Deja Vu as Precis Vu

Nice story in the Norwich Bulletin this morning on Mayor Benjamin Lathrop's "State of the City" address which will start tomorrow night's city Council meeting. The Mayor is quoted as saying '(I)t's a compilation. It works off last year's address. I'm proud of it."

I enjoyed the tone of last year's speech very much-as I have for all the previous years there has been one, originally by a City Council President and then, after charter revision in March 2001, by the Mayor of Norwich. As the new year begins, despite the sometimes dismal winter weather and (growing) economic uncertainty, optimism is in short supply and always welcome. Besides, sentiments like a 'desire to continue to reinvent', or posess a 'new vision' and 'further the Renaissance' can't be spoken often enough, judging from the number of times they've already been spoken.

My disquiet with "state of" anything speeches is they are long on vision and short on measureable, definable goals. I'd like to know more, specifically, about projects like Cadle Mill and Byron Brook, both mentioned at length in the 2007 speech. Perhaps that's what the Mayor means when he says this year's speech works off last year's, and he'll offer us a progress report. I'm heartened to read the Mayor will outline ideas for the semiseptcentennial celebration (in 2009) Perhaps Prince, in all his purple majesty, can rewrite one of his classics, updating it, of course: "Two thousand, double zero, then just go ahead and add a nine.....Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1659!"

I'm looking forward, truth be told, a little more, to the first installment, as a new addition to the City Council agenda, of the City Manager's report. The City Manager is, by charter, the Chief Executive Officer, and if the Mayor possesses the 'bully pulpit' than the City Manager could be considered the bully (though our new one seems likable enough and much more like the consensus building type, rather than a bully).

I'm hoping the City Manager will, in light of the meeting's agenda, outline his thoughts on specific reasons for requesting the hiring of lobbyists on behalf of the City to include what Norwich received for its investment last session and how, combined with the advocacy of our three state representatives (Olsen, Malone and Prague. Sounds a little bit like a Seattle grunge band, doesn't it?) will accelerate and enhance the city's economic position and create a greater resource base to assist more citizens in being successful.

As I mentioned the other day, lobbying is a BIG business here in The Constitution State and I'm not sure how happy or unhappy I am about that, no matter how many other towns across the state are hiring lobbyists. Voltaire once suggested if 20 million people believe in a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. He is not in the 736 page listing of lobbyists the CT Office of State Ethics has compiled.
I already looked.
-bill kenny