High Population Anxiety: Did Stamford Surpass Bridgeport While No One Noticed?
And Why Being The Largest Isn’t As Important As Having a Vision
One of my persistant complaints about Bridgeport is that no leader can really articulate a positive vision for the city. What should Bridgeport be like in five or ten years? What should its downtown core be like?
Because there is no common aspiration for the city — not since Mayor Bill Finch was on his way to making Bridgeport into the Green City of the Northeast (my phrase, not his) — a simple fact replaces a statement of hope, faith, and a common core for planning.
And that fact is: Bridgeport is Connecticut’s largest city.
Of this, there is no doubt. According to 2015 population estimates, Bridgeport had 147,629 residents. The other cities in Connecticut with more than 100,000 people were #2 New Haven: 130,322; #3 Stamford: 128,874; #4 Hartford, 124,006; and #5 Waterbury, 108,802.
Needless to say, this makes Bridgeport the largest city in Fairfield County as well.
That is, unless you are Marty Sheehan, station manager of WSTC-AM in Stamford.
This week’s Fairfield County Business Journal reports on a new partnership between the Journal’s parent, Westfair Communications of White Plains, New York, and WSTC radio.
It makes sense, says Mr. Sheehan.
“Fairfield County is growing. Stamford is the largest city in the county; that wasn’t the case four years ago.”
Neither of those statements is true.
Stamford is the second-largest city in Fairfield County. And it was the second-largest city in the county four years ago, too.
Despite all its impressive downtown growth, Stamford may not even be the fastest-growing city in Connecticut. That honor, according to an extensive analysis by the WalletHub web site published in October 2016, goes to the Park City.
Yes, Bridgeport.
Here in the Northeast, “fast-growing” is relative.
Bridgeport ranks as WalletHub’s 267th-fastest-growing U.S. city. Next in Connecticut is Stamford at #297, then Norwalk at #362, Hartford at #387, Danbury at #439, New Haven at #449, New Britain at#453, and Waterbury at #504.
My point: These are not great numbers. But New England (outside of Boston) is a slow-growth area.
We claim “bigness.” But our bigness is kind of paltry.
Except in one sense: Our bigness gives us political clout in the Statehouse and in state politics, if we use it well. But as a claim to fame? Not so much.
Not bigger. Better. Focused. Vision for Place and People.
Instead of claiming bigness, we need to claim for Bridgeport a purpose.
Size doesn’t really matter. Vision matters. Plans matter. An easily articulated aspiration matters for the development of this city’s people and improvement of Bridgeport as a livable, healthy, and vibrant place.
This city sorely needs an aspiration, a faith we can have in the future.
- What is the city doing for its people?
- How is it bringing more economic activity into the area?
- How is it distributing wealth?
- What is it doing to be attractive?
- Where is Bridgeport’s next dollar and its next business coming from?
- Where should its people look for their future?
- What phrase — similar to “Park City” or the “Industria Crecimus” (We Grow Through Industry) on the city seal — should be on our lips?
In other cities I’ve lived in, these phrases say who we are. Raleigh and Durham have the Research Triangle; Durham also styles itself as “City of Medicine.” Indianapolis is “Amateur Sports Capital,” and its sports strategy has worked brilliantly. Chicago is “The City That Works.”
And Boston once claimed to be the “Hub of New England.” But the hub grew in its imagined proportion. Next was ”Hub of the Solar System.” Boston now aspires, with tongue in cheek, to be “Hub of the Universe.”
What is Bridgeport the hub for? We need answers to this, answers everyone can understand, quote, and have faith in. Does it have to do with innovation? With Long Island Sound? With parks and health? With youth?
I’d be happy with this phrase, lovingly written by The Bananaland of Downtown Bridgeport as website copy for the new Harral Security Wheeler Apartments in Downtown North at 1115 Main Street:
The spirit of invention, industry, and innovation lives in the Park City.
Why do we need a vision? Because being big isn’t enough.
Being large in Connecticut just doesn’t come close to being “yuge” on the national scale. Measured by its 2010 population of 144,229, Bridgeport is only the 41st largest “biggest city in the state” in America, according to Wikipedia’s list of the largest cities in each state.
Of course, New England — outside of Boston, with its 2010 population of 617,594, making it the 14th largest “biggest city in the state” — is a region of small cities. Bridgeport isn’t an outlier; it’s right in line.
The largest city in Rhode Island, is the 38th largest “biggest city in the state,” with a 2010 population of 178,042.
The largest cities in the other three New England states are all smaller than Bridgeport:
- Manchester, New Hampshire, at 109,565 in 2010, was the 43rd-largest state’s-biggest-city.
- Portland, Maine, at 66,194 in 2010, was the 46th-largest state’s biggest city.
- And Burlington, Vermont, at just 42,417 people in 2010, was last. It was the 50th-largest state’s biggest city.
And for the record, the largest cities in New England with populations greater than 100K, measured by 2015 population estimates, are: (1) Boston: 667,1376; (2) Worcester: 184,185; (3) Providence: 179,207; (4) Springfield: 154,341; (5) Bridgeport: 147,629; (6) New Haven: 130,322; (7) Stamford: 128,874; (8) Hartford; 124,006; (9) Lowell; 110,699; (10) Cambridge: 110,402; (11) Manchester: 110,229; and (12) Waterbury; 108,802.
Of the 12 cities listed above, five are in Massachusetts, another five are in Connecticut, and Rhode Island and New Hampshire each have one.
What does this last statistic mean for Bridgeport? I’ll take up that question another time. It’s the gateway to another line of thought, you might say.
