Members of the town’s Economic Development Commission are proposing a new approach to revitalization in Winsted, by creating an economic development corporation, which would be charged with collecting money to rehabilitate and market local properties which have been languishing in real-estate purgatory for years and decades.
A corporation, commissioners say, would be less influenced by politics than elected boards and more attuned to a desire for financial success. The success of the corporation would translate into success for the town, as the grand list would increase and, ideally, property taxes would move in the opposite direction.
Privatizing economic development in town may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but anyone who works, shops or lives downtown can tell you Winsted has not shown great progress using its current governmental structure. The Main Street strip has been a revolving door for small businesses, while blighted factory buildings loom over the business district, casting a depressing shadow of stagnancy. Will an economic development corporation be just another failed attempt at boosting the local economy? No one can be certain.
The proposed corporation would purchase local properties, rehabilitate them, lease them back to the town, all in an attempt to make the downtown strip more marketable to investors. Where the corporation would get the money to do all of this remains a question mark, as does the political support of the Board of Selectmen.
If members of the Economic Development Commission and Board of Selectmen are willing to work together to create this new entity, economic progress might resemble that of Waterbury and Naugatuck, where development corporations have helped bring about hundreds of millions of dollars in revitalization. That kind of money would be a huge shot in the arm for the Laurel City.
No one can argue that Winsted, at the junction of Routes 8 and 44, with tens of thousands of cars traveling through town every day, has a thriving business community that adequately prospers from the town’s fantastic geographic location. Any ideas on how to make that happen should be regarded as positive signs.
