Monday, November 3, 2008 3:15 AM EST
In her letter objecting to my suggestion that the city should not have given the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament a subsidy, Anne Worcester, the tournament director, notes that it provides significant benefits to the city. Yes, the tournament attracts a large number of visitors — some 81,000 this year. And, the tournament provides affordable tennis lessons to many young people.

But, why should the city’s hard-pressed taxpayers provide a subsidy to a tournament that has many corporate sponsors, receives revenues from television and pays out $1.28 million in prize money?

The city is confronted with a very difficult fiscal situation. Despite an 11 percent increase in property tax revenues, the city entered the current fiscal year with a $6 million deficit. Thirty-four long-time employees were laid off in September. Many other positions have been eliminated through attrition. Funding for the police was cut by $227,000. Funding for homeless shelters was cut by $384,000.

Nevertheless, the city gave Pilot Pen $135,000. It also gave the Shubert theater $260,000, the Grove Street garage $290,000 and Tweed New Haven Regional Airport $550,000. How many people could have kept their jobs if the city hadn’t given those subsidies? How many homeless people could have been provided shelter this winter?

David R. Cameron

New Haven

Editor’s note: David R. Cameron is a professor of political science at Yale University and a member of the city’s Blue Ribbon Budget Review Panel.