SEPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-98-269
November 1998
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Bridgeport's Restored
Gateway Leads to a Whole
New Impression
Outreach ard Special Projects Staff (5101)
EroAinfields Success Stories
EE&.' s Brcwnfields Eccnonic Redevelopmait Initiative is designed to empower States, ocmtunities, and other stakeholders in
eajnnic:rede\elc|llBttowcckta|a1±^ assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse
brcwnfieQds. Abrcwnfieliisasite, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived ca±aninatim and an active potentLalfor
redevelopment or reuse. Since 1995, EEA has funded more than 220 National and Regional Brcwnfields Assessment Eilots, at
up to $200,000 each, tosugportQmtiwtM>-jeare5^ca3licffi TheEilotsare
intended to provide EEA, States, Tribes, itunkdpalities, and comunities with useful infomation and strategies as they continue
to seek newitEthods to pranote a unified approach to site assessment, environtEntal cleanup, and redevelopment.
Wiether arriving by boat or train, or just
Iriving through on the 1-95 overpass,
visitors to Bridgeport, Connecticut at last have a
positive first impression of the City. Bridgeport's
residents, meanwhile, are enjoying new economic
stability, new jobs, and the much-needed restora-
tion of the City's derelict industrial areas.
In recent years, Bridgeport suffered severe
economic decline brought on in part by the
departure of vital industry, and the abandonment
and perceived contamination of former industrial
sites. Forced to declare bankruptcy in 1990 due
to its continued financial deterioration, Bridgeport
Bridgeport's new stadium, home of
the Bridgeport Bluefish
Jenkins Valve Site
had become one of the poorest yet most highly
taxed cities in the nation. Nowhere in the City was
this economic decay more evident than at the
former Jenkins Valve site, located directly at
Bridgeport's main gateway. For nearly ten years,
visitors coming in via the City's ferry, from Amtrak
and Metro-North Railroad cars arriving at
Bridgeport's train terminal, and in vehicles buzzing
overhead on the Interstate 95 overpass were all
subjected to a clear view of the abandoned, run-
down property.
Thanks in part to assistance from EPA and other
Federal agencies, Jenkins Valve and other unused
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JUST THE FACTS
' The Pilot has leveraged nearly $14 railliai in public and
private funding toward cleanup and redevelopmant of
the Jenkins \alve site.
' IXbre than 360 new jobs, including 68 pentBnent
positions, have been created at the new 5,500-seat
ballpark on the site.
' The Bridgeport Eilot was recently awarded $350,000 in
funding as part of EPA' s Brcwnfields Cleanup Reviving
Loan Fund program.
CityofBridgeport, Cffks
of Planning andEconomic
Development
(203) 576-7087
U.S. EPA-Region 1
(617) 573-9681
\fcittteEPABrcmfield3wabsibsat:
Brownfields SUCCESS Story
November 1998
RridgEport, CI
EPA 500-F-98-269
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