Season's Grantings: Why Can't We Be Stockton?

Photo credit Jessica Mulholland

  Why can't we be like Stockton, CA?  They have a walkable downtown, a community theater and a City Hall that looks much like the Memorial Boulevard School building in downtown Bristol.  Bristol is fortunate it does not carry the burden of Stockton's pension liabilities.  Those liabilities were once estimated at totaling more than $1.5 billion or $245 million dollars over the course of a decade.  But let's look at the other largest debts that helped sink the city during it's quest for progressive sustainable development during the housing crisis.

STOCKTON

 On August 23,2011, the City of Stockton, CA assumed it's former Redevelopment Agency's housing function responsibilities as required by law.  The City had existing BRT (Bus-Rapid Transit)-like service and was looking to expand it's service and spur development in the process.  It's 2007-2035 plan is a progressive long-term future development/climate action plan focused on things like Transit-Oriented, high-density housing development, preservation of historic and cultural resources, and doubling the number of residents commuting by bicycle by the year 2021.

Driven by residential development, Stockton's population grew over 24% from 2000-2014 to approximately 300,000 residents.  Stockton carried $435.5 million in total bond indebtedness according to it's 2014-2015 Comprehensive Annual Finance Report (CAFR).  This includes $31 million in Parking Garage Debt.  The report also states it held $649,863,743 in total pension liabilities.  The financial status the city found itself in was attributed due to two major factors.  One was that it's pension liabilities became unsustainable during economic decline.  Another was it's substantial loss in property tax revenues as the city's unemployment grew to nearly 24%. One statement in the CAFR stands out:

"Stockton continues to lag in its recovery as compared to other nearby regions of Northern California, partially due to the large number of houses that remain vacant. The median home prices fell from a peak of $400,000 in December 2005 to $118,500 in February 2012, a decline of 70%"

After rapid residential growth and subsequent economic downturn, the City of Stockton was the largest City on the history of the US to go bankrupt when it filed for chapter 9 in 2012.  City Hall and it's parking garages were seized by Wells Fargo in June of that year.

BRISTOL

Bristol's population decreased by hundreds from 2010-2015 is stands at about 60,000 residents.  Bristol's total bond indebtedness went down $6.9 million to $67.6 million according to it's 2014-2015 CAFR .   The report also states that The City of Bristol has $198,811,928 in total pension liabilities. Property taxes increased by 21% during this period to $134,240,052.  


 Until just recently, the City of Bristol's website stated:

"A city which develops a viable urban housing core with transportation links will likely be viable in the 21st century and beyond."

  During recent election debates, Democratic Party candidates for Bristol expressed their support for utilizing state monies for housing to build out along the Fastrak station in downtown Bristol.  One of those candidates won the office for the state's Representative 79th district.  Another local democrat mentioned the use of state monies for housing in Bristol to stimulate growth in a recent radio interview on Bristol's State of the City show on The Beat.   We also heard Bristol's mayor answer a question about whether or not Bristol's downtown would feature a Renaissance Downtowns' type of development with, "It could".   Nowhere have I found any evidence that the city has changed direction.

A quick review of the city's Plan of Development certainly supports this hypotheses, yet some people seem to be in a state of denial.  This plan to implement sustainable development practices into the downtown's redevelopment originated some time ago.  There has been no indication that the city is not continuing it's course as it envelops it's focus on it's decades old plan with the building slated to promote cultural arts.  The push for housing and the incorporation of transportation and cultural arts are the foundations of sustainable development objectives and among the primary focus of it's orchestrators.  The plans can also be traced back to Renaissance Downtowns' 2011 concept plan and many publications relating it to the future of Bristol including those from the regional Chamber of Commerce.  Some influential members of the community have favored the plan, some  have not.  Beyond the Chamber, it's tie to regional planning is not a secret.

Sustainable development practices in Bristol are illustrated as relevant to the State's Conservation and Development plan on the City of Bristol's website.  Therein it describes the conservation of historic resources.  This illustrates the relation of the building and it's preservation as a cultural asset to the downtown development.

click for doc

In recent history we have watched the estimates for the theater climb to twice the cost of the $6 million originally proposed.  Now we have a building that is going to cost taxpayers more than $36 million.  Of course, we are to believe that the allocation is necessary as the building now housing City Hall allegedly needs $20 million dollars worth of renovations.

The draft proposal calls for the provision for an employee gym in the new city hall.  The cost of the gym is not included in the $20 million dollar cost estimate.

I wonder how many municipalities in the State of Connecticut have employee gyms on the premises.

The Memorial Boulevard is also slated to be a gateway to the city with one lane dedicated to automobile traffic and the other dedicated to bicycle traffic.  This is a typical element of sustainable development practices and an integral aspect of the city's plan to implement a system of bicycle routes in downtown Bristol in accordance with the state's Complete Streets Policies.  These policies are designed "to develop a transportation system for sustainable and liveable communities" according to their website.  This application of however in conflict with some elements of the City of Bristol's Plan of Development that suggest traffic flow improvements in the city's major transportation corridors.

 In some planning circles, the constriction of road traffic is used as an incentive to get people out of their cars and onto public transit, bicycles and on foot.  In fact, the practice is encouraged in a book cited by former City Planner Alan Weiner on many occasions, called The High Cost of Free Parking.   The American Planning Association publication written by Robert Shoup suggests urban planners heed the warning of Lewis Mumsford:

"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar, in an age where everyone possesses such a vehicle, is actually the right to destroy the city."

More on that another time-


  Minutes to the November 15th Real Estate Committee workshop indicate that the Memorial Boulevard building could have been kept as a school for approximately $970,000 annually.  A bicycle lane near a neighborhood school makes for a practical application for the use of taxpayer money.  Could it be perhaps that members of Bristol's government plan to ride their bicycles to work under the current proposal?

I became aware at a recent meeting of the Bristol Development Authority that the City of Bristol is looking at a Working Cities Challenge grant for assisting in such development in downtown Bristol.    Does this scene from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston website about the grant program look familiar?

What is the Working Cities Challenge Grant?
PSC Housing, a nonprofit whom is working with regional planners, the legislature and municipal leaders on sustainable development in the State of Connecticut states on their website:

"What is the Working Cities Challenge?
The Working Cities Challenge (WCC), launched in 2013, builds cross-sector collaboration to solve issues impacting the lives of these cities’ lower-income residents. Grounded in Boston Fed research, the WCC encourages leaders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to advance proposals that tackle complex challenges facing smaller post-industrial cities and achieve large scale impact across communities."

Happy Holidays and Merry Grantmas!