Rescuing the Elm City

My father has always been a little bit behind the times. He doesn't wear the latest fashion labels or watch the newest TV shows.

This time, however, it appears he moved too soon. My dad bought a house in New Haven last year. And in doing so, he lost out to $20,000.

He didn't get snookered by a fly-by-night real estate swindler. He didn't drop the 20k on brokers' fees or on cattle future. He just never imagined that Yale would come up with the bright idea it announced this week.

In a move which may very well save the dying city of New Haven, the university announced on Wednesday that it will pay $20,000 to any employee who buys a home in the city before 1996. Levin also announced the creation of a $5 million fund for investment in venture capital start-ups for biomedical and biotech companies in the city.

And just yesterday, Yale officials offered to invest $3 million to convert a downtown New Haven office lower into a hotel and convention center. The university is hoping the state will finance most of the project through grants and loans.

There are all incredibly smart moves. They will benefit Yale's students and employees and will almost certainly set off an economic chain reaction that will help to review New Haven and the university.

For years, Yale was convinced that it could be an ivory tower removed from the life on the city. It ignored rising crime and other social ills. When things got too bad, the university simply hired more cops (enough to fund three mid-sized academic departments) and bought biggest locks for its gates.

At last however, Yale's new president, Richard C. Levin, himself a 23-year resident of the Elm City, seems to have gotten smart. His plan is exactly what Yale and New Haven need.

If more, Yale employees decide to live in New Haven, they will pay more taxes to the city. This will increase New Haven's ability to maintain its infrastructure, fight crime, and improve its schools and social services.

The new residents of New Haven will also (out of more convenience) be more likely to spend their money in the city, giving a large and much-needed boost to New Haven's downtown retailers. Large department stores like Macy's may one day return to the abandoned storefronts that now litter the downtown area.

And the domino effect will be felt in other ways as well. Homeowners take pride in where they live. It would be a refreshing change in many parts of the city to see people take pride in their neighborhoods. Whole sections of the city which have been lost to drugs and gangs may yet be reclaimed. Residential neighborhoods will expand. Children will be safe to play outside.

Under the new plan, with proper support from the university in the fields of computer science and biomedical technology with stimulate New Haven's economy.

Yale is not the first to see the wisdom of such a plan. The University of Chicago offers second mortgages to faculty members living near campus. Harvard, too, for years offered low-rate mortgages to employees who purchased real estate in Cambridge, though that program has officially stopped.

To be sure, parents of Yale undergraduates may question whether this is the best way for the university to spend their tuition dollars. In the case of New Haven a city racked by crime, drugs and cyclical poverty, the answer is a resounding "yes".

Parents and alumni should applaud the move, as it will markedly influences the quality of campus life. Yale can create a true university community if its staff lives near its students--they'll see each other at the Prime Market, or on Chapel Street at the newsstand.

One day, Yale undergraduates might even feel safe walking the two blocks to Wawa--New Haven's equivalent of Store 24--to buy a Coke a night. One day, all of the huge iron fences which surround "Fortress Yale" might not be locked so tightly.

A safer city will draw more and better-qualified students. The "yield rate," the number of students who accept Yale's offer of admission may slowly reverse its precipitous decline of the last decade. Top-notch academics will also be more likely to accept positions at a university in a more vibrant city. Their spouses will be able to find work more easily.

Right now, students are not safe. New Haven is to safe. The city's retail district is falling apart. Residents can't leave the city fast enough. Houses the market for months are not selling.

Yale's plan can change all this. I bad the Elis didn't think of it sooner.