I grew up in West Hartford, Ct. I left the state in 1980 I am not going to spend hours scouring statistics. But I have a few observations. Hartford was a troubled city long before 1983 Some bigger forces than non-profit policy have had a major impact on Hartford. Hartford, Connecticut, and New England in general have taken a pounding in their core industries since 1983. In the Hartford area, the two most important industries are defense and insurance. Following the end of the cold war, defense has been in continuous downsizing mode. The insurance companies made bad investments in real estate, and lost a bundle. The results have been a general erosion of the economy compared, say, with the Twin Cities. For instance, my sister and my mother lost their jobs when Connecticut Mutual went under/was bought out, and another sister living in New Hampshire almost lost her house. All results of the same sick business environment. I do not think the Hartford ACLU had much to do with that. If we have a downturn in the economy here the way it happened in Hartford, we too can expect an increase in boarded buildings, etc. The city of Hartford is small in relation to the metropolitan area. It has about 130,000 people in a metropolitan area pushing 1 million. Minneapolis and St. Paul have a population of about 650,000 in a metropolitan area pushing 2 million. Many areas that would usually be part of the core city in Hartford are separate towns. West Hartford was part of Hartford, but broke away in 1854. If Northeast, the lake area, and everything north of Lowry and south of Lake were cut away from Minneapolis, it would have more troubled overall statistics, but nothing would have changed. A big difference I notice between Hartford and the Twin Cities is that in Hartford, the vast majority of the institutional leadership lived in the suburbs. In Minneapolis and St. Paul, much of the institutional leadership lives right here in the cities. I think that in Hartford much of the metro population sees Hartford basically as a hopeless basket case. Here, recent legislation notwithstanding, I think that most metro residents basically see the Twin Cities as vibrant and alive and critical for the health of the whole area. Jay Clark Cooper Here's a history quiz question. I knew an organizer named Maggie McLetchie, who thought she was better than me because she was from Massachusetts and I was from Connecticut. But I put her in her place. I pointed out that for all Massachusetts' history, Connecticut has contributed someone to American history who is at least as famous as anybody from Massachusetts. At least as famous as Paul Revere. At least as famous as John Adams. At least as famous as John Kennedy. Do you know who this famous Connecticut native is who made such a unique contribution to American history? Why of course he is ........Benedict Arnold. Who, by the way, not only betrayed America, but also burned his home town of New London Ct. to the ground. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
