rbraatz's Community Blog

The town of Norwich should submit a grant application to the state's Restore New York's Communities Initiative for $10 million in funding for a downtown Initiative to: help construct and rehabilitate the underutilized turn-of-the-century buildings and businesses along Main Street into mixed-use commercial/residential facilities; and construct or rehabilitate 31 units of affordable "green" housing for current and future Norwich city residents in a several-block area surrounding the downtown area.

The city of Norwich should establish an Arts, Technology & Design Quarter within the downtown area as an interdisciplinary creative community of residences and workspaces for artists, designers, technologists and innovators rising among former warehouse, business and commercial structures along three blocks of Main Street.

These facilities should be constructed or renovated using -- and should serve as a testbed and showcase for -- innovative environmental and energy technologies developed by industry partners of the Norwich business community.

I think a pro-active approach can be used to bring in dollars and generate revenue to the city of Norwich.