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Making the Vision Real
New city development chief Fernandez wants to change the
relationship between city government and its 'customers'
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Business New Haven
6/1/2000
By: BNH
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Thirty-one-year-old Henry Fernandez is New Haven's new economic development administrator. Previously, the Harvard College graduate headed the city's Livable City Initiative.
Could you define for us the parameters of Development Administration in City Hall today?
Under Economic Development Administration are several city departments, so our function includes all the projects that develop out of those departments. These include the Livable City Initiative, which is a broad-reaching department but which includes residential and neighborhood development projects. As well it includes things like zoning enforcement and the building department. City Plan is another development department, as well as Traffic & Parking, the Small Business Initiative and Business Development.
Does that include the mall?
That flows through Business Development, which is a department I supervise.
Before taking this job, what were your own thought processes on the mall?
My view on it was primarily as a citizen of the city, and I bring those views here. The value I place on it is certainly around the creation of jobs, and the shopping choices that are available - and also the ability to bring additional tax revenues to the city. My concerns around it are probably what other folks would be concerned about: Making sure that we as a city are aggressive in making sure that those jobs are real jobs that are available to our residents, and that our residents are well prepared to take those jobs. And that we come up with a balanced development strategy that makes sure our existing retail business is well maintained and continues to grow - both in the neighborhoods and downtown. These are development realities we as a city and I as economic development administrator have an obligation to pursue aggressively.
Who will perform [former Business Development head] Sal Brancati's function of doing deals with business entities interested in doing something in New Haven?
We continue to have the Business Development staff, but it's also part of my role, and I'll also be hiring someone to fill the position that was left vacant by Mr. Brancati.
Have you made it a priority to get out and talk to business owners in the city?
I have. I went to the United Merchants Association and asked them to schedule a series of lunches and dinners for me with merchants, and we've had several of those now. I've also met with several of the companies on the Harbor. I have meetings coming with different business and professional organizations. I also have probably three or four different businesses that I meet with on a daily basis. I've been out to see some manufacturing companies and actually walked their shop floors to see what they do - folks like Winchester, Applied Engineering….
What have you heard from them?
We're hearing that a target for what we should do is to address the normal interactions that people have with government: how we can be more efficient and helpful in our permitting processes, how we can streamline our parking process - things that are much more around the day-to-day operation of business, as opposed to larger deals. [We're trying to ensure] that the city is friendly to business in everything from permitting to neighborhood policing matters to making sure streets and sidewalks are clean.
How would you rate the city's 'business friendliness' today?
I guess I would say we're a lot more friendly than we were a couple of years ago, and we're continuing to try to improve that. We've computerized our Building Department, which makes it a lot easier to track records for the business- or property-owner who wants to expand or repair their building. The city over the last three to four years is much cleaner across the board, and I think that makes a difference for businesses. We need to focus on maintaining and improving the basic services. So many people have told me they're impressed by things like the flowers you now see that the city planted. So, how would I rate us? I think we've come a long way - and we have a long way to go. Getting all our permitting processes down to a one-stop operation - that's key. Anyone engaged in business should not have to 'figure out' government bureaucracy; it should be 'figured out' for you.
Beyond the mall, what would you define as the city's top two or three economic-development priorities?
Downtown retail and neighborhood retail are key. I look at groups like the United Merchants Association and their work with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas to capitalize on the hundreds of thousands of people and the millions of dollars that come into New Haven. We look at ourselves in that instance as a facilitator, helping to bring groups together. Retail provides a 'face' that matters in neighborhoods and downtown. We need to continue to focus heavily and work with partners like the state, Yale and Science Park on [fostering] knowledge-based industries, particularly sciences, biotech and high-tech. Our primary role in this is helping to identify sites where expansion of biotech industry can occur, and to identify developers for those sites. We're seeing companies being birthed here, and we need to make sure they are able to grow here. Housing in both neighborhoods and downtown is fundamental to that, because these companies need to attract people who want to work here, and that means quality housing.
The Michael Buckley plan for downtown struck a positive chord with many people, as though the millions of dollars it would take to make it a reality are not an issue. What was the function of commissioning the Buckley study, and what is supposed to happen to its recommendations?
The purpose of the study was several-fold: The first was to build the kind of excitement that you mentioned. The second was to make sure we had a coherent and cohesive plan for what was possible. The third was that it gave us a way to market downtown to potential business-owners and developers. We've started meeting with a variety of groups about implementation strategy, but we still have a ways to go to implementing this. But we'll start to phase it in over time, and certain pieces will be done exactly as outlined in the plan, and certain pieces undoubtedly over time will be done in different ways.
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