Debate rages over Bridgeport Ampitheater

By Reginald Johnson

 
  BRIDGEPORT ---- Is it salvation for a city still trying to remake itself years after industrial plants shut their doors?

  Or is it an expensive boondoggle, saddling the city with debt for years to come?

  Those questions are still being debated by city leaders and residents following the City Council’s vote to approve $4.5 million more in city funding to complete the Harbor Yard Ampitheater, a concert venue in Bridgeport’s South End.

  The ampitheater, being constructed on the old Bluefish baseball field and incorporating stadium seating, was slated to open in 2019.  Developer Howard Saffan and his partner Live Nation predict the entertainment facility will draw tens of thousands of music fans from around the region and provide much needed revenue to the city and boost business downtown.

  But Saffan told city officials earlier this year that he has run into unforeseen infrastructure problems which have driven up costs and the city needed to give him another $4.5 million to complete the project.

  Some of those infrastructure problems reportedly dealt with rerouting an old sewer line under the baseball field and which was interfering with amphitheater construction. Other issues concerned broken elevators and faulty sprinkler systems.

  Under the original agreement, Saffan said the city would have to put in no more than $7.5 million for the project, to be matched by the developer’s $7.5 million for a total $15 million project .

  Despite going back in his original pledge, a majority of the City Council went along with Saffan’s request, citing the ampitheater’s importance in helping to revitalize the city’s downtown.

    “I support this project here 100%,” said Councilman Jorge Cruz who represents the South End and the downtown. “We here in the South End need an infusion of energy of development,” he told the Connecticut Post.

  “If you want to grow things in the city, you have to begin with something to make it grow,” said Councilwoman Denese Taylor-Moye, who also represents the South End.

  Taylor-Moye said the city will benefit from the revenue from rent, ticket sales, the hundreds of jobs created and spin-off development from the amphitheater.

 “This will definitely benefit the city,” she said.

The concert ampitheater being built in the city's South End.

 But Saffan’s request for more money was not greeted favorably by all.

 Councilwoman Maria Pereira from the East End criticized Saffan and doubted the viability of the project overall.

  “The ampitheater is not an “economic development” project. It is nothing more than a taxpayer-funded handout to a developer closely aligned with Mayor (Joe) Ganim who is also a generous donor to Ganim’s political campaigns,” wrote Pereira in an opinion piece in the Connecticut Post.

   Pereira said that when you add in the interest on long-term bonded debt for the city, the cost of police and fire protection and facility maintenance, the city is looking at a final cost of $17.5 million, which she said will never be recouped.

   The council member also disputed Saffan's contention that he had no way of knowing about the infrastructure problems when he signed onto the project. The developer has maintained that the city denied him access to inspect the Bluefish Stadium before the agreement was reached.

  Pereira said in her op-ed that the the former director of city facilities had told her that Saffan had never requested an inspection and if he had, the city would have granted him access.

  Also expressing skepticism is AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia, a council member from the North End.

   Commenting on the problems at the stadium, Paniccia said “It was common knowledge… He knew about it.”

  Paniccia, who said she had reservations about the viability of the project when it was first proposed three years ago, questions how many people will actually come to the amphitheater concerts, given the fact that Live Nation also runs concerts at the Oakdale in Wallingford and the Mohegan Sun Casino. She said those concert sites will siphon away patronage from the Bridgeport facility.

  The amphitheater she said, may become a “big drain“ on the city financially.

 On the issue of the long-term bond debt and the financial burden that would pose for the city, Taylor- Moye disagreed with Pereira. She said the $4.5 million given to Saffan now is coming out of an “old” bond package approved for downtown improvements.

  “ It’s not new money,” she said.

 City Council President Aidee Nieves said she was not troubled by the fact that the developer had asked for more money based on his claim he had run into unforeseen problems in building the amphitheater.

  “Sometimes you find these things as you go along,” during a remodeling or construction project, she said.

   On the whole, Nieves predicted, the amphitheater “will be a big draw and reinvigorate the downtown.”
  There's disagreement as well over the number and quality of jobs to be created by the new facility. Pereira said she was skeptical that "800-1,000" jobs would actually be produced, as Saffan has promised. She also maintained the jobs would be "part-time and low-wage."  But Taylor-Moye countered that while the concert jobs would be part-time and seasonal, the same workers will have jobs during the cold weather months at the nearby Webster Bank Arena, giving them good, year-round employment.
   The baseball stadium now to be the ampitheater is located on the site of where a thriving factory, Jenkins Valves, once stood.  The manufacturing plant --- one of many heavy industrial facilities in Bridgeport in the 20th century --- employed about 400 workers, all union members and making solid pay and benefits for the day.  But Jenkins, along with dozens other plants, began shutting down in the 1970s and 1980s, as de-industrialization took over the Northeast. Companies fled Bridgeport to gain higher profits in low-wage, anti-union Southern states or in foreign countries.
   The Jenkins building sat vacant for years until it was demolished in the 1990s when Ganim in his first tenure as mayor proposed the idea of bringing a baseball team to Bridgeport, as a means of helping to redevelop the city.  After opening, the Bluefish were very popular and drew many people from the suburbs. Over time, however, the team ran into financial problems, there were issues with rent payments, and the city opted to move in another direction in 2017.
     

     

  

 

   

   

Going, Going, Gone

                                      

By Reginald Johnson

  A little bit of the spirit of Bridgeport died yesterday when the Bluefish played their last game here. My wife and I went to a number of games over the years, and whenever we did, we had a great time. We’d see old friends, make new ones, and often see some pretty good baseball. And there was always a happy ambiance --- lots of families with kids in their baseball uniforms cheering wildly for the Bluefish, fans jumping for joy when they caught foul balls, people laughing at the goofy Bluefish mascot or singing along when the loudspeaker would blare Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack!” when an opposing pitcher was driven  from the mound by a Bluefish rally.

   As others have pointed out, the coming of the Bluefish 20 years ago seemed to lift the morale of a city that had been demoralized by years of industrial plants leaving town, a general economic decline and City Hall corruption. The Bluefish were the perfect tonic for the Park City. People thronged to the “Ballpark at Harbor Yard” as Bluefish stadium was known in the early years and the team enjoyed great popularity.

 After a number of years there was a fall-off in attendance and there were reports the team was having financial struggles.  I don’t know all the details of the situation, but city officials were also reportedly concerned about the future financial viability of the team. The Bluefish paid rent to the city for use of the publicly owned stadium.

  Still, the team had a strong and loyal fan base and the team did pretty well over the years getting into the playoffs  a number of times in the Atlantic Coast League and winning a championship. It was a point of pride for Bridgeporters and fans in the area to say ‘we have our own professional baseball team – the Bluefish.’

A Bridgeport Bluefish baseball game in August

   But Mayor Joe Ganim, returning for a second go-round as mayor after serving a term in prison for corruption carried out during his first stint as the city leader in the 1990s,  apparently felt that the Bluefish did not have a great financial future and the city might do better using the stadium site for something else. It all came to a head early this year when the city put out a request for proposals for use of the stadium and indicated that the use could either be baseball or some other entertainment. The Ganim administration eventually accepted a plan from a concert promoter who has proposed a series of concerts at the stadium. The proposal still has to be accepted by the City Council.

   The city may have had legitimate financial concerns about the future viability of the Bluefish staying in Bridgeport, but it is not clear whether the plan for more concerts in the city is really a sound idea, either. For one thing the Webster Bank Arena already hosts concerts and officials there have indicated they may have legal issues with the new plan for concerts at Harbor Yard. Also, it should be noted that the concerts at Seaside Park that went on for a number of years called The Gathering of the Vibes had to be ended a couple years ago because the promoters were way behind in their payments to the city for use of the park.

   I have to admit I am partial to baseball, so the idea of a new concert site in the city in place of baseball just doesn’t grab me.  It seems to me that more could’ve been done to try to save the Bluefish and keep them from leaving Bridgeport. Possibly some creative means could’ve been brought into play such as having the University of Bridgeport take over the use of the stadium and participate in a different payment plan with the Bluefish to the city. The UB baseball team already uses the Bluefish field for its games.

   I didn’t get the impression that Mayor Ganim was at all sentimental about having to part ways with the Bluefish, which is too bad. It’s also ironic since it was Ganim --- in his first go round as mayor who brought the Bluefish to Bridgeport as part of a redevelopment plan for the South End.  While Ganim did a lot wrong in his first tenure as mayor one of the things he did right was bringing in the baseball team and the arena.  Now, sadly, it is Ganim who is letting the Bluefish go. The man who brought in the Bluefish didn’t seem to understand in the end how much the team had come to mean to its fans and the city.

   So the word is the Bluefish may now move on to some city in North Carolina, although the details of a move have not been finalized.

Now I know in a small way how the fans felt in Brooklyn when the Dodgers left town in 1958. It’s a sad day for Bridgeport.