$500M In Borrowing Approved: Here’s Where Your Money Is Going

HARTFORD, CT — Gov. Dannel Malloy defended what is likely his last push for several multi-million dollar projects, many of which are in Hartford. The State Bond Commission which Malloy chairs approved hundreds of millions in for projects across the state Thursday.

Republican member of the commission Rep. Chris Davis criticized Malloy and questioned why Hartford which received a $550 million bailout from the state should get several additional projects, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

Malloy said it is routine to approve money for such projects and other areas of the state also got large amounts of funding. He added that building up the economies of Connecticut’s cities would benefit the state as a whole and that there is $100 million in private investment for Hartford neighborhoods.

Some of the bonding went toward statewide projects, including more than $50 million to help boost local entrepreneurs and $112 million for bus and rail facility improvements and $129 million for various transportation infrastructure projects.

The latest figures from the state Department of Labor peg the unemployment rate in the state at 4.3 percent. The state gained 1,100 jobs in August. It was the fourth straight month of job growth.

Among some items that got funding in Hartford:

• $16 million for a parking garage on Clinton Street.
• $3 million for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford to help with infrastructure improvements.
• $5 million to help replace Hartford sidewalks and improve traffic calming.
• More than $8 million to provide a loan to a real estate company to build 108 units of market rate housing and commercial real estate at Park and Main Streets in Hartford.
• $4 million in loans to refurbish neighborhood retail buildings in the Albany Avenue and Main Street area.
• $8.5 million in loans to help develop a grocery store at Albany Avenue and Main Street.

Other municipalities got funding for items including the following:

• $650,000 for streetscape improvements in Fairfield.
• $100,000 for handball courts in Manchester.
• $13 million for improvements to the U.S. Navy base in New London.
• $10 million to Waterbury to rehabilitate the historic Odd Fellows Hall.
• $575,000 to improve Little League baseball fields in New Haven.
• About $3.5 million for Meriden to control flooding.
• $5 million to dredge the State Pier in New London.
• $5 million to West Haven to assist with traffic improvements.
• More than $4 million for Bridgeport projects.
• $217,000 for a splash pad in New Haven.
• $1.5 million to help Stamford dredge near Cove Island Park
• $750,000 to West Hartford for Wolcott Park improvements
• $100,000 to West Haven to help with a playscape at Forest Elementary School
• $2.3 million to New Haven to help with sidewalk improvements.
• $6 million to Windham to help construction a downtown parking garage.
• $5 million to help the Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum make infrastructure improvements.
• $10 million to New Haven to reconstruct its Public Works facility.
• $510,000 to Stratford to help with infrastructure improvements.
• $5.5 million to help with a Bridgeport development project.
• $450,000 to Guilford to help with a water main extension project.

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