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?
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.
Traffic cameras are about money, not safety. Fact.
Today, Clive McFarlane jumped into the T&G private/public PR partnership with the city of Worcester and boy, does he sound silly. Here’s the thing, when the keystone to your premise is a quote from some guy which just happens to be a logical fallacy, the argument starts to look a little shaky.
As Blackstone Police Chief Ross A. Atstupenas said, “If people are abiding by the law, then you don’t have to worry about it.”
See Clive, the problem with that line of reasoning is People like Ross are in a position to constantly be changing the definition of what is and is not legal. Clearly Blackstone Police Chief Ross Atstupenas is not concerned with the rule of law, he himself has been found in violation of Massachusetts ethics code in his role as Chief. Is this really the guy we want deciding what we should and shouldn’t be worried about?
http://www.mass.gov/ethics/DA_Atstupenas.pdf
More to the point, the legal system in the US is not a series of either/or choices. This line of reasoning as presented by Ross assumes either you are guilty of something and therefore should be exposed or you are innocent and therefore have nothing to fear, simple logic demands we have at least a third component which is an expectation of privacy. This is when the Chiefs jump in and yell ‘but you’re in public and have no expectation of privacy’ and they’re mostly correct, however reasonable people agree that constant scrutiny is in fact an invasion of privacy. Would Chief Atstupenas or Worcester Police Chief Geme send one of their officers out to constantly follow a single resident, without cause, wait for that individual to do something illegal and haul them in? Would any of us put up with that sort of scrutiny? Would either Chief be comfortable with a resident following every action of one of their officers? How is this any different? The rule of law, in this country any way, demands all burden be placed on the accuser, not the accused. Any sort of constant surveillance without cause violates the spirit of our expectation of privacy, which is also the expectation to be free of constant scrutiny.
The simple fact is Law Enforcement is viewed by most municipalities as a viable source of revenue generation. There is no safety component to these minor motor vehicle violations. There is however a huge problem with the lack of engineering that goes into both the timing of lights and layouts of all Worcesters major intersections, but fixing that problem costs more and saves nothing. The sad thing is, even in the face of solid research showing traffic signals and signs cause more problems then they solve, Worcester is moving forward with this camera system on the false premise they make us safer. You’ve got nothing to hide, Worcester, so just OBEY. K?
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.
A stupid week of stupid
Wow. This was a hell of a week for those of us who enjoy a good laugh at the expense of local elected officials and other public figures. At last count Worcester took exactly 32 baby steps backward this week, leaving us approximately in 1957. Good work Worcester!
Here’s the highlight reel:
Billy and Babs Up in Smoke
The Wheeler & Woolsey of the Worcester Temperance Movement, Billy Breault and Barbara Haller saw by far the most action this week. Not ones to settle with forcing a private business to pay police to patrol public ways the pair found the time to draft a letter to a whole bunch of local officials regarding the use of Narcan to keep people alive. The letter is ultimately an exercise in patience. If you could imagine an early alchemist attempting to debate a modern day theoretical physicist in the basic principals of the universe; thats essentially what this letter is. Two people so completely ignorant of the world they live in you almost have to begin questioning their sanity. Heres the letter for those interested parties.
Street meat forced to beat feet
The city council is working on some cockamamie plan to ban/limit food venders around the city. This may go down as both the silliest and eventually most anti-buisness decision to roll out of council chambers this year. The city is fortunate to have Councilors Rosen and Rushton challenging this matter, but the reality is they’re alone in their fight. The plan is nothing more than a way to get rid of a few problem entities without engaging in creative thought; something the administration seems to be finding difficult these days. The most interesting part of this plan is the way its being justified as protectionist, favoring established brick and mortar business. That really speaks volumes to the way our local leaders view our local restaurants. If Councilor Palmieri believes someone could be about to walk into the Chop House on Shrewsbury St only to divert to a water-dog cart and end up canceling their reservations… Well maybe local restauranteurs might want to ask Phil to stop doing them any favors, it doesn’t say much for your fillet. Mayor Lukes is even more illogical saying if we don’t do something we’ll end up with empty store fronts. Maybe Konnie is hanging out in different parts of town than me… BUT THE STOREFRONTS HAVE BEEN EMPTY FOR 20 FUCKING YEARS! And she thinks a fucking Super Pretzel is going to send everyone packing? Way to stay in touch with the city.
New recycling vendor will save the city money! Sweet!
No word on whether I’ll still be buying the most expensive trash bags on the planet based on the cost of the old vendor! Booo!
When is a band actually a band?
Although it was reported nowhere, I have it on good authority that the License Commission decided this past week that at least in the case of the Emerald Isle, an acoustic act that is run through an amplifier is no longer acoustic. No really, they said that.
The most expensive Mercedes in town
We’ll let poet laureate Billy Breault sum this debacle up.
“I hope you close him. I hope you keep him to two officers. I hope he goes out of business.”
Thanks Billy, keep it classy.
Stop having sex on my lawn
The Q. Never heard of it? Well, it’s a really neat little coffee shop where young people hang out. For us old kids in the room, think the Coffee Kingdom in the early ’90’s. Well the neighbors on chandler street don’t think it’s fun at all. We’re guessing they’re AARP members. If the license commission wanted to take a logical approach they would ask the police in attendance why there have been no arrests for public sex at the Q instead of just taking a neighbors word that it happened. The police claim “more than 50″ complaints. Well thats great, but how many arrests? These are old people, all they do is complain.
Papers please
Running a livery in Worcester just became an exercise in civil liberties. According to Worcester Magazine liveries now have a dress code: no swimwear, bathing suits, jogging shorts, or torn or ripped shorts. They can’t have external markings that would distinguish them from private vehicle (which is simply silly and to prove it I’m going hang a livery magnet on the door of my private vehicle and just not pick anyone up). They can only take payment by check, credit card or U.S. mail billing. Which is a direct attack at the poor in the city and before you call me on that name for me the bank anywhere in the Main South or Beacon Brightly districts issuing these credit cards and checks? I have three banks within a 5min walk of my house in tatnuck, there are no financial institutions in the areas serviced by these liveries. And the kicker…
All taxis and livery vehicles are subject to random spot checks at any time or location and taxi and livery drivers must all keep a daily log of all pickups; livery drivers only are required to note the name and number of all passengers. All logs must be kept for two years, and must be made available to any police officer upon request.
Thats the best excuse I’ve seen in years to get a professional set of fake papers. I think I’m going to go out this week and get me a nice Brazilian passport just for kicks.
Well. There’s a week in Worcester for you. A a semi related note. CVS has a sale this week on 4 packs of D-cell alkaline Batteries. Nothing tells a local official how you really feel, like throwing D-cell’s through the windows of City Hall while council is in session. Now I would never suggest that is the right thing to do… but we certainly are running out of things we CAN do, so don’t write it off just yet.
Pile of bikes for sale
I just found this ad on craigslist that looks like a fixed-gear builders wetdream.
A giant pile of bikes for sale here in Worcester, I hope the earn-a-bike cats are on this.
UPDATE** Not as many bikes as I hoped, but I managed to pull a Viscount with intact ‘Death Fork‘. Sweet!
Worcester Critical Mass
I managed to get stuck behind the local Critical Mass tonight (background for the uninitiated) and found the whole experience quite pleasurable. It definitely added a few min to my drive time, but comic relief in the form of reactions from other motorists totally made up for any inconvenience. People laying on horns, yelling and weaving in and out of lanes to try and pass the group was a fascinating glimpse at futility in motion. The only thing better was the friendly waves and smiles the cyclists offered up to angry motorists. The event, the last Friday of every month, is still in its infancy locally. But has grown since the last time I saw photos; I’d guess there were 35-40 people tonight.
Jeff @ wormtown taxi
Jeff drives a taxi. Which means he probably knows Worcester, MA better than you and I ever will. Most cab drivers I’ve known are good like that. Jeff also has knack for words, someone should attempt to take him out of his cab and hand him some real coin for his commentary. I’ve had Jeffs site ” Wormtown Taxi” linked over there in the side bar for some time now and he never fails to entertain. From stalking pols to play by play of local bridge repair; if you haven’t bothered to check him out, I recommend you begin immediately.
Start here.
Raindrops (and the occasional piece of twisted steel) keep fallin on my head
Good news kids, only 500 leaks are waiting repair in the Big Dig. Well it’s 500 if you don’t count the 2,000 or so already being handled by contractors and of course, the promise of future leaks. And if that wasn’t enough motivation to speed up your commute, the geniuses running the show have a sneaking suspicion all that water will begin rotting away the steel holding the whole damn thing up starting…well actually it already started So good luck out there. The obvious solution then, playing right along with Howie Carrs master plan, is to find yet another bright bulb from Worcester to whom raising tolls (and raising them extra for us asshat commuters with the best odds of being buried, literally, in this mess) is the perfect solution.
Now that we’re on a roll, any bets on how long it takes for the state to try and sell us a bridge. Oh, right, already working on that.
Walk Score
We can file this nicely into the ‘fuzzy math but kinda-sorta interesting’ category. Walk Score will figure out, on a scale of 0-100, just how walkable your ‘hood is. Using my house as a starting point, Tatnuck Sq in Worcester, MA scored a relatively grim 23. According to them, that means
Driving Only: Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!
Not to far off. But what’s most interesting is the expandable lists of nearby stuff, no surprises really, but I can see this sort of thing being a perfect deal maker/breaker for someone about to relocate.
If anyone paying attention feels like playing with this, I’d be interested in seeing how some of your neighborhoods rate in the comments.
