When Feet Meet the Street

Walking through the city in which you live is a much better way of getting to know about it (as well as yourself) than speeding through it in a car. It's one of the reasons I spend so much time walking through various neighborhoods all across Norwich. I figure what I've saved in not buying driving gloves, I've invested in walking shoes.

And even better than walking through Norwich, no matter how leisurely the pace or enjoyable the company, is helping clean it up or in this case at least making a good start. And that is what many of us were doing this Saturday morning passed. 

Organized by Jill Fritzsche at Foundry 66, with supplies and refreshments funded by a grant from The Last Green Valley, a not inconsiderable number of neighbors donned gloves, grabbed buckets and plastic trash bags, and armed with maps of downtown divided into projects areas teamed up, literally, to give a good impression of an old-fashioned spring cleaning to downtown and not a moment too soon. Summer will be here before we know it, with lots of community events and putting your best foot forward doesn't happen without help.

We spend a lot of time sharing concerns and voicing worries on local radio programs, at city council meetings and in our newspapers about all the things we don't have and the money needed, but sorely lacking, to transform where we live into _____ (insert the name of your ideal if not idealized town here). 

And yeah, it's hard to argue with the math that drives so many unhappy decisions when you look at the struggles the men and women we've elected must deal with when examining the needs and requirements, and the urgencies and exigencies of public education, public works, and public safety. We live at a time when we have more wishes than wallet to fund them but that doesn't mean we are helpless or hapless and none of us should feel that way.

The collection from one Saturday morning's work 

Because we can't do everything doesn't mean we can't do anything. And those who feel there's nothing they can do should remember that each of us can do something. I think that's what brought so many of us together on Saturday morning. 

The weather was spectacular but I think those who turned up were coming anyway and it wasn't just because Chelsea needed some TLC. I'd like to think what put us on the streets picking up trash and recyclables and kicking up dust with brooms and sweeping was the chance it afforded each of us to give something back maybe the only way we can.

Being a resident of a city is more than paying taxes, it's donating time and talents. Money for the first one is always tight but we are fortunate to have and to share so much of the latter two. Community projects not only help our community, they help build our sense of community. Thank you for being who you are, where you are.

-bill kenny