You Can Always Go

The days are shorter now and grow even more so with every passing week.  The darkness of the evening creeps quietly closer and the morning seems to take a moment longer before the daylight arrives. The crispness of the morning lingers a little longer into each day, reminding us that autumn is not so much coming as it’s already here. 

These weeks when summer has moved on, but the winter doldrums have yet to arrive can be a great time for projects, and as it happens, there’s a great project ahead of us here in Norwich. You may have seen Matt Grahn’s article in The Bulletin a couple of weeks ago, ”'Make it a safer and friendlier place': Downtown Norwich mobility study needs public input” 

I know, back to school, and other projects sometimes mean all we do is glance at headlines and mean to circle back. This would be a good day to do that; actually, it would be a great day to do that and a little more.

The article details a public information meeting slated for this afternoon at Otis Library starting at five with a presentation about the Chelsea Harbor Harbor/Downtown Mobility Study. Actually, the presentation is only half of the project, the other half is a project website, and (I think), most importantly, a survey that will take you less than ten minutes to fill out.

Opinions about downtown are very much like noses. We all have one and they smell. But what might happen if you decided to share one or more of your ideas about traffic, sidewalks, streetlights, or storefronts, among dozens of other items that are part of the mosaic of downtown, and in turn, it sparks someone else's idea and we have some spontaneous communication and collaboration?

Seriously, what if we stopped seeing downtown as an obstacle to race through on our way to someplace else with the windows rolled up, and instead, as a resource and destination for ideas, innovations, one-of-a-kind shops, and even forums-public spaces for different publics.    

Let’s back up for a second and think about this as well: when we say ‘downtown’ what exactly are we talking about? Where does downtown start and end? And don’t tell me you haven’t wondered about that from time to time.

I know, ‘yet another study?!’ Agreed. It’s not like we haven’t had enough of them right, and you’re correct to be wary of another bite at the apple. After all, in just the thirty-odd years I’ve lived here (and yes, they have been odd) if we took ALL the downtown Norwich studies that have been commissioned over the years and laid them end to end, there’s a good chance they wouldn’t reach a conclusion.

Trust me, says Lucy to Charlie Brown, this time it’s for real. I’m trying to be humorous, at a serious moment. The survey is critical to jump-starting a process we’ve allowed to languish and linger for too long. The comforting thing about never making decisions about downtown, or anywhere for that matter, is when it all falls apart, none of it is our fault. And we can keep blaming ‘them’ whoever they are.

Nothing holds us back like the fear of moving forward. Take a minute to look at the website, fill out the survey, and find a way to take part in this afternoon’s presentation. When it comes to downtown’s future, victim or victor: Our choice.
-bill kenny