Why Not Ask?

Greater Groton Projects invites community discussion

There’s community engagement, and there’s community engagement - that special kind of partnership between a municipality and its people. When constituents are really heard, instead of just listened to. These relationships need some kind of platform, and the Greater Groton Project is an example of a town going the extra mile to get the public involved.

Going live late last year, Groton debuted the latest in community engagement at greatergroton.com. This website is designed for the town to engage with the public on important issues.

One example is the ever popular Downtown Mystic district within Groton and neighboring Stonington. Anyone who has been there during the summer knows that both traffic and parking can be a tricky situation to navigate.

The website offers this explanation: Visitation to the area is at an all-time high as exciting shops and restaurants open and draw visitors from well beyond Connecticut’s borders.

While we welcome both residents and visitors enjoying all that Mystic has to offer, and appreciate the support for our local businesses and nonprofits, it has placed growing pressure on the parking supply. The Towns of Groton and Stonington jointly commissioned a study to identify effective parking strategies to better manage and improve parking conditions for customers, visitors, employees and residents of Downtown Mystic. The complete study, as well as a video presentation of the findings, can be found on this page.

In addition to this brief overview, they let you know exactly who your comments and ideas are going to – in this case it is the Economic and Community Development Manager and Economic Development Specialist. Individuals can even collaborate with each other by commenting in support of an idea or even just clicking the heart icon to say you agree.

Other projects on the platform include topics like “How should Groton spend our Federal Recovery Dollars?,” “Help Beautify Groton,” “Small Business Forum,” and “Age Friendly Groton.”

This is preferable to individuals commenting on Facebook, which can be notoriously finicky with showing comments from all individuals and has little transparency.

Quoted in an article from The Day, Lauren Post said that it is hard to correct misinformation online, so offering a platform like greatergroton.com gives constituents “transparency and the voice they deserve.”

Especially during COVID, it has been important to discover new ways to keep community engagement going. While it will never replace the open forum of public meetings, towns and cities will have to continue to meet people where they are. As Post said, at lot of times that means online.