Used last night's candidates' forum at The Wauregan in downtown Norwich to get a peek at a building whose rescue, renovation and reconstruction was hailed as signalling the Beginning of a Rose City Renaissance (in the not so distant past).
We're very good at starting projects in Norwich, and announcing, simultaneously, that 'we've turned the corner.' (In the last decade and a half, by my reckoning, we've turned the corner so often, we've squared the block-at least twice.)
The Wauregan certainly seems like a nice building.
And for what it cost to rehabilitate, I suppose it should.
Nicely painted walls, beautifully polished floors, extremely well-lit ballroom (site of the forum) with, literally, every incandescent light in the room on. I don't think there's air-conditioning in the ballroom as the forum organizer turned on a large fan BEFORE the session started (I'll spare all of us the 'hot air' joke, because I'm just a great guy) and the ten folks seeking six Council seats huddled together on a slightly too-small stage as we, ranging from the curious to/through the easily bemused, sat in equally uncomfortable chairs staring at them.
Maybe just me--I don't think there was anyone in the audience there accidentally so it's a safe bet we know who you are, and why you're on stage. The candidates only have a few moments to speak to very complicated issues so don't waste what little time there is on a personal history that is, at best, tangential to the task at hand. I don't care if you were born here or left here by the dingos.
We're all 'from here' now and if we want to our little non-profit corporation, Norwich Inc., to be successful, we need to set about planning our work and working our plan.
I've read where Abraham Lincoln, at some point, stayed in The Wauregan Hotel but I didn't feel his spirit wandering the ballroom yesterday, despite the earnest company at the front of the room.
What I found interesting was the idea some candidates advanced that an elected Zoning Board of Appeals might be an attractive alternative to the current charter-mandated City Council as ZBA.
We are fortunate this year in Norwich in that we have ten people seeking one of six seats on the City Council. But as has been the case in recent years, we continue to have exactly nine people for the nine seats on the Board of Education.
I bring this up because I'm not really sure I understand where the folks who will volunteer to run for the ZBA are supposed to be or what will motivate them to seek this position.
From what I heard last night, no one has extended the thought process that far so the conclusion, assuming we ever have one, will be a surprise (hopefully, pleasant but perhaps not so) in a city of about 37,000 souls who often are more pessimistic than they should be, having decided the joy of pessimism is that you can only be surprised, and never disappointed.
-bill kenny
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