HARTFORD, CT – U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy announced $4.5 million in new federal funding to improve flood control infrastructure in Hartford’s north end Friday.
Both Murphy and Blumenthal suggested that the Metropolitan District’s Commission should be doing a better job of supporting projects in low-income areas.
Blumenthal said that the $4.5 million was a step in the right direction, but that more funds will be needed – and are coming.
“It’s only the beginning,” Blumenthal said. “This grant is a victory for environmental justice, and this community, which refused to take no for an answer.”
The new money is earmarked for the construction of new drainage systems for chronically affected areas in city’s north end.
Blumenthal said that there is a need for stronger oversight on these issues.
“Too long justice has been denied, and we are making sure that the community is heard, and that we are moving forward in the right direction,” the senator said.
Murphy agreed, and said that the problem of flooding in the north end has gone on for far too long.
“Families in the north end don’t have thousands of dollars squirreled away to pay for flood remediation,” Murphy said. “Families in this neighborhood are living paycheck to paycheck.”
On the topic of whether the MDC is doing it’s job regarding funding for low-income areas like Hartford, Murphy said he thinks it’s important to figure out why the infrastructure is in such bad shape.
“There clearly has been a lack of funding in the north end,” Murphy said, “and it’s not shocking to find out that these areas are being underinvested in.”
However, Murphy said that continuing to bring in federal aid – rather than relying on the rates paid to MDC to invest in infrastructure – is not a sustainable practice.
“I don’t know in the long run if this is a wise use of federal dollars, given how much people are already paying the MDC,” he said.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam and State Comptroller Sean Scanlon were also at the event and were joined by Hartford City Council members Shirley Surgeon and Thomas Clarke II.
Arulampalam said that there need to be significant changes made to infrastructure and flood mitigation.
“We can’t just play whack-a-mole every time a storm comes through,” the mayor said. “We’ve got to deal with the long-term impact of storms in communities like this.”
Scanlon said that there are two problems that need to be solved: the long-term underlying issues causing the flooding, and then the short-term problem of remediating the effects of that flooding.
Regarding the use of federal funds, Arulampalam said he and the city council are doing what they can to make sure Hartford is prioritized when it comes to MDC infrastructure investments.
Still, he said the city needs “hundreds of millions” of dollars to make all the improvements and changes that are needed for infrastructure. Ratepayers, he said, cannot bear that totally on their own.
Scanlon’s office announced the Hartford Flood Compensation Program last summer, which has provided $3.8 million in relief since it began taking applications in the fall. The project, he said, has a commitment from the legislature to receive more funding as it reaches its appropriated budget.
Surgeon and Clarke thanked the senators for their work bringing in federal money and said that while results will not be seen right away, work is being done to effect lasting change.
North end residents and businesses experienced numerous instances of flooding in the recent past, including Summer 2021 following several tropical storms.
