Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch named an economic advisory committee and charged the panel with finding ways to facilitate development and lower the burden on taxpayers.
A Democratic state senator and former head of economic development for the Bridgeport Regional Business Council (BRBC), Finch became mayor in December, succeeding his Republican predecessor John Fabrizi.
“During my first days in office I met with all the major developers who have projects pending in Bridgeport,” Finch said in a prepared statement. “My goal is, as it has always been, to alleviate the heavy burden Bridgeport taxpayers bear by getting shovels in the ground and cranes in the air through economic development projects.”
The committee”™s co-chairs are Joe McGee, a former Connecticut economic development commissioner who is now vice president of public policy and programs for the Business Council of Fairfield County; and Reggie Walker, executive vice president of the community support services organization Hall Neighborhood House, who once held the post of economic development director in Bridgeport.
Other members include:
Ӣ John Carson, chief financial officer of the University of Hartford and a former state economic development commissioner
Ӣ Edward Deak, a Fairfield University professor and economist
Ӣ Juda Epstein, a Bridgeport attorney
Ӣ Carolyn Gonzalez, a project manager at the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development
Ӣ Edwin Maley, legislative commissioner for the Connecticut General Assembly
Ӣ Dennis Murphy, StamfordӪs director of human resources
Ӣ Keith Rodgerson, a former Bridgeport city councilman
Ӣ Paul Timpanelli, BRBC chief executive officer
Ӣ Ron Van Winkle, West HartfordӪs director of community services.
McGee said Bridgeport has several priorities, perhaps none more important than its schools, but also including neighborhood development and infrastructure.
Timpanelli was the lone panel member to testify at a Jan. 10 forum at the University of Bridgeport, in which the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development solicited input for a state economic plan due to be released in July 2009.
The panel will also advise Finch as he solicits job applicants to lead the city”™s planning and economic development office. The job has been held since 2004 by Nancy Hadley.
