Arulampalam says homeownership, small business support, downtown amenities, and faster permitting could jump-start Hartford’s growth

Arunan Arulampalam has momentum heading into Hartford’s Sept. 12 mayoral primary vote, despite having the least political experience of any of his top challengers. The 37-year-old Democratic mayoral candidate is currently CEO of the Hartford Land Bank, a not-for-profit organization backed by state funding to facilitate the conversion of vacant and blighted properties into new homeownership opportunities for local residents. He’s running for his first political office. In recent weeks, he’s secured the backing of outgoing Mayor Luke Bronin and the Hartford Democratic Town Committee, putting him in a front-runner position. Other leading candidates include state Sen. John Fonfara, who has raised the most money during the campaign through July, and former state senator and retired judge Eric Coleman. Mike McGarry, a former city councilor and publisher, is running as the GOP candidate in the heavily-Democratic city. Key to his economic development agenda, Arulampalam said, is continuing to invest in downtown and the city’s neighborhoods, particularly by promoting more homeownership opportunities. Hartford has the lowest homeownership rate in the state, at 24%, with few affordable owner-occupied housing units available. By comparison, 66% of housing statewide is owner-occupied. The city should try to help convert more of the hundreds of vacant lots it owns into homeownership opportunities, and turn as many three-family rental houses into owner-occupied dwellings, Arulampalam said. One way to do that is to hire more housing inspectors and aggressively go after slumlords, particularly from out of state, who are behind on their taxes. If the city can take control of derelict properties through foreclosure, it will have more power in determining who ends up owning them, Arulampalam said. “When you talk about economic development that leads to generational wealth, homeownership is a key part of that,” Arulampalam said, adding that he’d also like to create a homeownership and small business fund using recreational cannabis sales tax revenues. The money would incentivize a home purchase or business formation in the city, Arulampalam said. “I think we’ve had really solid leadership (under Mayor Bronin), and we need to keep a steady hand at the wheel and continue to grow as a city, but make sure that it’s growth every neighborhood can feel,” he said. Getting things done Another priority is improving the regulatory environment, particularly speeding up the permitting process, Arulampalam said. Developers and other businesses have complained about the sometimes long wait times to receive building and other permits. Arulampalam said he’d like to hire more building inspectors and streamline the permitting process. He said he led a license streamlining effort when he was deputy commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), which has the second-largest licensing and permitting portfolio within state government, behind the public health department. “One thing I did at DCP was I would ask for a weekly update on licensing times,” he said. “And sometimes having somebody up the chain who’s paying attention, you find week by week, those licensing times go down.” He’d also like to create a business advocate position that reports directly to the mayor. The advocate would be the point of entry to City Hall for developers, companies seeking to expand, or startups looking to get off the ground. The advocate would help companies understand the permitting process, and any other regulatory requirements. “You shouldn’t need to hire lobbyists or lawyers to get things done in the city of Hartford,” he said. “I’m convinced it’s the kind of position that will pay for itself in dividends.” Before joining the Land Bank, Arulampalam served as DCP’s deputy commissioner from 2019 to 2021. Previously, he was also a lawyer at downtown Hartford law firm Updike, Kelly & Spellacy P.C. Arulampalam, who was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in California, currently lives in the city’s Frog Hollow neighborhood in a formerly vacant and blighted house with his wife, Liza Arulampalam, who is a senior minister of the First Church of Christ in Hartford. They have five children. Here’s what else Arulampalam had to say. The Q&A was edited for length and clarity. You don’t have a lot of political experience. Will that be a liability? A. I think residents often view that as a benefit. I’m running against two people who’ve been in elected office for about as long as I’ve been alive. And I think people have seen that the needle hasn’t moved all that much during that time, and they are looking for new ideas, a voice from outside of the legislative system, somebody who’s not entrenched in the politics of division that has driven our city back. What industries do you see as drivers of Hartford’s future economic growth? A. I think we need to look at the future of the core industries in Hartford, including insurance. We still have flagship insurance companies, and I think we’ve got to get them to the table and ask them what it’ll take to really build an insurtech hub in the city. I think we’ve got to talk to Hartford Hospital, which is growing into this incredibly successful conglomerate, and say, ‘How do we spur real investment in healthcare technology companies?’ We also need to make sure that people with good ideas who come from the city of Hartford are able to stay here. That means building better inroads with our local colleges. If you add up the undergraduate populations of Trinity College, UConn and the University of Hartford, we have more undergrads in Hartford than Yale or Wesleyan. This is really a college town, and I think we need to give those college kids a reason to feel some buy-in with the city of Hartford, so that when they have good ideas, they’re not going to New York City or Boston to start them. I think Hartford is also poised to bring back targeted high-tech manufacturing because we’ve got all these old commercial spaces in neighborhoods where people live and can walk to work. Why should a business consider moving to Hartford? A. It’s really inexpensive to build a business here, as long as we can make it easy to navigate our bureaucracy. There’s also a lot of talent in the Hartford region. There is a highly educated population, and there’s a lot of these large flagship institutions that you could get real access to, that you might not be able to get in a larger city. I think the mayor can take a real leadership role in recruiting and retaining businesses to our city. Part of that effort includes engaging more with the corporate community to get them to be part of those recruitment efforts, to share insights about what it’s like to recruit and retain talent in this market. We need to bring to the table folks who can speak to the advantages of being in Hartford. What should the city do about empty office space? A. Some of it can be converted into residential space, but not all of it. I think we’ve got to build more of the amenities that people want to see downtown. I think there are a fair amount of people who live in apartment buildings downtown and still aren’t coming out on a Friday night in the city of Hartford. So that means potentially converting space into gyms, co-working space, different entertainment options, restaurants and other amenities that would drive real growth and feet on the street. The city relies on tax abatements to spur a lot of private development. Is that a practice you would continue? A. I think we need to take a holistic look at the economic value of tax abatements that we’ve offered as a city. Tax abatements are a tool to spur investment into parts of our city, and certainly a tool that I will look at. How would you improve workforce development efforts in the city? A. I’d like to work with some building trades to grow apprenticeship programs, and potentially even create an apprenticeship school to develop our labor force on a larger scale. How important is the XL Center to Hartford? Is the proposed $107 million renovation enough to make the venue more attractive for concerts and other events? A. I’d like to see more done, but I think it’s a really good start. I think it could be enough to bring in more concerts, which is key to bringing more feet to the street. I think it’s important to try to go after a major league sports franchise if we can, and I would love to have a really active role in that. What role should the cannabis industry play in Hartford’s future? A. I think the biggest role it can play is employing Hartford residents. I’d also like to spearhead an effort to ensure that the tax dollars we get from cannabis sales are spent to rebuild neighborhoods that have really lost out from the war on drugs. I want to create a dedicated fund to leverage state dollars from the social equity council that Hartford residents can tap into to create homeownership or small businesses within our neighborhoods. The Bronin administration has focused a lot of its attention on spurring market rate apartment development. Is that the right strategy? A. I think we’ve got to be focused on housing across our city. Housing is a major issue downtown. It’s a major issue in each of our neighborhoods. I think we’ve got to be focused on a diversified mix of housing that allows for safe, decent, affordable housing in our neighborhoods, and that allows for growth downtown. The city has the highest mill rate in the state (68.29). How would your administration work to lower it? A. I think the biggest way to make an impact on the mill rate is to see if we can get a deal with the state of Connecticut to better fund the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) program for state properties. And in exchange for better funding the PILOT program, the city would agree to plow all of those dollars into property tax relief. Should Brainard Airport be closed to be redeveloped into some other use? A. The state has given us $1.5 million to do a study. I think we should see how the study goes. As tempting as it is to take a hard stance on this now for political points, I think that the leader of Hartford should be willing to explore every opportunity with both optimism and a sober mind. I think I’m going to place a lot of weight on the data and the findings of the study.