The great Worcester one-dollar homestead
A good friend of mine, Gabe Rollins, recently relocated from Worcester to Baltimore. He claims it was for purposes of employment, but most of us believe it was for the hookers. Either way he was kind enough to bring to my attention the one-dollar homesteading program Baltimore put in place back in the mid to late 70’s. This concept has me fascinated right now as something my home, Worcester, MA could take advantage of. The city essentially took control of an entire neighborhood of run down properties, held massive open houses and a lottery which led to an amazing amount of urban renewal taking place in a relatively short period of time.
If you drive around the big Woo, you’ll start to notice the many buildings that have what looks like a big scuba diving sign on the side of them. These placards were put up by the fire department a few years back after a large warehouse fire that took the lives of six firefighters was determined, after the fact, to have been too unsafe to enter. Once you notice the signs, you start to notice just how many there are. Why not take those building from their owners who are doing nothing with them, in essence causing harm just by letting them exist, and give them away to people who can put in writing an intent to rehab and a means for financing. It would seem the long term benefits of both an increase in the tax base and more people living here, who want to live here, far out way having nothing more than a large eyesore collection.
New lows for InCity Times, for Worcester
In a city like Worcester, MA it’s pretty easy to start up a print rag, people do it all the time. There are so many business that are more than willing to dump a few bucks for advertising that getting the ball rolling is a pretty simple task. Three such rags in circulation now can at least claim some sticking power. Worcester Magazine which has been around for years and covers more main stream politics and general area news on weekly basis. The Pulse, started by local political fund raiser and consultant Paul Giorgio after he split from Worcester Magazine targets a younger crowd with more regional entertainment and lifestyle coverage. And sorta new comer, InCity Times. InCity Times is the brain child of Rosalie Tirella, also a former WoMag employee and depending on who you ask, a total fucking nut job. The Times has a following that can’t be ignored, in the same way you can’t ignore two dogs fucking in a public place. It’s perfectly natural and expected, but remains ridiculous no matter how many times you see it. It’s essentially one run-on advertisement/editorial, the sort of thing that you see in TIME when a company buys half a dozen pages to spread its message. Most articles are written either by Tirella herself, local hack politicians or wannabe hack politicians under the guise of editorial, but it’s really just a cheap way for them to air their agendas. Week after week its the same garbage with never a break from Tirella’s own personal convictions, but her latest run sets a new standard for just how bad journalism can get.
The first story to make me pee myself in a public place was a piece written by John Monfredo, a former grade school principal who is currently seeking a seat on Worcester’s school committee. His piece is titled “Worcester: The city that reads…”. That title is also the name of a local literacy program started by the author to promote, well, to promote reading. I remember a few months back, driving by City Hall and seeing this big green banner hung from the front of the building reading the same message. I still can not believe that in the year 2005, the second largest city in New England (i wont let go) would think advertising our collective ability to read is worthy of placement on the front of City Hall. This banner was hung at the same time a developer was announcing his plan to fund a one half BILLION dollar redevelopment project less than a hundred yards away. What a great way to put a serious investor at ease. Don’t get me wrong, I come from a family of educators, I fully understand the problem of illiteracy and take it very seriously. But when it comes to public marketing schemes, focusing on the obvious is just plain silly. Of course there are people in Worcester who can read, and yes there are those that don’t and need some help on that front. But whereas the Sumerian’s (do we still have Sumerian’s?) should be afforded pride in their creation of a system of writing, Worcesterites might want to aim a little higher. What’s next? “Worcester: We don’t need no stinkin fluoride”, “Worcester: Clean needles are for sissies” or maybe “Worcester: Hepatitis is for families”. As a potential School Committee member one can only hope Mr. Monfredo has higher expectations for Worcesters students than being able to read. You know, the sort of skills that are actually marketable today; physics for example.
But it was the cover story of this latest issue that got me writing tonight. Rosalie hails from the Green Island section of the city. An area that has received quite a bit of attention over the last few years. While much of the city has spent decades trying to plan redevelopment; the Green Island district has undergone a very organic transformation.
A little background is due here. The area in question has always been home to blue collar families, many from eastern European dissent. European Jews, Polish and Russian immigrants all made the area their home after WWII, and it was quite the place for bakeries, delis and yes even some nightlife. Since the 80’s its been a relatively rundown area, with many of the buildings falling into disrepair and many of the residents and business moving on. My introduction to Green Island came about 4 years ago when my former band started playing down at the Lucky Dog Music Hall on Green St. I hit it off with the owners pretty quick and became a regular in the place. Whenever I started getting bored in the club I would wander off through the neighborhood to explore and was immediately struck with much of the architecture that was sitting vacant. I fell in love with the three adjacent streets, Green, Harding and Water that make up one side of the neighborhood. But apparently I wasn’t the only one. Theres a lot going on in this little neighborhood. Young money is setting up shop, opening upscale restaurants, night clubs, cafes and rehabbing huge old factories to be turned into lofts. Many of these newcomers are doing a great job complimenting the existing infrastructure of business like the older bakeries, delis and diners. But not everyone is happy with the new money. See, Tirella represents the old school Worcester mentality that takes an over abundance of pride in its blue collar roots, unable to comprehend that the world moves on and commerce tends to lead the way. Tirella wrote this 4 page article to showcase the business that represent this old Worcester mentality and in an effort to protect their interests, made them look like a bunch of bumbling idiots who haven’t noticed (or don’t care) that just about every former factory city with any interest in surviving is making a transition to service based cultural centers replacing the lost labor gigs. Worcester is already a decade late to the show. While the 90’s allowed many medium to large city’s to reinvest in urban development, Worcester was busy recovering from the 80’s which left many of our old neighborhoods in disarray. Now we finally have the large outside investors and local upstarts who are willing to risk losing their shirts to reshape the city they love and amazingly there are quite a few locals who find the change horrifying.
Scared of success.
It’s the quintessential Worcester fear. I’ve seen it in local musicians who never want to take the next step towards a future, it can be found in local business that never try to cater to a larger audience by perfecting their craft and it can been seen in many of our residents. A perfect example is in our immigrant populations. Worcester has always been a city of immigrants, most recently we’ve seen a large growth in Asian and South American immigration. And in those populations we’re seeing more being accomplished in first generation immigrants in terms of accumulating personal wealth than was seen in three generations of many European immigrants. Now of course times have changed and opportunities for personal growth are greater now than they ever have been. But to see groups of people who have been in this city long enough to know full well what Worcester isn’t and what it could be, standing in the way of progress in terms of real commercial growth sickens me.
InCity Times claims to be a magazine for the people. Who do they think pays for the services the people take advantage of every day? Does John Monfredo think the books we apparently just learned to read grow on trees? Is it taxes from the lowest of wage earners that pay for our roads, schools and redevelopment? It used to be the American way to challenge oneself and do more, better. What happened to those ideals? There are so many recent success stories of city’s making change for the better, from Baltimore and Vegas on the large side of things to Providence on the smaller side. All of their success’ are based on warming up to the concept of taking money away from people willing to spend it on cultural interests. What a novel idea!
Maybe someday we’ll all be on the same page.
