In a surprise decision, East Hartford Mayor Mike Walsh said he’s not running for re-election this November.
In just one-and-a-half years in office, Walsh has been a major champion of new development projects in town, and has drawn acclaim from developers and others for being pro-business. In a July 3 memo to the town council, Walsh said he will not seek re-election this fall in order to focus his attention on moving forward a large-scale redevelopment of Founders Plaza, which includes the demolition of several existing buildings to make way for hundreds of apartments, along with new restaurants, entertainment, office space and passive recreation.
What exact role he will play in championing the project — known as Port Eastside — is unclear, but Walsh said he will work with the next administration to ensure it comes to fruition.
“Port Eastside represents an extremely complex, phased development,” Walsh wrote, “involving multiple buildings and issues to solve, multiple land owners, abutting stakeholders, and Federal, State, and local governmental partners including the Governor’s Office, the Majority Leader, DECD, CRDA, CTDOT, the East Hartford Town Council, Planning and Zoning, ACOE, & Riverfront Recapture.”
He added: “Because I’ve been a part of municipal government for 40 years, I’ve witnessed important projects fail or be terminally delayed when they lack an appropriate owner or champion. Accordingly, to achieve success, Port Eastside must have a dedicated champion.”
Walsh was took office in November 2022. Before that, he served as the town’s finance director from 1998 to 2019, and then as undersecretary of strategic initiatives and accountability for the Office of Policy and Management within the Lamont administration from 2019 to 2021.
