Joe O’Brien

By Rosalie Tirella

Tuesday (Nov. 29) night’s Worcester City Council meeting re: the SMOC Triage Center was a night of broken promises, a night of dumping on the poor and powerless, a night of forgeting about all the inner-city/Main South small biz folks and residents who have had to endure the people who PREY on a place like the PIP – scum who have made life a hell for everyone.

It’s not the SMOC clients; it’s the drug dealers, the users, the abusers – all the hangers-on who prey on/will prey on the clients of the PIP/Triage Center. How can District 4 ever get well? How can our inner-city neighborhoods recover – and begin to flourish?

Well, at least we can say this: Mayor Joe O’Brien and District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller proved themselves to be class acts – people who stayed true to their word (they voted against the move back to the old PIP building – 701 Main St.)

It is heartbreaking that the end of Haller’s stellar – and I mean stellar – terms on the city council should end in a vote that broke her heart. She was right when she said Main South residents were not given the chance to voice their opinions. But – here’s the problem – unlike their middle class peers near the Anna Maria rest home (the proposed SMOC site that was shot down by almost 800 Apricot Street area residents), the folks of Main South are up to their eye balls in challenges – economic, social, etc.

Makes it hard to agitate for your rights, poverty does.

I grew up in D-4, very poor. My mom was a single mom with a minimum wage job. She worked 60 hours a week and tried to keep me and my two sisters safe, well fed and happy. She was always there at PTA nights at Lamartine Street School and Prov. Jr. High, but she could never take the time out to leave her HUGE RESPONSIBILITIES to engage in heated civic debates. I remember her conking out, quietly snoring, head back while sitting on the sofa, watching TV with us kids – at about 8 p.m. She was in bed at 9 p.m. – out like a light. She had to get up at 5:30 in the morning to begin our daily routine (school, lunches, her job at the dry cleaners, a.m. house work/breakfast) etc the next day.

My mom was too poor/overwhelmed to canvas neighborhoods, get ultra involved. Factor in my shit-head dad who came in and out and wreaked havoc on our little fmaily unit and the result: my mom was overwhelmed.

This is the story of a lot of families in Main South – a stone’s throw from the PIP.

Barbara Haller and Joe O’Brien know these stories/families and validate them – every day. They honored them Tuesday night by their votes.

Bravo, Joe and Barb!

Thank you!

By Rosalie Tirella

In a way, we didn’t deserve him. In a way, Joseph – “Joe” – O’Brien, Worcester’s first true progressive mayor, was too darned forward-thinking for the dunderheads in this city – most of whom took to calling him “commie,” “socialist,” and other such perjoratives when O’Brien did enlightened things like advocate for immigrants in Arizona and district representation on the Worcester School Committee. etc. – ideas and proclamations that we at InCity Times CHEERED! Absolutely cheered! But the morons of Worcester – of which there are scads – couldn’t see the light that Joe O’Brien shone for all the heat they were generating. I couldn’t believe, as I read cop-ed columns, people’s/community leaders’ quotes in local papers, etc how positively cuckoo for cocoa puffs the nuts in this town would go when confronted with new, good ideas – ideas that O’Brien put out in a clear, thoughtful and sensitive way.

The bashing was something we at InCity Times thought only happened to us! Not to (basically) a Worcester insider like Joe O’Brien. I mean, he had the Irish name, Congressman’s Jim McGovern’s support, the Tim Murray impramateur tattooed on his butt, for Cripes sake – and yet – yet – the morons of Worcester went at O’Brien like the Roman gladiators went after the first Christians in the Colesseum!

But Mayor Joe O’Brien continued to bravely follow his head and his heart – put out one great idea after another. Even when people like fellow city councilor Paul Clancy – the so called “dean of the Worceser City Council – slagged him in the press. Even when the T & G treated him like some martian who had just disembarked from his shiny flying sacuer. It was heartbreaking – and yet inspiring. No matter what the powers that be said – Joe O’Brien stayed true to his ideas – ideas/plans that we have applauded on these pages, plans that have included: a Latino student task force, the banning of exotic animal acts in Worcester, the cheerleading and creation of community gardens in Worcestwer’s inner-city neighbrohoods, his total support of the MCAS-weary Goddard School staff/teachers, families and students. Also: O’Brien’s support of raising chickens in city limits (very cool!), his belief that all kids – no matter what their color or socio-ecomomic backgrounds must succeed in our Worcester Public Schools, his support for improving/repairing the buildings/grounds of Worceser’s inner-city schools, his desire to make our public schools the best in the state – so the city can continue to draw middle- and upper-middle-class families.

And the list goes on: such as O’Brien’s PURPOSELY living in Worcester’s inner-city, suporting the good work of the Main South CDC, WALKING to work so that he can get a true taste of what is going on in our city and talk with folks who may not otherwise feel comfortable accessing him in City Hall, creating longer mayor office hours so working people can meet with him in city hall to discuss their concerns. And, let’s not forget, O’Brien’s pushing the City of Worcester to hire local contractractors/companies for local city construction work and other jobs.

My list goes on and on. We have become one of O’Brien’s biggest cheerleaders! We regret the not so great past in which we defended Grace Ross to Joe’s detriment (BUT GRACE would support Joe on all his issues – we know it!)

But I digress! Everything that Mayor Joseph O’Brien proposed for this city was the right thing to do – the Catholic thing to do.

Many of O’Brien’s detractors – the morons – couldn’t wait to kick O’Brien out of the mayor’s chair this election cycle because they were afraid of the vision of the city Joe was presenting to us all – a picture, I think, that is the true snapshot of where Worcester is in the early part of the 21′st century and where it is going. Immigrants, the rising Latino population, an underclass that has not been helped enough, good, safe housing for our poor families (to stabilize our schools!), the environment … . These are all truths that will continue to bloom as the years pass, years after we all bite the Wormtown dust.

My guess? O’Brien would have won the mayoral seat again. He is too well liked and respected by lots of good people, he had the support of the unions (even though he pushed them to pay a teeny bit more on their health insurance premiums), and the business community likes what he was/is doing for them (for example, the business round table he set up).

This would be a truly sad time if O’Brien had decided to pull out of the Worcester city council all together.

We, however, are lucky. Joseph O’Brien is still running for an At Large City Council seat. We are ecstatic!

We say YES to Joe O’Brien – yes! to his vision of Worcester and his continuing the fab work he is doing for all of us – especially the Worcester of tomorrow.

Worcester’s Joe O’Brien has decided not to run for mayor again. On Tuesday, September 20, city voters will still be able to vote for him – as City Counilor at Large.

Here is the letter (citing the reasons for his decision) O’Brien emailed to his supporters.

- R. Tirella

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Dear Friends,

I am writing to inform you of my decision to not seek the office of Mayor. Instead I will only run for City Council At-Large.

This has not been an easy decision. I recognize that it will come as a surprise because I have already launched my Mayoral re-election campaign. But over the course of the last month I have come to realize that the pressures of running another campaign and then serving as Mayor for another two years would be too much for myself and my family at this time.

When I ran for Mayor two years ago I promised that I would be a full-time Mayor and I have kept this promise. In doing so, I created significant challenges for my family.

While I have been honored to the Mayor of this great city, I have struggled to balance the life of politician, husband, and new parent. My wife Lisa and I, in our mid forties, became parents for the first time of four year old twins from Ethiopia a couple of months after I took office. As everyone knows, while being a parent is joyful it is also a challenge. Our children need to have two parents who can commit themselves to their development and integration, particularly our son who has had some special challenges adapting. To do the job of Mayor right, the commitment required me to be out for many nights, weekends, and holidays. I don’t believe it is in the best interest of my family to do this for another two years. In addition, earning a part-time salary while serving as a full-time Mayor, in our form of government, has also created financial pressures that are not sustainable for our family at this time.

It has been a honor to serve the people of this great city as Mayor and it has been great to work with so many people to make s difference. Working with the City Manager, the City Council and our School Committee and administration we have accomplished a lot of great things, and undertaken some important initiatives. Today, two years after taking office, long planned construction projects are underway, our economy is growing, our city schools are improving and our neighborhoods are more stable. With extended office hours, neighborhood walks, the new Civic Academy, and almost daily visits to local community groups we have worked hard to engage the people of Worcester and bring a new sense of accountability to local government. The Mayor’s Task Force on Economic Development produced a host of recommendations, most of which have already been implemented. We launched a Mayors Small Business Roundtable, and my office has helped lead a community initiative to improve the academic experience of our Latino students. I am especially proud of the work we have done together with our Immigrant and Refugee Roundtable to help our new Americans become fully engaged in our community. And we spent many hours working to insure that our working people have a voice at the table and that as we have grown our economy we have insured that good jobs were created for the residents of Worcester.  

I am proud of this record and I hope that with your help I can continue to support these efforts as a City Councilor at Large. I plan on working with the new Mayor to insure that many of these efforts continue and I will still be on the front-lines when needed to help advance our shared agenda.

I want everyone to know, as I exit the Mayor’s office, that our city is blessed with outstanding leaders in our City Manager Mike O’Brien and our School Superintendent Dr. Melinda Boone. I have truly enjoyed working with them and I hope I will be able to continue to do so in the City Council.

Most of all I want to thank all of you for your friendship and support. I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful people who have helped with my campaigns and cared for me and my family. I could not have done it without countless people who have stepped forward to lend a hand and I will always be grateful that you helped me have the honor of serving the great people of this city.

I hope that we can continue to find ways to work together to make life better for the people of our city, state and nation. Some among us dislike politics, as if we could have good government without it. We disagree. For us politics is the way we turn citizenship into a verb. I hope we can continue to do our public work together.

Yours in friendship,

Joe

By Rosalie Tirella

It’s funny, after my column ran (in our paper) re: cameras being installed at Worcester traffic lights to catch folks who run red lights and (potentially) cause accidents in our fair city or at least make everyone in town drive a bit more aggessively, we here this: Mike Lavin, a retired plumber/jainitor of the Worcester Public Schools and now the personal plumber of the Worcester Police Department (hhis son is a cop on the Worcester police force) was recently bitching about how he was oging to be asked to fix a ticket that one of his pals got when HE RAN A RED LIGHT.

Oh, the guy told me, I’ll just ask Mike Lavin to fix the ticket.

So, now Lavin, who is head of the city union of janitorial workers and ran for city council and thanks to the City of Worcester brings in over $90,000 grand a year and whose son, a Worcester cop who Lavin told me several years agto is making $90,000 after only being on the force for a few years is pissed. Pissed that he was outed!

Tough Twinkies, Lavin!

This is what you do: Doble Dip. This is what the Worcester City Council needs to stop: Double Dipping by the city’s retired municipal workers (school and city side).

This is the routine: People like Mike Lavin work for the city of Worcester and then retire in their early 60s so they can get a pension from the city that is 80% of their city pay check. They do this and then they end up working for the City of Worcester again – as a subcontractor, etc. So they end up getting two City of Worcester paychecks! Usually these jamokes bring in almost $1000,000 grand,courtesy of our city leaders. These pigs – and I mean Lavin – game the system: “retire” and then use their city connections to do plumbing or electrical work or plowing or working in after school programs.

This is wrong! If you are retired from the city of Worcester schools, plumbing department, you should not be able to work EVER AGAIN for the city of Worcester in that capacity. Let some young kid or better yet some minority kid just starting out get the partime City of Worcester job.

Lavin is retired! Let him go Florida and sip screw drivers to his heart’s content. But let’snot have him fixing all the toilets in the Worcester Police Dept/s headquarters, etc. Let ths City of Worcester hire somkeone else, some one who is not retired or in the system. Some one fresh and new! New faces are what we need! Not the same old retreads like Mike Lavin!

With the economy on the brink of a DOUBLE DIP RECESSION, THE CITY OF WORCESTER SHOULD BE TRYING TO SPREAD ITS BUCKS – THE TAX PAYERS’ MONEY – MORE EQUITABLY! Please Mayor O’Brien and Worcester City Councilors make a new rule: now City of Worcester retirees back into the system! Make it a point to hire new people so these plumbers, teachers, etc can make it in this touch economy, so Worcester can have a new crop of workers – new municipal part-timers or subcontractors who represent the city of Worcester – not hogs at the trough – people like Mike Lavin.

So for Lavin to whine about my wondering about him and fixed red light tickets just show you how entitled Lavin and these other hogs – fat with a City of Worcester pension! 89% of their paychecks! – are.

Change the rules Worcester City Council! Make it so that Mike Lavin and other city of Worcester retireees cannot work for the City of Worcester once they retire!

It’s the only fair thing to do!

WCCA TV 13, on behalf of EPG channels everywhere, expresses gratitude to the members of Worcester City Council for passing a resolution in support of the Community Access Preservation Act (CAP Act).

The resolution was co-sponsored by Mayor Joseph O’Brien and City Councilor Barbara Haller.

The resolution was adopted unanimously, after I spoke before the council last night, March 8, 2011, and explained, in brief, detail about the dangerous impact state issued franchise licenses have had upon PEG channels and what the CAP Act will accomplish.

The resolution illustrates to our Federal and State Legislators that the City of Worcester stands with the Public Access [PEG] Community and other community media organizations in support of changes to the Telecommunication Act to protect and guarantee assurances for the advancement of PEG.

We thank the City of Worcester for recognizing the importance and value of PEG community access and also thank the many WCCA TV members who petitioned on behalf of localism and PEG community media access everywhere.

- Mauro DePasquale, Executive Director
WCCA TV, “The People’s Channel”
Worcester

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STAND FOR CHILDREN TESTIFIES IN SUPPORT OF HEALTH BENEFIT REFORM

Framingham Teacher Speaks Out in Support of Health Benefit Reform

BOSTON: Stand for Children testified in support of Municipal Health Benefit Reform to the Joint Committee on Public Service at the State House today. As skyrocketing health care costs continue to strain municipal budgets, Stand for Children is advocating for provisions that will ameliorate the financial burden on cities and towns and ensure that taxpayers’ dollars are being invested where they can make the most difference – in the classroom.

Stand for Children’s recommendations will allow cities and towns to direct at least $136 to $151 million towards saving educators’ jobs and protecting valuable community services across the Commonwealth. Included are provisions implementing good-faith bargaining measures to negotiate health care design, moving eligible municipal employees into Medicare, and transitioning to a system of global payment. These provisions would significantly lower health care costs in municipal budgets while still providing excellent benefits to municipal workers.

“Mitigating the skyrocketing cost of insuring municipal employees is an urgent issue that directly affects teachers’ jobs,” stated Jason Williams, Executive Director of Stand for Children. “Stand for Children supports this common-sense solution and legislators need to act now to help keep teachers in the classroom because our kids can’t afford to wait.”

“As a teacher in Framingham Public Schools, I believe Stand for Children’s recommendations are amenable to both parents and teachers,” stated Rosangela Caixa, a Stand for Children member and first grade teacher at the Potter Road School. “We need to pass health benefit reform now to help protect the jobs of teachers across the Commonwealth and to ensure that education is a viable career choice for the next generation of teachers.”

“Stand for Children’s recommendations will allow a greater proportion of education funding to support teachers and the important work they do in the classroom,” stated Jim Stockless, a Stand for Children member in Framingham. “Cities and towns are spending too much money on skyrocketing health insurance costs and we need to start spending this money on protecting teachers’ jobs and investing in our children.”

“Stand for Children’s recommendations reflect a vested interest in collective bargaining and provide both management and labor with a voice at the negotiating table,” stated Juli Brazile, a Stand for Children member in Arlington. “We need to retain teachers’ jobs and critical school services, but this will be impossible if we don’t address the soaring cost of health care now.”

By Rosalie Tirella

How wrong Worc. Schoolcommitteewomen Tracy Novick and Dianna Biancheria they are about the Goddard School and how little they know about inner-city schools/urban school districts/educating the poor.

Novick and Biancheria have no idea how wonderful Worcester’s Public School system is! Safe, clean, well run schools where learning goes on every day! Teachers and principals who love their kids and kids who look at their schools as one of the best things about their neighborhoods.

Look at Springfield, Lowell, Lawrence, Hartford – even Boston. All of these urban public school systems can be compared to Worcester’s. All have lower standardized test scores, lower high school graduation rates and more – let’s be honest here – violence. We cannot and should not forget how violent some inner-city public schools can be. Poverty, ignorance, hunger, resentment can all add up to a huge tinder box – not a place to learn and grow. The Hartford Public Schools have security guards stationed in their high schools! Security guards! The kids there call them “Toy Cops.” Students in Hartford Public Schools – one of the poorest in the country – have urinated in hallways, overturned teachers’ desks when they were out of the classroom, broken into teachers’ cars.

Compared to so many urban systems in America, the Worc. Public Schools are heaven – pure heaven.

Novick and Biancheria need to know this – and remember this.

They also need to know they are outnumbered. Worcester teachers and educators (except the grandstanding Gary Rosen) and inner-city youth workers are 100% behind the kids and teachers at Goddard – and the W. School Committee’s 4 to 3 vote to move on and NOT seek the state records re: Goddard MCAS test results (the state’s invalidating the schools scores). A few of these adults – adults who have worked with inner-city families and kids for years – have told me what a great school Goddard is. They have spoken to me over the phone and I have heard their passion and deep feelings for kids who are oftentimes behind society’s 8 ball. Gary Rosen has mocked the true feelings people like Mayor Joe O’Brien and John Monfredo and Jack Foley – all adults who have special and deep knowledge of inner-city kids/life – have for the Goddard School and students.

It was amazing to see Novick get on with her misguided crusade to seek all state records after 100 Goddard parents and teachers, etc filled City Hall chambers to speak lovingly of their school and to say: LET IT GO, BITCH.

But Novick, in her little cheery, voice, in her little trim suit was brutal. It was as if she had not heard the testimony of the Latino parents. It was as if she was deaf to what the community was telling her. She was putting her ego before the Goddoard School parents and students.

Let me say this. While not all teachers love the MCAS, they do undertand that the tests are a way for the state to stay COMMITTED to educating our most disadvantaged students. The State of Mass is saying, through the MCAS tests: We value poor kids. We value inner-city kids who have had none of the lucky circumstances middle-class kids have had. We expect our teachers to teach them – not just promote them to the next grade level. We expect these students to master the basics – reading, writing, math – so they can go onto college and get a a good job. Or if not college, our neediest students will still have the skills to be able to be trained for some work – to succeed in life. Flourish in their communities. Not end up living in poverty like their parents – and most likely their grandparents.

The MCAS are really about moving families out of poverty. They are about respecting kids -wanting them to leave our public schools with a set of skills that will be a foundation for a successful life.

As a Lamartine Street School student years ago – Worcester’s first (labelled) inner-city school – we took tons of standardized tests. So the state could see how we kids were doing. Those test taking days were stressful – and not all the kids did well. But our teachers – Mr. Monfredo, especially – could take those scores and see what we students needed to learn. And after the two or so days of rigid test taking, there was always a party in the boiler room or auditorium. We got to see a great Disney movie and have little Hoodsie ice cream cups! Life went on! We kids felt OK about our school, our teachers and our principal.

Novick has lived a sheltered life. She thinks the MCAS test is the enemy! She thinks the Goddard School staff must be hung out to dry! In front of the entire Worcester community!

How wrong she is …

By Rosalie Tirella

Last night I sat before a little TV set mesmerized – absolutely mesmerized! – by all the whackiness that was flying around the august City Council chambers. You should have been their, folks! OR: You should have at least watched last night’s Worcester City Council meeting on your TV set! You could have sliced the rancor and the nuttiness with a meat cleaver! It was “Reno 911″ Worcester style! What a gas, gas, gas!!!!

Here we go: Nutty Scene #1: Sam Rosario. Rosario, a duplicitous blowhard whom everyone in Worcester thinks is a duplicitous blowhard, is representing the liveries in their quest to become taxis. Sammy is a guy who once told political opponent Joe Cassella to step out of a three-way city council primary race because he (Cassella) had no chance of winning – it was really a race between him (Rosario) and the incumbent (dope Joff Smith). That was before Cassella trounced him and then went on to run against Smith in November and do fairly well – and seemingly (thank God!) put an end to Rosario’s political aspirations. Well, last night Sammy went bonkers. Click to continue »

By Rosalie Tirella

as far as I can see.

Why?

Because after watching this week’s Worcester City Council meeting, I still see the new mayor, Joe O’Brien, doiing or saying anything of interest. He hasn’t offered any intelligent thoughts on anything. I think, at this point, he’s just happy to be able to run the council meeting without fucking up. Like a big kid – happily heading the class while the real teacher (Konnie Lukes) is out of the class.

So, the guy is affable. Big deal! We need Konnie – or at lease her courage, ideas and articulate-ness.

For instance, this week Konnie came up with this: banning plastic bags. That’s right. No plastic bags for shoppers at Price Chopper, Shaw’s etc. Bring/buy a tote to the store. Save the planet. Click to continue »

This just in from the wonderful Roger Frost who read my Worcester Haiti bash post and ACTUALLY LOOKED UP THE BIBLE PARABLE I USED IN MY STORY!

Thank you, Roger!

Here it is, from Roger, from the King James Bible:

Mark 12:41-43 (King James Version)< Click to continue »

By Rosalie Tirella

It was disappointing to watch Worcester’s new mayor, the exceedingly hoarse Joe O’Brien, at last week’s city council meeting. “Zero gravitas” I told myself, as I watched the guy attempt to run (never mind lead) his first Worcester City Council meeting last Tuesday eve. He was nice enough – but not serious enough. He gave folks their turn to talk – but didn’t do much talking about anything important. He should have. He seemed to have nothing more to offer than a goofy smile when City Councilor Konnie Lukes’ suggested Worcester cap its affordable housing. (By the way, she was much more mayoral than O’Brien. She spoke with confidence. She was articulate. She grabbed that mic and held it – with authority!)

I love Konnie Lukes, but I disagree with Konnie Lukes. Totally. Strongly. Passionately. Shame on O’Brien for not coming to the rescue of the inner-city or inner-city families or inner-city kids (who he wants to make sure get the best urban education in the country). First he lives in Main South and sees the effects of poverty daily. Second: He should know a kid can’t get a first-rate education, if your family is on the run from slumlords or stressed to the MAX paying high bills or scrimping on food or clothing to pay Worcester’s $800 rents. Ya want smart kids, Joe? Then give them safe, clean apartments run by parents/guardians who dodn’t feel the wolf is at the door. ALWAYS! Click to continue »