Greenville Taftville Area

It feels like we are living a tale of two Norwich's, with a focus on projects and development disproportionately benefitting citizens who have more access, time and resources to make their voices and needs heard. (One example is the golf course bridge project -- at a June 22, 2022, community meeting, golfers asked for $80,000. Parents asked for better upkeep of soccer fields for kids. Within 2 weeks, golf course was unanimously allocated $200,000. Soccer, zero.)

Greenville and Taftville come to mind as areas which should be focused on in the master plan for the next decade. Leaving the city and heading northeast takes you into a food and day-to-day commerce (other than dollar stores and the established stores for appliances, furniture and rugs) desert. At minimum, enticing / bringing a supermarket into that part of town would make a huge difference to those communities, which would in turn benefit the city as a whole. There also is little, if any, inviting safe community or green space. Capeheart Mills is a danger and an eyesore which must be demolished. Sitting on a river, it is a premium location and opportunity for community and/or green space, perhaps sports fields, or multi-use space not just for those communities but for all of Norwich. In short, Norwich's plan for the next decade should not leave these communities and their needs and many resources/possibilities behind.