A fter I bumped into some prowlers on my back porch in December 2005, I called Sarah Barr, the Director of Communications for Mayor Eddie Perez. I wanted an interview, I said.

Well, Perez is so busy he has a six-week lead time on giving interviews. The Mayor's office scheduled a phoner for 8:30 a.m., February 22.

I was hoping for 30 minutes, and got 23 minutes worth of talk from Perez.

What has been your biggest achievement since taking office?: The biggest achievement is that we have been able to continue momentum on all fronts that we have planned: homeownership, education and leveraging improvements downtown that are continuing into our neighborhoods. While we are not finished yet, we are well on our way.
What has been your biggest failure?: I' m not sure if I would use the world failure. I think that there is a lot of work to be done in the area of public safety, a lot of work to be done in education.; We have a solid foundation in hiring a new police chief, and because of community policing, our numbers are moving in a direction we want. I would love to get to 450 officers on the street, adding as many officers as they taxpayers could afford to get there.; On the education front, while we haven't flipped backwards since I have been elected, graduation rates are not what they should be. The amount of kids that get into college is not what it should be. We are going to continue working towards that goal.
In regards to community policing, I have heard differing things on the police substation on the corner of Laurel and Farmington. Is it happening? What is the story?: It cannot happen. The city has a policy: we don't deal with people who are tax delinquent. We are not moving forward. That is a problem that the landlord has on an ongoing basis. I can't put a city facility with someone who is not paying taxes on that property.; We are very excited about it. The police chief has agreed to do it. There were some problems, like there was no on site parking. But we felt we could overcome those challenges. We still need to figure out those challenges.; But the taxes are a deal stopper. There is a law on the books that says the mayor or city administration cannot deal with someone who has delinquent taxes. We can't do business with him.
What about barter? Landlord Tom Shelto, who owns the property where the substation might go, owes about $24,500 in back taxes on all his properties. That would cover significant rent at $1,500 a month.: Every person who owes us taxes would love for me to do that. That is not the way you deal with tax collection. The law says you pay your taxes when they are due you don't go around making deals. It is not something I would consider doing. That is a slippery slope that I don't want to be on. The law is very clear. If you are not paying it, we cannot be doing business with you.
What has been the biggest challenge you have encountered?: The finances of the city. We started out with a structural deficit of about $50 million in expected revenue. We modeled our revenues and expenditures. Our biggest challenge is that there is never going to be enough money to do what you want.; First, we look for one time revenue so we can leverage it. The second one is to make sure whatever you are doing sets the foundation so that you are not spending the same money over and over again.; For the first time in the city's recent history, we have a 10-year capital improvement plan. Just on the school side, we had deferred maintenance ranging up to $50 million, another need for new facilities. That's a $100 million, a $1 billion problem just pushed along. Some of our schools were built 100 years ago. In order to keep up with education, you not only have to do computer technology and you have to do buildings.; You can't have a heating plant that is 50 years old and have efficiency. Those kinds of issues are just as important.; On the city side, our infrastructure, in terms of roads and bridges, most people don't see them. If we don't deal with them today, you will have to deal with them tomorrow. Our 10-year facility plan does schools, roads, libraries, community recreation facilities. That has been a big challenge, figuring out day-to-day each year's budget and making sure we take care of future needs.
I've heard rumors of you being selected as a potential running mate for Lt. Governor. What aspirations do you have for higher office?: I am happy being mayor. I took on that job. I want to finish that job. The challenge is here on the ground and I want to continue doing that.
Will you grade your performance as mayor?: B plus working towards an A I got a little bit of a head start by being under the old city manager government. I got help coming in early. The first two years I used to diagnose where we were and my first year as strong mayor, we hit the ground running. We have hit most of the benchmarks we have set out personally and I thought the voters were going to be measuring me against.
What are those benchmarks?: The two biggest benchmarks for any mayor are public safety and public works. If the city feels safe and clean; that we are able to market ourselves as a good, clean, safe community.; The longer-term stuff of making this a marketable competitive city where we produce workers, attract employers and increase the Grand List, those are long term. Those take two or three terms to put your imprint on.; On one front you have to be able to produce workers who are ready for the jobs, and attract employers and maintain the quality of life. How do you make neighborhoods a place that people want to stay and build their families in?; I have been the first mayor who has created a residential community downtown. When I came to office, I was hoping we would do 2,000 units downtown. It looks like it is possible in five to 10 years that there will be 5,000 units of housing. That is a large neighborhood.
Wasn't that Governor Rowland's concept though?: Governor Rowland's plan was 6 pillars. Those pillars grew to eight and nine and we stopped counting. He did not have Park Street. He did not have the Ken Greenberg plan or housing around the park. There was a foundation laid. Those were projects that were committed to, that the city continues to be an advocate for. We are not going to stop at those projects.; A plan is a plan, implementation is where the art of the deal is, and I have been able to put those deals together. Suggesting is one thing, and making it to fruition is something else.; I'm not sure that the Sage Allen project would have gotten done if I didn't baby-sit it. We had significant difficulty seeing through Trumbull on the Park, and the SNET building. Neither was CL&P or the Capewell Governor Rowland's. The Linden was struggling. Those are all things we have kept our eyes on. If it didn't happen, who would get blamed?
Would it benefit the city of Hartford to hold municipal elections in even years, instead of odd years, so that turnout for city contests equals that of state and federal contests?: We are playing the cards that we were dealt. That's how the election laws have been set up by the state and fed government. Municipal elections are held at that time. We are still under 30 percent turnout. It is not unique to Hartford it goes on throughout the state.
It's not the charter?: One of things you do when change the charter, have to allow it come up to state statute, rules come to state, not other way around. The charter had nothing to do when the elections.
What do you plan on doing to increase the turnout for the next election?: I plan to continue to govern the city, to show that it is progressing. Right now my plan is to run for another term. A viable city has people interested in it. We are trying to do that now at every chance we get to get to the level we were at 20 to 30 years ago, where we had 50 percent. I am trying to get people to connect with their government.
Do you think we could have a face-to-face sit down interview instead of the phone?: If it met with everyone who asked me for a half and hour or an hour, I wouldn't have time to govern. But the answer is yes.

2/22/06

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The contemplative Perez?
Photo by the late, great India Blue.

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Eddie Perez, On the Phone