A day after Hartford's Planning and Zoning Commission voted against the plan to bring a stadium to Hartford, a different agency has voted to support it. But not before Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra apologized for the way the process has unfolded.
The city's redevelopment agency, which owns properties that the city needs to develop the $350 million project, voted to give those properties to the city Wednesday night. The vote in support of the stadium/supermarket/housing/retail project came after long presentations from the developers, and only a little discussion from the agency's members themselves.
But, perhaps more importantly, the vote came after Segarra took some blame. He's taken heat for a flawed rollout of the stadium plan at the beginning, for sidestepping the city's planning commission at the end, and for lots of other stuff in between. And here's how he addressed it all.
"I want to state that, because of the stadium element, the process by which the wheels have been set in motion to get from Point A to the actual construction have not been the most...I wish that there could have been some other process," Segarra said. "And, for some things, I have to take responsibility. I think that, if in my aspiration to fulfilling the redevelopment plans and city plans and the community's vision to really create jobs, to create construction, to have a more vibrant city, to provide everyone with those things that they've been asking, that the process part has not been perfect."
But, he said, "I don't think that process should be used as a weapon to continue to have a sea of parking lots for the next 50 years."
Now, the matter moves back to the city council. It meets Thursday afternoon.
