Category Archives: Green Island Grrrl

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

How dumb can they get?

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By Rosalie Tirella

Why is it that we have a plethora of yahoos on the Worcester City Council? First there is City Councilor at Large Frederick “Ric” Rushton, whose trials and tribulations I chronicle in “Dope-o-rama” – ’cause he’s so dopey. Whether Rushton’s talking about the “vortex” in his brain or browbeating his council mates with a half-baked version of some historical event, Rushton never seems to get anything right.

Then there’s City Councilor Joff Smith, who, when recently complaining about the Asian Long-Horned Beetle in sentences cobbled together with thumb tacks and dangling participles galore, took his moron-ness to an even higher level: During a recent city council meeting Smith said that some of his conversations with officials reminded him of “episodes of Scooby Doo.” Scooby Doo?!

For the uninitiated, Scooby Doo was a 1960s Saturday morning cartoon – the star of which was a goofy Great Dane named Scooby Doo. Scooby had all these silly adventures with four 20-something kids (they’re Joff’s age) – one of whom always yelled: “Scooby Doo, where are YOU?!” Continue reading How dumb can they get? →

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

Cheers to WPI! (and don’t forget to credit Tony!)

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By Rosalie Tirella

What a surprise! WPI, following the lead of the great Charles Monahan and his downtown college, has volunteered to make PILOT payments to the City of Worcester. More than $9 million over two decades! The money will be used to (re)open our flagship library on Salem Square. So now kids can go to the downtown Worcester Public Libray on Sundays or Mondays or Wednesday mornings (the times the library is now closed). InCity Times has been asking for this kind of commitment from Worcester’s private colleges for YEARS! And now, deep in the midst of a national, state and city financial meltdown, WPI has decided to do the right thing!

Thank you, WPI! Thank you, City Manager Mike O’Brien for brokering this ground-breaking agreement! Thank you (and we never thought we’d be writing this) District 2 City Councilor Phil Palmieri for hammering away at the colleges/nonprofits during city council meeting after city council meeting. City Councilor at Large Gary Rosen has also been wonderful, even suggesting that the colleges support our library system or open their libraries to Worcester families. And also thanks to District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller who was pro-PILOT (Payment in Lieu for Taxes) from the get-go – years back. Continue reading Cheers to WPI! (and don’t forget to credit Tony!) →

Green Island Grrrl, InCity Feature, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

Trust Obama!

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By Rosalie Tirella

Some folks on the left are disappointed in our prez. Not I! He is cool, goodlooking, smart and progressive. How wonderful to turn on the tube and see a guy who speaks well, listens carefully, reacts intelligently, has a sense of humor (a wee bit smug, perhaps) AND is pretty much the community organizer I voted for last November.

President Barack Obama still cares about families, neighborhoods and kids. He wants a health care system that doesn’t break the bank – a system that serves the guy with cancer or the girl who just broke an ankle. Not the insurance companies or the HMOs. And no, there will not be rationing of health care. And like Obama said, if you have health insurance that you are happy with and you like all your docs – then keep them. But chances are you will be paying less money for their good services. Continue reading Trust Obama! →

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog

State Rep. Bob Spellane spills out …

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By Rosalie Tirella

… of himself again! Like the perfect idiot that he is! Like someone who should have been arrested (and would have been, if he were black and poor and this face-off occured in Main South’s Crystal Park).

If John Fresolo had just done what prima donna State Rep. Bob Spellane had done – thrown a hissy fit at a Worcester Little League game, attacked his ex-brother in law, come within a hair’s breath of mixing it up with his ex-wife … demanding the $19 bucks he said she owed him for a new pair of sneakers for their son (I predict four score and seven years of psychotherapy for the Spellane kiddies!) –  the rotund Telegram & Gazette columnist Dianne Williamson (she got that way from eating all that red meat and smoking!) would have written a delicious column on him. We would have read all the kooky details: like Spellane went ballistic over half the cost of a pair of kid sneakers! That Spellane went postal AFTER last year’s mess, the one is which he used his political position and his father in law’s good name to pay ZERO mortgage payements on a country house he bought. AFTER his wife’s family gave him (for which they are now suing him) $150,000. After Spellane had to pay the state a fine for coming within spitting distance of breaking state ethics laws. After Spellane and his wife graced the cover of a Worcester glossy magazine as one of the main characters in a cover story about Worcester’s illustrious – and happily married! – political couples. After Spellane cheated on his wife with a girl reporter from a local cable TV news station.

How big a crumb bum can this crumb bum get?

Much bigger, we suspect! During the recent (now infamous) Little League game, supposedly to cheer his son on, Spellane acted like the kind of kid coaches “bench” every game: a stupid and selfish bully. Spellane shoved his smarmy face into the face of his ex-brother-in-law. They chased each other around a picnic table, for Gawd’s sake! REAL grown ups had to pull him off the other guy.

But, hey, this is Worcester. Spellane is “connected,” and  Dianne Williamson swims in the same fetid sludge in which Spellane and his political bros doggy paddle. Of course, Williamson is going to protect him!

But Worcester knows a hypocritical Telegram  & Gazette columnist when she sees one. And she also knows a fool pol when she sees one – a fool pol who apparently knows no bounds when it comes to making a perfect ass of himself.

Green Island Grrrl, InCity Feature

The Friendly House sports and recreation programs – an 89-year tradition

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By Rosalie Tirella

When the Friendly House, Worcester’s premier social service agency, opened its doors in 1920, its beginnings were as humble as those of the Italian and Syrian immigrants who also made the Grafton Hill neighborhood their home. Located at 38 Wall Street, the place looked like a very large home. But, oh, what an abode! Inside: the first community-based dental clinic in the country, First Aid classes for the neighborhood moms, cooking classes for the girls, and “SNAPs” tables for the boys. Every spring in the ’40s, a Friendly House Doll Carriage Parade wended its way through the neighborhood, with little girls’ doll carriages festooned with flowers and little boys’ bikes decorated to the hilt. The “works of art” would be judged and first-place prizes awarded.

“In the beginning,” says Friendly House executive director Gordon Hargrove, “there was a lot of arts and crafts, music, drama. The Friendly House really didn’t have sports – the more athletic activities. In the ’20s and 30’s, the adults in the neighborhoods had their own baseball teams. The Groton AA.” Hargrove laughs. He is delighted to have the chance to take out the photo boxes and show a visitor all the vintage photos and share the history of a Worcester landmark, a landmark that he has been a part of since the 1950s and headed since the 1970s. To know the Friendly House is to know Gordon Hargrove. Continue reading The Friendly House sports and recreation programs – an 89-year tradition →

Green Island Grrrl

And don’t forget … Pondering the pools

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By Rosalie Tirella

My Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray patronage post (see “Hush! Hush!” post below) is missing the following important factoid: the Republican fundraiser who raised thousands of dollars for Murray – and whom Murray had to dump after grousings from the gov, his boss, and after a critical Boston Globe story – was “rewarded” by Murray, after he gave Murray the big bundle of bucks. Murray appointed the guy – a nursing home developer type  – to a board somewhere (I think) in Brockton. Murray gave the guy the position as (and let’s not be coy) as a reward because it was a position that would have enabled Murray’s fundraiser pal to do good by his biz interests. Talk about quid pro quo! Which, of course, doesn’t get talked about in Worcester, when it comes to Murray or any of our politicians, really. Which is why we get the shenanigans of a Bob Spellane (see post below).

And how coincidental is this? The $100,000 + UMass Medical School job that Murray got for his best pal Leary – after a few phone calls, no doubt – is a NEWLY CREATED JOB at UMass (just for Leary??) and IT PAYS the exact same salary  Leary is now making as Murray’s #1 aide in the State House.

The pools

What a tragedy! After all the neighborhood meetings, after all the heart-wrenching testimonials from neighborhood folks, after all the PROMISES from city officials, City Manager Mike O’Brien, with the blessings of the City Council, has closed our nine city pools for the summer. Most of the pools will most likely never have a kid cannonball into them again. How tragic!

Last year, they were fine – 8 of the 9 were opened to the public. The public being lots of minority, poor inner-city folks with not a lot of money/options for summer fun. This year, according to city officials, the pools are lethal! With killer drains, according to DPW and Parks head Robert Moylan! Killer drains that could reach up and grab a flutter-kicking leg and … Gak! It’s the attack of the Killer Drain!! Call the Ghost Busters! Or the Worcester Police Department!

Stop demonizing the drains! Fix them! And with the $200,000 set aside so far for private, non-progfit pool openings in the city, O’Brien could do just that. We do not warm to O’Brien’s contingency plan for summer 2009. Lots of the nonprofits that have offered help have just (so far) opted to expand pool hours for their members (or kids who want to join their organizations). The Boys Club, Girls Inc, YWCA, Main South YMCA have not – so far – opened their pools up to non-member inner-city kids. They must do this if they want to help …

But even if they do step up to the plate, we fear kids will not: take the city sponsored buses to the sites, have enough time to really have fun before they are pushed out to make room for Syncromaid practice or family “dip” for Y members. Our kids will just be squeezed in and made to feel second best. 

So let’s take the money that O’Brien has set aside for lifeguards, buses, support staff, etc at the nonprofit pools and call on a few fantastic blue collar guys (contractors/plumbers) to fix/spackle three or four of the city pools. The rest of the money can be used to hire lifeguards, etc.

What we think happened was this: O’Brien and Moylan (even while they were hearing the pleas/testimonials from inner-city kids!) were planning to close all the city pools – many in poor neighborhoods. Which is why they didn’t even begin to hire/train life guards, hire support staff, etc this year.  And of course they could cover their butts with: “We’re in a national, state and city recession! We have no money! We are laying city workers off left and right! Pools are an extravagance at this time!”

Bull shit. Their city-leased SUV’s are an extravagance! (and the dozen or so big wig in City Hall who have them, complete with free gas, don’t want to geive them up!) Worcester cops making more than $150,000 a year are an extravagance! (just regular ol’ patrol men/women!) Neither cops nor fire dept will join the real world and pay 25% of their helath insurance premiums. This is where the city budget fat is. This is where we could get the money to fix and open ALL OUR CITY POOLS!

Let’s be real – honest. 

 

Green Island Grrrl

Search committee, smearch committee

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Jeff B. sent me a comment about my last post (see below). To this, I say: Jeff, you are tres naive! To think that an official “search committtee,” made up of “board members” (8!) and all the other bells and whistles that go along with announcements/pronouncements from the state make the Leary sinecure legit/without political strings is … plain goofy. I stand by my post. Shame on the Telegram and Gazette for not attacking the story the way the Boston TV stations did. Worcester Telegram reporters John M. and Nick K. are often nothing more than personal stenographers for the powers that be (especially where Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray is concerned). They should both get a box of melted chocolates for National Secretaries’ Day. (So should you!)

– Rosalie Tirella

Green Island Grrrl

Hush! Hush!

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By Rosalie Tirella

Got an e-mail from a person a few days ago – he/she saw the news on TV because the Boston stations covered it. In Worcester, of course, there was a news blackout because it was about our very own former mayor – now Lieutenant Governor – Tim Murray.

Seems as though Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray has given his top assistant (and West Side buddy/confidant) Mr. Leary a cushy $100,000+ job at UMass Medical School. We guess being Timmy’s top gopher at the State House was a tad too much work for Leary. So he asked his buddy Tim to get him a great job – MAKING THE SAME SALARY!!!! – closer to home. Timmy obliges, makes some calls to UMass Medical School. UMass folks, of course, are happy to kiss Murray’s ass and give him what he wants (so they can get what they want from him down the line) – and PRESTO! Leary gets the UMass Medical School job. The Boston media were all over this story. Politicking at its crassest was the theme. Murray denied it had anying to do with political favors/favoritism. (Of course, when his boss, Governor Deval Patrick, gave a $170,000+ job to the wife of a donor, Worcester’s news radio stations and newspapers covered the issue. An example of spending the taxpayer’s dime foolishly; lack of respect for voters/residents, etc.)

Not so for Timmy. They stayed mum, which is why Worcester is such a joke to most folks in metro Boston. Worcester is famous (or infamous, if you prefer) for its parochialism. Why can’t we police are own – whether they be our cops or a former mayor who got lucky? Why can’t the media in this town do the right thing and call Murray for pulling something? (Just like Frank Phillips of the Boston Globe did a while back after Murray took thousands and thousands of dollars from a Republican businessman/fundraiser and then in turn gave him a seat on some board.)  After the Globe hammered away at him, Murray severed ties with the guy and – get this – kept all the thousands of dollars he raised for him but returned his personal check to the Murray campaign war chest. Not a bit of this made the Worcester papers, TV shows or radio shows.

You know, if we write about the crap in our own backyards, it doesn’t make us crappy. It keeps politicians like Murray honest. It keeps cops on their toes. And in the end, our local newspapers and other news organizations will win the respect of Worcester County readers, listeners and viewers of all political stripes.

Green Island Grrrl, InCity Feature, Rosalie's Blog

Worcester’s Pit Bulls

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By Rosalie Tirella

Worcester Animal Rescue League’s Dorreen LaPorte was driving in the Webster Square area last summer when she saw something that broke her heart: a young pit bull dog – younger than 1 year – was straining to pull three gray cinder blocks in the summer heat. The cinder blocks (weighing about 45 pounds each) were attached to three heavy chains and the chains were attached to the dog’s collar. Pit bulls are – believe it or not – crazy about people! They were bred to bait bulls and later used to fight dogs. Without their desire to please their masters, they could not endure the insanity of the bloody dog-fighting pit or tortured bulls. Also, a less sociable dog woud not allow himself to be extricated (by his master) from the pit, in the middle of a fight. (Hence, the relatively light weight of the turn-of-the-20th century pit bull dogs – 45ish pounds).

Combine the pit bull’s fierce loyalty, love of their master/mistress, innate intelligence, stamina and steely will and you have the scene LaPorte witnessed: a pit bull on Webster Square, who when his owner says “mush,” mushes. In 90-degree weather. All heart . LaPorte, who has been the executive director of WARL for more than 10 years, knew what the owner was doing – training his pit bull for dog fights.
“There’s a [pit bull fighting] dog ring on Southbridge Street,” LaPorte says. She has called the Worcester Animal Control Officers – and their bosses – and they have done nothing about breaking up the ring and rescuing the dogs. LaPorte believes there are “multiple” dog fighting rings in Worcester. Continue reading Worcester’s Pit Bulls →

Green Island Grrrl

Cheers to WPI!

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By Rosalie Tirella

What a surprise! WPI, following the lead of the great Charles Monahan and his downtown college, has volunteered to make PILOT payments to the City of Worcester. $9.1 million! The money will be used to (re)open our flagship library on Salem Square. So now kids can go to their libray on Sundays or Mondays or Wednesday mornings (the times the library is now closed). InCity Times has been asking for this kind of commitment from Worcester’s private colleges for YEARS! And now, deep in the midst of a national, state and city financial meltdown, WPI has decided to do the right thing!

Thank you, WPI! Thank you, City Manager Mike O’Brien for brokering this ground breaking agreement! Thank you (and we never thought we’d be writing this) District City Councilor Phil Palmieri for hammering away at the colleges/nonprofits council meeting after council meeting. City Councilor at Large Gary Rosen has also been wonderful, even suggesting that the colleges support our library system. And also thanks to District Four City Councilor Barbara Haller who was pro-PILOT (Payment in Lieu for Taxes) from the get-go, years back.

But I also want to take time out to give special thanks to two people who pretty much got passed over last night when the Worcester City Council gave itself MOST of the credit. Special thanks to InCity Times supporter and hero Anthony Hmura of Leader Signs on Canterbury Street. I remember when I started my newspaper almost 8 years ago – and got a call from a ballsy ol’ man named Tony, who saw the first copy of ICT and wanted to be part of the mayhem!

“Let’s get the college’s to pay us money – the leeches!” he screamed. It was a bit over the top, but after listening to Tony, I was on his side. The private colleges in Worcester are truly multi-million dollar corporations and it was wrong for them not to pay the City of Worcester any taxes. Yes, they were tax exempt because they expanded people’s minds, trained them for careers and all that good stuff … but really! Pay something for all the city services you use: fire trucks, police, clean water, snow plowing, street cleaning/sweeping, etc.  What’s more Tony, a sign maker for more than 50 years, brought a class-consciousness to  the table; the college kids came to Worcester from places like suburban New Jersey and Connecticut and took one look at Worcester and decided to make her their personal garbage can/urinal!

So the anti-college/pro-PILOT Tony Hmura ads ran in InCity Times – many of them a tad … primative. Like the time we got a clip art photo of a fat cat smoking a cigar and wrote HOLY CROSS COLLEGE over it. Or the time we told Father McFarland, president of Holy Cross, to put up or shut the hell up! We told him to do the Christian thing and help the poor people in the South Worcester neighborhood that Holy Cross was nestled in. We ran photos of crushed beer cans, stories of South Worcester folks who shared apartment buildings with Holy Cross students who fornicated in the hall ways! And we got a reaction from folks! Thay were pissed off too!

Then the other papers followed Tony Hmura’s lead with shall we say more measured pieces. And so the rumblings for PILOT grew and grew and grew. Soon East Side activist Gary Vecchio jumped into the fray and demanded the colleges pay PILOT. Gary was relentless! He was all over the airwaves, TV, newspapers!

And finally, after all the work and fulminating …. WPI gives us $9.1 million! Hurrah!

Thanks to all!