Bridgeport has an infrastructure problem. It’s no secret that Bridgeport’s roads are full of chronic potholes, intersections are unsafe, sidewalks are cracked and crumbling, parking along our main corridors is a mess, and speeding and reckless driving goes unchecked. In fact, of the top 5 trauma activations at Bridgeport Hospital in 2022, roadway injuries were the second highest at 443 incidents. (For comparison, gun shot wounds came in third at 84.)

And according to data from Watch For Me CT, Bridgeport has the second highest pedestrian collision totals in the state, with the highest incidents occurring on the East Side, Downtown, and the West Side. It’s no wonder that pedestrians, drivers, and cyclists all over Bridgeport feel unsafe.

Our Roads Are a Mess. So Is Our Environment.

Our roads are definitely a mess and so is our environment. We are dramatically overburdened with polluting industries, causing our asthma rates to be some of the highest in the country. Brownfields haunt our city, leaving so much taxable land sitting undeveloped and an eyesore. Our combined sewer system backs up when there’s heavy rains, dumping toxic waters into the Long Island Sound. And as a coastal community, flooding and the risk of flooding due to climate change remain one of the  largest challenges our city is facing. 

All of these problems – from unsafe streets to brownfields to water in basements – are economic drains on our city and hold back the jobs, development, and investment we need to grow. These problems are not unique to Bridgeport. In fact, they mirror the challenges cities all across the country are facing. What is unique about Bridgeport, however, is that currently there is no vision – and no concrete plan – to address them. 

As President Biden made clear when he signed the Inflation Reduction Act, infrastructure spending creates a bold opportunity to redesign our cities for a future that centers clean energy, funds transportation upgrades and protects the environment. As a main plug in the electric grid and a transportation hub, Bridgeport should be a regional leader in the move away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy. Our local government could be working with our neighboring towns, as well as state and federal partners, to secure funding for a regional future that rights the environmental injustices of the past by centering Bridgeporters health, safety, and well-being. 

But in order to plan for such a future, we need effective leaders who care about equity and environmental justice. And who will hire smart, competent people. 

Mayor Ganim has failed to lead our city.

In May, we learned that Park City Wind, which would have brought 800 megawatts of wind energy to Connecticut, as well as good-paying jobs for Bridgeport residents, may be dead on arrival. Avangrid – parent company of United Illuminating – wants to renegotiate its offshore wind contract with Connecticut, citing rising costs due to inflation, the war in Ukraine and other factors. But, according to Aziz Dekhan from the Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs, the project was actually imperiled by decisions made by the Ganim administration. From CT Mirror:

“Avangrid’s original proposal included a multibillion-dollar redevelopment of an 18-acre area at the port in Bridgeport. It would include staging for construction and long-term operations, maintenance and management. The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development commissioner at the time said this work would provide nearly $900 million in direct economic benefits and more than 2,000 direct jobs.

As of now, not a speck of dirt has been moved toward that goal. Instead, the Ganim administration in Bridgeport has rezoned much of that port area as residential, making it almost impossible to have enough space for a staging area…There are indications Avangrid is now considering other port areas out of state for staging and other operations for Park City.”

“Is CT’s largest offshore wind project headed for the shoals?,” CT Mirror, Jan Spiegel, May 22, 2023

Ganim Has remained silent on the loss of jobs and projects.

Also under his leadership, the federal flood prevention project, known as Resilient Bridgeport, has also slowed to a halt. The South End, devastated after Hurricane Sandy and shut out from economic development due to flood risk, was promised this project under the banner of environmental justice for a neighborhood long plagued by flooding. While Ganim has been silent on plans for flood protection for South End residents, he’s been very vocal about moving Bassick High School into that same flood zone. He’s happy to put on a hardhat for multiple groundbreakings, yet taxpayers still don’t have any explanation for why we paid the demolition company AAIS $3.3 million more than the next highest bidder – a company that is not only linked to Ganim’s jailtime but also to the Kosta Diamantis scandal at the state.

Finally, Bridgeport should be leading on Vision Zero Plans and Complete Streets, concepts that at this point are decades old. We need to improve our city’s main arteries – like East Main Street, Stratford Avenue, Park Avenue – with safety in mind, making common-sense improvements like protected bike lanes, angled parking, walk signals, bus shelters and more. We can start in the neighborhoods where traffic and pedestrian injuries have historically been the worst – the East and West Sides – and work to eliminate traffic fatalities, while also increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility on our streets. 

Bridgeport voters won’t be fooled by election-year stunts.

Sadly, under Ganim’s administration, we haven’t heard of any plans to holistically address traffic and pedestrian safety and coordinate neighborhood improvements. We haven’t heard a vision for environmental justice. And we haven’t seen progress on clean energy infrastructure. What we have heard is that the Mayor is set to launch a $10 million road paving plan. But Bridgeport voters won’t be fooled by election-year stunts. This year, Bridgeport voters are ready to vote for change. We are ready for a new mayor who will take seriously the challenges of our time – and who will work to build a just, equitable, and sustainable city for all.   

Love Bridgeport? Learn Why Marilyn Moore is The People’s Choice For Mayor, Read The People’s Platform,  Pledge to Vote on Tues, Sept, 12th and Donate to the Year of Change HERE!