Vibrant cities rely on young professionals.
Workers in their 20s and 30s provide the innovative bandwidth and social and cultural diversity that make cities like Boston, New York, and San Francisco destination centers where young people live, work, and play.
Hartford is trying to stake its ground wooing young professionals. It’s a smart economic development strategy. Luring educated, entrepreneurial, and tech-savvy workers will breathe new life into a local economy starving for innovation.
Progress has been made recently: More young people live downtown today than a few years ago; the apartment vacancy rate is in the low single digits; and the city’s young professional association (HYPE) has experienced strong membership growth.
Meanwhile, hundreds of new apartment units are in the construction pipeline, new restaurants and entertainment venues are opening on Front Street, and UConn is preparing to move its West Hartford campus into the vacant Hartford Times building.
These developments signal better days ahead for the Capital City.
Still, there’s plenty of room for improvement. Public transportation remains an issue. Many downtown residents would like to see a grocery store open.
And, most importantly, the city needs to prove it can once again be a destination center for employers. Yes, New York City and Boston attract college graduates because of the entertainment and nightlife they offer, but they also provide greater job prospects.
As city and state leaders pour more money into downtown infrastructure, they must also consider policy changes that will attract more companies to the Capital City. That means improving Hartford’s regulatory climate and lowering the commercial mill rate. Only then will the Capital City fully leverage its assets and businesses to compete for young talent.
CT’s Big Apple opportunity
Likely Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley raised a lot of eyebrows last week, when he ran his campaign’s first political ad in New York City. The 30-second TV pitch urged New Yorkers to consider moving to Connecticut next year, once their newly elected progressive mayor raises taxes and Connecticut elects a new governor.
Foley was referring to Bill de Blasio, who recently won New York City’s mayoral race on a campaign promise to raise taxes on wealthy individuals. Foley, who has not officially announced his run for governor next year, compared de Blasio’s progressive agenda to the policies already implemented by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. In 2011, Malloy approved Connecticut’s largest ever tax increase to balance a $3.2 billion budget deficit.
Foley’s choice to run his first political ad in New York City is odd. It won’t get him any extra Connecticut votes. Still, Foley raises an important point. If de Blasio raises taxes further in New York City, it offers Connecticut an opportunity to steal some wealthy residents from its neighboring state. Think of the message Connecticut lawmakers would send if they cut state income taxes back to pre-2011 levels at the same time New York City increases taxes. It offers an interesting economic development strategy that our next governor, regardless of political affiliation, should consider.
