Remarks to the North End Community in Hartford, Connecticut

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Nov 8, 1999

November 4, 1999

Thank you very much, first, to you Dick Huber, for being such a faithful member of our new markets team. You started out with us in Atlanta; you made the trip to Appalachia and to the Delta and other places; and you led me home to Hartford today for you. You know, the first time we were talking about this--I should say this about Dick; he talks about how cynical he is. That's a front. I'm a politician; I recognize a front when I see one. [Laughter]

He said, "You know, I'm not sure I'm happy about you taking all these other businessmen on this new markets tour. It looks to me like there's a great business opportunity here, and I hate for everybody else to find it before I do." And I want to come back to that, but I thank you.

I thank my longtime friend the president of Trinity College, Evan Dobelle, and Heidi Miller from the Citigroup. And thank you, Robert Fiondella and all the other business leaders that are here. Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Congressman, and also Congressman Kanjorski, who has been a faithful member of all of our tours. I thank Speaker Lyons and Senator Sullivan and all the other leaders who are here.

I want to say another word--I'm particularly glad to be in Hartford with Congressman Larson, because he's been after me to come here as well. And Secretary Slater, thank you for making all these trips. And Reverend Jackson, thank you for being such an inspiration for all of these efforts.

I want to thank the Collective founders, Jackie and Dollie McLean. I thought of giving up my speaking time and letting Jackie play. [Laughter] And I appreciate the "Hail To The Chief' with the saxophone. And I just heard the jazz band upstairs; they played an old Sonny Stipp tune that I knew back when I was a young man. I don't believe I'm good enough to play it anymore, but I was astonished at the musical quality of the people here. And it's a great gift to your community.

Today you're hearing in words rather than music, another sort of serenade for the people of this city. The corporate leaders together are pledging--listen to this--well over $200 million to the future of Hartford. That's one of the most impressive commitments in any city to developing the market potential of people who have not been part of our prosperity anywhere in the United States of America. And you should applaud them, support them, and be very proud of them. [Applause]

They're all saying, "Hartford is our home; Hartford is worth working for, worth fighting for, worth believing in." And we are committed to working with you to succeed.

Today's announcements are just the latest sign of the renaissance of this city. Before I came here to the Artists Collective, I had a chance to meet some of the vendors at El Mercado, the Latino marketplace on Park Street. I actually had visited there in 1992, and I remarked, first of all, how excited I was to go back. I had a wonderful time there in '92. At the time I was battling with my weight, and they made it worse. [Laughter] I never wanted to leave any of the places. And I loved being back there today. And as far as I could see, everything was better than it was in '92, except for one thing. There was this picture of me when I was there in '92, and I look worse. But they look better. Everything else is better. [Laughter] So I want to thank the people there for all the work that they have done.

Mr. Mayor, I want to compliment you on falling crime rates, dramatically falling crime rates. We have the lowest crime rate in America in 30 years, lowest murder rate in 32 years. No single person can take credit for this, but every person who has supported community policing, responsible law enforcement policies, and working together can take a lot of credit for it. So I thank you.

I also want to compliment everybody here who is responsible for the improvements we see in the schools here. I thank you for your commitment to the MetroHartford Millennium and Adriaen's Landing projects. I thank Trinity College, working with HUD, for Frog Holler, where they are turning a once devastated brownfield into a remarkable 16-acre learning corridor. I'm pleased to announce that Citigroup has just committed to build on the success of the learning corridor by offering more than $7.4 million in equity and debt capital to help rehabilitate 70 singlefamily homes in the neighborhood, and I appreciate that.

Let me just say this. One of the biggest problems we have in America right now is the product of our prosperity. There is not enough affordable housing for all the people who have jobs and have incomes, but because of the economy being so strong, they're still being priced out of the housing market. Therefore, there is an enormous opportunity, if we can get the capital to the right place, to create more jobs for people who still need them in rehabilitating existing structures in a way that will make them affordable for working people. So this is very good thing, and I hope it will be built on, because you can, Governor, help people not only in Hartford but in Bridgeport, in New Haven, and all the other places that still need help in Connecticut.