When I was a teen, an uncle used to say, 'the older I get, the better I was,' which I found hysterical because I thought I was already good. At seventy-two, it's true and still funny but not so funny as I once thought it was.
I say that to pretend I was much smarter as a wee slip of a lad, and I found some words I offered almost fifteen years ago that very nearly prove it. When I wrote them, I was full of optimism and enthusiasm (I was certainly full of something) as I called it "Short Term Strategies and Long Term Goals." Now, a little worse for wear, I'd probably favor, "Same Movie, Different Actors." Read for yourself:
For what feels like eons, talk, time and talent has been focused in Norwich on downtown economic redevelopment. I'm a glass half-full guy and would argue we've come a long way since my realtor drove me through downtown in October 1991 on the way to what would become my family's home near Chelsea Parade.
We didn't stop in downtown which was fine as I'm allergic to plywood which covered a lot of the window. It's been over three decades since then and despite what you sometimes feel, Norwich is improving (probably not at the rate and pace you'd like. Join the club.)
We've got hopeful starts down to an art form. The big applause, the dazzling smile, the gathering around a new venture as the ribbon is cut...here have some cake and coffee and a heaping helping of congratulations and welcome to Norwich.
Trouble too often follows what's supposed to happen next but often doesn't. That first step was a snap-it's the creation of the footfalls that follow it to where we want to go that we need to learn.
First a path, then a trail, then a road--each ripple of progress making a larger circle that covers a greater area of Norwich as development reaches farther and brings the benefits of enhanced (commercial especially) property tax revenues to the grand list and elevates our community's quality of life throughout each of the neighborhoods in Norwich.
Patience and perseverance are called for and a talent to not only see the next move but the one after the next one. Some cynics say "he who hesitates is lunch" and Norwich is often on the menu. We've wasted a lot of time competing when we needed to cooperate. We're catching on but we have a ways to go before we catch up.
Each of us needs to be a part of greater/broader effort that requires us to not only say the right things but to do them, on our street, around our block until we meet a neighbor, who is doing the same thing on their street and neighborhood. One engaged person is a revolution, two energized people are a movement and three can not only make a difference but can be the difference.
It's important we communicate openly and clearly with those whom we send to the City Council and to whom we entrust our children's education, as it is important that they be clear when speaking to and with us. Here's a number to chew on: in non-Presidential elections (for decades), registered voter turnout here is less than twenty-five percent. Put it another way, one out of every four of us is telling the other three what to do.
The same people we join with on Neighborhood Watch, whose kids are with our kids in scouts, are also the volunteers on about three dozen agencies nearly all of whom might as well meet in secrecy because so few of us attend their open and publicized meetings. And don't get me started on the vacancies that exist on so many of these panels-there's probably one with your name on it.
We have to hold ourselves accountable for the development and improvement of our city and that means realizing when you finger point (as if that has ever solved anything), three of the fingers on your hand are pointing back at yourself. Let's face it. We've looked everywhere for solutions; maybe we should start with the mirror. -bill kenny
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