Thursday, March 06, 2008

A Real Challenge

John Rowland, newly appointed Economic Developer, recently "challenged" Carl Rosa of Main Street Waterbury to help him clean up the litter in the Buckingham ramparage. The purported challenge seems a little silly to me: Main Street has cleaned up that garage before; and a one-time cleanup is not a real solution.

I propose a better challenge. I challenge Rowland, Jim Smith, Steve Sasala, Kevin Taylor, and any other would-be downtown developer who lives in the suburbs to spend one full month living in a downtown apartment, using only public transportation and walking to get around Waterbury during that month.

I lived in downtown Waterbury, walking to work, for two years, and I loved it. If I had been able to find a good apartment that allowed cats, I would still be living downtown.

I think it's great that so many people want to make downtown better, but living in the suburbs (or even the suburb-like neighborhoods of Waterbury) distorts their perspective of what downtown is and can be. The only way to really understand downtown Waterbury is to live there.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good Morning Waterbury Girl
I just stumbled onto your blog today while googling my way around the internet. You are obviously passionate about Waterbury and have a wonderful way of expressing your ideas.
Two quick questions - why don't you post your name and stand out front of your observations? And if you were willing to do that, would you consider contributing to the Waterbury Observer newspaper every month. We publish 14,000 papers and have an additional 40,000 readers on-line. You clearly have something to say, and I would love to bring your viewpoint to a much wider audience. Think about it, and if it's an idea that intrigues you, please contact me at owlman@optonline.net
You can also check out our website at www.waterburyobserver.com
Thanks for any consideration, and keep up the great work. Too few people in Waterbury stand up and have anything to say!!

peace,
John Murray
Publisher/editor
The Waterbury Observer