Shawn Wooden and others said both the ballpark and the supermarket could still happen.
The debate over whether to relocate the minor league Rock Cats from New Britain to Hartford continues, and the Hartford's elected officials are now feeling some heat.
Steve Harris, one of the founders of the city’s African American Alliance, has long been a loud voice for the community. What does he have to say about a new $60 million minor league baseball stadium in his neighborhood, one of the poorest in the state? "I don’t want to pay for it," he said. "I don’t want to see my taxes go up. We’re already at the brink of starvation."
Harris continued, "I don't want to be seen as an obstructionist. I don't. But I'm also not Big Daddy Warbucks. So, again, if the Rock Cats want this stadium -- and I want them to have a stadium -- they can build it. They've got plenty of dollars. This sounds almost like Kraft and the Patriots all over again, except on a smaller scale."
I spoke with Harris after members of Hartford's city council, its treasurer, and state representatives came together to address the issue of the new stadium. Harris said they've gotten an earful from constituents like him.
Councilman Ken Kennedy agreed. He said, "I think what I'm hearing from the folks throughout the city, the folks that we all represent, is that we are comfortable with the project. We are not necessarily comfortable with the cost."
City Treasurer Adam Cloud echoed that sentiment. "We hear those concerns," he said. "Please be assured that we will be stewards of the public's trust."
Council President Shawn Wooden, who was an early supporter of the stadium concept, said that the ballpark can't be built solely on the backs of some of the state's poorest residents. It will have to include private money. "We want to provide a framework for saying: the benefits, some of those things have been talked about, jobs -- we need to vet that," he said. "We need to make sure that's real, and that the city residents benefit from it."
This press conference came as a partnership behind a planned supermarket for the same part of town said it wouldn't proceed if the ballpark were built. It's a part of the city in dire need of access to food.
Wooden and others said both the ballpark and the supermarket could still happen. In a statement, city development director Thomas Deller said that "[t]here will be a supermarket."
