Lukes says ¡No Más!
I’m a huge fan of Anthony Bourdains Travel Channel show No Reservations; I believe it may actually be the best thing on TV. If you’ve ever seen the show you realize much of the focus is on inexpensive local cuisine. When visiting urban areas, much of that cuisine comes from street vendors. Something that struck me as related to a local issue while reading Zobacks latest entry on the WoMag Blog regarding an item on tomorrow night’s City Council docket.
Mayor Lukes is asking the City Solicitor for “a legal opinion listing all the traffic, parking and zoning ordinances applicable to canteen style motor vehicles which serve food to the public and request recommendations regarding the type of ordinances and special permits required to regulate the activities of such canteens.” Sounds like another attempt for that Main South mainstay and constant neighborhood target, El Delicioso.
So why is it that if you are to visit another country the best eats come, quite literally, from the street, yet here in Worcester we frown on locals providing the same?
I think this letter by district 4 councilor Barbara Haller to WoMag from last year sums up ‘the city’ position quite nicely; it also makes her sound like a crazy old lady who hates what it means to live in an urban core.
Should a residential street be subjected to RV motor noise, street litter, loud conversation peppered with crude language, volume auto traffic, and the occasional (but too frequent) argument and scuffle - at 10pm, midnight, 2am, 3am, and beyond? I say no, and so do the affected neighbors. The fact that El Delicioso continues to operate demonstrates that reform is needed.
Now, I’m not saying that a 24hr city is for everyone, but Councilor Haller, Mayor Lukes and tag alongs like Billy Breault do have options. Move to Spencer or Paxton. I’m sitting here waiting to see how new housing projects like the Burwick building turn out so I can decide whether I’m staying in Worcester and moving into its core or leaving altogether for a better urban experience, but if I was to move inter Hallers district it would be FOR the things she continues to decry as negatives. Am I the only person who thinks empanadas and high octane coffee are good things at 2am?
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17 Responses to “Lukes says ¡No Más!”
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Dare I suggest this (like the strip club) is a zoning issue? That there might be things that don’t necessarily belong side-by-side?
I think you’re correct, but in my opinion the thing that doesn’t belong is the selection of people who believe the center of a relatively large city should be a quiet and predictable place (or any part of a city really).
This is nothing new in this city. About ten years ago the Manager of the Apollo (a restaurant/club at North Main Street) decided to open front windows to create and feature an outdoor sidewalk cafe with live music pouring out from the inside. It was quite festive. Some members of council pressured the owners the place to cease the activity. Shrewsbury Street restaurants try to present live bands, they are pressured by the city, via the license commission to cease. This stifling happens consistently in Worcester.
Street food vendors, live outdoor cafes with music,smart and relaxed codes to encourage local and inclusive business and industry, what’s next, a local grassroots, cultural/creative economy??? Too easy my friend. The visionaries at city hall want a bedroom town with box stores, go nowhere jobs, fast food, and homogeneous mediocrity. Shhh, go back to sleep everything is ok.
You know this has been my opinion for a long time.
(If you don’t like living in a city, move to the suburbs)
Does Barbara really have that much time on her hands that El Delicioso is that much of a problem for her?
My guess is what she has is constituents who complain about it. And before we are too hasty to condemn them as simply living the wrong place (because there are, after all, those like Brendan, who would be happy to live somewhere you could grab a bite to eat at 2 am), let’s remember the neighborhood we’re talking about. The freedom of choice of where to live does not extend to everyone living there. Some in Main South would surely choose to live elsewhere given the ability to do so.
I would tend to agree with that point if it were not Billy Breault doing the majority of the public complaining.
Come on Brendan..have you been down there at 1AM-2AM?? I have lived in Charlestown, North Cambridge & Somerville for 20+ years and now Worcester for 5 years and I dig the urban environment as much as anyone and have owned property in urban environments for as many and no where have I seen a business like that be allowed to continually attract what it does and for as long..those nice condos are gonna sit there and boy do they look good for that area..just drove by them and there is a huge sign on them For Rent for $795.00….do an experiment - move in…live next to the Big El for a year and then report back on the urban experience:>)
Glad to hear that you are thinking about moving into the urban core of the city…I bet if more local young folk did and more of our pols did we would have a much quicker turn around within the urban core of the city.
It would be a powerful statement made by the City Manager, Asst. City Manager, most if not all of our At Largers & our Chiefs of the Fire & Police Depts. moved into the urban core of this city.
BTW..Anthony B would not be caught eating at the street vendor’s establishment:>) I agree about the show..my favorite after Seinfeld
Barbara lives on the edge of Castle Hill Park..owns the building that One Love and the Artichoke are located in..I dare say that Barbara is looking for the same type of vibrant urban nightlife we all are..minus the swill that currently sits at a standstill over there..some Friday night pop into the One Love Cafe for dinner..while you are munching on yer jerk pork chops you can watch the whores,pimps,drugs,thugs, bugs,sad mugs & lugs! I am a huge fan of One Love Cafe and Gilreins and those are the urban pluses I am seeking and I think if you spoke with both owners you may find that they will tell you that the particular business we are speaking about has no value on Main South…and is causing good folks to stay away
There is such an experience in other urban communities with less of the drugs,thugs,sad mugs and lugs that Worcester has currently..to settle on them cause we live in the urban core of the city is bogus..living in an urban community today does not mean one has to live amoungst ever loser on the face of the earth..if Worcester continues to feel like this then every other urban community on the move out there and they are out there will continue to send theirs to us:>)
I don’t disagre Paulie. However, as I’ve said here plenty of times, Worcester has the very population it deserves to have simply because we do a wonderful job of encouraging bad behavior. The EL sits where they sit because they make money there. If the city finds a creative way to shut them down, we still will have accomplished nothing in terms of creating an environment where good business succeeds and bad business fails, organically.
What we need to be asking ourselves is not ‘how do we get rid of the roach coach?’ but ‘how do we make Worcester consumers value the excellent but fragile local business we have over the crap that actually succeeds?’
so what do you think it is gonna take to get the urban core of this city more liveable and attractive to folks that have jobs, also want a attractive urban lifestyle and will be part of the community?
Right now all I hear coming out of our Pols is more low income housing-see today’s T&G & more food stamps-see Congressman McGovern speaking to Fed Chief Bernanke.
We need folks with jobs, educations and desires to be honest to goodness citizens living in these “lots” that our city Pols call neighborhoods not just out of towners coming in for a hamburger and cold beer and then going home to Grafton afterwards…
Worcester Common Ground did a nice job on the brick building at the corner of Chandler & Piedmont butt…sit across the street sometime..you will never see folks exiting at 7AM on the way to work each day..you will never see folks exiting after coming home from work to walk down to Suney’s for a bite to eat with mates or to Living Earth to shop…it’s a low income dead zone and we got em’ everywhere in the urban core of the city!
I hear alot of moaning and groaning in this city but I rarely hear anyone talk most particularly from our leaders about the real problem we have in this city and that is that we haver a HIGH % of folks in this city who are useless by choice and by that I mean they contribute NOTHING..and this does not include the elderly, mentally retarded, children or disabled that we as a society should be protecting..I am talking about a high level of abled body men and women who are creating only havoc and are offering nothing else and at the due diligence of our leaders who are creating this nonsense by continually offering safety nets instead of a boot in the arse.
More Section 8 housing/low income housing in this city will only continue to drive black,white,brown,red,yellow middle class America elsewhere.
Funny you mention the Chandler and Piedmont project, I actually lived across the street at Austin and Piedmont before buying my place in Tatnuck. I miss it. I liked the craziness.
The local dealers? I didn’t have a problem with them leaning against my car all day, it meant that if I didn’t give them a hard time it wouldn’t get broken into. I could sit on my stoop on my days off to read, drink a beer and be mostly entertained. I can do the same thing now in Tatnuck, but it’s not very entertaining and the neighbors look at you funny when you always have a drink in your hand.
I don’t have a problem with the people we do have, I have a problem with the people we don’t have. When we decide to get serious about competition in Worcester for jobs, for housing for a seat at the damn bar, anything. Then we’ll start seeing things change.
quote “I don’t have a problem with the people we do have, I have a problem with the people we don’t have”
I couldn’t have said it bettah..and I wish I had been able to express myself bettah in this exchange..I dig all the nuances of urban living..but the scale is tipped to far to one side in Woostah
I am renovating the house on the cornah of Dewey & Austin right now..check it out..moving my business there soon
Maybe what we need to do is to sit down over beer and compile a list of city officials who don’t reside in Worcester and start drafting letters requesting they rethink that.
it would be my pleasure Brendan…having no heavy hitters living in “the city” is a major problem..like him or not..Billy Bulger still lives in the same house in Southie and for the past 40 years..Ray Flynn former Mayor of Boston the same..Jimmy Kelly the same(now deceased)..Mo Hennigan has never left…Sam Yoon lives right in Chinatown..The Mayor of Boston drives his bike every morning thru the streets of Hyde Park..Buddy Cianci lived in downtown Providence and still does-every Pol in Somerville and Division head lives in Somerville and in their ole hoods..hard scrabble Pols who lived in their hoods and will till the day they died the way city folks always did and do (or they move to Juniper, Florida:>) Worcester Pols move to the west side or Boston and still want to move the city but haven’t been able to for years..
Aint it great to be always calling for more food stamps and Section 8 certs for my hood and then delivering from the top of the highest mountain on the west side..I had lunch with Grace Ross yesterday down at the Vernon Hotel…I told her I voted for her not so much for her policy ideas but for the fact that she lived in my hood and she walked the streets like I do every day..
This city is NEVER going to move forward until those who are making the policy live in the urban core of the city..our Pols are like the King’s who lived high up in the castle and when the invaders came to slaughter the Kings left the serf’s out side the gate to be slaughtered…how are we to believe that the current crop of Pols and leaders in this city can lead this city to Nirvana if none of them want to live where they propose to fix or have/allow their kids to attend urban schools that they keep telling us are “award winning”??
The City of Worcester can not survive as it is currently constituted..a urban core that is mostly poor, uneducated, and many of their own doing cause of this generational welfare that permeates Worcester and many of the second tier cities in Massachusetts
Worcester has so many things going for it that other second tier cities do not..major highway access..these colleges…so close to an incredible rural environment!
I cat like Joe O’Brien has my highest regard…I may not agree with Joe on his policy ideas BUT he lives and breathes Main South and he put his money where his mouth is..he lives there.
I am having a 1896 Era Cocktail Party (whatever that means)..on Friday from 7-10PM ..house was built in 1896:>)..some local gals are wearing fishnet stockings and stilettoes..I’m offering up a Ed Hyder catered buffet, excellent “rare” Midleton Irish Whiskey, some good local Lebanese & Italian vino & my fave Harpoon Brewery beer as I show about a new flat I have spiffed up in the “hood”!!
Feel free to stop by for that beer…Szoback has more information..not sure if he plans to stop by but he has been invited:>) Not at the su casa at Dewey & Austin which is still undergoing a slow and long renovation.