I n preparation for the inaugural 40-Year Plan Forum, "Hartford in 14,610 Days," on Thursday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m. at La Paloma Sabanera at 410 Capital Ave., Hartford, I went rummaging through the 40-Year Plan archive. Rereading my first column from January 2004, I found what I consider an effective dialogue opener.

It contains a concise explanation of some of the concepts I will bring up with panelists Fernando Betancourt, the executive director of the Connecticut Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission, Bernadine Silvers, the executive director of Hartford 2000 and Matt Fluery, the vice president of the Connecticut Center for Science and Exploration.

So here goes, 40-Year Plan, Column Number 1:

What do we imagine the city of Hartford will look like in 2044? Will I-84 be underground? Will the Park River be daylighted? Can we as citizens start now to shape that future?

As Americans, we tend to seek instant gratification. Yet the problems our city faces today represent the culmination of more than 5,000 years of patriarchy, hierarchy and oppression. Examining the triumphs of humankind during the past five millenniums, awesome monuments like the Pyramids at Giza and the Great Wall of China took centuries to build. Perhaps it will take several hundred cycles around the sun to halt global warming. Maybe we don't have that long.

In 2004, we stand at a crossroads unparalleled in human history. Problems of a global magnitude endanger our species and life on the planet - climate change, the end of the Oil Age, the dawn of new technologies which threaten to enslave us while promising liberation.

Faced with these and many other challenges, we need to develop a blueprint. A realistic deadline always helps for planning. Will the most intense efforts end homelessness the next four weeks? No. Can we grant universal healthcare within four months? No. What about halt institutional racism in four years? Unfortunately, sadly, no.

Fulfilling the promises of the Declaration of Independence for our community will require patience. With the awareness that we must show compassion for the suffering that occurs momently, the concept of a longer-term vision carries greater potential to alleviate greater pain. Call it the 40-Year Plan.

Hartford's history offers a comparison- Hartford's fall from the richest city in the U.S. to the second poorest took well more than 40 years. The current right wing swing of American politics is a response by the conservatives of the Republican Party to Barry Goldwater's defeat 40 years ago.

We can begin the 40-Year Plan by discussing creative approaches to our social ills in places like this column. During the coming 51 weeks, I will explore what the 40-Year Plan to revitalize Hartford might look like.

While some situations straining our city are the result of international relationships and geopolitical realities and are well beyond the control of our 100,000 inhabitants, I believe firmly that we can identify and implement, with resolve, local solutions. With larger investment, involvement and personal sacrifice from residents, Hartford could become an international example of cooperation, communication, fun and social justice.

In 2044, I will be 72 years old. I imagine I will have lived a full life, strengthened by the bonds of family, friends and community. I will savor the hour I sit in a rocking chair with a child on my knee and explain to them their link history, "The city you walk through began with ideas."

I look forward to a fervent debate about the policy suggestions and concepts that this column will proffer. Many will be common sense, others will be common dreams, others will be radical, thought-provoking notions.

At this global crossroads, we need to embrace all possibilities that may heal our fractured civilization.

4/19/06

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Hartford in 14,610 Days