HARTFORD — After a marathon session of shuttle diplomacy in Capitol meeting rooms that started Monday afternoon, Connecticut’s 116-day budget impasse finally ended at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, when legislative leaders agreed they have a deal that can be voted on later in the week.
Emerging from a House Democratic caucus meeting room that had been the site of off-and-on talks for most of the month, the leaders capped their attempt to flesh out the budget framework that was agreed upon in principle last week.
While leaders were reticent to discuss specifics, pending further discussions with rank-and-file lawmakers, they agreed that major issues that had already been reported, including a 45-cent additional tax on cigarettes; a tougher cap on annual spending increases; and the use of energy funds paid by natural gas and electricity customers will remain in the two-year, $41-billion plan.
The state has been without a budget since the start of the fiscal year on July 1 and the state has been run under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s executive orders since then. A Republican budget that passed last month with the support of three Senate Democrats and five in the House, was successfully vetoed by Malloy.
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said the second year of the biennium was brought into balance by “a variety of measures and compromises.”
“This really has been a historic moment in the state of Connecticut,” said Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin. “Something that people have told me for many years they wanted to see happen, that both parties come together, compromise for the good of the state. This is a proud moment for the state and for me personally.”
“This did take a lot of time and I think patience is going to prove to be a reward in this budget,” said Republican Senate Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven. “We’ve talked about a lot of things we never talked about before. I think it’s a budget that isn’t just a budget to get past the two years. It is a budget that has sound policy, which means it is a supportive document that can carry on with the message for years to come.”
House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, said that lawmakers were competing against Malloy’s order, which would have sharply cut back spending and municipal aid. “When you have a governor that is not being helpful and a governor that is not working with us, and a govenror that is trying to scare everybody in this state, it is not about working with the bipartisan budget that passed, it was about working from the executive orders, and we had to make sure that those draconian cuts did not continue to go through and continue to hurt our cities and towns, our children, our elderly, et cetera.”
“We came out together, we stayed together, we worked together very hard and we have a product that with final caucus approval, we will vote on over the next few days that I think will make the people of the state of Connecticut proud,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk. “That’s not to say that there aren’t difficult decisions or hard choices, but I think people will be glad that we have a budget, that we’re going to move forward and we’re doing it in a bipartisan fashion.”
House Majority Leader Matt Ritter said that most of the last two days was spent “arguing over very small line items,” because the leaders wanted to get details correct. “When the final product comes out for people to look at, it’s important to realize that everything in there is related to something else,” Looney said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Deeply affordable development in Stamford a new model for housing
STAMFORD — A new downtown development will provide affordable housing for 125 people who earn less than a third of the area’s median income, helping to alleviate the persistent problem of family homelessness in the region.
Inspirica, the largest provider of homeless services in lower Fairfield County, broke ground Monday at 72 Franklin St., a development the nonprofit says is a new kind of venture that will supply “deeply affordable housing” without government subsidies used for construction or rent, helping to keep costs low and the project self-sustaining, officials said.
“Despite its resurgent economy, Stamford continues to experience stubborn homelessness,” Inspirica CEO Jason Shaplen said. “This may seem counterintuitive in one of the wealthier areas in the nation.”
Most affordable housing is for people earning around half of the median area income, Shaplen said. Deeply affordable housing, aimed at the impoverished or homeless, is for those earning 25 to 35 percent. The median area income determined by the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority is $142,800 for a family of four in Stamford.
“Seventy-two Franklin ... fills this devastating gap in the spectrum of housing,” said Shaplen, who noted the city is part of the nation’s fifth-most expensive housing market referred to as the Bridgeport-Norwalk-Stamford metro region.
The 47,000-square-foot building will have 26 studio apartments, 17 two-bedroom apartments, 10 three-bedroom apartments and a day care operated by Children’s Learning Centers with six classrooms for 48 infants and toddlers.
More than 80 percent of the units will be for those earning less than 30 percent of the area median income. Rents are expected to be $470 for studios, $700 for two-bedrooms and $830 for three-bedrooms, about one third of the market rate. Government vouchers will not be accepted so tenants will be paying rent out of pocket. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
NEW YORK — Amazon will be sorting through 238 proposals from cities and regions in the United States, Canada and Mexico that are hoping to land the company's second headquarters and the investment it'll bring.
The online had retailer kicked off its hunt for a second home base in September, promising 50,000 new jobs and construction spending of more than $5 billion. Proposals were due last week, and Amazon made clear that tax breaks and grants would be a big factor in deciding what entry prevails.
Amazon.com Inc. did not specify which cities or metro areas applied, but many of the location have made their interest public. The company said Monday the proposals came from 43 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, as well as three Mexican states and six Canadian provinces.
In a tweet, the company said it was "excited to review each of them."
Besides looking for financial incentives, Amazon had stipulated that it wanted to be near a metropolitan area with more than a million people; be able to attract top technical talent; be within 45 minutes of an international airport; have direct access to mass transit; and be able to expand that headquarters to as much as 8 million square feet in the next decade.
But that didn't stop some apparent long shots from applying. A bid came from Alaska, according to Amazon, though the entire state has a population below a million.
"Most of the 238 probably lack some of those big-city advantages," said Jed Kolko, the chief economist at job site Indeed. But most places probably could not pass up the chance of getting 50,000 jobs, "even if the odds of winning are low," he said.
Although generous tax breaks and other incentives can erode a city's tax base, Amazon's headquarters could draw even more tech businesses along with their well-educated, highly paid employees.
In New Jersey, Republican Gov. Chris Christie has endorsed Newark's bid, saying the state and the city are planning nearly $7 billion in tax breaks. Detroit bid organizers have said its proposal offers Amazon the unique chance to set up shop in both the U.S. and Canada. Missouri officials proposed an innovation corridor between Kansas City and St. Louis rather than a single location.
The seven U.S. states that Amazon said did not apply were: Arkansas, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Ex-Dunkin' Donuts Park Developer Robert Landino Says He's Not Under Investigation
Robert Landino, CEO of a former developer of Dunkin’ Donuts Park, says he and his company are not under federal investigation in connection to the baseball stadium’s construction.
“My counsel has informed me that the United States Attorney’s Office has advised him that there is no investigation of me or my companies,” Landino, of Centerplan Construction Co., said in an email.
Woodbury intersection under construction
WOODBURY – Contractors are at work improving the dangerous intersection of Middle Quarter Road and Sherman Hill Road.
S&S Asphalt Paving is reconfiguring the intersection. The area will be closed to traffic from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Thursday, accoridng to the public works department. Drivers are advised to take an alternate route.
Public Works Director Rich Lamothe has said it’s “a very bad intersection,” because of the way the roads intersect, the lines of sight and the speed at which vehicles travel down Sherman Hill, also known as Route 64.
Plans include squaring off the angles at which the roads meet so drivers must almost come to a complete stop to turn left when coming down Sherman Hill Road. Currently, they can maneuver the turn, which is about a 45-degree angle, at high rates of speed coming down the hill.
The online had retailer kicked off its hunt for a second home base in September, promising 50,000 new jobs and construction spending of more than $5 billion. Proposals were due last week, and Amazon made clear that tax breaks and grants would be a big factor in deciding what entry prevails.
Amazon.com Inc. did not specify which cities or metro areas applied, but many of the location have made their interest public. The company said Monday the proposals came from 43 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, as well as three Mexican states and six Canadian provinces.
In a tweet, the company said it was "excited to review each of them."
Besides looking for financial incentives, Amazon had stipulated that it wanted to be near a metropolitan area with more than a million people; be able to attract top technical talent; be within 45 minutes of an international airport; have direct access to mass transit; and be able to expand that headquarters to as much as 8 million square feet in the next decade.
But that didn't stop some apparent long shots from applying. A bid came from Alaska, according to Amazon, though the entire state has a population below a million.
"Most of the 238 probably lack some of those big-city advantages," said Jed Kolko, the chief economist at job site Indeed. But most places probably could not pass up the chance of getting 50,000 jobs, "even if the odds of winning are low," he said.
In New Jersey, Republican Gov. Chris Christie has endorsed Newark's bid, saying the state and the city are planning nearly $7 billion in tax breaks. Detroit bid organizers have said its proposal offers Amazon the unique chance to set up shop in both the U.S. and Canada. Missouri officials proposed an innovation corridor between Kansas City and St. Louis rather than a single location.
The seven U.S. states that Amazon said did not apply were: Arkansas, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Ex-Dunkin' Donuts Park Developer Robert Landino Says He's Not Under Investigation
Robert Landino, CEO of a former developer of Dunkin’ Donuts Park, says he and his company are not under federal investigation in connection to the baseball stadium’s construction.
“My counsel has informed me that the United States Attorney’s Office has advised him that there is no investigation of me or my companies,” Landino, of Centerplan Construction Co., said in an email.
In February, The Courant reported that FBI investigators were contacting people with ties to, or knowledge of, the long-delayed $71 million ballpark project.
According to sources, investigators were collecting information on expenditures of public funds toward the completion CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUEWoodbury intersection under construction
WOODBURY – Contractors are at work improving the dangerous intersection of Middle Quarter Road and Sherman Hill Road.
S&S Asphalt Paving is reconfiguring the intersection. The area will be closed to traffic from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Thursday, accoridng to the public works department. Drivers are advised to take an alternate route.
Public Works Director Rich Lamothe has said it’s “a very bad intersection,” because of the way the roads intersect, the lines of sight and the speed at which vehicles travel down Sherman Hill, also known as Route 64.
Plans include squaring off the angles at which the roads meet so drivers must almost come to a complete stop to turn left when coming down Sherman Hill Road. Currently, they can maneuver the turn, which is about a 45-degree angle, at high rates of speed coming down the hill.