Seize The Opportunity

Business leaders in Greater Hartford need to get cracking immediately on a detailed list of infrastructure priorities.

That’s because there may soon be a rare opportunity to obtain funding for them, whether it be a commuter rail line from New Haven to Springfield, needed bridge and highway repairs, or the latest generation of green technology. After he’s sworn in as president, Barack Obama plans to launch a two-year job creation effort that will feature massive federal investment in local projects.

That seems like an invitation to local business and political leaders to identify the region’s most urgent priorities. It will be important that the region speak with one voice about its needs. Balkanized, haphazard proposals will not be as compelling to those in the new administration who are weighing requests from across the country.

And it would be a mistake to view this as an opportunity to indulge in pork barrel projects that serve a narrow constituency but are unlikely to pay long-term dividends for the region. If there is a competition for these federal dollars — and surely there will be — it is apt to be the regions that come up with the most appropriate, forward-looking ideas that will win out.

Elected officials, local chambers of commerce and business associations need to put their heads together now to get on the same page.