Yale Haven

My Human Bart wanted me to post this, copyright a. bart connors, jr. 2007

If you want more, there is more....

Let’s pretend for a moment, that you just dropped into New Haven, 2042, missing the last 35 years. Or I should more properly say, Yale Haven. How much New Haven has changed in 35 years. This world has changed in dramatic ways, but not so much as the United States. This is a country the founding fathers shaped, but never dreamed the way the constitution could be stretched as far to the right as it stands today. Far reaching programs, starting with Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s, the transformation of the Federal Supreme Court into an arm of the republican Party. And giving business free reign to operate with little Federal Intervention. States were on their way to becoming a family of nation states, with the real problems of families.
This is what happens, when you get 30 years of a Republican Presidents, only 8 years of Democrats in the last 35 years. None even remotely successful as President Bill Clinton (my hero), or even as titillating. The election of 2008 was a turning point in the History of the United States. After the 2006 takeover of the House and Senate, Hillary Clinton looked to be a lock on the Presidential Nomination and general election, that all came to a screeching halt, when campaigning for Hillary in California, her husband and former President had a major heart attack. He was revived 4 times. President Clinton was frail and needed constant medical care and attention. To everyone’s surprise, Hillary stood by her man for the last time. Senator Hillary Clinton abandoned her campaign for President, resigned from the Senate and refused to support publicly another candidate. The Clintons lived in relative seclude for almost three years as Hillary took care of her husband before he died in 2011.
What followed was as much as a surprise to anyone. Rudy Guliani took the general election against a weak Obama. No one ever doubted Rudy’s 9/11 expertise again. President Guliani reshaped the Republican Party like none before. By getting the evangelicals to take a back seat, he brought the party more center on moral issues and still promoted a radical form of Federalism. After two Supreme Court appointments by the end of his second term, the Court was beginning to become an arm of the Republican Party. Abortion was declared illeagal. However, the court also took the far right stance that states had the right to make their own laws on the issue. So abortion was still legal in all 50 states. And, was a ballot issue on every state election since. The Federal government, the court determined, was too involved in the lives of Americans. Most all Federal Funding was slashed, the budget balanced with years of surpluses.
States were left to deal with the actual business of governemnt. Cities and towns had to rethink how to fund education and other public services. None of that was played out better than in right here in Connecticut, and more specifically Yale Haven. As the reach of Yale University became greater, there became a blurring of the lines between the City Government and Yale itself. The greatest example being the election of 2020, when all 12 City alderman (or women) were either Yale Students, professors, distinguished alumni, employed by Yale University or the Hospital. but the biggest coup that year was in the same election, the Yale President, Benson Taubman, took on the duties as Mayor of the City of New Haven. A day that can be looked backed on as a triumphant victory or some may say a monumental disaster. The bottom line is that life is far more different than it was during that Gulianni victory in oh eight.

The seeds of change were planted between the City of New Haven with former Mayor Destefano. After 2 failed Gubernatorial bids, he settled into his seemingly endless term with vigor. If he could not change the state, he would drastically change the City of New Haven. Destefano had always been clubby with Yale. And abrasive enough to keep them on their toes. But in the end, they both got not what they wanted, no one could have anticipated life in Yale Haven the way it is today. But what they got was a model City for which the world would envy.
One man launched an investment run not seen in the endowment business. Yale’s Christopher Hohn, thank largely to new investments in hedge funds and a most aggressive donor campaign, took Yale 17.5 billion dollar endowment in 2005, to 1.2 trillion dollars in 2042. That’s trillion. Dollars. In 2042, Yale students do not pay tuition. Not room nor board. Not for laptops. Most students qualify for and receive, “transportation funds”.
These funds can be used primarily to travel back and forth to home, but can be used to have your family fly out for the weekend and stay for free at the Yale Colony Ritz Carlton right on Chapel Street. Or just have your high school girl friend come up and pay for it out of your funds. Most enterprising yale students find better ways spend their transportation funds. In other words, it is more than a healthy slush fund for bong and beer money and still go back home a couple of times a year. But as most college students think, it is much better to be at school than at home. And in Connecticut, as in 17 other progressive states, the drinking age again was lowered to 19. And stayed there due largely to Yale studies done on drinking, teen drinking, binge drinking and the age limit. No effect, so it is really no longer an issue. And when you live steps away from Toad’s Place, Garden, Hotel and Casino, who can really blame you.
Not only did Christopher Hahn change the way that Yale operated, he helped link and transform the City of New Haven. for decades, Yale purchased more and more property downtown. They purchased Long Wharf and in one small but not so small gesture, they partnered with Mayor Destefano and the City on many start up companies. Two of them, one a bio start up in search of drug for lung cancer and the other a cosmetic company in search of the latest cream for your face. Yale, the City of New Haven, and yes even I benefited from that one. Yale’s cancer drug called Briair, save just over 50% of those dying from lung cancer, a far cry from the previous diagnosis of only 15%. It saved my life.
I don’t know how the cream works, but it does. At first, you needed to see a doctor to get it, but after 8 years as THE best selling prescription, it is now over the counter. It cost $84.50 at tube. A bargain for this face-lift in a tube. And remember, you just dropped into 2042.

Both companies are in the Fortune 500, number 8 and 32. The City of Yale Haven and the State of Connecticut are the largest shareholders. Connecticut, Yale and the residents of Yale Haven, are all beneficiaries. With so much money at stake, Yale and the city just kind of kept morphing. Doing things that just were not possible without this kind of partnership, and that kind of money.
Big money, big changes. Yale Haven is in the business of collecting taxes, but that is just a front. Yale Haven has it’s own endowment now. They call it a rainy day fund. I call it 45 billion dollars. That does not even include equity in any of the joint ventures with Yale. Then, starting with the election of 2028, The newly named City of Yale Haven and Yale University embarked on one of the most ambitious social experiments in the world that is marveling politicians, world leaders, business leaders and academia to this day.
All of this grand transformation could not have taken place without the election of President Guiliani in 2008. His steady hand took his liberal republican party far to the right on government, but middle of the road on most social issues. A curious thing happened to the Democrat and Republican parties. Republican membership swelled to all time levels. Everyone wanted fiscal responsibility and less government and less taxes. But most democrats hated the Evangelical look of the party. Party meetings looked conspicuously like klu klux klan meetings.
Guliani’s republican party looked nothing like George W’s. Guliani basically kicked out the religion of the party. Stating that if we expect other countries around the world to be democratic and not some fanatical religious government, then we should set an example. It wasn’t that we still didn’t believe in, in God we trust, we just didn’t wear it on our sleeve. You see, Rudy wasn’t talking to God on a daily basis for advice like George W’ said he did. You would think that all those fights about State and religion would flair up but it never seemed to. It was a non-issue, like it is.
Traditional southern democrats now were in a quandary. You could always say that they were a tintsy bit conservative, but now, they are right of right (but mostly wrong and wrong). They found out to get elected to anything, they had to court these disenfranchised evangelical republicans, who mostly happened to live in their districts. And they hold 17% of the seats in the house. Not enough to worry the liberal republicans who hold a 12 seat majority. So now we have 3 distinct parties. The left wing democrats, liberal republicans, and conservative democrats. I am not making this up. It even gets better.
Why? because it worked. Coming off of public confidence lows of 12% in o-seven, congress had no where else to go. Kicked hard in the ass by the crash of o-nine, Wall Street and guliani worked hard to not let it happen again. He slashed government spending, rescued Wall Street by investing trillions of dollars for Social Security, doubling (yes, time 2) recipient benefits and single handedly setting the fund back on its feet with more than enough money invested to even fund the baby boom generation. All of that griping for years about fixing social security, and Rudy and his Wall Street buddies had it fixed 8 months after the Crash that sent the dow from 18,718 to 11,122 in just 3 days.
How President Guiliani pulled off investing Social Security funds in Wall Street was a stroke of genius. Five of the major brokerage houses were involved. Simply at the end of each year, the Social Security was given a balance, and this was deemed guaranteed principle. The five major brokerages then would pony up the difference if there was a loss in the fund that year. But the opposite was true. As the Federal government poured money into Wall Street, it up-righted the ship and we went on the longest, economic run in recorded history.
Many people made fortunes. Christopher Hohn, Yale University and Yale Haven, all made killings. The stage was set for radical meaningful change.
Yale Haven Mayor, and President of Yale University went on a course that has forever changed the Elm City. In moves that many thought as shameless land grabs, Yale spread its footprint all over the city. In order to mange huge construction projects, Yale introduced the Yale School of Construction. Yale Construction, Engineering and Architecture now were starting and finishing projects from scratch. Top construction companies sent thousands to Yale for Education sending an army of the top technically talented people with experience without match into the workforce, creating a boom in construction never seen before. Better construction, cheaper more energy efficient supplies, and the latest technology. We are truly beginning to see the future.
Yale built all the way down Edgewood Ave down past the Yale bowl to the horse farms which were put in Woodbridge. Dorms and Classrooms circle the Edgewood park, making it safer, cleaner and a centerpiece of Westville. Facilities were almost to lake Whitney.
In addition, Yale created the Wooster Culinary and Food Science School at Yale in Wooster Square. Operating independently, but wholly owned by Yale University, Yale scientists work on the latest in nutrition while cooking students enjoyed some of the most famous chefs as visiting teachers. The school put out a frozen line of foods that are made to order and picked up at your local grocery store. The line, called “Yale Food Works” is nutritionally balanced and the exact amount of calories needed for your body type.
You go to the Yale Food Works web site, enter in all types of information about yourself (and the required blood test) and they formulate a diet designed just for you. All you do then is go online, enter a password and it pulls up menus that you can choose from and mix and match. It already knows what store you shop at, cooks the food at a facility locally in West Haven and others nationally, flash freezes and ships. You can pick it up in most cites in 3 days.It was and still is, wildly popular. Needless to say, this was another source of income for Yale.
A short walk from Wooster Square is New England Ballpark at Yale (of course). Right on that prime land on Long Wharf, but you would not recognize that area now, I’ll get to that in a minute. NEBP at Yale is home to....the New England Red Sox (at Yale). I’d have to give a dissertation to explain how Boston lost the Red Sox, but I’ll try to give the short version since you just dropped in out of thin air.


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