The street vendor war continues
The continued discussion of how to regulate Worcester street vendors Tuesday may have been the most exciting City Council meeting Worcester has had in some time, but not in a good way. It was a ridiculous exercise in just how juvenile, provincial and poorly informed some of our elected and appointed officials are. In particular, Mayor Lukes and Councilor Palmieri went out of their way to embarrass themselves and the City of Worcester. The eye rolling, face making and insults hurled at colleagues and constituents, you have to wonder if these two even realize people actually watch the meetings at home. Foolishness aside, the opposing armies in this debate have defined themselves and in effect, speak for themselves. It’s actually quite interesting when you look at the lists, as they break out into rather obvious personality types.
Representing Team Bat Shit Insane:
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Mayor Konnie Lukes
At-Large Councilor Joseph Petty
District 2 Councilor Philip Palmieri
District 3 Councilor Paul Clancy
District 4 Councilor Barbara Haller
District 5 Councilor William Eddy
Two things jump out here. First and most obvious, all but one of the district councilors are in favor of eliminating street vendors from Worcester. These are the people whose entire voting constituency could fit into your average elementary school auditorium. And there is also some overlap between the district councilors and the other demographic at play in this group, people who are likely to be found at an early bird special. If we were to only focus on food vendors here, the group that want’s to get rid of vendors using a late night public safety argument is also the group that hasn’t seen last call in 20 years, if ever. Think about who that, these are the folks defining how you should be allowed to enjoy your city and they’re also the people who are least likely to experience your city outside of normal business hours. The one unexplained exception is my district councilor Bill Eddy. I still can’t wrap my head around what he’s doing on this side of things. Best guess, a bad sausage at the St Patrick’s Day parade in ‘93 and he’s holding a grudge.
Representing people who get out of the house every now and then:
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At-Large Councilor Michael Germain
At-Large Councilor Gary Rosen
At-Large Councilor Frederick Rushton
At-Large Councilor Kathleen Toomey
District 1 Councilor Joffrey Smith
Oh look, the one district councilor in this list is the one district councilor who you’ll actually see out in the city after the sun goes down. What’s most interesting about this crew, none of them seem to be against regulating street vendors. They’re just asking someone, anyone to explain the what and whys of regulating street vendors. An important distinction and one we don’t see enough in Worcester. Simply going to the Chief of Police and asking him if there is a Public Safety component to street vending is not the same as getting a fully fleshed explanation of what exactly that public safety component is. Any idiot could come up with a heat map of arrests for a given area and make an argument there is a risk to the public in said area. Explaining how they got to that conclusion takes a little work. Which brings us to our final waring faction…
People who don’t actually have anything to say but are more than willing to talk into a microphone:
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Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme
City Manager Mike O’Brien
City Solicitor David Moore
These guys were astounding on Tuesday night, collectively they took up a majority of mic time but literally said nothing. No numbers, no statistics, no maps of affected areas and even reports requested by the Council for this meeting were nowhere to be found; they came with nothing. Nothing but continued assurance that they actually do know how to redevelop an urban area. The Chief gets an extra special prize for the quote of the week…
“The city of Worcester changes after midnight.”
Yes Chief, it actually changes into a city in more than population designation. A place where people actually get out of their cars, off of their couches and interact with other citizens for better or worse; the city is starting to come to life. We’ve been waiting over two decades for that change, please stop fucking that up.
Demographic Inversion
Excellent piece in The New Republic regarding population shifts in American cities. Some of the comments are as interesting as the actual story.
In the past three decades, Chicago has undergone changes that are routinely described as gentrification, but are in fact more complicated and more profound than the process that term suggests. A better description would be “demographic inversion.” Chicago is gradually coming to resemble a traditional European city–Vienna or Paris in the nineteenth century, or, for that matter, Paris today. The poor and the newcomers are living on the outskirts. The people who live near the center–some of them black or Hispanic but most of them white–are those who can afford to do so.
Time to meet Worcester’s Street Vendors
Here are just a few of the individuals Mayor Lukes and Councilor Palmeri insist pose a serious threat to the city of Worcester.
Maybe you could pave over Elm Park?
You just know you’ve got a winner on your hands when a newspaper story dated Tuesday, July 22, 2008, starts with the line
In her first neighborhood walk this year, Mayor Konstantina B. Lukes and a small group of officials took a walk on Highland Street yesterday…
Someone please tell me they’re working off the fiscal calendar.
This reads like nobody involved has been on Highland Street in the past 15 years. While mention is made of both the Boynton and the Sole Proprietor expanding their already huge parking lots and Councilor Haller is working on a valet plan involving Elm Park School the merchants involved agree on one thing:
But merchants and officials agreed the main sticking point for Highland Street is its lack of a municipal parking lot.
Is that a joke? 40 Highland St anyone? That lot could definitely fit more cars if it was re-lined and it’s 600ft away from the active part of Highland St. Really, I can’t be the only person who noticed that. But what’s with this sudden need for more parking? I’ve never once had difficulty parking in that area, am I doing it wrong?
Not that anyone is keeping score
There’s an article in todays T&G about an art heist from the semi-permanent public art installation at Elm Park in Worcester. While the story is full of interesting bits of information such as Rob Antonelli, Assistant Commissioner of Public Works and Parks, having to explain to his staff that they were to look out for the sculptures after they noticed, but failed to report one missing. Makes one wonder what, exactly, his staff thought their job was up until this point. But it’s one magical quote from Assistant City Manager Julie Jacobson regarding the boosted statue which really takes flight on it’s own:
“It’s upsetting that it didn’t even make it 48 hours,” Ms. Jacobson said yesterday. “This isn’t just an attack on a piece of art. It’s an attack on the whole community.”
Actually, what’s upsetting is the Assistant City Manager doesn’t seem to realize the art works were installed almost a month ago. I don’t know what’s worse, that it’s nearly impossible to have meaningful things in the city without some douche ruining them or that when we do have meaningful things, city officials are often not even aware they exist unless a speaking engagement is involved.
The Rod Sterling Memorial Garage
Congratulations on the new Union Station garage, Worcester, very nice. Two questions…
1. If the garage is automated, meaning you pay at a machine, why is it only open between 6 AM and midnight? Why bother closing it at all?
2. What is so fundamentally broken about us Worcesterites that everything needs an explanation? It’s an automated garage which requires a person to explain the automated part, that’s a joke right? Sometimes I feel like I may be the only person in town who has traveled beyond 290 in the last decade (But I know that isn’t the case since I saw Joe Petty on the Pike this morning and his car has a luggage rack on the trunk which is pretty awesome in my book). At least this partly explains why Union Station went so long without an ATM; they probably couldn’t find anyone to explain how it worked.
Fridays news today
It’s Monday, but I’m just noticing a story that ran in the Telegram on Friday. My own fault to be sure, I’m always playing catch up on local business news. I’m confused though, how this story didn’t get front page, above the fold placement? Check this headline:
Condos’ developer wants to liquidate
Foreclosure hits University Park
Many of us who spend too much time online have been watching this drama unfold via the University Park Lofts blog. It would stand to reason if the developer of a 37 unit condominium project, 25 of which were foreclosed on, files for Chapter 7 it would be more worthy of front page real estate than this follow up piece on arson in Northboro.
Who is the Telegram writing for again?
Maxwell Silverman’s invades Union Station
Seems like a mostly good idea, even if the nepotism boarders on grotesque. I just hope the city administration and Mr Giordano realize the true potential of Union Station and keep the disco balls at Maxwell Silvermans.
The five-year lease, with a five-year renewal option, calls for Mr. Giordano to operate Maxwell Silverman’s Banquet and Conference Center and Luciano’s Café in 5,000 square-feet of first floor space formerly occupied by The Restaurant at Union Station. The restaurant closed last August.
Massachusetts still the most tech savvy state
Congratulations, Massachusetts.
Massachusetts remains the “gold standard” for other states thanks to its institutions, cutting-edge firms, and ability to retain a skilled work force.
1. Massachusetts
2. Maryland
3. Colorado
4. California
5. Washington
6. Virginia
7. Connecticut
8. Utah
9. New Hampshire
10. Rhode Island
Outlawing the future
Looks like some new water colors are in order! I can only imagine this rendering from the official City Square website was created in error. To think Berkley Investments would suggest street vendors could actually play a role in the revitalization of Downtown Worcester. Who do these people think they are? Urban planners!?!! Look how smug that cartoon vendor lady looks as she steals business from legitimate brick and mortars! The nerve.
