A ‘strong presence’ state isn’t enough
There is no sugar-coating it — the loss of the corporate headquarters of United Technologies to the Boston area is a serious blow.
Short term, the hit is mostly psychological, but longer term, it means less philanthropic giving, less senior corporate involvement in the affairs of the city and state, and is a signal to other companies looking for headquarters sites.
Just in case you haven’t noticed, it’s a particular problem for Greater Hartford. Yes, Fairfield County lost General Electric, but Hartford has lost in the last few decades the headquarters of Northeast Utilities, Travelers (the corporate headquarters is actually in New York City), CVS/Aetna and now United Technologies. The Hartford Courant itself is owned by a Chicago-based company.
What story are we telling Cigna, Stanley Black & Decker, The Hartford, ESPN, and others that will keep them here?
We need a plan — a concerted effort to rebuild our attraction as a corporate hub. It will take patience and at least 10 years to execute, but if we start soon, the very fact of the effort will provide glue. Everyone should pitch in. Here are some ideas to get us started.
1. Start by asking corporate leaders what would cement their headquarters’ presence in Greater Hartford and in Connecticut.
2. It’s a lot about building exciting cities, places where executives and millennials want to be. For example, we absolutely have to rebuild the XL Center in Hartford. We should find a way to attract one or more professional sports teams, and we should build on our strong base in the performing arts and music.
3. It’s a whole lot about transportation. We need accelerated rail travel to NYC — 60 minutes from New Haven and 90 minutes from Hartford. Bradley Airport needs to become world-class: make it more competitive by relieving it of state employee costs and work rules, and provide funding for start-up subsidies for air carriers who will provide direct flights to the West Coast and Europe (as we did for Dublin).
The runway at Tweed in New Haven must be lengthened to permit short-haul jets. Let’s even explore commercial helicopter service from Greater Hartford to NYC — what amount of subsidy might be needed, and are there landing places?
4. Economic development policy needs to be focused on building and attracting to Hartford and Connecticut the up-and-coming entrepreneurs and companies that one day can be local leaders. I built one such company from scratch in Avon that became a Fortune 1000 New York Stock Exchange company in only six years — it can be done. It’s not just about our current dwindling crop of large corporate headquarters.
5. Finally, tax policy can be reshaped — at little cost — to give Connecticut advantages over New York and Boston. For example, let’s decide that executives and board members who travel to a corporate headquarters in Connecticut for not more than 50 days per year will not be subject to state income taxes. Let’s phase out the state estate tax over a period of years so that we have an advantage over New York and Massachusetts, which still have theirs.
The Courant is right — a “strong presence” isn’t good enough for a state that once had the secondhighest concentration of Fortune 500 company headquarters.
Robert Patricelli is the former co-chair of the state’s Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth, and a serial health care entrepreneur.