Candidates differ on city’s economic growth priorities
DANBURY — The next mayor of Danbury will not only be the face of the Hat City’s post-COVID economy, but the force behind spending a $32 million windfall in federal pandemic relief money.
That means that among the stakes in the first open race for mayor in 20 years between Republican Dean Esposito and Democrat Roberto Alves, the economy is at the top of the list.
“The next mayor is going to shape the city for the next generation with this kind of money,” said Alves, a City Council member. “We have to use it strategically to get the most longterm and positive gains, to encourage economic
growth, and to stimulate the economy.”
Alves and Esposito shared their views during separate interviews last week about taxes, the local economy and restarting the downtown of Connecticut’s seventh largest city.
“The mayor has to be proactive in this situation to get the economy going, so this is a time for real experience,” said Esposito, Mayor Joe Cavo’s chief of staff. “I will have round table community events to get people’s input and from local businesses — its crucial that they be part of the conversation.”
Both candidates said they believe in taking a hands-on approach to economic development, and are against raising taxes in principle — although Alves said he would allot more money to the public education budget by “prioritizing spending” and “seeing where there is an opportunity to decrease somewhere else in the city budget.”
“We don’t raise taxes because we have good money management here,” Esposito said. “That’s my goal.”
Alves said too many working families can’t afford to meet basic living expenses to put more pressure on taxpayers.
“I’m not a rich person. I live in a small cape home,” Alves said. “We can’t price ourselves out of Danbury.”
The candidates’ major differences are in their specific plans to spend City Hall’s share of $71 million in federal American Rescue Plan grants — $39 million of which is going to public schools — and in their visions for the city’s once-prominent Main Street corridor.
Alves would spend the city’s $32 million in American Rescue Plan grants to bolster public schools, to support working families and to implement an eightpoint small business plan to revitalize the downtown, create business tax incentives and market the city’s opportunities to investors, among other initiatives.
Esposito would spend City Hall’s American Rescue Plan money on improving public health, improving public safety, and promoting business recovery. He planned to announce specifics of that plan as soon as next week. One initiative to help the economy would expand grants to business owners for façade improvements, he said.
The battle between Alves and Esposito follows a tumultuous 2020 that saw an unprecedented public health crisis all but shut down economies in locally here with protests and marches. In December, 10term GOP mayor Mark Boughton surprised voters by taking a job as Democrat Gov. Ned Lamont’s tax czar.
To replace him, Boughton appointed Cavo, who decided not to run for a new elected term.
Downtown visions
Perhaps the sharpest difference between the candidates on pocketbook issues is the possibilities they see for restarting the downtown engine that once drove Danbury’s economy.
Esposito said he has been working with downtown landlords to market some of the largest underused properties in the Main Street corridor to bring a mix of housing, retail and commercial development to the city’s urban core.
“Our goal is to continue to develop the city to make it a prosperous place,” Esposito said. “I’m going to be on the front line of economic development.”
Esposito was quick to note that any developments must be weighed against concerns of traffic congestion and overcrowding the schools. He said because Main Street is a state road and the city doesn’t set downtown rents, the most effective leadership is the kind that’s experienced in building partnerships with the business community.
“We’re going to motivate people to come downtown,” Esposito said. “The goal has always been that the downtown needs to be moved forward, because the downtown is our heart and soul.”
Alves’ downtown plan includes engaging the arts and cultural organizations to animate street life, while proving more parking, new signs, and dedicated police patrols, whose faces could change perceptions about the downtown’s safety.
“We have to stop governing Danbury like a small town. We’re a city,” Alves said. “We have to think like a city and act like a city.”
Alves added that he would work with Danbury’s state lawmakers to encourage Connecticut’s transportation department to permit outdoor dining on Main Street. He said communal spaces for work and play would make downtown a destination.
“Imagine a community area with bistro tables that’s fenced in so people on a nice day can have coffee delivered or a slice of pizza or hop on the city wi-fi,” Alves said. “We have the vision.”