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"The
great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction
we are moving." --- Oliver Wendell Holmes
"Progress
is the activity of today and the assurance of tomorrow."
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
---
Ralph Waldo Emerson, who has been quoted to have quipped ...
"I
hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
The
Plan in Motion was first framed in a petition
to the provincial General Court of Massachusetts requesting the
Waterside Third Parish be set off from Newbury as the separate town
of Newburyport --- a remonstrance granted and enacted on February
4, 1764. Asking they be enabled as a community, the Waterside
people defined specific goals which could be realized with less partisanship
and more comity and compromise.
Theirs
was a timeless agenda
that sought excellent public schools, engagement of youth as future
citizens of the commonwealth, well planned maintenance of roadways and
infrastructure, versatile use of public buildings, investment in utility
and fire equipment, equitable taxation and prudent fiscal management.
With their words and actions, the Waterside people set a cogent,
consonant Plan in Motion for generations to follow --- a
Sense of Purpose to complement a Sense of Place.
A contemporary
5-year term of the Plan in Motion began with an historical
presentation made on city council floor February 8, 1999
to remark the 235th anniversary of Newburyport's first town meeting.
The evening's agenda would also include a State of the City address
by then Mayor Mary Carrier. The reflection of the past (and inspection
of the present) was punctuated with a rhetorical question about the
direction Newburyport would move in the future: In particular, the way
we as a community would effectively examine and establish our goals
~ as the Waterside people of today move into a new millennium and prepare
to mark a new generation.
Goals
and Objectives for the Plan in Motion 5-year term (1999 - 2004)
- Renew
the Waterside Plan in Motion ~ with a Sense of Purpose and Spirit
of Community
- reinstating
an annual public "town meeting" forum (link
within)
- as
allowed under Section 20 of the
original 1851 city charter
-
To serve as an annual (premier) "benchmark" to assess
"where we are" and influence "where we are going"
at a critical point in the budget process
- adapting
the "old style" annual town meeting to today's conversation
- and
using timelines set by the old style
Julian calendar year (March 25th to March 24th) to provide
the movement a continuity independent of the establishment's
election cycle
- ideally
pursued as a multi-generational community project
-
involving schools at all grade levels: specific consignment
of the HS civics class and community service program, and eventually,
the new high school's media arts program
- and
if well received, experiment with a second "benchmark"
in the September/October
timeframe1
and then consider quarterly sessions
-
alternatively, organize "benchmark"
community gams "in a Motion of Comity" (e.g.,
during Yankee Homecoming)
- Institute
and utilize tools for better communications as a community
-
implement a city Web site, with components and/or complements to
the site offering
-
a chronicled log of information
- a
virtual community bulletin board
- a
virtual meetinghouse
- an
online community calendar
-
regular publication of extracted content, independently and in concert
with the local press
-
make better use of cable and radio, expand cable live coverage of
meetings
- ideally
coordinated with the schools as part of their media arts curriculum
-
Commence/complete the Master Plan and associated studies, including
-
the long range building plans for the Elementary Schools
- the
Harbor/Waterfront Strategic Plan
- a study
of land use in the area of Route 95, Low and Hale Streets, Graf
and Parker Roads
- weave
the planning process with the City's 150th year milestone celebration
in June 2001
- organizing
a "City upon a Hill" summit and other forums and
gatherings in (pro)Motion of Comity
-
informally reviewing the City Charter, exploring ways to adapt
the Charter as necessary
- In
the process, better engage all generations ~ through the school
programs such as the Sense of Place, the then newly formed
youth commission and Council on Aging (and newly formed Friends of
the Council on Aging)
- promote
inter-generational relationships and programs while
- encouraging
progress in the construction of the Senior and Teen Centers or preferably,
- consider
a multi-generational community center as an alternative
-
as perceived for the Firehouse over a decade ago
- Adopt
a flagship and figurehead for the movement
-
deploy the Ship as a motif for the Plan in Motion
- with
compass and calendar, cartogram and chronicle
- explore
expanding maritime and community boating programs
- immediately
engage the youth committee/commission
- refocus
the vision "A View from the Custom House"
-
engage those party to the unending
conversation about the downtown Waterfront in the movement
- and
in (pro)Motion of Comity, symbolically
- monument
Market Square in the year 2001, marking the 200 year anniversary
the original situ of the Waterside Meetinghouse was made a public
way forever
-
formally restore the historic reference Somerby's Landing (the
"historic waye to the Waterside" at the base of Green
Street) to mark its milestone anniversaries in 1751 and 1752
- Better
relate (to) and appreciate our heritage, the historical facts
and foundation as well as historical architecture
-
encourage community events of celebration and "cerebration"
-
attempt to integrate these within the DOE framework and other
campaigns
-
build an online knowledge base of "institutional memory"
recalling the distant and more recent past
- generate
more online (and print) publication
-
engaging all generations in the effort via the schools,
Youth Commission, the Council on Aging and adult education
- Coming
Full Circle to encourage "familiar commerce"
(social interchange) and better communications in the community
-
while adapting to the challenges of today's lifestyles
- marking
milestones in history and history in the making along the
way, culminating in a Once in a Blue
Moon opportunity in 2004
Current
Benchmark
Where
are we as a community as we complete the old style calendar year, March
25, 2006 - March 24, 2007 (The
Year of Common Ground) ~ and commence the old style calendar year,
March 25, 2007 - March 24, 2008 (The Year
of Golden Opportunities)?
Having completed a contemporary five-year term of the Plan in Motion
in 2004 ~ the Waterside people are currently at the midpoint in the
first 5-year term of the Waterside's new generation.
And despite the biennial political change which resulted in five different
administrations since launching this plan anew in 1999 ~ there has been
considerable progress and continuity.
A measure of progress can be found at the link
within. Updates to content is presently under revision for the Once
in a Blue Moon benchmark (May 31, 2007) with a Public "town
meeting" Forum planned for June 14, 2007 (link
within). In addition to links from the City website, the Comity.org
website will include record of the forum's discourse and the charted
course of action.
[For insight/hindsight
of the present administration's broader vision, Mayor Moak's inaugural
address delivered on January 2, 2006 (link
within) and his State of the City address delivered on March 27,
2006 (link within) ~
printed in the Newburyport
Current ~ has been archived on this website with the permission
of the publisher.]
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