With the hottest month on record and torrential rain last week leading to flooding in some parts of the city, the weather has been feast or famine here in Norwich. Here at the office we keep plugging away, (even if it has been in very low light conditions to keep the A/C working). The atmosphere here is that Norwich is coming together in new and creative ways.
The Downtown Norwich Farmer’s Market has started the season very well. There are four fruit and vegetable vendors this year along with baked goods, honey, and food trucks for lunch it is becoming a very successful market. We have heard over the past couple of years that the public would like to see more of an afternoon/evening market so we will conduct a couple of experiments this season with the vendors and look to expanded hours that will benefit everyone’s needs next season. Any observations and ideas are welcome!
Several of the economic development projects we have spoken about in the last couple of months are becoming long term projects and we are excited to be working with several companies to show them all that Norwich has to offer. It has been a thrill to showcase Norwich and its many great features which make doing business here beneficial for businesses. One of these features is our own municipal utility which is both business friendly and has a reputation for keeping the power on, which critical to effective business operations. Being a high quality service and a low cost provider at the same time makes NPU truly a unique experience that does not go unnoticed. NPU received the highest recognition for PERFECT reliability from The American Public Power Provider Association with an overall score of 93.5% across four areas of measurements. Reliability, Safety, Workforce Development and System Improvement. Congratulations to the entire NPU team for setting such a quality example!
Another great asset the city has are the multiple city departments that are more than willing to sit down with companies to see how individual departments can help make a business transition to Norwich seamless and swift. This is how economic development is part of everyone’s responsibility across the city. Having a united team providing clear and concise direction to a team of business people is a real benefit to the effort.
The Downtown Bond Program has awarded another Lease rebate to Tyler Technologies a company who offers public sector software solutions designed specifically for the unique needs of state and local government organizations and school districts. They had previously been in the Downtown but had to relocate into the Mercantile Exchange building with a new three year lease. We are very pleased to help retain a quality firm in the community.
There is a hero/villain emerging from Norwich’s past that seems to be gathering quite a following- Benedict Arnold. A very successful and celebrated figure early in the revolutionary war effort that like many of the day had second thoughts and “defected” to the British later in the campaign, Arnold was a product of Norwich. A new facebook page- facebook.com/BenedictArnoldTrail. Check it out!
Don’t forget it’s summer and living is easy in Norwich, so come on down for our great Wednesday events: The Downtown Norwich Farmer’s Market 10 AM – 2 PM at Howard Brown Park, and in the evening Rock the Docks at Howard Brown Park and this year there is a new Antique Car Show from 6-8 PM overlooking the harbor across Chelsea Harbor Drive on the upper deck of the Booth parking garage. As always, food and drinks are served by local businesses, all you need is your dancing shoes and folding chairs. Hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Robert Mills
NCDC President
