Hartford Residents Angered Over Malloy Protégé Luke Bronin’s Gubernatorial Bid: “This Is Not Helping The People of This City”

While Malloy Protégé and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin abandons his city in pursuit of Connecticut’s highest office, his constituents are increasingly voicing their displeasure with his lack of attention to their city’s monumental challenges. As Hartford remains at a “high risk” for bankruptcy with a “junk” bond rating, Bronin touted his work as mayor in a speech on Tuesday, making comments that the Hartford Courant reported were a “drastic departure” from descriptions offered by residents of the city.

One Hartford citizen noted how Bronin’s focus was in the wrong place as he runs for governor while “a lot of problems in this city need his attention and he’s too busy raising money for his exploratory committee.” Another told city councilors that with the mayor focused on his gubernatorial run, they would have to “step up to the plate” and lead instead of him. Even Bronin admitted just last year that Hartford has a “long, long way to go” and said yesterday that there were “years ahead” for the city to find fiscal stability.

As Bronin tries to tout his work as he heads for the exits, breaking his firm promise to complete his term as mayor, Hartford residents are making it clear that his run for governor is an unwelcome distraction as his city remains desperate for real leadership to tackle its glaring fiscal issues. But as he continues to spend time fundraising and campaigning to succeed his mentor Dan Malloy, Bronin appears unconcerned that he is leaving Hartford in worse shape to pursue his political ambitions.

The Hartford Courant reports:

“Though he acknowledged that more work had to be done, Bronin’s address had a celebratory tenor, as if the city had arrived at the far-flung destination it set out to reach when the mayor took office in 2016. While addressing a similar crowd at the Hilton just last year, Bronin said the city had a ‘long, long way to go.’

‘If the path we set is stuck to in the years ahead,’ he said Tuesday, ‘I think we are within sight of that stability that we talked about as a goal last year.’…

The mayor’s description of the city was a drastic departure from the accounts offered by residents during a public comment session Monday night.

Before a council meeting at city hall, Hartford dwellers blew off steam about Bronin’s fundraising campaign and larger political ambitions, and complained about what they called a lack of attention on city neighborhoods, especially communities in the South End.

‘Nobody has done anything for the South End,’ resident Raquel Calderon said. ‘I’m really sad about that.’

‘The thing I don’t get is how we’re always focused on downtown,’ said another speaker.

Leslie Hammond, who lives on Linden Place, told council members that with Bronin concentrating on a gubernatorial bid, they would have to ‘step up to the plate.’

And resident Anne Goshdigian said the mayor’s focus was ‘in the wrong place.’

‘A lot of problems in this city need his attention and he’s too busy raising money for his exploratory committee,’ she said. ‘This is not helping the people of this city.’”