Opinion: Fixing Connecticut’s cities

Suzanne Bates is a writer living in South Windsor with her family. She hasworked for news organizations including the Associated Press, New Hampshire Union Leader and Good Morning America Weekend, and recently completed a research fellowship at the Yankee Institute. Follow her on Twitter @suzebates.

When the Connecticut Policy Institute launched its urban policy initiative last week, it was a shame that Democratic spokesman James Hallinan stuck to politics, instead of telling voters what Democrats will do to help residents of the state’s struggling cities.

He could have taken the high road and spoken about his party’s plans to revitalize cities like Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport that are plagued with high unemployment, and crime rates that put them on the FBI’s list of the most dangerous cities in America in their size category.

It is true that CPI was founded by Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley, but if Hallinan would have taken the time to read the policy papers he would have found thoughtful, well-researched ideas on crime, education, housing and job growth, with policy recommendations that are straightforward and plausible.

The policies are also not about spending more — in fact they show that in many cases the state could get more by spending less. There are also several proposals on how we can spend our money smarter by measuring the effectiveness of our state and local policies.

See the complete story at CT News Junkie.