Yale is a walled garden within New Haven--might as well be Connecticut's own Forbidden City.

Does the institution add economic/social/educational/medical value to the state and region? Sure. Their endowment is literally the GDP of Egypt or UAE---how could they not add "value" being the elephant in the room? They are a world unto themselves.

But let's not overstate how great Yale is to the residents of New Haven proper. Considering that it is home to Yale, the city still shockingly resembles Bridgeport in crime and poverty...but Bridgeport's population is actually growing. City of New Haven's population has been flat for 30 years. That fact alone should hint at how "great" it is to host Yale when you're New Haven.

Yale has a "free rider" problem. Sure, they kick some dollars to the city. But we're talking about a $42 billion dollar institution that pays (checks notes)....$22M a year to the city? That's a rounding error if you're Yale. Chump change.

They hold billions of dollars' worth of property in the city and most of it is NOT on the property tax rolls. Where are municipalities supposed to get their revenue for city services? Property taxes, primarily.

IMHO, Yale's a jewel in the Connecticut crown but not a great partner for the city that hosts them. Not so different from all the other shiny universities located in or near beleaguered areas.

"But New Haven would be worse off without us!" - spoken like the abusive partner in a marriage.

The wristwatch equivalent of a malaise era Detroit automobile. You just showed us a pristine Chevy Vega with 300,000 miles on the ODO still running fine with no rust!

The manufacturer simply never intended that product to last 50 years