Record-Journal from Meriden, Connecticut • 33

-1 i iWitw IsiA4w4rf Firiariclercolumnisf John Kefauvcr advises an investor on -k recent ptock markefred flans" to Twatch out Aft MutusIsuA 13-1S TressuiyRatesA-IS StockdvA 15-18 In Review 6 rc ury rates zxz found In the A seuicn this 1C -ID 1 i Recoid-Joumal SECTION RecoiUonnl Merfdew Smdqr April 2ilM7 Small firmg hope zone helps TvTTT 5 Otconl Journal staff services to fit singles WX 11 'ft fr By efraaf Napoport Connecticut ttm News Buvesif I thlnk lt's the fastest growing srcJupeiisiBjaciiuiv nramnouMiv aj bos popped up lo cater lo singles miflOflty 111 Afflef! from dating services to special travel packages Aad aB because i Needing more towcost space for tfet flf Ttrifolf wlufa Ant were hwddled in' an old warehouse the amen of hetfraeii Trudy's Taya in Norwalk taQt acw facility on the indaetriai ctty forgotten waterfront Joae Toyoa not only decided to keep Us anpermarket In a derelict mixed neighborhood of industry and scruffy tenement houaea he tripled tha siae of tt Re confidence the area waa weii rewarded In New London decaying Cave a TSacre oceaneide area where rats ruled ever scrubby lots vacant since the failed ml days of the IKIa is being re-d The emi pty lots and pie lave become more of a force la the marketplace as their numbers fas- Singles group logger were nipning our uvcip sue iuq Other businesses catering to singles are popring np Though tfottng services and singles bars are toe moot vis-ibis manifestafloM ef the stogies Industry the products and set vices think ks the fastest growing minority is said Karen Ny- uw nnnww angn nranggn nw Contacts a organisation la gouthbury According to the Census tt Boreas's 1M4 projections 2SJ percent of Americas men aad IM portent of America wmoa Bifv naer am married ip from 11J percent of men and 137 percent of women la 1171 In Connecticut tha single populatioa over the age of IS grew from Uitn la 1171 to IjBZSn In MR tha snoot recent year for which figures are avail- 8 crumbling piers are bring transformed into a commercial and reti- deatial pararise Now is turn City officials and business representatives are optimistic Meriden that can follow the lead of Norwalk Bridgeport New London aad three ether cities that are part of the Urban Enterprise Zone program Meriden and three ether municipalities Waterbury Windham aad Norwich were added la the privileged pack last week With the designation businesses and property owners in a 154-acre parcel downtown Meriden win be eligible for an array of state-becked economic development benefits Jose aad Catalina Rivera owners of lab's Fashions In the forme Urion-Parksr Co building believe flip state Department of Economic 7 Development's Incentives Included in the enterprise benefit package are Just what their fafri A i Jw offered with singles in mind range dUAMi AgKjd SA SamI IFOBI Unfit Mffflw KNMf 10 sTIVCI SOr ingles to health ebbs For example the Kenney Travel Con In West Hartford Is working with Hartford-based Singles Alternative to offer travel packages the first of which Is to London william Kenney tho president said ho hopes to offer four to six such packages a year Weekends to Go a Norwalk-baaed travel company specialises la dap and weekend trips and activities rock as bicycling rafting and concert-going When the company bMatt Vft years ago said owner Emily Douglas only about one activity every Area months was planned Now She's plan ring two activities a month and has IAN people on her mailing list The real estate market has fob tbs effect of the growing number of si gles as well Tt is a market that is highly recognized and a very attractive market from a real eytate point of said Henry Maguire of Kill-Ingworth president of the Connecticut Association of Realtors Maguire said singles have been particularly Important In spurring the condominium market does represent an Investment that someone ingle can get In and out ho said A A A A AA A Vv k'tZiy I Si Staff pNolo by Dwrid Brunawi Joss and Catalina Rivera owners of Fashions In the former Union-Parkef Co building And that seems to fauficate more acceptable to be single these days The tag 'single no longer carries negative said Anita Hottx chief execative officer and senior consultant of the Beginnings Professional Dating Service lne hi Westport As a result singles organisations are flourishing Contacts sponsors singles dances that draw about 3M people a week aad Independent Slagles a two-year-old group in Wallingford sponsors monthly meetings for Its members on such subjects as ing for one and investing for singles- T'We try to keep the subject an interesting thing for singles' said lean Whltehouse too founder of Independent Singles Tha group which also sponsors special-interest groups on subjects such as hiking and theatre has about members moot of them women over 40 and many of them divorced or widowed Whitehouso agreed that being single Is now more socially acceptable Indeed she said many people prefer tt hear people saying doing all right we're on our own feet gfflSgfift" I fw-Jfi-fMfUraay ihey wllt look Into the benefits oithe enterprise zone program said Jose Rivera president of the clothing factory ''From what 1 all Manlerl said These in- nation and its benefits Aldl said The six cities hear there are some (benefits) we can Fashions because of its location stands to get tan breaks and grants for adding employees and new equipment to Its operation The same goes for new companies moving Into the tone The tone is ndjacent to the down-tom revitalisation district proposed by the city The borders are Route on the north Center Street on tha east East Main Mill Washington and Maple centives eertalnly going to hurt companies here now or coming Other large vacant or underused buildings in the tone Include tha former Jefferson Middle School on Center Street the Wales lines complex on State Street and the Meriden Dress CoJE8 Kuhn Ttatata Cwttr WUa Pratt ButCI Meriden hopes to use the full range of the DED'i enterprise tone benefits to Improve conditions and originally assigned enterprise tones by the state In 1IU Bridgeport Hartford New Haven New Britain New London and Norwalk have met with success in varying degrees The tones in New Britain and Bridgeport have been so successful the state during this second selection of enterprise tone participants approved expansion plans for the two cities calculate that since formation of the tones in IMJ there has been 45 million In private Investment and 300000 square feet (of space) in either vacant or underutilized buildings now renovated and put to new said James key is to market this designation properly" Aldi said "Come oae come alL But ws certainly would put a premium on manufacturing (companies) first then commercial then Aldl said "All of the types of Investment will mean something but yes we would want to promote manufacturing (in the The five-year-old program the first of Its kind in the nation has reaped enormous rewards for the six members: SIM million in private investments: more than US new or renovated residential commercial and Industrial buildings tively went after the market Some Insurance companies ars making an effort to appeal to the tin- Please see Singles I pC-1 streets ou the south and Lewis Ave- attract new investments according Bill would extend negligence liability to acting City Manager Michael Aldl The Meriden Economic Devel- Sment Corp Is to direct much of i promotion for the tone However the City will approach aU business-related organisations In nue on the wesL Fashions Is one of several new small manufacturing firms moving Into the Unlon-Parker building at 2M Pratt SL Long vacant the tMJMOeauarrfoot mill-style building Is about half occu- about 4100 new Jobs and another 3- Mahoney executive director of Mu-000 Jobs saved nldpal Action Council Inc of New Britain New Britain now has Its sights set on the Fafnir Bearing Co buildings a 100000-square-foot mill complex In the city's old Industrial quarter The complex will become "ft Is a valuable toot no qv about It" Mid Andrew Mayo Bridgeport's associate administrator for neighborhood development "I'd say that If we did not have It some of these new projects in the sone would not be here But it Is not the only program we pied according to Vincent Manlerl Meriden to help identify companies leasing agent far Ftatt Associates that could participate in the profile limited partnership that owns gram Aldl said the property Also all property owners and sone should help but businesses in the sone now will be not sure yet what Is involved with Informed about the sone deslg- Please see Small firms pc-2 Enterprise zone incentives are numerous But the much-touted return to writing abandoned lines simply isn't happening What is occurring however is a flood of new special Interest Insurance groups formed by the people the Insurance companies abandoned our people arc still not finding any grent availability of Directors Officers" (DAO) coverage from As traditional Insurers said Georgs Hanc executive vice president of the National Council of Savings Institutions which runs a school of finance In Fairfield The NCSI last fall converted Its Drayton Co Lid subsidiary which since As early 1170s had been a re-insurer of DAO coverage Ato a direct writer of As line At the end of January the American Bankers Association formed Its own Insurance pool subsidiary to offer similar coverage to Its members Such actions are possible under As national Risk Retention Act passed last year by Congress The legislation Plena sen Negligence pC-1 By Vincent Valvo Connecticut State News Bureau HARTFORD The General Assembly Is poised to consider a bill that would give liability suit Plaintiffs the right to recoup damages from anyone deemed liable In a negligence suit regardless of fits degree of fault of fits plaintiff a change In the tort reform measures enacted by the stats Legislature last year and It's being opposed by tho state Insurance Industry But Industry hritlcs are pointing out that tho Insurers may already have harmed themselves far more Ann any pending legislation can Connecticut lawmakers were convinced to pass laws restricting civil damage suits last year alter the insurance Industry said Aero was a civil Justice crisis Aat made It Impossible for Aem to underwrite property-casualty Insurance Tho reforms they argued would give Aem As confidence Aey needed to write commercial Insurance again Now that Meriden has won the Urban Enterprise Zone designation from the state Depart ment of Economic Development the city has a number of carrots to dangle In front of potential new Industries and investors In the IM-acre downtown parcel Specifically the benefits afforded manufacturers and some service companies In the enterprise sone are: Five-year percent tax abatement on real estate and personal property Ten-year SO percent credit on corporation business taxes provided minimum hiring levels are met and 30 percent of then new employees are residents of the sone or meet particular Income guidelines A 11300 grant to qualified manufacturers for even new Job created within two years providing the standards for new hirings are met A 1300 grant for every new Job created for other qualified companies Job training benefits (These benefits are also available to commercial businesses In the sone) Small business and venture capital loans up to 1200000 for small manufacturers (Small commercial businesses are also eligible for these benefits) An exemption on real estate conveyance tax (This benefit also applies to commercial businesses and residential Investment In the sone) Sales tax exemption on replacement parts for machinery For commercial businesses and resi dential investments a 7-year graduated tax deferral on Increased property assessments due to Improvements (For residential Improvements the occupants must meet specified rncofoo Stan-darts) ECONOMIC BAROMETER 3-MOHTII TREASURY BILLS nnciNi weeny auction uati 75 70 65 60 55 50 45 0 TTT1 I 1 1 I 'l MAR I APR I MAY JUN ne fe.