Shhhhhh, Don’t tell anyone. It’s still a secret but after almost four years (It will be FOUR YEARS in June) of suggesting, requesting, lobbying, arguing, checking, campaigning, and finally demanding there is a mostly completed wheelchair accessible entrance to Mohegan Park Center in Norwich, CT. I hope there will be a ribbon cutting for this entrance. It has been a way too long battle for it not to have a little fan fare.

There are handicap parking spaces in all of the parking lots but its been a Herculean task to get wheelchairs and other equipment to the park center. No more. Now those with physical disabilities can enter the Park Center using the gate frame of the entrance from the old and long gone petting zoo to visit the statues, enjoy the spray of the fountain, wet a hook and perhaps catch a fish or two, watch the aerators in the pond, enjoy one of the celebrations at Park Center, or one of the gazebos.

Parking for a single handicap marked vehicle is in the Dog Pound lot. The parking space lines not been painted yet but the sign is up. First you have to know where the entrance to the Park is. The street sign at the end of the road across from the clay tennis courts disappears with amazing regularity but you go up that road and turn left and follow the road to the Upper Parking Lot and turn right to go to the Dog Pound.

There is still a great deal more work to be done before the almost 500 acre park is realized to its fullest potential but this is a big step. Better signage in the Park is another on-going project.

Thank you to the multiple directors and staff of Norwich Public Works who over the years have made this possibility a reality. Thank you to Mohegan Park Improvement, Development Advisory Committee members and committee Council representatives Philbrick and Browning and Councilpersons Gould and DeLucia for their backing of this project, their responses to letters and phone calls and their follow-ups.

This small project will make a difference in the lives of many more people than you will ever know and opens up a new phase in the development of Mohegan Park.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community 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 .

On April 7, 2019 at noon I removed the Bag of Citizen Science Lint experiment from the tree in Mohegan Park. It was placed there with the explanation tag during the Great Backyard Bird Count on February 16, 2019. Thank you to all who left it undisturbed.

According to the Audubon website www.allaboutbirds.org dryer lint is a bad thing to be left out for the birds to use as nest building material. Per the website the lint becomes crumbly after its rained on and dries. Our citizen experiment put a bag of dryer lint hanging from a tree in a mesh bag.

Today, the lint contents of the mesh bag appear fluffy with no notable decay or odor. When I opened the bag the contents were still soft to the touch and pulled apart easily again with no noticeable decay or odor. The contents were dry to the touch even at the center although the bag had been out in the rain within the past 48 hours.

I don’t know to call the experiment a success or a failure. It did not prove the Audubon assertion but maybe the bag was not left out long enough? While the lint in our experiment did not noticeably decay I don’t know if the lint is giving off gas or chemicals that might prove to be harmful to baby and small birds over time or with close contact.

So for the health, safety and welfare of our feathered and insect friends lets all side with caution and follow the Audubon direction of not providing, plastic strips (ex. Easter grass), tinsel, cellophane, aluminum foil, or dryer lint for nesting materials.

To help nature out during the nesting season the Audubon Society does recommend:

• Providing safe environments for spiders as many birds use the silk of the webs as a glue for nests.
• Maintaining a muddy puddle in the garden as some insects, animals and birds use mud for their nests.
• Don’t rake the lawn and garden too early in the season as the blades of grass, small twigs and branches are all natural nest building materials.

Enjoy the sunshine and Happy Spring to All!

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community 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 .

There should be a public list of the things outsiders find unique about Norwich, CT. I have never kept a list but I keep I wish I had with some of the answers I have been told over the years. Today I am addressing the banks with branches and offices in Norwich. Banks are always happy to take your money and lend you some when you don’t need it and give you a hard time borrowing when you do. According to the local newspapers, the banks of Norwich have been giving money away through programs and grants to brand new and unproven organizations with no track record of experience while forcing the older experienced programs to grovel for support.

I have also noticed the banks have plenty of money to give away for street fairs and parties but very little money for educational programs for children or more importantly for adults. Some of the banks even have on-line classes you can watch at home on your phone or computer. But there is not one penny of support from any of the local banks for business education for immigrants, women and other minorities.

I checked with a few other cities and came away with an astounding list of educational programs that have never been mentioned in hushed voice let alone spoken aloud with curiosity and pride. Programs that discussed how American Capital and Financing works and compares with the same in South America, Asia and Europe. What do you need to qualify for a loan, what does the paperwork look like and what does it mean? What are your responsibilities? What are the responsibilities of the lender? What experiences would be helpful? What types of local data are lenders looking for and where do you find it? There were classes in talent and skill development at many levels from novice to expert. How to present it. How to find it. How to build on it. What to look for in a lease, agreement and what to be on guard against. How to choose a partner. How to make a partnership work. How to hire in America, The definition of racial equity. Technology wasn’t a class in facebook but was industry dependent from trucking with weights, measures, licensing, record keeping to shipping to airplanes and taxis, communications, and telephone etiquette. How to choose bookkeeping services, accountants, CPA’s.

At a local YMCA there were classes on Performance Data – How to live with your six to ten year goals; your three to six year goals; How to navigate the main street and what to do if you wander. Then there was the Innovation Academy.

Innovation Academy was for the the development of ideas for products and businesses. That was another huge catalog by itself with classes I found myself daydreaming about. Classes such as writing a business bio. Writing effective job service descriptions. How to write a job quote. How to write a menu. Keeping performance metrics. Building performance metrics.

One city known for its high immigrant population had classes called “Discovering Yourself” which was described as a self-evolving class to discover how skills in the country of origin may be used in America.

My point after all this is, the banks were front and center in these other cities, they offered speakers, financial services, and expertise. The banks clearly understood that in order to make money for their investors they had to demonstrate their interest. They had to be willing to take a risk with new businesses and sometimes new citizens. The bankers had reasoned out for themselves that the better educated and better prepared for the American business world their customers and lendees were the more profit they would make. All of this is going on around Norwich, while our banks invest in street fairs and bouncy houses while business, families and investments go elsewhere.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community 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 .

Norwich, CT has learned how to party. In 2019 we have street fairs planned once a month somewhere in downtown usually mixing alcohol, moving traffic and vendors from out-of-town.

I love street fairs but after attending two in Norwich, I long for the imagination and creativity that other cities demonstrate so easily. Local banks are financing the events but not advising them on how to effectively use street fairs to promote local businesses and organizations.

At street fairs in Manhattan it’s not unusual to find tailors and fashion designers and students set up and working on clothing, drapes and costumes. I admit I was fascinated at a tent set up by an acting school and how the students were redesigning clothing from a nearby jumble shop.

On Long Island, I attended a $2.00 street fair. All the food was $2.00. They got the idea from one of the small plate restaurants. People enjoy trying a variety of things and resented having to purchase a meal sized portion to discover they didn’t like it so the “$2.00 Fair” was born. Some of the portions wouldn’t fill up Barbie but were adorable. My hands down favorite was the cotton candy. Pop in the mouth sized clouds atop colorful tiny ice cream cones. I remember the two inch cones from when I was a kid but don’t recall if it was for anything other than ice cream.

Side Note – In Middletown, RI there is a seasonal walk-up ice cream stand where you can get a $1.25 or probably now a $1.50 ice cream sundae. A small scoop of ice cream, a drizzle of chocolate sauce, a squirt of whipped cream and half a cherry – delicious and the perfect size.

In Chicago a street fair was all about Polish Food and not just kielbasa. When I looked up fairs on the internet the variety was astounding and astonishing. Name something. Anything and there is a fair for it and if there is not a fair there is probably a convention but conventions are a whole other topic.

Norwich has to concentrate on using all that it has to offer and not send its money out of town and to seriously concentrate on providing for the safety of its residents. Alcohol and street fairs don’t mix.

A challenge to the Norwich area banks – Do more than throw your investors and depositors money around supporting alcohol in a city where drug, alcohol and gambling recovery, and treatment centers are on every corner. Invest in the education and training of the adults looking to start their own businesses. Teach the local resources how to be more of a resource.

Everyone looking to begin or increase their business could benefit by classes on what they should look for in a legitimate bank loan. How to read a rental agreement. How to protect yourself from your business debt. Who and How to pay for commercial property upkeep and improvements. How and when to collaborate with other businesses. How to overcome the language barrier. Business and commercial Licensing in America and in Connecticut. Look at the contracts you are asking your clients to sign, would you sign it?

Choose any one or more of these contacts as a place to begin –

• Contact the Immigrant Learning Center in Malden, Mass for ideas and bring in their experts on what and how find and help the immigrants looking to use their business acumen.
• Globaldetroit.com has a Cultural Ambassador and Mentor Program
• Read money.cnn.com/2017/03/16 article on immigrant worker employment
• Contact Welcomingamerica.org
• or reach out to imigrantbiz.org
• or cityalive.org

Special thanks to the bankofamerica.com/powerto/entrepreneur project.

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community 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 .