6
Business View Magazine
and we work with them and the federal government.
We’re working on a plan, now, to get more dredging
done there so that it can be even more active than it
currently is.”
Giovanni Zinn is New Haven’s City Engineer, respon-
sible for the city’s infrastructure. “Infrastructure is im-
portant to the city; it’s really the fabric on which the city
is built,” he says. “In New Haven, we pride ourselves
on having an infrastructure that makes is not just a
good place to work, but also a good place to live – in-
frastructure that creates a nice web of neighborhoods.
We have great sidewalks; we have an expanding bike
network. We’re in the process of designing and build-
ing Connecticut’s first protected, two-way cycle track
that will help all of the neighborhoods west of down-
town be able to commute in -not only with a car, but by
bicycle and sidewalk.”
Redevelopment of New Haven’s downtown is also an
important initiative, and Zinn says that about a billion
dollars or more of investment funds will be spent there
in the coming years. The city is also planning to take
out a highway that was built in the 1960s that cut off
the downtown from the waterfront. “We’re taking that
highway out,” he says. “We’re trying to create a neigh-
borhood there.” In addition, he reports that there are
four train lines that will soon terminate in New Haven
– commuter lines that go north to Hartford and Spring-
field, Mass., to the New York City area, and to commu-
nities to the east. “We’re working hard to connect that
to downtown, and we really think our infrastructure po-
sitions us for that,” he adds.
Zinn explains that New Haven is also investing heav-
ily in sustainability and, as a coastal community, is
preparing itself for the challenges posed by global cli-
mate change and rising sea levels. “To that end, we’re
looking at a couple of things,” he says. “One is green
infrastructure. Instead of conveying all of your water
