🔒Hartford is a tale of two cities

The strange dichotomy that is the city of Hartford has been on full display recently.

In one instance, Mayor Luke Bronin announced that one of the city's largest labor unions rejected a deal that would have saved Hartford $6 million over four years, inching the Capital City one step closer to bankruptcy.

The announcement stirred a strong reaction from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who said rejection of the union concessions will make it harder to convince state lawmakers to bail the city out of its financial crisis.

In another instance, optimism about the city's future was abound at the annual Big Mo' fundraiser for Riverfront Recapture, which took place this year at UConn's under-construction campus in downtown Hartford.

The event was a hit among attendees, including many top business, civic and nonprofit leaders, who gushed over UConn's renovation of the old Hartford Times building and the prospect of 2,500 students and faculty becoming members of the Hartford community.

Many people at the event discussed how UConn's pending Hartford move will be a game-changer for the city, bringing a new sense of vibrancy to downtown, which is also benefiting from construction of new apartments and the much-anticipated opening of Dunkin' Donuts Park.

For many, it can be difficult to square the two competing images of Hartford. On one hand there is a sense of hope for the future; on the other there are real fears about the threat of bankruptcy and its potential impact on Hartford and the state.

Negative headlines, for the most part, have shaped Hartford's image over the last few years. Stories about the fiscal crisis and mismanagement of the Dunkin' Donuts Park construction, among other issues, have dominated newspapers and the airwaves, hardening the opinions of many Hartford naysayers who believe the city's best days are long in the past.

That's not to say the press is to blame. Hartford has many challenges to overcome that won't be solved even if state lawmakers pony up millions of additional dollars to steer the city away from the bankruptcy abyss. The underlying issues that have contributed to Hartford's financial malaise — high poverty rate, inadequate tax base, rising long-term debt costs, etc. — will still exist and must be dealt with.

Such is the state of urban America today.

However, the ongoing redevelopment has begun to change the trajectory of Hartford, particularly downtown, bringing more people to live here and explore all the city has to offer. Hartford also remains the commercial epicenter of the region, home to many blue-chip corporations as well as small and midsize businesses crucial to the economy.

Hartford's story is a complicated one not easily summed up in the minds of the general public, particularly those whose opinions are only formed by what they see or read in news headlines.

Many are turned off by the considerable state aid Hartford continues to receive and demand. It's a fair concern. Many of the redevelopment projects have been backed by state or city subsidies, and now Malloy and other officials are jockeying for $250 million to renovate the XL Center, at a time when both the city and state governments are broke. The optics aren't great.

Taxpayers have the right to demand and see true changes in how the state and city manage their finances before they ante up additional money to rescue them. There is still plenty of work that needs to be done in that respect.

But we should also not be cheerleading the prospects of a Hartford bankruptcy, which could thwart recent progress and bring other negative consequences to the city and state.

Our elected leaders will be deciding and writing Hartford's next chapter in the weeks ahead. We support a plan that saves Hartford from bankruptcy but also attaches tough strings for more fiscal accountability.

At the end of the day, Connecticut needs a strong and vibrant Capital City.