Former long-time Norwich Alderman, John Paul Mereen, offered some counsel years ago to recently-elected alderpersons, suggesting that shortly after their swearing-in ends the swearing-at begins. We all sort of chuckled in City Council chambers that night at the legendary "JP" wit and wisdom though there was probably a tad more truth to his observation than humor.
In very short order both our new City Council and Board of Education will begin their terms of office and all of us will be reminded again about the contrast between campaigning in poetry and governing in prose. I think the question we should work first and hardest to answer is 'what do we do next?'
At the one and only candidates' forum, at NFA's Slater Museum auditorium, the crowd of about seventy-five or so citizens (to include the friends and family of the candidates) heard repeated pledges, if elected, of collaboration, communication, and cooperation from all on the stage that evening.
I like to think of myself as a glass-half-full kind of guy accentuating the positive here where I've chosen to live for the last twenty-eight years or so. However, my rose (city) colored glasses see long-term challenges stretching from as back as I can recall that our newly-elected leaders must finally start to address as the second decade of the twenty-first century comes to a close.
For the Board of Education, as a parent whose two children attended Buckingham and Kelly Middle schools, when do we start to reshape and redefine education for our children that will allow them to prosper in the Knowledge Age that the convergence and connectivity of technology have created? The correct answer is now.
Tools like virtual classrooms, distance learning, digital citizenship and leadership, personalized learning, blended learning, the neuroscience of learning and so much more deserve to be evaluated and, perhaps implemented. None of that is dependent upon another round of property acquisition and capital construction. The world has changed since public education started in America maybe it's time for that education to change as well. Board of Education members, please create an environment where our Superintendent of Schools and her staff are rewarded for risks they take to help all of our children succeed.
For our City Council whose predecessors paid lip service to the notion of one city but who refused to do anything except talk about the additional tax rate in the Consolidated City District to fund the paid fire department, the time for mere talk is done.
If, as promised during the campaign season, expanding the grand list and enhancing community quality of life is to continue and accelerate, the additional tax burden borne by what we see as the city's economic engine, downtown, must be addressed and adjusted.
Some questions for our soon-to-be alderpersons: Has there ever been a complete financial impact of implementing a one city tax on property owners and businesses? What does the City charter say about modifying taxation? What opportunities exist that haven’t yet been explored? How would/could a one tax structure be implemented?
Large issues await the fresh perspectives and renewed energy, you, our elected leaders will provide in finding solutions.
One thing we know as citizens, the price and cost of our government are not going to go down. Creating and maintaining world-class public schools, state of the art infrastructure, and responsive public safety systems require both will and wallets. We will be judged by our actions, not our words. Stop waiting for your moment to arrive and be in this one now.
-bill kenny
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