Connecticut is Investing in The Valley

 

A few weeks ago, I was in Naugatuck with Mayor Pete Hess to promote a new $5.7 million state grant to revitalize Rubber Avenue when someone asked me why the street is named Rubber Avenue.

If you’re not from the Valley, you probably don’t know about Uniroyal Tire, which began as the United States Rubber Company in Naugatuck back in 1892 and which was one of the 12 original American companies that made up the New York Stock Exchange. Uniroyal’s 35 factory buildings were once located on 86 acres just off Rubber Avenue, along the Naugatuck River.

Uniroyal is one of those industrial-era companies that went through a lot of changes in ownership until it closed in 1979, leaving behind a lonelier Main Street, a polluted property, and a local historical society wondering that to do with lots of old photos and pamphlets. It’s a story that’s been repeated hundreds of times all across America as technology advances and the Cheney silk mills of Manchester (“Silk City”), the brass factories of Waterbury (“Brass City”), and the steamed beaver and rabbit pelt hats of Danbury (“Hat City”) all fade into obscurity.

But then what? What do we do with these old buildings, and their polluted properties, and the jobs and the lonely Main Streets they left behind? Who pays to make things better, to make up for the lost tax revenue, to set the table so new jobs and industry can move in and succeed?

Well, I’m happy to tell you that, at least around here, Connecticut is investing in The Valley.

The Rubber Avenue project I mentioned above is funded through a new state program called the Community Investment Fund. Passed in 2021 with 97 percent of state legislators voting “yes,” the fund sets aside $875 million over five years so cities and towns can make small business loans, improve water and sewer connections (like on Rubber Avenue), prevent power outages after storms, or build affordable housing, senior centers and libraries.

Rubber Avenue is getting drainage improvements, new sidewalks (esp. helpful to the high school students down the road), landscaping, and a roundabout at the intersection of Meadow and Cherry Streets. There’s another state DOT grant for a pedestrian bridge downtown, and another federal grant for the Naugatuck Senior Center (where I also was a few weeks ago!)

Last year, Naugatuck received $3 million from the state to help clean up the old Uniroyal site, where the Naugatuck River would sometimes turn the color of whatever Keds sneakers they were dying that day (25 years ago, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection spent $4 million to help clean up the Naugatuck River so people could actually catch and eat the sea trout that swim there.) Over the past few years, the city has also received a $1 million upgrade to the YMCA, $870,000 for the Brass City Charter School, $1 million for elderly housing and $2 million to rehabilitate the Derby-Shelton Bridge over the Naugatuck River.

Ansonia recently received $6.5 million in CIF funds to help clean up the 50-acreAnsonia Copper and Brass Site in Liberty Street. In just the past three years, the State Bond Commission has approved $9.2 million in economic development projects for Ansonia. As my friend Ansonia

Mayor David Cassetti said not too long ago, “Downtown Ansonia looks very different than it once did: from new businesses and apartments going up, to acres of old, blighted buildings being torn down.”

Over the past few years Derby has received $1.3 million grant to replace emergency generators at Griffin Hospital, $200,000 to renovate the Century Center, $5 million to rebuild downtown infrastructure, $3 million for athletic fields at Derby High School, $100,000 for the Derby Library, and $150,000 for school playgrounds, windows and floors.

My hometown of Hamden has benefitted too, with $1.35 million to renovate the Keefe Center, $4.3 million for a new firehouse, $4 million for elderly housing, $4.3 million for an emergency operations center, and $4 million to purchase homes in the Newhall section built on a landfill.

What does all this mean? I think it means that, even as local industries come and go and leave a legacy of good and bad behind them, life moves on and we need to invest in ourselves. The Valley will probably never be a tech hub like Palo Alto or Boston, but we can invest in the people and places who still call The Valley home, and who want to build their lives here. And that’s what Connecticut is doing: investing in The Valley.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

SENS. HARTLEY & CABRERA WELCOME $3 MILLION STATE INVESTMENT IN NAUGATUCK YMCA CHILDCARE CENTER

NAUGATUCK – State Senators Joan Hartley (D-Waterbury) and Jorge Cabrera (D-Hamden) today welcomed the news that the State of Connecticut is investing $3 million to expand the Naugatuck YMCA’s childcare facility by renovating the adjacent vacant Saint Frances Parochial School.

The plans include a licensed birth to five childcare center, school and teen programming, a teenage recreational center, and family resources. Located less than a half mile from the newly planned rail line platform and 200 mixed-rate apartments, the expansion will help meet childcare needs in the area.

Just last year, Sen. Hartley welcomed a different $1 million state investment in the Naugatuck YMCA for upgrades including roof repairs.

“Every investment in childcare is an investment in economic development. With the expansion of the Naugatuck Y’s childcare facility, we will enable more parents to return to the workplace knowing they have nearby quality, affordable and accessible childcare,” Sen. Hartley said. “Having recently secured a state bonding allocation for the Naugatuck Y, and now with the CCC grant, I am thrilled to see this program come to fruition.”

“When we created this program two years ago, I knew good things were going to happen for the people of Connecticut. Now we’ve got childcare expansion and a teen rec center at a time in Naugatuck when the economy is booming, more folks are working full-time and new housing is being built,” said Sen. Cabrera, who represents the southern half of Naugatuck. “This is the right investment at the right time, and I couldn’t be happier that Naugatuck was awarded this state grant.”

Naugatuck YMCA CEO Mark LaFortune said over the past two years, his organization has received a total of $5.9 million in state and federal grants, and that this latest grant will have a positive impact on Naugatuck.

“We’re going to create a state-of-the-art facility for local families, from birth to adult,” LaFortune said. “And one of the things we learned throughout the pandemic is that our teens need more services and more places to go. This grant will help create that for teens and serve them in a supervised environment.”

Governor Ned Lamont recently announced that the state is awarding a total of $23 million to eight towns and cities – including Naugatuck – under the third round of his administration’s

recently launched Connecticut Communities Challenge Grant program. Administered by the state Department of Economic and Community Development, the program was created in 2021 with the purpose of funding a wide range of revitalization projects that will spur the growth of new jobs. This third round of grants leverages approximately $105 million in non-state dollars.

More details on the Connecticut Communities Challenge Grant program can be found online at portal.ct.gov/DECD/Content/Business-Development/05_Funding_Opportunities/CT-Communities-Challenge-Grant.

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