Out Here in the Middle

Late last week, one of our newspapers offered (perhaps as a one-time experiment) an editorial page that had a 'left' opinion and a 'right' one flanking their own editorial in the middle. In light of how much of our lives most of us spend in a variety of states, politically and philosophically, I am disquieted by lines of demarcation that will, ultimately, do nothing to help us build the bridges we need throughout this country, but will speed the expansion of walls we keep erecting.

Nationally we have too much 'my mind's made up, don't confuse me with facts' already, so folks like Fox News and MSNBC, both recently admitting they had 'mistakenly' used crowd shots from other events in the reporting of stories that underscored their reportorial perspectives, need to stop helping now. And at the local level, we must get better at distinguishing a good person from a good elected official. Sometimes they are one and the same and sometimes they are two different people. All ducks are birds but not all birds are ducks.

We'll find out as merrily we roll along, I guess. And as we are rolling, if you live in the Rose of New England, Norwich, Connecticut, here's a quick snapshot of this week's municipal meetings, all of which welcome citizen guests and input and all of whom are populated with our neighbors.

The Redevelopment Agency meets this afternoon at five in Room 210 of City Hall. Based on the minutes of their October meeting there's good news on progress in the remediation of Shipping Street and an excellent discussion that MORE volunteer agencies should be having, on defining the role of each group of volunteers and how their efforts fit in a larger context.

Speaking of which, I'd hope the next City Council considers, as an agenda item within their meetings, a five minute (and not one second longer) on-the-record briefing/report from each volunteer board telling all of us who they are, what they do and how, concluding with how they further the mission of the City Council and Mayor (and by extension all of us who live here).
Have a reason for everything you do--that doesn't get said enough around here and it damn sure doesn't happen anywhere near often enough. Sorry about the 'd' word.

Monday evening at six, a day earlier than previously announced (hence 'special') are meetings of both the Norwich Public Utilities' Board of Commissioners and the Sewer Authority-the agenda for these meetings are not as available on line as they may have thought. And neither are the minutes of the 4 November meetings.

Tuesday morning at eight up in the Norwich Business Park at 108 New Park Avenue (I say 'up' from where I live; you may be more of an 'over' person) is another real-world, real-time instance of an idea that gets a lot of buzz but needs to get more than that, 'regionalization': the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board. I know of them, but admit I know very little about them. Their website made me smarter (which is an herculean task, I know), so you should have an easy time getting up to speed.

Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 in the Main Office at 90 Town Street is a Board of Education Policy Committee meeting, about which no minutes for this entire year have yet been posted. When I read articles about voter apathy, I try to consider all the causes and sources. I'll bet you can guess some of the ones that come to my mind.

The Harbor Management Commission meets at five in Room 219 of City Hall. As someone who likes to hike the Heritage Trail along the riverfront, I was happy to read in the October meeting minutes that the dock/pier/seawall project is expected to be finished by the end of the year. It will be nice to end my walk in downtown at Brown Park instead of having to detour as I and so many others do, especially since that has been the case for a very long time.

Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve (when the marketing guys and gals finally rule the earth) there are two meetings. One at 12:30 in their conference room in their facility over on New London Turnpike is a special meeting of the Golf Course Authority.

The other, at six, is a regular meeting of the Recreation Advisory Board, who seem to meet every two months, reading their September minutes. In light of the election results, and because all the appointments have otherwise lapsed, there will be a need to reappoint and/or repopulate the board (and others, when you look at the rosters), and the City of Norwich is looking for volunteers to serve, so fill out the application and be part of The Help.

Thursday is, of course, Thanksgiving Day (or as it's known in the Land of Merchandising, The Day Before Black Friday).

Friday afternoon, if you've survived the brawl and sprawl of the mall, please consider joining all of us, starting at 4:30 (Santa arrives much closer to six) for the lighting of Norwich City Hall. My wife pointed out Sunday morning that Michelle, our daughter and my wing man for a score or more of years at this event, will be working until six and may not make it, so I hope you can join us. It helps underscore that while each of us is our own message in a bottle, it's a big beach.

"Well out here in the middle, You can park it on the street.
Step up to the counter; you nearly always get a seat.
Nobody steals. Nobody cheats.
Wish you were here my love. Wish you here my love."
-bill kenny