Study: Hartford is the nation's most economically stressed city

By CARA RUBINSKY
Associated Press Writer

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Boosters bill Hartford as "New England's Rising Star," but a recent study calls it the most economically stressed big city in the nation.

American City Business Journals, publisher of 41 business newspapers, ranked Hartford first in socio-economic stress among 245 cities with populations over 100,000.

The study analyzed U.S. Census data in seven categories, including poverty, unemployment and the number of adults without high school diplomas.

Michael Kintner, project director for the Hartford Image Project, acknowledged such studies don't help efforts to market the city. But he said they fail to account for positive developments linked to a major revitalization project, including a drop in commercial vacancies and an increase in real estate prices over the past year.

The centerpiece of the effort is Adriaen's Landing, a $771 million redevelopment along the Connecticut River. The projects, funded by public and private money, include a nearly finished convention center, a hotel, entertainment complexes, retail stores and housing.

"I think their statistical models tend to be dated and don't capture the turnaround that's going on in the city," Kintner said. "You can utilize statistics to make any point you like."

Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez pointed out that the study was based on the 2000 Census.

"My administration has made major strides in the areas of education, home ownership and neighborhood economic development in just the past two years," he said. "There's no magic wand and no overnight success formula. But if today's numbers were used, I'm sure Hartford would fare better."

But Peter Barr, a 27-year-old bike messenger who lives and works in Hartford, said he sees some truth in the study. He witnesses the effects of socio-economic stress as he pedals past abandoned buildings downtown.

"Especially in the springtime, you see litter, abandoned cars," he said. "Hartford is a place where people from the suburbs come, work, and then exit single file as soon as possible at the end of the day. The gap is huge between the haves and the have-nots."

The ranking comes on the heels of a study released last year by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government that found Hartford had the third-highest level of urban hardship in the nation.

"For the normal person who lives in Hartford, compared to other cities, it's economically difficult," said Lisa Montiel, a research scientist with the institute, based in Albany, N.Y.

Other big cities in the American City Business Journals' top five were Newark, N.J.; Brownsville, Texas; Miami and Buffalo, N.Y. The least economically stressed big city was Naperville, Ill., about 30 miles outside Chicago.

---

On the Net: www.bizjournals.com/specials/2005/economic-stress/stress-cities.html

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.