"The mood and the spirit in this city, that I take credit for. It’s substantially better than when I took office."
Pedro Segarra
Hartford’s Pedro Segarra was a reluctant mayor. He got pulled into it after his predecessor, Eddie Perez, was convicted on corruption-related charges and resigned. Now, his term comes to an end this week.
I met with Segarra back in 2010 just before he took his oath. He said he’d serve out Perez’s term, and then he’d move on.
"I can apply for a judgeship, which I’ve considered. I can apply to teach at a community college, that’s something I’ve considered. I can come back to private practice," Segarra said.
But something changed. Five years and two campaigns later, I met with Segarra at city hall.
"I didn’t have the intention of being a long-term mayor," he said. "I think we discussed that. I probably thought that, in my later years, I would get to do some other things. And mayor wasn’t one of them. But, as I got more comfortable with the role and realized there were some good things I could do and started to plan more and more things, I wanted to see things happen. And I think a lot of what you’re seeing that’s happening in the city relates to those early years."
Like, for instance, the downtown minor league baseball stadium. One of Segarra’s first press conferences was standing next to what was known as the "Butt Ugly" building -- a blighted building surrounded by a sea of surface parking. Segarra expedited the building's demolition and pledged something better.
Five years later -- regardless of current controversies -- he’s delivered on that pledge. Baseball will likely be played in Hartford this spring. He also sees the stadium as an example of another success.
"The mood and the spirit in this city, that I take credit for. It’s substantially better than when I took office," Segarra said.
He knows the criticisms. They say he was a weak mayor. A bad administrator. A booster with a series of issues on his resume. High-level staffing problems. A horrible rollout of a baseball stadium project. Various federal investigations involving city hall during his tenure. Crime is down, but homicides this year are up. And then there was the caviar.
"First of all, I’ve never eaten caviar in my life," he said.
A few years back, Segarra was at a fancy downtown restaurant for New Years Eve. He was treating staff to a night out after a hard stretch. And the bill was paid with a city credit card. On that bill was caviar.
"Second of all, when we got the bill and it said caviar, I says, we didn’t have caviar. Who ordered caviar? And then I was reminded that none of us had elected to eat an appetizer but instead we opted to have a plate of bread and assorted cheeses which were toppled with roe. First time I ever heard the word roe. I didn’t order it. It was a group appetizer," he said.
Segarra says the charge for the food was totally inappropriate, though he never did live it down. But he’s hoping history will remember other things, too.
In 2010, Segarra came to a city hall rocked by corruption allegations, the product of bad politics and patronage. But he didn't want to play that game.
"Where are our graduation rates, where are our crime rates, where are our jobs, what is the number of units that is being built, what was the growth in the grand list, did we attract anything new and good do the city? So, when all is said and done, I look at the end result of where we are now as compared to six years ago and what type of city we are living in, and, to me, that is what makes me feel that I can walk out of this building with my head held up high," Segarra said.
In 2010, Segarra came to a city hall rocked by corruption allegations, the product of bad politics and patronage. In the end, Segarra says his unwillingness to play that game may have brought on his defeat.
"I’m not the world’s greatest politician. I’m really not. And I think I refused to revert back to what I so passionately fought against -- the patronage, the machine politics, the underhanded deals," he said.
Looking ahead, Segarra, who’s 56, says he's thinking about getting back to social work or the law. But first… a break.
"I think I'll need a little bit of time to put things together in terms of what I really want to do, and I think I can only do that when I get a little more relaxed," Segarra said.
Soon, he’ll have the time. Luke Bronin becomes mayor the minute 2016 begins.
