New Haven urges local spending

(9/9/2013) New Haven Register - The message Monday was simple: Make bread here; spend bread here.

City officials celebrated the findings of their Buy Local Initiative on the sidewalk outside Lupi-Marchigiano Bakery, a long-revered family business still baking old-style bread products in the shadow of the city’s burgeoning biomedical district.A phase 1 study by Next Street consultants examined local spending and the new report says the city “compares favorably to other municipalities such as New York and Los Angeles in terms of the proportion of its spending that goes to local and diverse businesses.”Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said the city is trying to make sure that money coming into the city, from salaries and businesses such as incoming star tenant Alexion Pharmaceuticals, stays here.

“That money, you want to recirculate locally and keep it spending here,” DeStefano said. “This report we did, it’s like, ‘OK, what are we doing?’ That’s our baseline. It’s like a batting average. How do we improve the batting average?”

In remarks in front of the age-old bakery on Washington Avenue across from Amistad Park, the mayor said, “Our city annual budget is about a half a billion dollars. ... A lot of it is payroll — teachers, firemen, police officers and such. But a lot of it’s spent buying ... bread. We have about $115 million ... that is spent buying things ... like bread.”

Kelly Murphy, Economic Development head, said the Buy Local Initiative began about a year ago and identified “a range of opportunities for the city to enhance its existing” spending with locals.

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