The elected, appointed and employed officials of the City of Norwich, CT have all said at one point or another they endorse tourism to be an economic driver for Norwich, CT. 2017 is the perfect time to add structure, organization and planning.

The following is my suggestion as a place to begin. There is much more to be listed but this is a start. Not everything applies to every group, event, or location. Norwich has a lot to offer and it is long past time that we stopped keeping it a secret. If there is a reason to keep the public facilities of Norwich a secret or for private and selected use only I would like to hear it and then maybe, I will stop asking for organization, transparency and equality. That is a big maybe.

On the City of Norwich, CT website I want a list of all of the available venues that can be rented by the public for activities. A pick list that includes but is not limited to the school gymnasiums, auditoriums, meeting rooms, parks, walks, meadows, fields, rinks, links, pagodas, parking areas, stadiums, buildings, basketball and tennis courts and anything I have left off that is owned/managed by the City of Norwich (Anything that has an official and sanctioned committee, board, or department) and is available for rent during all or part of the year, and times when applicable. I want to know the amenities (will additional porta-potties be needed?) of the location, maximum capacity of the facility, is seating fixed in place, and I want to know the cost of the rental or deposits required. Are there site plans available? What is the list of the permits and licenses that may be required, what emergency services may need to be notified of the event taking place, clean up expectations including removal of litter, traffic cones, barricades, signs. Traffic plans and parking, control methods. Traffic plans and event routes for runs, walks, hikes etc. , safety features, volunteer scheduling and strategy, first aid plans, and written support from other businesses/groups affected by course layout or road closures. Health codes, food handling, permits, licenses the list goes on.

Power, generator and electricity required for the event. Is a deposit required? How much? Payable to whom?
Insurance requirements? The amount? Proof of insurance ?

Is there a minimum bond for the equipment of the city being used required? Payable when and to who? Who is responsible and pays for the transportation of the municipal equipment? Who gets billed if the cost is greater than the bond? When will the bond be returned in full or in part? How Is any additional policing billed and paid?

I want to see payments for bonds, fees, and charges to be centralized and should be able to be made by cash, check, money order, charge or debit card at City Hall. Having people go to different departments, in different buildings, that have different rules for what they can or cannot accept demonstrates lack of organization.

I hear the term One City a lot lately. So lets treat Norwich, CT and all of its various parts, Laurel Hill, East Great Plains, Taftville, Chelsea, Downtown, Greeneville, Occum, Yantic, West Side and Norwichtown as one city equally and with the respect and dignity they each deserve.
I am tired of waiting for the next election, or until we hire someone, or we have never done that before. We need it now. Let’s start now and let the new people catch up and add or change the progress we are making. You can’t move forward without taking the first step.

Thank you for reading and sharing my blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs.

The Community Foundation of Eastern CT hosted the first of the Thriving Community Conversations and had NPR’s John Dankosky moderate the conversation on the arts at CT College and another will soon be held in Norwich, CT although I do not have the subject, time and date I know that it will be held at Kelly Middle School.

The questions asked in the hour long free discussion were “Do the arts lift us from our circumstances, make us smarter, more tolerant and better able to navigate our modern world? Or is public money spent on the arts a waste, an investment in something relevant and beneficial to only a privileged few?”

The audience was students and people already working in the arts. Most of those people were from not-for-profit businesses. Missing from the meeting and the conversation were the people who make a profit from using people in the arts to make their business better and more profitable. Like who you ask?

Trained actors make great sales staff, teachers, demonstrators, and instructors. They are trained to speak clearly. Hide their personal reactions to people and places. They are trained to sell, convince, to spark the imagination, to put the observer in the place they want them to be and to make the imagined real. They are the story tellers and the product, the business, the whatever is their story.

Engineers, drivers, medical personnel and mechanics are often singers and musicians because they see and hear the tones, pitches, murmurs and beats of every day sounds differently than many of us. They hear the stress, the whoosh, the thump before they are visual. They feel when the beat or beep of a machine or a body is just slightly off. Frequently they are the predictors of future events because of their observation abilities. Singers and musicians are trained to lead, to stand back, to share, to match, to meet, and to work with others for the greater good.

Those crafty people are the ones that can fix anything and make it appear as though it were part of the original plan. They are the ones with vision, with patience, with the alternate plan that was not needed ten minutes ago but is desperately needed right now.

The organization of the supply room. The decoration of the aisle end caps or the reception room or the conference room display or organization or project explanation chart was done with someone with an eye toward color, size, and organization quite possibly an artist.

For people frequently called loners, artists are the people who make your business team better.

I would like to see a follow-up forum with big and small businesses of all sorts represented discussing, “Should you hire people with an arts background for your business? Where and how do the arts play a part in business?”

Thank you for reading and sharing my blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs.  

Yes. This is another blog rant about the budget process going on in Norwich, CT. I am angry, hurt, insulted, disgusted and saddened by the budget presentations in the City of Norwich.

In order for the City of Norwich, CT to function it must have revenue called income and sometimes taxes. In order to know how much revenue the city needs to operate each of the departments, services, etc. presents an outline or budget of what they spend or think they will need to be spending in the next year or so and the estimated total is used to calculate the increases or decreases in our taxes and fees to live and work in this fine city. That is a very simplified version of what is involved. I am not disputing the process or the budgets themselves.

I am more than disgruntled about the department heads coming to the public budget meetings without their bringing their line item budgets and not being prepared to answer questions . Some did not feel it necessary to even bring a copy of what they submitted to the City Manager. These leaders felt they could speak the details just fine off the top of their heads. Trust me they could not. Some did bring computer presentations with pretty pictures, colorful graphs and charts of trends that when examined said nothing of how the money was actually spent over the last year.
A favorite was to line up the employees on a bench to look as pitiful as possible and say how they have not had raises and ask if that isn’t incredibly sad. What I did not hear about was how the money over the last year was spent. No one explained what their office actually did, how it served the public , how it operated, how its functions were governed by local, state, federal rules, laws, regulations and choice. Not one of the presentations discussed the dollars used, required or necessary. Some departments generate an income for parts of their services but that part of the discussion was brief and quickly dismissed as trivial.

I listened to lots of the departments say how they have won a national award for this program or service. But what that translated to in my head was someone has time to fill out contest forms but not the time and staff to get the work of the city done.

At a budget hearing I want to hear facts, figures, numbers, amounts, services, successes and yes even about the failures. Some very well intentioned stuff does not work. That is ok. It means that you tried. Do not come to a budget meeting or hearing or anything else to do with a budget unprepared with facts, figures or numbers. You are wasting our time. You are being disrespectful to the people paying your salaries. For those non-department public services that come to the City for support donations you should be ashamed if you came to the public hearing without a copy of your budget submission and back-up information to speak off the top of your head about how wonderful you are.

Budgets are about numbers. Demonstrate your leadership skills by bringing the numbers or be prepared for the consequences of not substantiating your claims.

Thank you for reading and sharing my blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs.

The Norwich City Manager has presented his proposed budget for Fiscal year 2017-18 to the City Council and copies are available to the public for review and comment. Have you looked at it? I mean really looked at it and examined it?

There are very clearly spelled out long-term goals and whose responsibility it is to meet them. “1. Foster an environment that increases the number of commercial entities in the city. 2. Increase the self- sufficiency of the City. 3. Develop and promote the inner city and inner harbor. 4. Prioritize the citywide long-term capital improvement needs and identify funding sources for them. 5. Provide adequate funding to meet the needs of the Board of Education’s goals for educating Norwich children.

Budget priorities presented simply are 1. Provide relief for taxpayers. 2. Collaboration and sharing of departments. 3. Maintain the city infrastructure 4. Provide for some increase in education funding.

Detailed are the changes in education funding, the grand list, expenditures and other cost drivers including the decrease in the 10% Norwich Public Utilities will by City Charter return to the City Consolidated District and the General Fund. NPU does not choose to return any part of its profits to the City of Norwich, NPU is mandated by law to return the funds to the City. Residents and taxpayers get to enjoy double and sometimes more taxation through utility purchase and state and federal tax payment.

Then comes the really enjoyable bits of the budget. The part where everyone has their part to do. It takes a while but eventually there is a plan to make changes in personnel and the list of what everyone including you should do. That is right. YOU. What you should do. Pay your taxes on time and on line. Use the online resources of the City website. Maximize your recycling. Maintain your own burglar and fire alarm systems. Shovel your snow and clear your fire hydrants. Keep your property and neighborhood neat clean and tidy. Seriously, that is what it says.

But before you throw the novel down in disgust check out page 16 with the economic and demographic data. Now we are getting interesting. The names and numbers of your elected and hired officials are on pages 21 and beyond. There is even an organization chart with the voters at the top. Honestly it shows that the government is supposed to be working for you. YOU, the voter are the boss. From page 24 through 124 are the individual budgets, mill rate calculations, salaries, job and department descriptions, grant descriptions, and at the back of the novel is the glossary.

Before you complain. Before you shout that something must be done. Take a look at the Budget. The part that includes the numbers and the names and the figures. Don’t just parrot “Something must be done. “ Make suggestions. Make contacts. Learn how your government operates and ask the workers how they can do their jobs better and more efficiently for you. When it comes down to making Norwich, CT a better community; it really is up to you.

Thank you for reading and sharing my blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs.

First you start with a single thought. A hope. A wish. A dream. Then you begin to talk about it. You give the thought a voice and hope that someone else will join in. And then you begin to set up a structure to follow the road to get to the dream. To get to the project. To make the single thought a reality. Then you follow through. You join together and make a plan and a time schedule. Soon you have taken a single thought and created a movement.

The movement means that you have found friends or a group to stand with you and to make it happen. Congratulations to the Greeneville Community of Norwich, CT on the completion and dedication of the Greenville Mural on 8th Street in Norwich, CT.

On Saturday, April22, 2017 at 10 am The Greeneville Mural painted on the side of Quercias Automotive at 499 North Main Street , Norwich, CT will be officially dedicated. When you look at the mural depicting the history of the community you can’t help but admire in awe at the work of lead artist Faith Satterfield of Murals by Faith. Color, size, shape all the details the imagination and the imagery. I am a bit of a control freak and allowing others input and to help would make me crazy but Faith and her husband Tariko Satterfield of Realifempire managed painters with reservations for specific hours and times and drop-in volunteers with enthusiastic professionalism and ”Focusing on the goal and doing your best.”

Zechariah Stover was the lead coordinator. Zechariah coordinated schedules, ferried the paint, ladders, brushes, cloths in his car and sometimes borrowed vehicles. Arranged for lunches. Talked and schmoozed and convinced people and organizations to help and finance and volunteer. Zechariah was the face of the Greeneville Revitalization Zone members at the mural but his back was covered by the members of the Greenville NRZ who were ever present and at the ready to help whenever they could.

I can’t wait to see the next project come to life in the Greeneville community of Norwich, CT. Congratulations to all on this very successful project and credit to your community and city.

Thank you for reading and sharing my blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs.

Are you dissatisfied with the services of your City? Do you have a better idea of how things should be run? Have you a better idea of how your tax dollars should be allocated? Is there something in particular you would like to see in your City? Are you just a bit curious as to why things are the way they are?

Have you looked at the budget of the City? Yes. That is correct. I asked if you have looked at the proposed physical budget of the City of Norwich available in bound book copy in the Office of the City Clerk for $10.00? It is also available on the City of Norwich, CT webpage www.norwichct.org. Do you want to know how the school system is spending your tax dollars? A copy of their budget is also available at their office and on-line. So is the budget for Norwich Public Utilities and yes you have to travel separately to their office to get a copy. I could not find it on-line on their website. That just might be carrying transparency in their operations just a little too far.

There are services that the Federal Government says are required. There are services the State of Connecticut says are required. There are services the Court says are required. There are services that, well you get the idea. There are a lot of services that a City is forced to provide without compensation from the ruling body the mandate comes from. Do you know what they are?

If you want to complain, you have to earn the right. First you have to live, or work, or play, or care about the City. YOU, have to be concerned about the City and the people who are living and working and being educated in it. It is your responsibility to check out the situation you are concerned with. Have you called the appropriate department and voiced your concern over the situation? Did you write a letter or send an e-mail? Are you just parroting words given to you to say by someone else or did you check the situation out yourself?

When was the last time you attended a public meeting? Public Hearing? Debate? City Council Meeting? When did you voice your concern to the person representing you in government or on a committee? The common denominator to all of these questions is you. You, have to be the person to show the interest. You, have to be the person to show the concern. You, have to be involved. You, have to be the one that demonstrates to your children that being a part of the community means participating in the things that are important to you. I am really not suggesting that you attend every meeting or every event. I am suggesting that you attend the meetings and events that are of concern to you. That as a tax payer you become familiar with how and why your tax dollars are being spent a certain way.

Participating in government is more than lining up as a protest speaker when something is on the chopping block or making rude comments after an action has been taken. Participating in government is choosing to be a part of the solution and not just choosing to be a part of the problem. This is a local elections year. The winning candidates will be making the decisions that will be most closely affecting your local living conditions and taxes. The choices of how your city will be operating and serving you and your children will be made by the people the majority of those voting choose to vote for. Let your voice be heard. Learn the facts. Talk to people. Talk to the candidates. Attend a meeting or two. Demonstrate that you care.

Thank you for reading and sharing my blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs.

Caught in the act of cleaning my kitchen knife drawer I became curious about the history of my favorite knife. It’s a slicing knife with a round natural wood handle. Near the top and bottom of the handle are three thin stripes going around the handle. I do not see any other markings.
The blade is not at all loose and is as firmly held in place as when it was new. The length of the top of the blade is 9.5 inches from the handle. The length of the blade bottom to tip is 10 inches. The width of the blade at the handle is 1 ½ inches and is one inch at the tip.
The bottom of the blade is scallop serrated. The mid-points of each scallop are a ½ inch apart. The appearance is a beautiful ruffle.

The handle is 5 ½ inches long in natural wood. The top appears to have been flattened by use.

I know this sounds a bit like a feel bad commercial but these are the real reasons I love this knife. It cuts soft bread without crushing it and it cuts through crusty bread with a minimum amount of crumbs. I have used it to cut fresh tomatoes so thinly I really could read the print of a magazine. I really did try it just to see if I could. And I did! The knife was great on slicing cucumbers lengthwise too but not so great with carrots. I have never tried the knife as a meat carver but have no doubts it would do an awesome job.

But what is the proper name for this kitchen knife with a very unique blade and who is the manufacturer? Are they still being made? I called Cutco and they do not have anything similar to what I described and the two knife manufacturers in Rhode Island have not emailed me back. Do any of you know what I am talking about?

Thank you for reading and sharing my blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs.

A gentleman in Maine has asked for our help in finding a “Brass Wheel” Long case clock that was sold from Quoketaug—an Old Mystic Conn. family home about 1959– (for $5,000). It was a 1776, Thomas Harland made clock with a SILVER face. His great Aunt Emma POLISHED it. Family lore is that the face was done by Paul Revere. Anything is possible until we locate the clock and take a look at it. It was originally purchased by Park Williams and stayed in the house for almost 200 years. Perhaps someone in your circles would know about its whereabouts?

Long case clocks were first made in America around 1695 in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and then in Connecticut. Two distinct styles of design quickly emerged. Those in the Philadelphia style spread from New York down the Delaware Valley through to Virginia and the Carolinas. Followers of the Boston designs were scattered throughout New England.
The tall-case or grandfather clock cost about $70, or approximately one year’s pay in the early 1800’s but by the 1850’s the prices had reduced drastically and they became quite common.

The early 18th century clocks had brass dials or faces some and some could be very elaborate but the casings remained very simple. The tall-case clock needed the cabinet height to house the pendulum (about 3 feet long). The weights need several feet of drop to run the clock for a week. You wind them up once a week, and then they fall almost to the floor, before you do it again.

Later clockmakers learned how to make clocks run for a week using shorter drop lengths. A six and a half foot tall clock was considered short and in Philadelphia there is a display of some very elaborate 9 foot tall cases. The average tall-case clock though is about seven to eight feet tall.

Just a side note here, I have to mention my favorite type of tall-case clock; the dwarf clock has the same design and proportions of the full sized tall-case clock but is only half the size or about four feet tall. I have only seen a couple but they always give me a delightful Alice in Wonderland feeling.

Connecticut clock makers preferred Cherry to be the primary wood while other coastal states preferred mahogany. Pennsylvania preferred walnut. All used maple, birch and white pine as the secondary wood.

Contrary to what I thought, some clock makers did not put their names on the dial or face after all the effort of creating the movement. The movement could have been assembled by the master craftsman or by his apprentice and sold individually or in lots to the cabinet maker who then sold the finished clock to the consumer. It makes sense when you consider all the fine little details from perfect measurements, and balance that are involved in the fine craftsmanship of the clocks.

So please help me, help this gentleman from Maine.

Thank you for reading and sharing my blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs.