Connecticut Lawmakers; 107

State lawmakers were dazzled this week by casino developer Steve Wynn who says he will spend 350 million dollars to build a convention center hotel and the casino complex in Hartford. And unfortunately it's boring. There's nothing to do here. There's a chuckling in the audience. I don't think that that comes as a revelation to the people of Hartford. There isn't anything to do here at night and there isn't anything really to do in some of the other cities around north in the northeastern United States which is why so many of you come to Las Vegas I guess. But the fact of the matter is there could be a better place here. There could be a place that could become the most powerful regional meeting and Convention Center there could be a place that could become an overwhelming success as an entertainment and recreational complex to be sure part of it would be gaming because that provides the opportunity to provide to provide all the rest of the capital structured allows it to happen. I'm Bob Douglas. Welcome to this week's edition of Connecticut lawmakers.

While state lawmakers continue to wrestle with the state budget cuts reductions in human services programs and other fiscal challenges. A controversial question of casino gambling continues to draw the attention of State Legislators concerned with jobs and install the economy. Later we'll take a look at public employees protesting benefit changes. And an interview with the state's new education commissioner. But first at the invitation of Hartford Senator William Dibella casino developer Steve Wynn told state lawmakers at a committee hearing this week that he was prepared to spend more than 350 million dollars to bring Connecticut in Hartford a first class entertainment complex that would include a casino Convention Center Hotel to revitalize the capital city and to provide thousands of needed jobs. Our theory at the Mirage is if we built a better place sure it had to be

Las Vegas because it was on that great midway out there so it was designed to be part of Las Vegas. But the fact remains that the principles that were at stake that created this company that has 11000 employees and their families most of whom we trained ourselves we don't really use skilled people we used just regular folks. We train them ourselves. The thing that holds us together is the fact that we've basically developed an entertainment and recreational complex that met the needs of people wherever they were to take some time off and have fun. I have been spending time in Hartford Connecticut these past several months and unfortunately it's boring. There's nothing to do here. There's a chuckling in the audience. I don't think that that comes as a revelation to the people of Hartford. There isn't anything to do here at night and there isn't anything really to do and some of the other cities around north in the northeastern United States which is why so many of you come to Las Vegas I guess.

But the fact of the matter is there could be a better place here. There could be a place that could become the most powerful regional meeting and Convention Center there could be a place that could become an overwhelming success as an entertainment and recreational complex to be sure part of it would be gaming because that provides the opportunity to provide to provide all the rest of the capital structure to allows it to happen. But what we're talking about is the creation of jobs 5000 direct and as many as 10000 others. But we're talking about is tourism and money flowing into this area from outside the area. When you concentrate your efforts on one solid massive complex that has all the imagination and creativity and the appropriate architectural plan it's an easy problem for law enforcement because everything is in one spot. When you diversify and spread out gaming that's when the problems start because it's harder to police it's

harder to keep track of what we're here today. This is urban developers and developers. We don't think that gambling is enough and we don't advocate that Hartford go in the gambling business. We're advocating that Hartford go into the convention hotel recreation and entertainment business and take advantage of the wonderful mechanism of a casino as part of that facility which will make the capital investment and the employment possible. We ask that you consider it from the point of view of a partnership between public government and private enterprise where your role is to provide the leadership and the direction to nurture and see to it that the project has a proper beginning and a proper chance for life. We don't come here asking the government for a nickel of money if the project is if the invitation is properly given that the citizens of Connecticut I don't mean by that the newspaper but the citizens of Connecticut think that

this is the right thing to do. We'll bring our own money and we'll bring our own creative and design talent and it'll work. The people in Atlantic City. Don't work at the casinos. They come from the suburban community. So trying to put Texan with a B. Well in Atlantic City New Jersey there wasn't one single week of the seven years that we operated the most successful hotel in that city that we didn't have ads in the paper for unskilled employees. Not one single week even today. And in a depressed market in Atlantic City there is a need for unskilled employees in all of the jobs that are entry level jobs. Incidentally the average payroll cost of the 11000 people that work for us is over twenty seven thousand dollars a year. And that does not include tips. So these jobs that I say you know some of them are unskilled they're all pretty highly paid anyway.

But here in Hartford we only need one thing that they will show up honestly to work we'll do the rest. Now I don't have a clear and delicate feel at all for the workforce here in Hartford. I'm out of town and I'm too new on the scene. Senator you do. Do you have a large workforce that's willing to work. That's honest that will come to work. I tell you I'll train them to take care of them. If I had the chance here but I can't I can't predict to you whether that will happen or not. People have to want to work. And I would like in order to contribute to the intelligent consideration the mature consideration of this and to separate fiction and superstition from fact I would like to invite any members of the assembly or the Senate and their staffs and the press to come not hysterically and quietly to the Mirage. We will open up Las Vegas and its realities to you give you an inside look. Hide nothing so that you can

see how it works and you can deduce from the example of Las Vegas which again is a special individualized place. The principles that we're discussing and you're really need to see it to make an intelligent decision. Atlantic City is probably a waste of time. It's a place going backwards. Las Vegas is a place going forward. Come to Las Vegas. See the convention industry in full bloom. Don't speculate about who the people are they go to casinos come to a place like the mirage on your own anonymously stop anybody that works there stop anybody that's visiting there and put the things that I've said to you today to the test when none of us are around. I invite you to do that. We'll certainly make you welcome will cooperate and show you everything we have to show you and answer any questions that you want. I was extremely impressed. That was probably the finest presentation I've ever seen before a legislative committee in the 12 years I've been here. This guy is a

very knowledgeable businessman. What should this legislature do next. Do you think we're we're at a crossroads. First thing we have to understand is that we have in Connecticut casino gambling and that's in ledger on an Indian reservation. Now the Indians are making. And God bless them. Tremendous amount of money which the state is not participating in. I think now the ball is in our court to develop a strategy to respond for our own self-interest. If the legislature goes forward with a proposal to approve casino gambling in some way on whether it be in Hartford or B in Bridgeport What does that do to your business puts the pair of mutual business out of business. That's it. You go out of business. Correct. What do you think those legislators are going to do after hearing presentations like this. Well I hope that the legislature realizes they represent more than a Hartford

and B that we represent 2500 jobs. We represent 250 million dollars in the economy and over 100 million dollars of investment. What would you like to see this legislature do legislatively if you will between now and in Germany any issue. What kind of a signal would you like to see Senator. I'd like to see a bill passed that called for the creation of a convention center hotel casino complex in the state of Connecticut and that we provide the mechanism to negotiate with someone not just Mr. Wynne. Anybody that's willing to come and make proposals to the people of the state of Connecticut and if those people would make a recommendation to the governor or to a body and to be done in the public process and the people that make the decision should not be the people in the general assembly that vote on the issue so that we are sure that there is a mechanism that this is done in an open process and that the state of Connecticut receives the best and most effective economic punch the down Amanda was in charge of

one of the state's smallest and riches towns Vinson's fair dino of Weston will take over as Connecticut's next commissioner of education. Why Landis offers this report on the man who will take on a statewide challenge with a setting that looks more like a college campus. The and public school system has its elementary middle high school and offices all located on this 200 acre wooded site. Affluent Weston with some fifteen hundred students ranked third among the cities and towns of Connecticut in the amount of money spent per pupil. The man who heads up that system and who will soon become the state's new education commissioner is Vincent Ferren Deano Deano who taught social studies in a suburb of New York comes to the job with a Doctorate of education from the University of Bridgeport. Having experienced this particular kind of school system. I can see very clearly the difference that support

for education provides. West has been very fortunate. They've had a very supportive parent community community in general that has been willing over the years to provide for the welfare of its students. Cost per pupil in this district is in excess of $10000. And I can see the impact of $10000 per student on the quality that is being provided for these students in terms of their education. We see it in terms of what the kids are provided with in the classroom. We see it in terms of the results that we obtain from the students and what the students obtain in terms of college admissions and so forth. The other side of that coin is obviously there are many many school systems in the state where funding is not that generous. Part of the dilemma is the general formula that's being applied to equalize education in the state. Obviously it does not work. The fact that some systems are able to spend in excess of ten thousand dollars and others. Considerably less. The fact that we have not been successful in equalizing educational opportunity in the state.

Verin Deano says he has no magic wand about creating more Westons in places like Bridgeport Hartford and New Haven given the reduced funding that he signed onto for the next several years. We need to be smarter perhaps in how we allocate those resources. Certainly there needs to be a very careful examination of the of the funding formula. We need to re-examine the basic Givens within that formula to ensure as best we can that there will be more equitable distribution of funds that we do have available. I think also. We need to examine the existing allocation of human resources that we have available to us within the Department of Education. There are some very kind of the people within the department and I believe we need to place those individuals with their counterparts in some of the more troubled cities to work on the development of curriculum to work on the development of the professional staff

if approved by the state legislature. Ferren Deno would be presiding over a 1.3 billion dollar education budget. Sixty million dollars less than the current budget and about 200 million dollars last. And what school systems across the state would need to keep pace with built in rising costs already. Groups are voicing their objections to the proposed spending cuts. One of the state's largest teachers union. The best gift I can give my kids is a good education. I don't envy them the world is getting tougher. Be practical. Connecticut's economy must have a strong educational system. Even in this type. They. Don't slam the door on Connecticut's future don't cut aid to education. We do not have the ability at this point in time obviously

to raise additional resources for our schools. We've gone through a very good time in Connecticut during the 1980s. We've seen significant amounts of money. Given over to the educational endeavor. And I believe we've we've benefited by those additional resources applied to education. We're at a point obviously where the economy does not present itself in a way that we can expect additional money coming to the educational enterprise. It forces all of us to examine our existing structures our existing practices. And to examine our allocation of resources more carefully in an effort to continue to provide. Programs that are absolutely necessary for the welfare of students for the benefit of students.

Tarantino looks to more collaboration then pooling of resources among areas school systems as a way out of funding cuts program. Brian McMahon high school in Norwalk. Is a Japanese magnet program where students from the suburban towns are going into Norwalk into Brian McMann high school they're attending full day at Brian McMahon high school. The Japanese program as well as other courses outside of the magnet project. That provides an opportunity for students from the suburbs to to meet work with students from the from the city. Certainly the attraction of the Japanese program is such that it provides a quality opportunity. For suburban kids as well as for the for the urban kids in Norwalk. The increasing problem of guns and weapons in inner city schools across the country dramatically brought home with the recent shooting deaths of two students at a high school in Brooklyn New York. The school where a total of three students have been killed over the past four months alone. While the situation in urban school systems such as Bridgeport New Haven and

Hartford has never reached such tragic proportions. Increasing concern though has been voiced about the confiscation of guns and weapons from students. Superintendent Ferren Deano says it's a reflection of what's going on in society. The question of weapons and the school violence in the schools is really indicative of the of the sad condition of of our urban centers not only in Connecticut but nationally. And although we cannot provide any jurisdiction over that particular issue. I think certainly the thrust of our endeavors needs to be toward. Those very issues that that permit or allow that type of activity to take place within our schools in spite of gains shown in recent statewide testing of school children. The fact is that overall skill levels are still lagging behind those of comparable grade levels in Europe and Japan. Many children going through Connecticut schools

leaving with out learning how to read write or do simple math. Certainly that is the challenge that we face. We have not been as successful as we would like to be in providing for the skill levels that students will need for the 21st century. There has been a great deal of effort placed in Connecticut over the past several years on developing a common core of learning. Most school systems now are beginning to work very very closely with that with that endeavor. And I commend former commissioner Tarazi and his administration for something that's been just learned a common core core of learning but now it's an opportunity for individuals around the state who are involved in the educational enterprise to to specify. What it is that students should know should learn should have as part of their educational background as they as they leave school as they leave high school fair

on diagnoses the Connecticut mastery test as a way out of bridging the obvious gap between the performance of inner city and suburban school children. Superintendent Fearn Deno will be taking a slight pay cut when he assumes his new post in Hartford in June. But he says that doesn't bother him. The former social studies teacher says what excites him is the tremendous challenge he'll be facing and it's going to be a tremendous challenge at every level cutbacks and staff loss of funding and fewer resources to help our children into the 21st century. For Connecticut lawmakers I'm online. More than 2500 teachers police officers and firefighters turned out at a Labor Committee public hearing this week to protest proposed changes in their benefits that may be enacted by the General Assembly this year. State and municipal unions oppose changes in binding arbitration heart and hypertension laws that have been called for by the Weicker administration

because of funding cuts to cities and towns. Some changes to ease the mandates on those communities are expected to be passed this year. Union and worker representatives went head to head with municipal and other officials calling for their proposed changes. We're here tonight to urge you to support real reform of free Honoris and costly mandates on cities and towns. The heart hypertension mandate compulsory binding arbitration for municipal employees in the present form compulsory binding arbitration for teachers in the present form. I think it is important to me as a teacher for any municipal leader or any board member to suggest. To suggest. That we not start school and educate our children in September because they're having a fraud. Abiding by law. When is anyone ever going to hear and understand the reason and purpose for the protective measure for firefighters and police officers. Well we're here to tell you that as long as there are

proposals to reduce minimize or remove our so-called special benefit we will continue to be here as we must. What has happened is because of the recession and because of the difficult times people has sort of indicated that well let's let's solve the problem on the backs of the workers. I've been in this particular General Assembly now 10 years I've been ranking member and chairman of the Labor Committee for eight. I have never seen legislation that goes in so much harm as this particular solution especially Municipal Employees. There is really no need for a whole lot of it is being put out there as a as a relief to the cities and towns mandates. But the bottom line is it takes away a labor peace that takes away employees rights to bargain that takes away a special bit of benefit police officers and firefighters that they've had enjoyed since 1971. It's an election year. Typically this issue is a tough issue even in an election year which makes it even tougher. You're asking me to predict how the General Assembly will react and at this point I would probably suggest that they weren't acted on.

I think there are going to be changes in both sets of laws. I don't think nor do I support an repeal of either of those two statutes but I do think there are some pretty far reaching changes that can be made that address some of the concerns that the municipalities have raised about these large pieces of legislation. Is there a common ground on this issue within your own caucus. Well I think we're looking for that. It's too early to say that we have a position that people are going to accept but I think we're going to look for common ground not only within the caucus but within the greater community. I think the firefighters for example we have talked to them about some changes to heart hypertension law and we're looking for some of their feedback. There wouldn't be any common ground or any any prospect of success if people started really talking about repealing it. Oh I think they're going to be reforms this year. I think even talking to members who represent labor and to the labor represented themselves that they realise it's going to be a change this year. It's not going to be holding the status quo it may be a

midpoint between what the governor has produced and what is the existence. But it's not going to stay the same. I'd like to see an elimination of binding arbitration. I would like the right to strike and specifically the teachers feel though that that's not a popular position with teachers. If you want to be a member of the Union then carried the full load. I was sitting here listening to some of the people speak speaking realising that some of the old old line union people would sit here and be be I would have an upset stomach listening to the quote unquote Union leaders of today. As far as the heart and hypertension something has to be done and I'm not certain exactly because I'm not totally aware of the facts. You know the medical facts but something's got to be done. Next week more on the state budget as lawmakers struggle with a billion dollars in cuts proposed by Governor Weicker and try to find some ways to restore education funding and other reductions for Connecticut lawmakers. I'm Bob Douglas. We do thank you for joining us.

Last fall governor Weicker requested municipal officials to identify those state mandates they regard as most burdensome which they consider a priority for modifications. Their responses indicated overwhelmingly that the police and fire hardened hypertension