Everything old is new again, so I'm not sure what that make this New Year but we have the luxury of time, practically unlimited, to start over or to start again (or to fall back into the same holes because we choose the same outcomes). It all depends on us, as it always has.
Everything, including liquor stores (gasp!) were closed around here yesterday (bars weren't so it's not the consumption of alcohol we were trying to slow; just sales of it in containers), but we start 2012 in full stride, at least here in The Rose of New England.
The City Council holds its first meeting of the year tonight at 7:30 in Council Chambers in City Hall. The agenda has a little something for everyone, though I suspect the 'communication' the Council received from a resident will offer all of them an earful, and not undeserved. I was pleased to see the Commission on the City Plan (CCP) advocate for a 'have a reason for everything you do' approach to closing roadways in Mohegan Park especially since the law I'm most concerned about, involving unintended consequences, gets broken around here more times in a day than Lady Gaga ruins barbecues.
The CCP should serve as a review for all volunteer agencies proposing City Council action, through the prism and perspective of the Plan of Development they manage and monitor. I'd hope the same process that had them review the Mohegan Park road closure would also mandate more scrutiny of the Harbor Management Commission's "Waterfront Vision" (as well as everybody else's) since there may be some work needed before individual planning ideas can be incorporated into an omnibus municipal document.
Wednesday afternoon at five, the Emancipation Proclamation Commemorative Committee, which has shown up more often on the pages of our local newspaper than anywhere on the city's website, has a regular meeting in Room 319 of City Hall.
The (Kelly Middle) School Building Committee holds a regular meeting this afternoon at 5:30 in the school's library (the school was dedicated in December, ahead of schedule and under budget). I couldn't find their December meeting minutes on the Board of Education's website so here's the November minutes. I'm curious about this 'retribution' mentioned on page one. There's nothing like the smell of smiting in the morning or anytime. Breathe deep.
And at six, in the new Community Room in the Greeneville Fire Department, it's a regular meeting of the Greeneville Neighborhood Revitalization Committee, whose most recent minutes aren't, but you can read that for yourself here.
Thursday evening at seven in the Planning Department's Conference Room, at 23 Union Street, it's a regular meeting of the Inlands, Wetlands, Water Courses and Conservation Commission whose December's meeting minutes are here.
There are, apparently, two different and special Board of Education meetings Friday. One is at 11 in the morning while the other, at two in the afternoon, is an expulsion hearing (and not open to the public). Both are in the Central Office, across from the Norwichtown Green. The closest thing to current minutes are right here, from September (a/k/a 'not really').
Saturday morning at nine thirty, in the community room of the Central Fire House, it's a One City Forum and a chance in an informal setting (I recently learned pants are still required for attendees and that the rear seats of the police cruiser are freezing) to speak about issues important to you with the Mayor, the City Manager, Charlize Theron and various members of the City Council (just checking to see if you were still reading; I guess you were) and get updates on projects in which you are interested.
We have a lot of things worth the time and talents of every interested resident and we can certainly use all the help we can get. We're not the only folks in the world, or Connecticut, struggling to make what we have better, but we're closest to it and can do the most good, if we want to. See you at something?
-bill kenny
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