Professional Hockey is Back!!

This morning at the Danbury Ice Arena, I attended a press conference to announce the formation of a new league and a new team. The Danbury team will play in the EPHL or Eastern Professional Hockey League. The team also announced a naming contest for the Danbury team.

Congratulations to GM Brendan Tedstone and to team owner Tim Kolpien. These guys have been working hard on this and I believe that they will put a quality product on the ice. The other benefit will be the crowds that attend games and then later visit our restuarants and our local businesses. This is terrific news for CityCenter.

To enter the naming contest goto DanburyProHockey.com. Season tickets go on sale April 1st.

All The Best,
Mayor Mark

Happy Easter!

Enjoy the day.

Richter House.

Over the last several weeks, much has been written about the status of Richter House and, in general, the future of the Arts at Richter Park.

Recently the Richter Park Authority voted to close the house because of ongoing issues surrounding its maintenance and its usefulness as well as safety concerns.

The fact that the house has been allowed to deteriorate over the past 25 plus years is a problem. However, now is not the time to assess blame, or to point fingers. More importantly we should review the master plan that Didona and Associates has prepared for the park, and the Authority should make decisions based on the master plan.

In the upcoming budget, I will recommend an appropriation to weather tight the building. This will ensure that there is no more deterioration of the building while a larger discussion ensues regarding how best to use the house. The work that the city will do will only preserve the status quo. It will be up to the Authority to find the money for interior renovations. Make no mistake, those renovations are extensive.

Some have critized the dollar figure that I have used in describing the renovations. Notwithstanding the exterior work, to retrofit the interior of the building to meet all current fire codes and ADA requirements the dollar figure could be as high as $750,000 depending on some key variables (under federal law, once work commences on the building, you must bring it into compliance). A sprinkler system must be installed for the second floor, potentially an elevator, handicapped accessible bathrooms must be added, asbestos must be abated in the basement, the electrical and plumbing must be upgraded as well as a number of structure related problems that exist in the building must be addressed. This estimate was made after consulting with Didona as well as our own building and engineering professionals.

This is a hefty piece of work for the Authority. The Arts community must play a fundraising role in this as well. In a slowing economy, this will be a challenge.

The larger concern is the future of Arts at Richter. The Richter family was incredibly generous in making this donation of land to Danbury. Part of their vision was to have an arts component to the use of the property. We have a responsibility to honor that wish-even if the Authority loses a few dollars in the process. It is the least we can do for the family, and a vibrant Arts program in our community is good for Danbury.

Have a great holiday weekend,

All The Best,
Mayor Mark

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Have fun, be careful, and drive safely.

Busy week...

It has been incredibly busy in the Mayor's Office over the last week. First, last night I participated in a discussion about illegal immigration sponsored by the World Affairs Council. The event was in Hartford at the Mark Twain House. You can read an account of the event in the Hartford Courant. Second, we have just received word that a production company will be using the Immanuel Lutheran School for their business operations over the next several months. They will also be filming around Danbury for the next 90 days. The film has an all-star cast with Winona Ryder and with Julianne Moore. Finally, this morning was the annual Greater Danbury prayer breakfast sponsored by Mission Danbury-it was one of the largest crowds I have ever seen at this event. So I have been swamped....and exhausted.

Is Danbury's Economy Slowing Down?

Danbury's economy has been the envy of Connecticut over the last several years. We have actually grown in population when many communities lost population, we have attracted economic development (think Boehringer Ingleheim, Mannkind, Biodel, PennWest in the pharmaceutical industry, and think Best Buy, Lowe's, renovations to the Danbury Fair Mall in the retail industry.) while other communities have lost jobs and economic growth. Our personal income has jumped over the last two years and the percentage of people living below the poverty level has dropped to historic lows.

So are we seeing a slow down? Like any community we are struggling with the cooling housing market. Prices have stabilized or even dropped in many areas of the City. New home construction is off, while the secondary housing market has slowed. What is the cause? The sub prime mortgage crisis has been a real problem for us. Unfortunately, it has hit Danbury in two ways. First, people received mortgages for homes when they were not prepared for the challenge of home ownership. Second, people with risky credit or no credit took on loans that had large balloon payments, or adjustable rates that shot up after 4 or 5 years to make the payments financially impossible.

These issues present challenges for the economy of Danbury and for the entire nation. The good news is that here in Danbury we are well positioned to see our way through these times. There are a number of "tire kickers" looking to move their business to Danbury. Hopefully, we will be able to make some announcements soon.

Stay tuned...

All the Best,
Mayor Mark

A Greenway for Padanaram Rd.

Danbury took a giant step forward on several issues at the recent Common Council meeting. By a unanimous vote, the Council agreed to acquire the anchor parcel for a new greenway that we are developing along Rt. 37 in the northern section of the City.

The land is approximately 9.2 acres and will be used for passive recreational purposes. I am excited about this project and I am excited about acquiring an additional parcel that will complete a 100 acre greenway that will preserve open space land forever.

Hopefully, within the next several months, we will be able to add more land to this new addition to our recreational space.

Stay tuned..

All The Best,
Mayor Mark

Hockey coming back to CityCenter?

A new organization is considering playing professional hockey in the Danbury Ice Arena. This is good news for our downtown. The team would be in a start up league with Danbury as one of its anchor teams. It would replace the defunct New England Stars who replaced the Danbury Trashers.

Professional Hockey was quite a success when it was done right here in Danbury. It was exciting to watch, and it drew thousands of people to our downtown. These folks used our restaurants, went out after the game, and put money into our Main Street economy.

I am not sure about the specifics of this new plan, but I understand that the level hockey will not be the level of the Trashers ( who were about double AA in Baseball lingo) but will be one step below. It will be several steps higher than the Stars.

One key thought, if Danbury is to embrace the new team, it should have the word Danbury somewhere in it's team name.

I will keep you posted about this exciting new development.

All The Best,
Mayor Mark