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Rolling the streets up early

For the last two years residents of Worcester have been hearing the City Administration talk of a transformation to an 18 hour city. For those of us Worcesterites fortunate enough to have spent time in and enjoyed other cities across the country and around the world, this has been music to our ears. Finally our home was going to wake early and stay open late! Thus building commerce, attracting new residents with fresh ideas and outlooks and attracting new commerce as well. We will be showing public support for a burgeoning industry, which will serve as a backbone for future local growth. We are all thinking about music, the arts, and retail operations leaving the malls to come back to street level spaces, long since abandoned. We envision a city that stays alive long after the sun goes down, with a rebirth in locally owned and operated business that are lucrative. We talk about the cultural community moving to the forefront of our cities vision, making room for immigrants, craftspeople, musicians, and artists to gain equal footing in forming public policy, instead of being a novelty most people only hear about and never experience. And now we may see ourselves taking a giant step backwards.

On Thursday January 19th at 10:00 am the City of Worcester License Commission will be meeting in the City Council chambers to discuss potential changes and amendments to Worcester licensing structure. All holders of entertainment licenses in the City of Worcester have received letters informing them of potential changes which could affect their ability to stay in business. This notice stems from issues with

Shrewsbury St

business and it is likely that their entertainment licenses will be amended with a Cinderella clause forcing them to end all entertainment, requiring a license, at midnight. This amendment has received a green light from the city legal department and sets the ground work for a lasting precedent. As someone who enjoys and takes advantage of everything my city can offer in terms of nightlife, and as a committed resident of Worcester, I’m asking everyone who reads this to come to that meeting with me. Before you ask why I would like you to attend, think for a minute about all the times you considered our seemingly arcane view of alcohol sales. How many legitimate and interesting venues have had to fight tooth and nail, only to be rejected or put off for long periods of time? Remember is was our commission that thought residents of Worcester were not responsible enough to have a glass of wine while taking in a movie at the now defunct Bijou. Reflect on the last time you were in another city, saw an outdoor concert and then thought ‘but Worcester would never have that’. Try and think of all the things you want Worcester to be, and then think about the reasons why it isn’t any of those things. The answer is simple; we allow our city to be guided by puritans and narrow vision while we continue driving down to Providence to watch a silly river burn. I don’t doubt for a minute that the Worcester License Commission is made up of three very intelligent, well meaning individuals. But, if only the cranks come out to their meetings, write letters, and leverage their representatives’ power, how can we ever expect them to fully understand Worcester’s potential for attracting a well educated, creative population with money to burn?

When I think of my friends and acquaintances in Worcester many of them are in some way contributing to our cultural development, be it through the production of music, as artists, journalists, promoters and consumers of these local offerings. I’m talking to all of you now. The city of Worcester is exploring a potential change in your way life; many in the administration have no idea you exist and many of you are doing nothing but squawking it up on bar stools and on the Internet about how you wish things were and how they could be. Here’s a rare opportunity to flex that collective muscle and let the city know you exist, what it is that you love about Worcester and how you want to build on what we have now, not start dismantling our collective progress. Your city isn’t going to change itself but it may very well change without you.