To the Editor:
The Housing Bill was supposed to be a homelessness and housing crisis bill. It certainly did not do much in those regards and offered more incentives to developers than our communities in need of housing. “The game is afoot” and I thank my former colleague for explaining it well in her opinion piece which i suggest people to read.
In my tenure, I too voted against the Transit Oriented Development or Fair Share approach. State Representative Minnie Gonzalez writes it well in her opinion, what the flaws of this “one size fits all” bill were. In the previous years I kept repeating to the Hartford organization called Desegregate CT that they would not get my vote, and they really did not get support from other major city reps for the years I was there
People Friendly Stamford also pushed hard for it along with our DCC leadership over the years, but Stamfordites should know that PFS was founded with the help of lawyers that work for or support developers (who kept suing the BOR and kept losing in court). They pretend they are here to support sidewalks and planting trees, this is laughable, as they supported the eminent domain of a Haitian Family who paid over 40 years of taxes in Stamford and prevented them to get fair value for their property — I estimate at least 3 times what they got.
Not to repeat some of Rep Gonzales’ points, “As of Right” language was always a problem for me as it was removing public process, and as a public servant I always said I cannot vote for this bill if you do not remove this “as of right” language, and if you do not raise affordable housing in new construction at 30%, and also if that 30% does not include all the lower income tiers.
In a city like Stamford, where developers have done whatever they wanted thanks to an executive branch prioritizing their interests over those of the Stamford constituency, enacting one of the worst versions of gentrification, sending our Stamfordites, South End neighbors, to Bridgeport or to other municipalities in the state. Our development in the last 15 years has not brought more equitable access to housing but nasty gentrification. People forced to sell their family homes they never intended to sell as the property tax went sky high in the south end due to the rapid building of these low end pretense of luxury building, and raising the rent in an area where it was still affordable to rent or buy!! Developers would buy affordable home ownership to let it rot with open windows for a decade to be able to call it blight and replace it with high prices rentals.
We were told each new building would bring 10% in affordable housing but it has not been that affordable.
Also the city of Stamford’s Mayor Simmons was told several times about the Below Market Rate Charter not being up to date and allowing abuses of tenants (not landlords) in those 10% of new units. Not only that but the city allowed violations of the charter by unscrupulous landlords and developers.
Our city’s constituency has suffered major abuses from developers and angered the South End and West side communities.
YET, Fairfield county’s new homeless are one third our elderly retirees and one third the children of the lower income. It was not this bill that was gonna force our city to do what is right to prevent and end homelessness. There are also currently no building being built to accommodate those populations.
ONLY one project in Stamford seems to be fitting and it is the replacement of the St. John’s Towers as it will bring more truly affordable units not thanks to our Stamford Government nor to the state.
The city’s mayor, Caroline Simmons, Office of Governor Ned Lamont and the legislature’s leadership probably hate this type of op-ed but they need to do what is right for our lower income communities, our Black and Brown communities and end the use of derelict development for profit at the expense of our lower-income populations. Bring in State Housing and other smart solutions, we need to end homelessness once again so “stop wasting time and people’s lives giving the developers whatever they need.
The Democratic party needs to really do damage control. We lost to Trump. So stop prioritizing corporate interests. It’s time to clean things up and do the real job for the people. Maybe ask fellow Democrats part of Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America what they would do? Those are Democrats that want to work for those most in need.
I do also hope all the Stamfordites that voted NO on the charter revisions have reviewed or will review what they voted no on. Go beyond the comment the revisions were not split, as not one of these revisions was bad for the very large majority of the Stamford constituencies. They were there to shift the priority from developers to Stamfordites, and one of the revisions was for a real Housing Commission..not one under the executive branch.
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Michel , a Democrat, was state representative for Stamford from 2019-2025