[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 109 (Tuesday, August 9, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               BRIDGEPORT--CONNECTICUT'S EMPOWERMENT CITY

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, just about 1 year ago, Congress 
passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. There was one 
provision of OBRA '93 which may have been overshadowed by ``the largest 
deficit reduction in a decade'' but, in terms of the long term health 
of urban and rural America, may be have been more important. The 
provision I am referring to is the Empowerment Zone/Enterprise 
Community Program. This program is, without question, the most 
significant urban initiative since the Model Cities Program in the 
1960's or broad-based revenue sharing in the 1970's. And for the first 
time in well over a decade--under the leadership of President Clinton--
we have enacted a program which recognizes that the desperate 
conditions which exist in many of America's inner cities--the urban 
decline, the crime, the poverty, the drugs, the unemployment, and the 
homelessness--have gone untreated for far too long.
  An enterprise zone [Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community] is an 
economically depressed area that is designated to receive special 
treatment by the local, State, and Federal Government. This designation 
is designed to attract business investment, to provide social services, 
to provide job training, and to promote economic development that might 
otherwise not occur. This is accomplished through direct spending, tax 
incentives, and targeted programs.
  While the enterprise zone concept was not my idea, I was privileged 
to have the opportunity to play a leading role as we moved it through 
the legislative process. And I count the enactment of the empowerment 
zone/enterprise community program as one of my most significant 
legislative accomplishments since joining this body in 1989.
  Mr. President, over the past 5 years I have spoken many times on the 
problems plaguing America's inner cities and why I believe enterprise 
zones must be an integral part of urban and rural revitalization. This 
morning, I want to talk a little more personally about the effort which 
was recently completed in Bridgeport, CT. For the past 8 months I have 
been privileged to participate with literally hundreds of Bridgeport's 
residents as Bridgeport--Connecticut's Empowerment City--put together a 
winning application for designation as a Federal empowerment zone. Last 
month--with a sense of accomplishment--we forwarded the Secretary of 
Housing and Urban Development our application and we are now awaiting 
his review.
  Bridgeport began the road towards empowerment zone designation last 
December by creating the Bridgeport Empowerment Vision Partnership and 
has been hard at work ever since. As evidence of the community's 
enthusiasm, many members of the partnership traveled all night by bus 
to Washington last January to pick up the application and launch their 
effort. At that time, Bridgeport became the first city in the Nation to 
announce their intention to compete for designation as an empowerment 
zone. Since then, the partnership has brought together diverse parts of 
the Bridgeport community, many of which have never coalesced around any 
one strategic vision until now. This effort included hundreds of 
members of the community organized into working groups that, I believe, 
represented the very best in public/private collaboration.
  Without question, this program spurred a creative and innovative 
planning process within the city of Bridgeport. Never before have major 
corporations, money-center banks, city and State officials, and 
community-based service providers at work, side-by-side, to solve the 
problems of Bridgeport.

  Mr. President, Bridgeport's application is strong, competitive, and 
worthy of designation. I believe the contents of the plan they have 
prepared represents the very best in forward-looking strategies to 
solve many of the problems plaguing Bridgeport. It includes substantial 
private sector partnerships with banks, financial services companies, 
universities, hospitals, and telecommunications. It forges real 
community partnerships with religious-based organizations, ethnic 
organizations, community organizations, and local development 
organizations. And it includes real governmental partnerships. The 
State of Connecticut, as well as the city government spent months 
working on this application and have made substantial programmatic and 
financial resources available. The State was a full partner in the 
formulation of the plan and is completely committed to its 
implementation.
  I want to stress that Bridgeport's application did not come off the 
shelf. The residents of the city spent months forging political and 
community consensus on a new approach to Bridgeport's problems. And I 
want to stress that Bridgeport's application was not prepared at city 
hall--it came from the community.
  Mr. President, Bridgeport's strategic plan features bold strategies 
to better coordinate the delivery of human and social services through 
family support centers. It contains strategies to create new jobs in 
five new targeted industries and attempts to move away from the city's 
traditional reliance on heavy manufacturing. These strategies will be 
pursued in concert with aggressive environmental remediation and new 
information age technologies. The plan attempts to ensure that its 
relatively young work force is equipped with the requisite vocational 
and interpersonal skills to fill those new jobs. It provides for 
enhanced access to capital for small business entrepreneurs and makes 
credit for housing more affordable and accessible. Finally, the plan 
articulates a new methodology for identifying needs at the neighborhood 
level through the operation of community action councils--a dramatic 
reformation in the local decisionmaking process centered around 
community involvement.
  Mr. President, when the administration sent the empowerment zone plan 
to Congress it made a serious commitment to finding new solutions in 
the problems of inner-city America. This was a vision which Senator 
Robert Kennedy presented nearly 30 years ago, but it was President 
Clinton who brought it to fruition. Part of the administration's intent 
was to test the empowerment zone concept among a small group of cities. 
In order to successfully test this program it is imperative that a 
heterogeneous group of cities is selected, including a small city with 
a history of manufacturing. I believe Bridgeport would be an ideal 
candidate.
  The statute set aside one empowerment zone for a smaller city--with a 
population of less than 500,000. While the statute did stipulate a 
population of ``500,000 or less,'' the legislative intent clearly 
looked toward a smaller city. I believe a city like Bridgeport--with 
population 142,000--is more appropriately sized for this designation.
  I also want to point out that the public perception that poverty is 
most pervasive in the Nation's largest cities is simply misleading. In 
fact, 53 of the Nation's 84 cities with poverty rates in excess of 17 
percent have populations below 300,000. Therefore, I believe it is 
imperative that at least one truly smaller urban area be designated for 
the demonstration program to have real value.
  Mr. President, Bridgeport has every physical and social attribute 
necessary to make this program a success. It is an northeastern 
manufacturing city. It is situated directly on Interstate 95 and a main 
commuter rail line. It boasts a deep-water port and a ferry line to 
Long Island. Bridgeport is a multicultural, proud community. Its 
citizens are ready to take this program and prove they can make it a 
success.
  Mr. President, while the benefits of this program may represent a 
ripple of hope for large cities like Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago, 
they will represent a tidal wave of change for a city like Bridgeport. 
The smaller urban areas of this Nation are more likely to replicate 
successfully demonstrated initiatives from a comparably-sized city.
  The residents of the city of Bridgeport have submitted a plan that 
will bring this aging city back to life. The residents are empowered 
and ready to move forward with implementation. As a long time supporter 
and part-author of this program I strongly believe they are worthy of 
empowerment zone designation.

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