In 1988, the BRBC volunteer leadership asked the CEO to prepare a statement and a plan regarding what he felt were the major shortcomings in the City that needed to be addressed in order to improve the environment for economic development. The CEO's conclusions were that the City and the business community needed to address the following things in order to set the stage for economic advancement: 

• Image Enhancement 
• Leadership Development 
• Economic Development Planning 
• Economic Development Systems Improvement 
• Management Improvement

In 1996, a review of the above needs cited in 1989 reveal the following:

• Image Enhancement -- Today the City is seen much differently than it was a few short years ago. The Bridgeport Marketing Partnership, the Yes Bridgeport Campaign, the Reality Campaign, the City's future port effort, and now the Mayor's Clean and Green Program, as well as real development and real crime reduction, have all contributed to an improving image.
• Leadership Development -- The Leadership Greater Bridgeport program, a BRBC affiliate, has graduated over 100 leaders, many of whom are now placed in positions enabling them to have an impact on making a better world.
• Economic Development Planning -- The BRBC has been directly and indirectly involved as a catalyst, facilitator, and actuator in numerous efforts over these years all resulting in what is now a very much agreed to development vision centered around the following: 
  • Downtown Revitalization 
  • Industrial Rebirth 
  • Waterfront Recapture
• Economic Development Systems -- The City now has in place a top-notch economic development administrator and a highly competent staff. This represents a world of change from eight to ten years ago. In addition, new zoning codes, master plan, and economic development plan, are now or are about to be in place.
• Management Improvement -- As a result of the three year management improvement project the vast majority of the recommendations (over 450) to improve City management are now in place. The City has experienced six successive years of balanced budgets and four years with no tax increase, and at the same time, public services are improving.

Since the late 1980s, the Bridgeport Regional Business Council has contributed to the spark, the challenge, and the leadership that has created a vision for the City of Bridgeport. A vision that, when implemented, will result in significant job growth and tax base growth for a City in dire need of both, and, when implemented, will positively impact a region that today either turns its back on Bridgeport or is unable to forge partnerships that result in a shared vision or a shared responsibility. 

• In the late 1980's, the City was heading toward fiscal bankruptcy. 
• In the late 1980's, the City had a reputation for and a reality of mismanagement.
• In the late 1980's, the City had no clear vision for its economic future. 
• In the late 1980's, the City had no strategic plan. 
• In the late 1980's, there was little opportunity for all segments of the City to sit around the same table. 
• In the late 1980's, there was virtually no public investment in bricks and mortar improvement in the City. 
• In the late 1980's, there was little effort at public/private partnering to build a new City together. 
• Until the mid-1990s, the City's actual and perceived crime problems ruined its image. 
• In the late 1980's and through the mid-1990s, despair and pessimism prevailed over the optimism that is a critical and necessary ingredient in any turn around story.