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Luke Bronin Supporters in Hartford Want Quick Action, Improvement

Chion Wolf
/
WNPR
Luke Bronin, Hartford's next mayor, declares victory.
"The challenges are big. But so is Hartford's promise."
Luke Bronin

That Luke Bronin would win the mayoral election wasn’t exactly a surprise. In Hartford, the people who win the Democratic primary often win the November general election. And this night was no different. So the mood at Real Art Ways in Hartford was already celebratory long before Bronin got there.

Among the first to arrive were former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez and his wife. Perez resigned in 2010 after his criminal conviction; current Mayor Pedro Segarra took his place.  And joining Perez was his former Chief of Staff Matt Hennessy.

“Pedro Segarra would have been a fantastic weak mayor," Hennessy said, echoing one of the main criticisms often heard from Segarra opponents and Bronin supporters. “He loved the cocktail parties, he loved to cut ribbons, and he loved to go to the events... The last five years there, people argue there’s been a lot of wandering of the city government.  And Luke has a tremendous opportunity to get things done.”

And that’s something a lot of people talked about. Frustration with the city as it is; a need for things -- from public safety to public works to public education -- to show quick signs of improvement. Just ask long-time Democrat Steve Harris. He's talked to Bronin a lot. 

“And I said to him," Harris said,  "Listen. This is not a honeymoon job. Our problems are such – you won’t have to time to kind of win it and then say, well, 'I’ve got a couple of years to figure this out.' You’ve got to hit the ground running." 

Credit Chion Wolf / WNPR
/
WNPR
Luke Bronin, Hartford's next mayor, declares victory.
Credit Chion Wolf / WNPR
/
WNPR
Sara Bronin, Hartford Mayor-elect Luke Bronin's wife.

Harris said he likes what he’s heard from Bronin about youth, about second chances for people who’ve been to jail. But the thing he wants to see? Jobs, and more residents working on projects in the city, like a big water and sewer project that was on his street.

“Listen. They was on my street for two years," Harris said. "Every time I came out of my house for two years and I looked up and down that street, I purposely looked up and down the street. Very seldom did I see folks that looked like me, that lived in my city, working in those holes."   

"We’re losing businesses rapidly. We have a high crime issue.”
Kelly Kirkley-Bey

Kelly Kirkley-Bey is active in city politics. She said there are a lot of hard decisions in front of the city's next mayor.

“We’re going to have to have to look at hard areas where we’re going to have to make cuts," she said. "We’re going to have to see if we can bring businesses in. We’re losing businesses rapidly. We have a high crime issue.”

Another resident said he’s concerned about city streets. With winter approaching, Governor Dannel Malloy advised Bronin to "get ready for the snow storm."

"And, by the way, Hartford doesn’t do a great job in snow storms," Malloy added. 

When Bronin takes office, plowing those streets will become his challenge. So will dealing with Hartford's poverty, its homicides, and its self-inflicted wounds at City Hall. And the mayor-elect told the crowd last night that he's ready for it.

“The challenges are big," Bronin said. "But so is Hartford’s promise. And so is Hartford’s heart. And so are our aspirations for our city. And with leadership and accountability and action, and with tough choices, tough decisions, but clear priorities, and with time, we will get our city working again.”

It’s a big bet. And a lot of people are counting on it. 

Jeff Cohen started in newspapers in 2001 and joined Connecticut Public in 2010, where he worked as a reporter and fill-in host. In 2017, he was named news director. Then, in 2022, he became a senior enterprise reporter.

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