism, he could start a company creating good jobs which empower minorities. Better still, step aside in favor of politicians who understand that what people of all races need most are good jobs which are scarce in CT and becoming more so.
Relative employment: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=CSLr
New Haven history: https://www.newhavenct.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=25858
Elicker Background: https://www.newspapers.com/image/394661762/
