Taking the No Out of Norwich

I've mentioned repeatedly (some have suggested incessantly) that I didn't grow up in Norwich, Connecticut, but I'll concede that it is here where I am growing old. Something else getting old, and even faster, is the lamentation that far too many of us think is our role as residents for living here. 

I'm not an engineer but I believe those who are when they assure me that it takes far more energy to be a light than to be a horn. Let me put it another way: complaining about everything we don't have and/or needs replacing and repair isn't anywhere near the same thing as suggesting remedies and resolutions that would benefit all of us.

Yeah, I know the comeback: we're not elected officials and it's not our job. Except we live here and that's why this is our city and because it is it makes everything that goes on here our business. In case you haven't guessed, we are Norwich. 

Schools, streets, police and public safety, all of the physical structures of what we call "the city" aren't what Norwich, or any city, are about. It's we, the people, who define the spaces and places in which we live and for too long, says the guy not from here, we've focused on the first two letters of our city's name.

I was heartened to read accounts earlier this month about the City Manager's proposed budget, not because I was cheered at the prospect of higher taxes (I'm not) but because the proposal was proactive in calling for investments in who we say we are. 

The budget restarts contributions to the Sachem Fund which at one time fueled dozens of citywide initiatives and is an idea that requires optimism and vision in economically lean times like ours but also demands courage and a belief in oneself. 

And don't forget a request by Mayor Nystrom for a budget boost in economic development funds. And why? Because if not us, then who? And if not now, then when?  

We've been here before and answered those questions. We believed in ourselves almost a decade ago when we approved bonding to start reversing decades of decline that had helped create a ghost town where once a downtown had flourished. And if you don't see the improvements that money and talent made and continues to make, then you are being willfully blind. 

This time last week Chelsea Groton Banks' Global City Initiative, offered funds to leverage the diversity we brag about here in Norwich to better enhance the quality of life outreaches that expand the value of our community and pay dividends for all of us. 

You don't have to agree with a word of what I've written but in disagreeing tell me what you would do otherwise, and how you would do it. Don’t worry if your first, second, or even one-hundredth idea isn’t a success. Don't give up or give in. Failure is NOT when we do not succeed; it is when we do not even try.         
-bill kenny