7/18/08: It's time Nutmeggers became global citizens

Los Angeles Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez recently noted in an editorial that the global-citizen mentality of intellectual elites has meant less investment in local communities. "We should remember the beauty and strength of parochialism," he said, and be sure to invest ourselves locally.

"Well," I thought to myself after reading his column. "He should come to Connecticut and see parochialism in action."

Connecticut is the most parochial place I’ve lived — and that includes a small city in China where farmers carried chickens onto the public buses. (Chickens rode free.)

I’m not comparing our state to Dujiangyan to say Connecticut is a backwater or a hick state. Parochialism isn’t about chickens. It’s a worldview.

Dujiangyan, in Sichuan province — if you’ve read any coverage of the recent earthquake, you’ve seen the photos of my Chinese hometown in rubble — is surrounded by farms. But provincial leaders won’t let Sichuan be the "hillbilly province" of China forever, and I’d bet the physical devastation of the earthquake will be cleared up by the end of next year.

China, even agrarian Sichuan, is ambitious. It’s going places.

Connecticut, by contrast, has not gone anywhere in awhile.

This is as literally true as it can be in some cases. Route 72, now between New Britain and Plainville, was originally planned to extend to Route 8 in Thomaston, passing through Bristol and surrounding communities.

After completing an environmental impact study that found no fault with the proposed route through Bristol, town officials were ready to follow through. But the plan was stymied by residents who in 1999 continued to object (as residents had objected in the ’60s and ’70s to all previous plans) that the new controlled-access highway extension would generate more traffic and create noise — ignoring that it would also generate more economic opportunity and an increased likelihood of Hartford commuters choosing to live and invest in Bristol.

The plans are now, after more than 50 years, finally resolved. Bristol will get a Route 72 extension next year. It’s just amazing that it’s taken this long.

I didn’t know much about Bristol’s plans or controversies before researching Route 72, despite living in New Britain and Plainville, the town next door, most of my life.

Almost anywhere else, that would be strange. Anywhere but central Connecticut, the insularity and isolation of town-by-town identities would be a cause for head-scratching.

It makes some sense that we would be so bounded by our town lines. Cities and towns in central Connecticut represent a shockingly diverse set of subcultures, ethnicities and histories.

But this diversity, which should be our greatest regional asset, is neutralized by parochialism.

Investment only in our immediate, local communities — extending to stereotyping others towns (i.e., Farmington is rich, New Britain poor) — robs us of the ability to cooperate as a region, to learn from each other and combine our strengths. It makes us seem cliquish to outsiders, who will be less likely to want to invest in our area.

The days of to-the-town-line culture are over.

The days of interdependency and cooperative effort, spurred on by the Internet that allows us access to people and ideas across the world, are just beginning. We need to learn the "beauty and strength" of being global citizens.

I’m for local investment. I like knowing where I am without resorting to maps and street names. I like shopping at local stores. I like having a "New Britain accent."

I liked riding the bus with chickens.

But I was riding that bus in China.