Large headlines in both local dailies today about the "Washington Street Rezoning Proposal" being withdrawn by the developers, which could alter the election calculus of the Norwich City Council elections next Tuesday.
Greater minds than mine, you've seen their letters to the editor in recent days (and definitely belonging to those 'from Norwich', in whose number I am not) will cogitate on that aspect, leaving me Wondering Where the Lions Are (not to be confused with the deer that once were in the Mohegan Park Zoo). Thanks, Bruce. (That's Cockburn, and not Springsteen, in this case).
Smart growth is, by definition, economic development but economic development is NOT necessarily smart growth.
We in Norwich should be pleased we continue to be attractive to those interested in creating opportunities for economic development. But (and maybe it needs to be in all capital letters) BUT, we need to reexamine our ENTIRE process and philosophy of development and sustainable growth, and the people who manage it, to better serve all of us.
Right now we approach economic growth the way a horse gallops--one footfall ahead of where we are. When you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there.
We need to stop being surprised that 'everything's broken.' (Thanks, Dylan-that's Bob, not Dylan Thomas. I've been around Laurel but never Under Milkwood.)
By our actions and our inactions (sins, so to speak, of commission and omission), we guarantee our own continued failure. Norwich does not suffer from Future Shock, Alvin Tofler; it has succumbed to Present Shock. There's no confederacy of dunces keeping us, as a city, from being successful; we do it to ourselves, and we need to stop beating up one another.
Norwich has a Plan of Development. What we need is the will to take it off the shelf, evaluate it, correct/refine or redefine it where needed and then deploy it. Plan our work and then work our plan.
We should resolve to partner ONLY with those who have projects that benefit everyone engaged in the effort, from those of us who live in this city through those who are risking their time, talent and capital. If we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we've always gotten.
In Norwich there's a widening gap between our promise and our performance. We should elect to City Council those whose vision of our direction most closely matches our own. Then we have to learn to work together for the good of us all. So simple to type-and so hard to do.
-bill kenny
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