December 11, 2009

Looking to the future in Bristol

As anyone eyeing the stock market knows, it’s tough to know what’s going to happen next week, let alone next year.
So leapfrogging ahead an entire quarter of a century to 2035 is inherently a stretch.
But The Bristol Press is flexible enough to give it a shot – with the help of its readers in Bristol, Plymouth, Plainville and Southington.
We’ve set up a website to solicit ideas from anyone willing to take a shot at guessing the future locally.
We envision this is a conversation among the newspaper and the community it serves as we all look together into a virtual crystal ball and try to figure out what the future may hold.
It’s partly a serious venture, because forming a consensus on what should happen is one way to help ensure that we get the future we want, to the degree it can be controlled from Central Connecticut.
But it can also be playful and fun.
Readers are invited to send along anything from cartoons of a future Bristol to haikus about Terryville’s likely fate. Photographs are fine, too, as long as you have the legal right to share them with us.
In fact, just about anything’s fair game as long as it’s not offensive.
In its first day online, three Bristol men contributed thoughts about where Bristol might go. They generally share the view that with pluck and a little luck, Bristol should see good times ahead.
There are a few ground rules for the online conversation.
One is that the futures envisioned have to fall within the range of the imaginable.
Please don’t try to regale everyone with a fanciful tale of an alien invasion or a revolt by revenge-minded rabbits. Unless, of course, the story is really funny.
Another rule is that we’re only going to post entries from people willing to use their real name.
People can comment on entries anonymously or with web aliases, but we’re mostly looking for those who are willing to put their names behind their ideas.
While the website – or, technically, the blog – where we’re hosting the online conversation is only available via the internet, we will have eventually a story or stories in the newspaper that summarize what we get out of this.
We encourage readers in each of our towns to tell us what they think their own town will be like in 2035. We’ll label the entries with town names and otherwise make it easy to sort through the material to find out what’s relevant to each municipality.
If we reel the clock backwards to 1985 – a quarter century ago – could we have guessed what Bristol would be like today? Maybe so. And perhaps the community might have hustled to embrace an alternative future.
There’s no way to change the past, of course, at least not yet, but the future is ours to create.
This project is just one little way that The Bristol Press can help foster the sort of vision that may lead to a brighter, better tomorrow.
And if it doesn’t, well, at least we can have some fun with it.


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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

DIM

Anonymous said...

Now let's be realistic, Steve. Do you really think that people are not going to take this opportunity to bash this city? Of course they will, with all the gusto they have in the past. What you would like to see accomplished on this particular blog posting will not happen and I think you know it, too. I'm sorry, but I don't consider bashing our town having a "little fun," because we all know that this is where this posting will lead. Please, citizens, prove me wrong.

Anonymous said...

Unless BRISTOL voters wake up we have no future. The problem will just worsen without real leadership.The taxes are to high people are out of work. SENIORS looking to go south because they cant afford there homes. Politicans cant make decesions.

Anonymous said...

I was at a sports bar in SOUTHINGTON ESPN sports people talking about BRISTOL saying they cant support a good restaurant or bar.People walking in the middle of the night in front of cars police siting there doing nothing saying what a joke.Then saying its the shit house of the world .

Embarrased for you said...

5:00 PM/AKA Bad spelling guy,

Please give it a rest. Taxes are high and people are out of work because of the RECESSION. Seniors have always gone south, even when they could afford THEIR homes. And those poor "poiticans" (the spelling is a little closer, but still no cigar)are working on moving Bristol forward. Please stop trying to bash them in garbled English. We should all be pulling for Bristol. It's our home and the future is bright!

Anonymous said...

7:04 AM, Maybe you shouldn't spend so much time eavesdropping in a bar?

NOT mine said...

the future is bright!

December 12, 2009 7:38 AM
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Where can I purchase the rose colored glasses you obviously are wearing ???

Or , are you currently participating in the medical marijuana program ??

Anonymous said...

Lets face it Bristol has serious problems. THE ANSWER IS IN TWO YEARS PICK SOME EDUCATED PEOPLE TO SERVE OUR TOWN.

Anonymous said...

NOT Mine,

Ever think that maybe you're the one wearing the sludge-colored glasses? Bristol is still a great place to live and bring up a family. Once the recession is over and our downtown is revitalized, the new highway will be making us more accessible...the future is definitely looking brighter, and there's no marijuana necessary to see that!

Anonymous said...

I am going to take a positive view and believe Bristol will be a vibrate active community. Downtown will finally be build and the forward looking vision of mix use will bring a younger crowd into Bristol. ESPN will still be the largest employer in town, but multiple offshoots have developed in the sports entertainment industry.

I did read someplace that Bristol was the third best town in CT to raise a family. Here is the link to the story, http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/11/1117_best_places_to_raise_kids/8.htm Too many people are negative about our prospects,but I really think the glass is half full..

Anonymous said...

7:17 AM: You're obvious not running then?

Anonymous said...

If you really think Bristol is going to get better your dreaming