So, "Anonymous", you believe that the government has the obligation, and apparently the right, to tell a private property owner what they must do with their own property even though it already meets all building and zoning codes??

Canal Street has been progressively converted from heavy industrial to a mixed commercial/residential district. This has all been market-driven and financed, except where SEDC and the city have used state and federal funds to acquire and clean up heavily contaminated properties that could not be supported by private development investment because the cost to clean them exceeded the value of the property. As the value of the Canal Street market improves this private development model will lead to justifiable investment in other properties like Conti, converting them to the highest and best use which is most profitable for the owners. This advances a cycle of investment and improvement that raises values and rental costs for everyone in this increasingly desirable neighborhood.

The government cannot force progress – it only comes as the market sees a need to invest in order to generate greater profit. Your own decision to live on Canal Street contributes to this cycle and eventually your prescience in being an early adopter will pay off with a comprehensive neighborhood that is a desirable place to both live and work. If I were you I would be hectoring the Derby government on the other side of the river to do what Shelton has done and get out of the way of private investment. Improvement over there will do more to improve our neighborhood and property values than almost anything else that can be done on Canal Street. We should annex downtown Derby to Shelton - it will allow us to control the entire riverfront and give us the train access and land for commercial development of retail and entertainment that doesn't exist in downtown Shelton and that private developers need to make our town continue to attract investment and prosperity.

Our local government created a master plan for the areas between Howe Avenue and the river more than 20 years ago and we have stuck by that vision, clearing the path for investors to put their own dollars into the ground. This proven model has worked toward progressive improvement and it demonstrates the appropriate level of government interference in private market development.

Let's not encourage the government to interfere in things it doesn't do well and stay out of the way of private investment. Give capitalism a chance to work on Conti! It's a policy that has done pretty well by the rest of the neighborhood so far!