Today on the real story leadership
changes on the way in the capital city,
Mayor Luke Bronan's announcement
that he's not running for reelection
is opening up the city's top spot,
and already the first candidate
has announced his intentions.
Former state senator and former
Superior Court Judge Eric
Coleman is first up this morning,
and the landscape of Connecticut's
higher education is starting to
see some major changes while
facing some major concerns like
nationwide enrollment decline,
achievement gap issues,
and the high cost leading to massive.
Student debt joining us to talk
about the merging of most of
Connecticut's community colleges
is the President of the Connecticut
State Colleges and University System,
Terrence Chang.
Good morning and thanks for
joining us on the real story.
I'm Jen Bernstein. Well, the city of
Hartford will usher in a new leader.
Current mayor Luke Bronan made a big
announcement last week that he will
not seek a third term in office.
In the seven years he's been in office,
the city faced. Numerous struggles.
In fact, as he was taking over,
Hartford was on the brink of bankruptcy.
But now he says he's making a change.
He says he's not sure what's next,
but the field to take over his
position is already starting to form.
Last week, former state senator
and Superior Court Judge Eric
Coleman announced that he's running.
And this morning, Judge Coleman
joins us to talk about this run.
Good morning to you.
Good morning, Jim.
Thanks for having me here.
Appreciate it. All right.
So you had more than 30
years in the legislature.
We were just talking about it.
You were in the House of Representatives.
Then you were state senator.
You have had an incredibly impressive
career on the bench as well as a judge.
Why take this on now?
That's a very good question.
The simple answer to that question
is because I care about Hartford,
and I think I have the background,
the insight and the experience
in order to lead Hartford through
whatever crisis it may face.
Me about your experience.
I mean, there's no doubt.
I mean, again,
you've had this robust career,
you have amazing credentials.
What do you think you can bring
to the city that it needs?
Thank you for that.
I I hesitate to talk in these terms,
and I've only talked in these terms to.
My family and my closest friends,
but I jokingly say I have to be God's
second favorite child because I've
been blessed with a wonderful wife.
Fantastic children.
Beautiful family.
And I've had all of these
multiple opportunities in order
to perform what I love.
And that is public service.
As you indicated, I've been a member
of the House of Representatives,
have been a member of the state Senate.
I've served a few years as a
Superior Court judge and now there
is this opportunity to come back
into public service as a mayor
of what I think is a great city.
It's seen its heyday and part of the past,
and part of the challenge is to
restore the city to some semblance
of what it was during its heyday.
How do we do that? Well,
it's going to take a lot of hard work,
and it's not one person, not a mayor,
that can accomplish that.
But certainly America can recruit
and enlist the support of the
residents of the city of Hartford,
the suburban areas that surround.
The City of Hartford,
certainly the corporate
community can play a role,
the faith-based community can play a role.
It's just a matter of bringing
all of these entities in together
in order to accomplish what we
want to see for our capital city.
Hartford cause I was reading you spent
I think you raised your family in
Bloomfield and spent decades there right?
And now you're in Hartford.
So where does this passion
for the city come from?
Is it from working here for so many years
with your career in the legislature?
I first came to Hartford in 1974,
and I recall the day I was
driving down Asylum Ave that what
was called the Hartford Civic
Center was under construction.
At that point in time,
Hartford was considered the
financial services capital,
or the insurance capital of the world.
The parks had all kinds of attractions
in addition to baseball diamonds,
cricket fields,
basketball courts, swimming pools.
Back in that at that time
had a zoo and go karts.
And horseback riding.
Hartford was just, you know,
a vibrant place at that time,
including a retail district that
included the G Fox Department Store
and Sage Allen's department store.
I lived. My first apartment,
which I loved very dearly,
was on Willard St in Hartford
in the Asylum Hill neighborhood.
And then I moved to what
was called Dauntless Lane.
It's now called Woodland Dr,
also in Hartford.
I was in Hartford from 1974 until 1982,
when I practiced law.
My business, my law office was in Hartford.
I paid taxes in Hartford.
The the church I'm a member of and
fortunate enough to serve as a member
of the Board of trustees is in Hartford.
And I do all kinds of things in Hartford.
When I was in the legislature,
the majority of my House
district was Hartford.
The majority of my Senate district
was Hartford.
You know, I socialize in Hartford.
I just have what I think is a very deep
connection to the City of Hartford,
and that's where my affinity or
affection for Hartford comes from.
So you feel like you have the network
to kind of bring the people and
the players that you think can help
revitalize the city to the table.
If you're mayor, do you think
Hartford is coming back like or do
you feel like it's going in the right
trajectory as it stands right now?
I want to pay some tribute to
Mayor Bronin because, you know,
I think he's accomplished
some meaningful things.
And where we might disagree on
some policy issues, you know,
I think he was absolutely well intended.
He's a good person.
I consider him a friend and I definitely
wish him well and whatever his.
Next endeavor may be.
So what he's accomplished, I think.
He's revitalized the downtown area
and I think he's put the city on
a much firmer financial footing.
I guess where we may disagree
in some respects and.
Hopefully, hopefully not in total respects.
And I think downtown development
is is very important,
but not to the detriment
of the neighborhoods.
I think the neighborhoods deserve and
need to receive much more attention.
There are some neighborhoods in my
discussions with people that feel that
they've been neglected and there's been.
A lack of investment in those neighborhoods.
So that will be at least part of my focus.
The most important priority of a Coleman
administration will be public safety,
and my heart is just rinsed every
time I hear a report of a shooting,
another shooting in Hartford.
And I know it's a complicated problem I.
I guess I I just have to feel that
everybody is concerned about their problem,
including Mayor Bronan and his predecessors.
But sometimes,
I guess I've said to myself, you know,
if you want something done really,
maybe you have to do it yourself.
If you want to attach the kind of priority
and commitment to a particular issue,
maybe you have to do it yourself.
And although I'm sure there's no question
in my mind that people are concerned about.
The number of shootings and the severity and.
The horrifying nature of the
shootings that have taken place
in the city of Hartford.
I don't know if people have succumbed.
That is leaders have succumbed to the idea.
Well, this, this problem is beyond us.
This problem is beyond me.
So you feel like there is more that
can be done to make the city safer.
We, I mean, we know you're
talking about crime. You know,
the city has surpassed the number of
homicides already for this time last year.
We know crime is a problem.
I mean, here at the station we
hear about what's going on a lot.
And yeah, so you feel like.
That was the point
that I'm trying to make is, you know,
maybe, maybe people succumb,
maybe don't put as much attention
to the resolution of the problem.
But I can assure the residents of the city
of Hartford in a Coleman administration,
Mayor Coleman would wake up every day
and every morning on his mind would be,
what can we do next in order to solve?
The senseless killings that have
taken place in the city of Hartford.
You're known as someone who has
friends on both sides of the aisle.
People enjoy your calm demeanor.
You are able to, I'm sure,
build your network because
people like your personality.
How will that help do you think?
Build trust with the Police Department
and with residents because it is about
getting everyone on the same page, right?
Is is that a tool that
you think something that.
It helped you in the legislature,
could help you in a leadership role.
Yeah. I think one of my abilities
is I listen well, I probably
listen much better than I speak.
But it's it's. As you point out,
it's a a very important.
Aspect of the resolution of
the problem in order to get.
A better relationship between
residents of the community
and the Police Department,
law enforcement in general,
without that.
You don't have the the
partnership that I think is
necessary in order to oversee.
Crime or potential criminal offenses.
We need to do a lot of things,
but the very first step we need to to
take is to improve the relationship
between police and the Community,
whether that involves community policing,
de escalation training for police officers.
Creating opportunities for young people
so that they don't get distracted by.
The the lure of the glitz and
the gloss of illegal behavior.
There's a lot of things that
have to come together, but.
As you mentioned,
improving the relationship between residents
and law enforcement is key and critical.
Well, I look forward to over the
next year you coming on program
and talking about your platform.
You're always welcome on here
and keep us updated on how
that campaign is going to have
to do that. Thank you. Thank
you so much for coming on and
appreciate it. All right.
Coming up on the real story,
the system that overseas more
than a dozen of our colleges and
universities serves more than 72.
1000 students, the Connecticut
State Colleges and University
System is joining us to talk about
the things on your mind, like
that important achievement gap,
the unfortunate achievement gap,
and the looming merger of
several colleges into one
CT state. And of course, cost.
We'll talk about it all coming up.