A Community Discussion About Our Future

Opinions! 
by Ken Lombard

One thing I’ve learned living New Hampshire and New Boston in particular, we’re not short on opinions.  We’ve got plenty of them, about any subject you care to discuss.  Well, the time is coming to have them listened to, to share our views both positive and negative.  The Community Profile (watch for a new title soon) event that we will hold in the Spring will give all of us a chance to be heard on matters important to the future of our Town. 

The event is planned to accomplish two things: a new or rekindled sense of volunteerism, and a source of information for charting the Town’s future.  

First the volunteers.  We all know several and the Town could not run without their work.  Some of our long time residents have spent many years in volunteer service to us, and many of our newcomers are stepping forward as well, but we can always use more help.  One outcome of the Profile is a list of projects and action plans that can be accomplished by volunteers, which will involve even more of our neighbors in Town activity. 

Next, the Town’s future.  Its time to update our Master Plan and the Planning Board wants to hear what we have in mind.  Its time to examine where we are: what’s good and needs to be strengthened, what needs some correction, how we will plan for the future.  We can propose ways to jointly meet future challenges, perhaps by keeping all of us informed so that our opinions are ready to be applied to the problem at hand. 

During the Profile event, we’ll all have a chance to speak out about our favorite topic.  We may also be asked to work and comment on someone else’s idea, gaining a much broader view and new solutions.  In order for this to really work, we need to have a truly broad cross section of the Town involved at the meeting.  We really need to hear from everybody.  We want to bring our ideas, solutions, and passions and share them.  We can use the wide spectrum of backgrounds, interests and experience that we have in Town to find out what’s important to each other, and how we can make a difference. 

Stay tuned to this space as we find a date for this Community Profile and present more details about it. 

Meanwhile, some homework for you.  Think about why you live here, or why you moved here.  Was it: 

• Family:  I grew up here, have family and/or friends here

• I like the small town character

• I like the sense of community spirit

• Convenience:  we’re in the country but reasonably close to cities and recreation

• The quality of life

•  (add your reasons)____________

•  __________________________

•   __________________________ 

There is no test on this exam!  Just be thinking about the areas that influence your decision to live here and be ready to share that with all of us in the Spring.  If you’d like to share some of your ideas as we prepare for this, send them to the email address below. 

Also, we’d be glad to have more help on the steering committee or with the logistics of setting this up and making it run smoothly.  If you are interested please contact us.

Ken Lombard
Steering Committee Member