By Ron O’Clair

This past winter will go down in the history books for total snowfall accumulation in the Worcester area. I know because I am responsible as the building and property manager to remove the snow from the sidewalks bordering the various properties that I have been tasked to take care of.

This year I got smart, and paid other people to do the shoveling while I used my truck to plow and make the money to pay the people who shoveled for me, rather than break my back doing all the shoveling myself as I had done for many of the previous winters. It was not my intention to do this, I got flagged down during the February 8th Blizzard by a few people who saw my plow, and asked if I would plow them out. I agreed, and with the next blizzard they wanted me to do them again, so I guess they are now my clients, and I have a route to plow. As they are on the way to the properties I am responsible to shovel, it works for all concerned.

While on the subject of snow removal, I want to thank Mr. Bill Spellane of Spellane Auto Body on Wellington Street for having had his employee operating the bobcat clear the snow in front of the 703-711 Main Street property after the first blizzard, and for doing it for free as part of a “good neighbor” policy. I don’t think I made it clear that he did that at no cost to me or the owner of this property, and he deserves the recognition because there are not many people like Bill Spellane left, once again, thank you Mr. Spellane. I’ve seen the good work his shop puts out, so if you need body work, take it to Bill Spellane.

As some of my readers know, I did a story on identity theft a while back, and I recently came across a couple of places where you can report if you have been the victim of identity theft or a “phishing” scam. If you were the victim of identity theft and someone used your information to get a credit card in your name you can contact the government at: www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov to file a complaint. You can also contact the government to report a “Phishing” scam at: phishing-report@us-cert.gov

I did not have these places to report what happened to me when my hotmail account got hijacked or when someone opened a credit card account in my name and I had a hell of a time getting all that straightened out, but I forwarded the suspicious E-mails that I have gotten supposedly from reliable sources that ask for sensitive information and threaten to cancel your account if you do not reply to them. Do not fall for this scam. Legitimate sources do not ask for your sensitive information such as passwords or social security numbers. Never give them out, or you are just asking for trouble. I found this stuff out when I filled out the Walmart survey and found these Internet addresses listed there.

If you have already given out your information, change your passwords on your E-mail accounts right away for your own protection, it makes sense to change them periodically anyway as I found out the hard way.

I see the foot patrol officers walking their beat around my neighborhood, and hope that they continue doing that for the foreseeable future in the neighborhood surrounding the PIP Shelter which still suffers from having the shelter located here. I have noticed that I have to kick out people from the private property who are engaged in illegal drug usage. Some things never change, or it takes a long time to see any change at any rate. Some progress has been made towards cleaning up this neighborhood, and I would hate to see it erode back into what it once was, which was intolerable. The warm weather is coming and with it generally comes trouble in the neighborhood with people using the sidewalks for everything other than walking.

I have to give the Worcester Police credit for making people move along and stop loitering all over the place as should have been done right along. There was a time a few years back when people made a habit of camping out on the public sidewalks, and the police would drive right by without doing anything about it, which led to an intolerable situation for those who live in the area and who had to go into the street to navigate the area due to people sprawled out intoxicated and obstructing the sidewalks. They still do on occasion, but not nearly as bad as before.

By Rosalie Tirella

… about some developments. Last night, just as I slipped into my jammies and got ready to watch “The 400 Blows,” my fave film, for the tenth time, I got a call from a PIP client. Distraught over the living situation down there.

Now InCity Times has covered the PIP for over a decade, back when the lovely Buddy was its executive director. Even in the Buddy days, when PIP clients were actually loved, treated with much kindness … it was still a scary place.

These days things seem to have exploded, imploded, spun out of control at the PIP, so now we have a dirty, dumpy, violent hell hole. Or so alot of PIP clients claim, including the person who called me last night, a sweet heart, I may add. She picked up this issue of ICT and got my number off the masthead. A regular reader, God love her!

We talked about the old PIP regime. Do the clients miss George Orcut and his mom, life long PIP workers who along with Budddy, made
the PIP clients, Wusta’s truly downtrodden, a home, a special place?

I would say YES. However, something else is going on at the PIP. Clients, as battle weary/ready and tough as they come, are afraid to lay their heads on their PIP pillows to sleep it off, wait for the new day to dawn. New hope? New fix? That always depended on the client.

But the woman who called me last night said people were assaulted nightly. That the police were there nightly. That a 19-year-old girl was sleeping amidst a bunch of street guys.

There used to be male and female sleeping quarters when Buddy ran the PIP. Yes, folks, wasted on junk or booze, used to be sprawled out on the floor in the main area, but the old PIP workers tried to get them to one of the tables in the room, off to a corner, maybe talking with a PIP social or health worker.

All that should still be happening, no matter how put out SMOC, the Metro West agency that now runs the PIP, feels.

SMOC has run the PIP for a few years now, but it has agreed to close the PIP building at 701 Main Street and wait for new digs to be opened in the Piedmont neighborhood.

Well, furniture was gotten rid of, the place was set up to feed folks, assess the real hard luck/sick cases and move them out to local hospitals. Then the City of Worcester asked SMOC to stick with their old mission for a little while longer, since the new shelter in Piedmont was running behind schedule … And Worcester had no place set up for its drug abusing homeless population.

Personally, I think city officials were hoping for such a gap. So the people that no one wants to deal with/care for could fall into it … and disappear.

By Ron O’Clair

Ground Zero Blizzard of 2013 – next to the P.I.P. homeless shelter on Charlton Street (Main South).

I’d like to share with you reader’s my experiences during the recent storm that hit us here in Worcester pretty damn hard. Living and working right beside the homeless shelter has been the bane of my existence for quite some time, since July of 1996 to be exact.

As many of you know I have been an active supporter and advocate of reclaiming the neighborhood around the shelter from the forces of depravity that have been trying to destroy it for many years. I have done everything in my power through the printed word to bring attention to the problems plaguing the neighborhood due to it being the area that the shelter continues, despite all promises to the contrary to provide lodging and sustenance to the City of Worcester homeless population.

At various times I have been for and against the shelter over these many years. I also have been the person directly responsible for the property that is adjacent to the shelter as the building superintendent of the commercial and residential building on the other side of Charlton Street from the shelter, since 16 June, 2003.

That responsibility is the prime reason that I became against the location of the shelter, rather than the ardent supporter I had once been. After all, there is a true need for a shelter of the type that personifies the PIP, and there are legitimate cases of people in need through no fault of their own for temporary assistance finding gainful employment and permanent housing due to various causes. Then there are the ones that use the shelter solely as a resource to continue to imbibe in illegal substances, or alcohol rather than to be responsible and pay for their own lodging. As long as they are going to get housing, they see no need to change their drug dependant habits, and continue being a drain on the economy funded by the taxpayers among us.

Part of my responsibilities as the building superintendent is snow removal, and I sure as hell had a job of it this time. I am responsible to remove the accumulated snow from not just this one, but three properties owned by the landlord who owns this building. It is an onerous task when there are only 3-6 inches, never mind the amounts we got during this blizzard of February 8-9th.

I am fortunate enough to have my own plow truck, and am able to plow the driveway for the tenants with it. The sidewalks have to be either shoveled or snow blown by City Ordnance within ten hours of the end of the storm. That is the property owner’s responsibility and through the deal that I have with Mr. Romero, it becomes my responsibility.
Normally I do all of the brunt work myself, with the end result being a very sore back, and a desire never to have to do it again. Sometimes I will hire out for labor to help with the shoveling while I tend to the plowing duties or get one of my friends to help out.

This time I hired two people, Michael P., one of my tenants, and a guy named Joseph who approached me as I was loading up the truck to head out to take care of the other two properties, Oread, and Greenwood Streets.
Joseph happens to be a shelter resident who says he is from New Hampshire, and has Sicilian and Puerto Rican heritage. He said he was in need of money and was willing to shovel snow to earn some of it, so I settled with him for a fair wage and took him out on the jobs. Unlike the people that hold signs saying they will work for food, or hungry please help, this guy approached me in my hour of need with a bonifide request to lighten my load, and make himself some cash money for his efforts. It seemed like a win – win situation so I accepted his offer.

Sad to say, most of those that stand out there on the corners of various streets in our fair City with signs begging for money that say they will work for food in actuality are only interested in free handouts to buy alcohol or drugs, not food. If it is food they want, they eat at the Mustard Seed, the PIP, or the Salvation Army and spend all they connive out of unsuspecting motorists on crack cocaine or heroin.

I don’t know what Joseph intended to do with his money, but I do know that he earned it honestly and fairly. It was well worth it to me to save me from a terrific backache. This was one of few positive experiences that I have had from a shelter resident. Most other encounters are from those that continually trespass onto the private property to hide in the shadows and shoot up, or smoke crack cocaine, and litter up the property with all manner of trash they leave behind that it ends up being my responsibility to clean up.

Most of the neighborhood residents and business owner’s are fed up with the lawlessness that has been allowed to continue for far too long. It is the same people doing the same criminal activity day after day without pause. We see these people, know who they are, and call the police to report them breaking the law, yet nothing ever happens to them, and they are out there the next day, business as usual.

I found myself in quite a bind due to the amount of snow that had accumulated rapidly in front of the building from the storm before I got out there to deal with it. I should have gotten out there a couple of hours sooner. The entire front of the building had drifted over with snow that was at least as high as my waist, and in some spots higher. There was no way I could remove that amount of snow, even if I had a whole crew of Joseph’s to help me. I could not plow it off as I like to do because the snow piled up faster than I had anticipated and it was too heavy for my GMC Sierra to push. In fact I got stuck in front of Multi-Services at 705 Main Street trying to clear the sidewalk in front of my property and the Emanuel Baptist Church as I like to do to be a good neighbor. Reverend Wright can testify that I have plowed or snow blown in front of his property many times in the past just to help out someone else for the satisfaction of doing for someone else without expecting anything in return. Click to continue »

By Rosalie Tirella

… from vacation and wants to get down to affordable housing business. Billy Randell, 46, and Paulie Collyer, 50, can’t wait to see the HUD report. We can’t wait to see THEIR affordable housing plan for Wusta! They want to dismantle the city’s CDCs and everything these non-profits do for the city, like provide affordable housing for working families. How will Collyer and Randell, two middle-aged guys – millionaire developers with their $$ agendas – save Worcester’s working folks?

Collyer owns five three deckers in the city, all filled up as of this fall. Randell does a ton of Section 8 with his properties, so is already being subsidized by the federal government, an entity he wants out of the city’s housing picture if it’s not benefitting him.

So where are the thousands of people who need good, safe, affordable housing in Worcester supposed to live, if these two blow hards and their buddies can’t provide the affordable housing?

Easy. They can go to Fitchburg or Southbridge or anywhere but Worcester.They can go to hell! That is what these guys want. Collyer told me this summer that yes, with this new housing policy in place, there are going to be families who fall off Worcester’s housing cliff. He made a fist with his soft, beefy hand and then dropped it.

How would YOU like to be the Worcester family in that fat Collyer fist?

Oh, and Collyer has suggested when asked how to make the city of Worcester a better place: send half the Puerto Ricans back to Puerto Rico. He told me this this summer as the affordable housing debate was beginning to heat up.

Well, if Collyer, who seems to rent his units to Vietnamese folks, has his way, that is exactly what we may be seeing in a few years.

Don’t let Collyer and Randell make these big choices for Worcester.

By Rosalie Tirella

With the CT school children massacre, ICT delivery, have just got a look at this coming Tuesday’s City Council meeting agenda.

Seems all our housing questions and issues will be discussed and decided then. The May Street debacle. The update on release of government funds for our CDCs. And finally, a vote will be taken …

on A CAPPING OF BUILDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN OUR DOWNTOWN AREA.

At 10%. That is the cut off point for any new developments to be built.

Even the SUCCESSFUL Canal District housing complex, the one in the old Chevalier Furniture building has 20% affordable housing.

I was listening to an NPR show where the director of New York City’s Redevelopment Authority said the city of New York encourages developers to build 20% affordable housing units in new complexes, to make the city affordable for immigrants.

By enacting this urban version of snob zoning, we will be punishing CDCs, immigrant families, working families and young teachers, secretaries, etc.

Big mistake.

10% cap is not endorsed by the development officer for the greatest city in America. She understands what makes a city great.

Worcester just closes the doors.

Our CDCs do 20.

By Rosalie Tirella

… Santa lands at Kelley Square tonight at 5:30 p.m. Green Island organizer Lorraine Laurie lost her head elf last year – former District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller. Barb – for years – picked up Lorraine at her home and together they drove around and got gifts and other goodies for the celebration – which culminates in the Kelley Square Christmas Tree being LIT UP. Big time!!

This year the folks helping her are the good eggs from Joseph’s Locksmith on Green Street. An elf from Joseph’s picked Lorraine up earlier and whoosh! Off they went to … make the magic.

Lorraine alerted all the local pols. Here’s hoping they show up – with (jingle) bells on their toes.

***************

It seems Paul Collyer and Bill Randell – under the rubric “big biz guys from the Chandler Business Association” – are on a Public relations crusade. They have grabbed every city councilor they could, brought them to Piedmont and attempted to sell them their vision of the inner-city ‘hood. Their main goal is to reduce number of CDCs and purge Piedmont and Main South, etc of the people they call “no-low income.” Yup. Stop building affordable housing, through CDCs, and voila! All our problems will be over! We will be in the Village of Piedmont inhaling sushi and drinking to our heart’s content. Yuppiedom here we come!

Screw working families, bringing factories back to our city, or even creating an incubator type building for college students who want to start small businesses. It is all about shutting doors – and eating and drinking and having a ton of fun. It’s not about solving difficult urban and American issues in an honest way. It’s about kicking the problem 30 miles down or up the road to Southbridge, Webster, Fitchburg or Gardner.

Both these guys are millionaires – the 1%. And, as Collyer said to me this summer, after a certain point (read: getting really rich), “it becomes a game.”

A game for these guys. To play. To win! The city councilors they meet with will be wooed so that their wills will be bent. To Billy and Paulie’s point of view! It is all about power and mammoth egos.

Boo hoo.

Think of all the families just scraping by in Piedmont or the poor kids in Chandler Elementary School who are not the 1%. Who live in the hood 365 days a year. No month-long breaks to Cape Cod, Florida, Somerville or New Orleans like Paul Collyer (he himself has said he has a “dual residence” – Somerville and Worcester). And poor folks from Piedmont don’t live in Holden like Billy Randell.

Yet these guys are gonna decide what the Worcester housing plan is for inner-city folks who really live here. For the next couple of decades.

Here’s hoping the city councilors don’t get too snowed/too stupid and ask some sharp questions.

By Rosalie Tirella

The pulverize-the-CDCs crowd is either naive … or cynical when it tells Worcesterites to embrace the section of the housing report that says STOP BUILDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN OUR POOR NEIGHBORHOODS. BUILD IT IN OUR MIDDLE CLASS NEIGHBORHOODS. Start integrating the classes!

Right! Like that is gonna happen in our West Side or Burncoat neighborhoods any time soon.

Look at the brutal time the developer is having by Dodge Park! I remember watching a city council meeting three or so years ago during which a developer who wanted to build a duplex around the Salisbury and Forest streets neighborhood was flat out denied. The city councilors voted NO way, claiming the duplex would wreck the integrity of the neighborhood. Then a vote was taken to prohibit duplexes amongst the Tudors and the ancient farts who owned them. Forever.

So when the CDCs are castrated and working/poor folks begin leaving Worcester, or not moving to the city in the first place, a group of developers will have gotten their way. They will have created Wusta Snob Zoning. And it will be Worcesterites’ fault. We gave the city the OK to stop building affordable housing in Main South,  Piedmont and Oak Hill because city officials promised affordable units would be sprinkled in amongst the Dutch colonials. But that aint gonna happen. Not in our solidly middle-class neighborhoods.

Here is the other section of my previous blog post! (also, the first part, slightly reworked)

The Mismeasure of Worcester

By Rosalie Tirella

Early Years: 1988-1990

The MSCDC’s first office space was provided by Clark University and was located in the attic area of the university administrative building. With no air conditioning, no air circulation and ninety degree temperatures outside, it soon became apparent that a move was necessary and “prime” office space was located a block from the university in an empty commercial space that formerly housed White’s Cleaners. In fact, “White’s Cleaners” (with a few letters missing) was still prominently displayed above the door.

At first, more visitors to the building were people looking for drycleaning than perople coming in to talk about MSCDC functions and business. In addition to the confusion over whether we were a MSCDC or a cleaners, we also dealt with stray cats that lived above the suspended ceilings and the problem of having to regularly evacuate the premises when the heating system malfunctioned and fumes and soot were blown into the office space.

However, through these early “adventures” the MSCDC was able to undertake some substantive work. State and local foundation funding was obtained and the MSCDC was able to hire Maria Rosario Click to continue »

By Sue Moynagh

Twenty years ago, there was a house on my Worcester street that was a major eyesore, a real problem property. You know the story: absentee landlord lets the property slide into serious disrepair, tenants long gone, and so the house becomes a prime spot for crime in the neighborhood. I could see it from my apartment. I would watch pieces of siding pull off during wind storms and fly up the street. Windows were broken, and gradually, the house became a nest for squatters, prostitutes and drug dealers. There were other such houses in the Union Hill neighborhood, and these places are likely to be found in every city, but this place was “in my face,” visible from my parlor window. Every time I walked by, I could smell the garbage from the front hallway, as the door was almost always open. Who wants to live and raise their family next to that?

Then one day, I heard that Oak Hill Community Development Corporation (CDC) had bought the place and they were going to rehab it for first-time home buyers. I watched workers carry out tons of garbage and broken furniture. Windows and siding were replaced. The property next door, an abandoned lot, was made into parking spaces and a backyard with trees and grass. I went over for the open house and met the family who would purchase this place, but I also wanted to know more about the CDC that performed this miracle.

In 1999, I attended a few community meetings hosted by this agency. They were developing other properties, and wanted resident input on the proposed plans for the old, fire- gutted synagogue on Providence Street, as well as another badly neglected three decker house. I was intrigued and impressed, so I became a member of the Oak Hill real estate committee. In time, I joined their Board of Directors. I saw this as a great opportunity to become involved in turning my neighborhood around.

Now, in 2012, Oak Hill CDC has been a presence in this community for about 40 years. They have developed 184 units of affordable housing primarily in the Union Hill section, by rehabilitating burned out, run- down, and foreclosed properties. Most of these are historic three- deckers that probably would have been targets of arson and eventually torn down. They have also built some duplexes for first- time homebuyers. I have been in many of these homes, and again, I am impressed by the work. Owners are required to live inside these homes for a number of years before selling to another first- time home buyer. The hope is that these new residents will care about the neighborhood and become involved in making the community their own.

The CDC is involved in Community Engagement as well as real estate improvement. Last summer, I attended a Resident Leadership training hosted by Oak Hill CDC staff and board members. We met weekly to learn how to develop skills to work at the grassroots level. Although I have been involved in community work prior to this training, I learned quite a bit that has been useful to me as an activist. There are also monthly community meetings that include a crime watch. The Board Chair has been active in youth engagement, and there is a community garden that allows neighbors to grow their own healthy vegetables. This is just a sample of the contributions Oak Hill CDC has made to the neighborhood.

Is everything perfect? No, of course not. There is still much work to be done. There are still “eyesore” buildings that will require work. Fewer than half of the available unitsin the Oak Hill service area are owner occupied, and some absentee landlords have to be taken to court before they actually improve their properties. Community Development Corporations usually provide homeowners with assistance in making their buildings safe and suitable for tenants. There are other problems to deal with, such as crime and litter, but Oak Hill (and other CDCs and community based agencies) work with residents to take a proactive approach to making their area safer and cleaner. People have to get involved!

Oak Hill Community Development Corporation has definitely been an asset to the Union Hill neighborhood. They partner with other agencies, businesses and institutions to assist in bringing about positive changes. It is slow but sure work, but if enough residents care to change things for the better, the CDC will provide the resources to make this happen. I am grateful to Oak Hill for their work, and will continue to be a part of their team.