"...that gives this fair city light..."

"Man, there's an opera out on the Turnpike. There's a ballet being fought out in the alley." You know how some people drink coffee to get a boost, or take a walk in the fresh air? Today is my first day back at work since my TKR on the 9th of March and I need to get charged up with my game face on and that means Springsteen. Bring it.

Unless of course, as is the case on Mondays, you're interested in mapping out your week of meetings, municipal and otherwise--last week was Tax Day and some Earth Day observances thrown in and this week we have the 'real' Earth Day so hopefully, you're as energized as I, so hitting some of the high points should be easy this week as it's a target rich environment. Hum a few bars of something catchy--I'm never at a loss for suggestions, if you need any. Here's what's on the horizon.....

Monday starts oh-bright-early at the Senior Center at nine in the morning with a regular meeting of the Senior Affairs Committee. I've always liked that the Senior Center is next door to the skateboard park, and is now across the street from the beautiful, new campus of Norwich Regional Technical High School and the soon-to-be-started renovation on Kelly Middle School. You can check out the March meeting minutes here and realize the range and scope of projects in which the Committee is involved.

The Design Review Board meets at four in the afternoon at 23 Union Street. Neither their minutes nor their agenda are available on line, and based on the expiration dates of their appointments, the members may want to worry about that as new business at an upcoming meeting.

As is the case, so often, City Council chambers are the place to be Monday evening, starting at 6:30 when there's an informational presentation by Janny Lam for the City Council on redevelopment plans for the Reid and Hughes building in downtown Norwich, followed at seven by a regular City Council meeting. To tie up a loose end from last week, and because it'd be nice to have some background if you wanted to offer some observations during Citizen Comment, the link to the City Manager's proposed 2009-2010 budget is working without a hitch.

On Tuesday afternoon starting at 5:30 in Kelly Middle School, and offered live on the "NFA Channel" of Comcast (I'm not sure why since municipal government meetings are usually offered on channel 97) is a regular meeting of the Norwich Board of Education. Their meeting isn't posted, but here are the minutes of their March meeting and (I think) when you read through them, and perhaps a random selection of other meetings' minutes, and review again the City Manager's proposed budget, you get an excellent sense of the level of investment we make as citizens and taxpayers in education--an investment, as a parent of two former students, I'd suggest returns handsomely for all of us throughout this city.

Also Tuesday at 5:30, is a meeting of the Norwich Free Academy Board of Trustees in Room 6109 of the Latham Science Center. A bit later, at a quarter of seven, is a regular meeting of the Downtown Neighborhood Revitalization Zone Committee (that Witness Protection Program partnership is really working out!) in Artworks to Empower (I have NO idea where this might be) and while I also don't have an agenda or the March minutes, here (with some irony) is a copy of last October's minutes which should have reflected the then-new Connecticut Public Law on municipal website posting and availability of meeting minutes. At seven, in the lower level conference room at 23 Union Street, is a regular meeting of the Commission on the City Plan, all of whose members' appointments have expired, and yet undeterred, they have a full plate of actions and deliberations. If I were to go, I'd be especially interested in the Byron Brook project update; maybe if you go, you could take notes?

On Wednesday morning at 8:30 in NFA's Latham Science Center is a regular meeting of the Youth and Family Services Advisory Board, which, as I read the municipal website, has an alarming number of vacancies on it (volunteers anyone? Here's the application; fill it out and send it to the Mayor. Norwich works together only as well as each of us does.). Also Wednesday at 5:30 in the afternoon is a regular meeting of the Board of Review of Dangerous Buildings. I don't have their April agenda.

Wednesday evening, starting at 6:30, in the Salvation Army building in downtown, almost across the street from the Otis Library, will be (to my knowledge) the only candidate forum for the 28 April Special Election for Norwich City Council. The debate, sponsored by The Greater Norwich Anti-Bullying Coalition and the Norwich Branch of the NAACP, is between Republican Peter Nystrom and unaffiliated Jay Gelfond for the city Council seat vacated by Christopher Coutu, who is now State Representative Coutu. Also on Wednesday evening, at seven, is a regular meeting of the Norwich Golf Course Authority.

And on Thursday morning at eight is a regular meeting of the Norwich Community Development Corporation whose website is 'under development.' I'm still in search of the website hosting the minutes of their previous meetings (I figured out where they're not, which actually isn't all that helpful) and I'm reminded of Monty Python's Still No Sign of Land (if it helps, I don't think you destroyed the atmosphere). And Thursday night at six, in Room 335 of City Hall, is the second of the departmental hearings on the budget by the members of the City Council.

"And the poets down here don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be."
-bill kenny