NewHavenBIZ

n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m n e w h a v e n B I Z 15 'An Old City Made New' Has New Haven at long last becomes the city it always wanted to be? F uture's so bright, gotta wear shades. Maybe the present's not so bad, either. In ancient Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love staring at his own reflection in a pool of water. New Haven's a little bit like Narcissus. Since the dawn of time the City of Elms has been in, and sometimes out, of love with our own image. Creative Capital of Connecticut. Birthplace of the Nation's Greatest Hits. Greatest Small City in America. A lot of it is just BS — a tonic of self-affirma- tion that insecure people say to themselves to face their own reflection in the mirror each day. Al Franken's loser Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smalley repeating over and over, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me." at's New Haven. We're better than Hartford, better than Worcester. Bridgeport? Jesus! We have Yale. New Haven's for smart people. And doggone it, people like us. No. New Haven might put on airs, its downtown streets filled with blond, blue-eyed rich kids who spend four years here cloistered behind Gothic walls before heading off to Wall Street or Washington. But it's still one of the poorest, most crime-plagued cities in America. Gun-wavin' New Haven. Now, that's changing. "New Haven's made it," says Paul Bass, founder and editor of the New Haven Independent. "It's become what we hoped it would be: the creative capital of the state. It's the one place you'd want to live if you're young, or you're interesting, or you just don't want to hide away from the world." Business starts are up, particularly technolo- gy-based companies. Incubator, co-working and "maker" spaces are thriving, with ever-larger projects such as James Street's e District tech- nology park for startups coming online. Resi- dential real-estate demand has soared. Even Yale has gotten into the act, encouraging students to engage with their once-spurned host city. Twice as many Yale grads now stay in New Haven aer graduation than just a few years ago. "We are the growing technological, millennial, baby-boomer center for people who are moving and choosing us over Boston or New York," says Matthew Nemerson, economic-development administrator for the city of New Haven. "ey like the density, like the excitement of a down- town, Wooster Square, the walkability, living downtown, fun stuff to do, places to eat." "e creative economy is flourishing for a whole variety of reasons," Bass explains, "from Yale's self-interested investments to trends favor- ing small, knowledge-based cities." is is all the more remarkable for taking place in a state that has become a national exemplar of state-government hostility to private enterprise, evidenced by oppressive taxation, burdensome regulation and mettlesome man- dates. A state that major corporations such as GE and Aetna couldn't wait to wave to in the rear-view mirror. "New Haven is now seen as an attractive place to spend time — and I think that's a revolution- ary change," says Douglas W. Rae, a Yale pro- fessor of political science and management. No By Michael C. Bingham living academician knows the Elm City's history better than Rae, who in 2003 authored perhaps the seminal work on 20th century New Haven, City: Urbanism and Its End. "In terms of culture we really have become the creative capital" of Connecticut, Bass says. "Young people want to move here; retirees want to move here. People who are into food, commu- nity, bicycling, startups. New Haven's become the place that if you're interesting — or want to be interesting — you're going to live here." Aer graduating from Yale in 1982 Bass set down roots and raised a family here when it was not quite so trendy. No journalist knows New Haven better or sees it through clearer eyes than he. (ere's an irony here: For much of his jour- nalism career Bass was pilloried as "too negative" by city and Yale establishment types.) Now, he sounds like a chamber of commerce president. "Every day I interact with people who are just very excited about New Haven, about their lives in New Haven and about the things they can make happen here," Bass says. "If you don't want to be in a bigger city that overwhelms you, or exhausts you just getting to work and back, or you want to be involved in solving challenges — this is the best place to do it." Nemerson, who was chamber of commerce president before heading off for the private sector and then City Hall, agrees. "I think we are reaching a critical mass with our new boutique hotels, with restaurants and music, with the fact that it's now possible not just to walk three blocks within an entertainment Continued on next page

• Cover