Like many of advanced age cities i...

Like many of advanced age cities in the industrial Northeast, modern Haven, Conn., has suffered considerable population los during the 1990 An estimated 7600 the public left the city between 1990 and 1995 leaving it with a rife population of about 122,000.

Middle class flight from the city, the los of tax incomes and an inefficient local bureaucracy all l to a serious blight riddle Indeed, New Haven's number of vacant buildings increased from 508 in 1992 to 786 in 1995 according to the fire department.

more [i]or[/i] less vacant buildings were used for activities like put drugs into use and dealing; others could best be described as fire hazards or structurally unsafe.

Last year, Mayor John DeStefano prescribed solid medicine: consolidation of various city housing programs, privatization, stepped-up housing digest enforcement, tax incentives for building restoration, a reduction of r tape and a push for broad-based community involvement.

The city cobbl