Hartford Business Journal

24 Hartford Business Journal • May 14, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com LETTER TO THE EDITOR CT safety code protects families at low cost By Keith Flood The recent HBJ article, "Townhome- sprinkler rule has builders feeling hosed," positioned the issue of fire sprinklers as one of costs and profits related to housing, but the true issue is one of safety for Connecticut families. Unfortunately, fire-sprinkler opponents and other special interests in the housing industry have repeatedly indicated that their bottom line is more important than saving lives. The vast majority of Connecticut's fire deaths and injuries each year happen at home, but home fire sprinklers in new construction reduce the risk of death or injury from fire. National building codes recognize this fact. That's why every edition of the national safety codes used in the U.S. since 2009, which have been adopted in many states, include the requirement to install fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family homes. Currently, Connecticut residents are forced to live with substandard construction requirements that needlessly lead to risk of property damage, personal injury or death. Tragically, we see this come to fruition time and time again in unnecessary incidents, such as the Plainfield home fire in Sept. 2016, in which a young girl was killed in a house fire. That house has now been rebuilt with fire sprinklers in a clear acknowledgement that fire sprinklers keep families safe. Instead of waiting for another tragedy, the Connecticut legislature is poised to take action to protect families — and the first responders who put themselves in harm's way to keep us safe — by requiring fire sprinklers in all new townhome construction in the state. If special interests in the housing industry remain focused on profits, they should know that fire sprinklers give homeowners a huge return on investment, and often result in lower insurance costs. Homebuilders and other special interests have been caught exaggerating what it takes to install and maintain fire sprinklers in the past, but given the protection of life and property offered by sprinklers, any upfront cost is more than offset by the reduction or elimination of other costly code requirements. We have a long way to go to do everything we can to protect Connecticut families from the dangers caused by home fires, but requiring fire sprinklers in new townhomes is a clear step in the right direction, putting people before profits. Keith Flood is the fire marshal in the West Haven Fire Department. EDITOR'S TAKE Democrats' lack of a plan doomed tolls C onnecticut will go another year without a vote on highway tolls implementation and Democrats have no one but themselves to blame. Why? They weren't transparent from the get-go on what tolling actually means for Connecticut commuters and how much it might cost individual drivers. It wasn't until the very end of the legislative session that any clarity on po- tential pricing was revealed. It also was never clear exactly where and how many tolls would exist. That allowed critics, including Republicans, to sow seeds of fear and disdain among the electorate. In an election year, that's a death knell to any controversial legislation. The attempt at toll adoption failed so miserably that Democrats couldn't even muster enough support for a bill that simply called on the Department of Transportation to develop a detailed electronic tolling plan. The bigger question is, why doesn't that plan already ex- ist? If legislative leaders were serious about statewide toll adoption — and many Democrats are — they should have come into the legislative session with a firm blueprint and sold it to the public. Instead, it wasn't until the end of the legislative session that we started to see some specifics about potential costs, including that Connecticut drivers would be eligible for discounts. In fact, Connecticut residents with an E-ZPass would pay half the rate as other motorists, according to one plan outline. If we had known that earlier it could have eased some lawmakers' anxiety. But transparency should go even further than that. There should also be a clear and detailed accounting of how lawmakers plan to use toll funds. What is the funding schedule and how much do those projects cost? It should be noted that Connecticut pays more to maintain its highways than most other states. Are we really getting the best bang for our buck? Lawmakers are missing their opportunity to adopt statewide tolling, especial- ly as business leaders and others warm up to the idea given the state's trans- portation funding shortage. I moderated a panel discussion at a commercial real estate conference in Hartford on May 2, and when the crowd was asked if they support tolls, at least three-quarters of the 150 or so people in the audience raised their hand. But before any votes are cast in favor of tolls, let's see a detailed plan and give the public ample time to digest it and provide feedback. Only then can we move this process forward. OTHER VOICES Women startups don't get a fair shake By Sondra Lintelmann-Dellaripa I t's damn hard for women to get traction in this startup ecosystem. That's where I am emotionally and intellectually right now. I'm the founder of BLOSSOM, a startup e-learning system that uses curriculum and coaches in a virtual environment to teach criti- cal business skills and operational practices to nonprofit professionals. There's a big audience to be tapped in the nonprofit sector: 1.5 million nonprofits to be exact. It's also a big economic mar- ket: Nonprofits spend over $7 billion a year in staff training and educational opportunities. And BLOS- SOM solves a big problem: Experts in non- profit research indicate professionals leading non- profit organizations must learn and grow innovatively to create sustain- able organizations. And decade's worth of studies show that current offerings in build- ing the capacity of these profession- als just aren't working. No one yet has designed what we have. So why can't we get people in the startup sphere to say "yes" to our startup? I am a multi-preneur, having started and operated three businesses before BLOSSOM. Each year we enter BLOSSOM into the MassChallenge startup accelerator competition in Boston, at their invitation and re- quest. One of the premier accelerator competitions, we are pursued like a blonde cheerleader on prom night to apply. We even get the fee waived. Ok, I get it. I fill a quota. Female startup founder as applicant. Check the box. But each year we get summarily rejected. No market for the idea, the judges say. No money in nonprofits, they warn. Instead, they choose tech apps, bioengineer products, and other male-dominated concepts. And it's not just MassChallenge. When it comes to competing for at- tention and funding in state innova- tion centers, startup competitions or with angel investors, women are just not in the club. No, I'm not paranoid. Crunchbase, the leading data collector on busi- ness trends, found that in 2017 only 17 percent of all startups nationally had a female founder. And of those startups receiving funding, only 15.8 percent were female-led. Even more remarkable (horrifying?) is that female-founded companies raise just 8 percent of late-stage rounds and 7 percent of late-stage dollars. The issue, as stated by Susan Lane of BBG Ventures for Crunchbase, is not the number of women starting compa- nies, but the access and offer of fund- ing as they move up the food chain. Having attended the women-owned business day at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on May 2, I thought it was time to bring this issue to the public square. Women-led startups just can't get traction in the ecosystem. Can we please talk about this? Sondra Lintelmann-Dellaripa is president and principal consultant of Middletown-based Harvest Development Group LLC, a consulting and staffing firm. Opinion & Commentary Greg Bordonaro Editor Sondra Lintelmann- Dellaripa

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