Bridgeport

Bridgeport is brass--tarnished brass. Bridgeport is a grimy mill town. That’s the general impression, especially to those who speed by on the New Eng­land Thruway and the railroad. Reconnoiter with us, and you will be introduced to quite a different Bridgeport. We share with you this realistic view of Bridgeport by virtue of a tri­partite undertaking: the Bridgeport Area Founda­tion and allied business community, the City of Bridgeport and Regional Plan Association shared equally in the cost of this investigation.

Association staff conducted the study with the generous assistance of people in the City itself, State officials and people doing business there.

Though the Connecticut sector of our Region includes but 9 percent of its 19 million people, it has been rapidly changing economically. Conse­quently, the Association has been increasingly active there over the past decade.

A ​“Future of Southern Fairfield County” con­ference brought together 1,300 persons at Sacred Heart University in 1970, spotlighting the oppor­tunities for development of downtown Stamford and Bridgeport. GTE’s decision to put its head­quarters in Stamford was a direct result and initi­ated the subsequent downtown revival. In 1973, Connecticut provided the largest participation in percentage terms in the Association’s talkback television series, CHOICES. A 1975 Association report set out Connecticut Transportation Issues. It recommended that the State use transportation to support the resurgence of older city downtowns, discourage haphazard, spread development and en­courage the bulk of new traffic, both passenger and freight, to use rail and buses.

We also have been supporters of Connecticut’s pioneering State planning efforts and Governor Ella Grasso’s Executive Order establishing an unam­biguous pro-city urban policy to guide State agencies. A diverse Connecticut Committee (listed on page 39) advises Regional Plan’s Board on affairs within the State.

This report fits Bridgeport into a regional economy and housing market that we view through the lens of The Second Regional Plan (1968). The Plan envisions metropolitan centers of offices, health services, retailing, higher education and cultural institutions, linked by rail to the regional center, Manhattan. Downtown Bridgeport is one of those places.

So, we welcomed the invitation of Bridgeport’s government and business leaders to assess its pros­pects as a metropolitan center. We have seen a great deal of achievement in Bridgeport since we began work a year ago. Most important is the much closer rapport among the City, business and civic leaders and the growing pride and confidence in their City of Bridgeport residents and businesses.

As you will see in this report, Regional Plan shares that confidence.