Tag Archives: District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller

THANK YOU, DISTRICT 4 CITY COUNCILOR BARBARA HALLER!

By Mary K. Moule

As the outside temperature rose in late May, the temperature in several of our Senior Citizen apartment complexes in Worcester reached 90+ degrees. Yes, ninety-plus degrees! Our building is recently-built, has central air conditioning, and individual controls in each apartment. We tenants are between 62 and 90+ years of age. It was unbearably hot, and, clearly unhealthy!

When I asked “management” to turn on the central air conditioning I was told that state law “requires apartment building owners to provide heat from September 15 to June 15 of each year”.

Thus, “management” said, “when it is unusually hot during this time frame, it is beyond our control to switch from heat to air conditioning”.

Within hours of learning of our stifling situation, Councilwoman Barbara Haller brought our plight to the attention of the entire City Council at its May 31, 2011 meeting. As a result of her action, supported by the entire Council, a City Inspector promptly inspected our units, and directed that the air conditioning be turned on.

Barbara Haller is aware that the law which requires heat during certain dates also has a waiver clause, which permits apartment owners/managers to gain permission to shut the heat and turn on the air conditioning, “when it is unusually hot” before June 15th.

Thank you, Councilwoman Barbara Haller, for acting swiftly and effectively on behalf of your then-sweltering, senior constituents.

Does District 4 City Council candidate Sarai Rivera “stretch the truth”? …

By Rosalie Tirella

… Or fib? Or bull-shit? Or pad her resume?

District 4 voters need to know.

Incumbent District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller has so much integrity. She works tirelessly – at everything. Her relationship with the Main South CDC goes back years. She and director Steve Teasdale are friends who have worked on countless projects together through the years.

So why did her challenger, Sarai Rivera, attach a doctored Main South CDC logo to her campaign literature? Why did she bull shit the community and make it seem like the Main CDC was endorsing her candidacy, when, according to Teasdale, it was most clearly NOT. The CDC was shocked that Rivera would do such a thing.

Sarai gave a weak excuse.

This kind of bull shit must stop.

Another example of Sarai Rivera’s “stretching the truth”: during the recent debate between the two District 4 candidates a few nights ago, the daily reported that Sarai said something like to the crowd: I am already doing all the work of a city councilor and I will continue to … .

No, Sarai, you are not doing ALL the work – especially all the work that City Councilor Barbara Haller does for her district. Pretty much from the morning to night – all the time. For years …

Let’s stop stretching the truth, Sarai Rivera. Voters don’t want to elect liars.

Of course, creepy rabble rouser Keven Ksen is running Rivera’s campaign. The 40-soemthing Ksen does not even have a job – living off his parents bucks/trust fund, no doubt. And – of course – he is not getting paid by Sarai. More “volunteer” work for Kev! Keven was pretty much fired by the City of Worcester from his Common Ground CDC job after an incident with the Worcester police over his camera. Ksen, whose short fuse makes him scary-mean, saw the funds for his job at Common Ground magically disappear after that incident – years ago. He hasn’t made traction since – but he always makes it a point every election cycle to try to destroy Barbara Haller. Every election cycle Ksen throws his weight behind Haller’s challengers – any challenger really. Which is what a few biz owners/property developers on Chandler Street do, too. Cynical moves, really.

So now it’s Sarai for Kev. Or Kev for Sarai!

But not for District 4 – we hope! Because they are playing the election game a little dirty.

Another question: Sarai claims she is a pastor and then claims she is a social worker. Which is it? What does she do?

Voters need to be respected. Not finessed.

City-budget talk: the good, the bad and the ugly

By Worcester District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller

I am writing this after a recent Worcester City Council budget meeting. By the time you read this, changes may have happened because this coming budget is still a work in progress. Here is where we stand now:

The CHALLENGE a week ago: find ways to close a $7,000,000 budget gap.

The STRATEGY: negotiate with our City’s unions on health care reform and wage increases. This is actually 3 pieces: (1.) City Manager O’Brien has developed a local health plan that significantly reduces costs to both employees and the city. (2.) We are asking city employees to pay 25% of the cost of health care. (3.) We are asking employees to take 0% wage increases for this coming year.
The PROMISE: the money saved with each union who agrees to accept these 3 conditions will go back into that same union to save jobs for the union and services for the taxpayers.

(Note: The City Manager moved all non-union city employees to these 3 conditions, including himself and his Administrative staff, earlier this year and preserved jobs and services. The City Council has also accepted these conditions, although there are no job savings that result and not all councilors use the city health coverage.)

The WRINKLE: All unions must agree to all 3 conditions in order to generate enough city-side savings to restore overtime accounts. This means that services that rely on overtime will be cut even if the union that works in those departments accepts the 3 conditions. You will see how this plays out further into this article.

The PROGRESS-to-date:

WORCESTER FIRE DEPARTMENT union has agreed to the conditions. This saves 35 firefighter jobs, 1 Ladder Company, 1 Engine Company, and preserves our present average response time of 5 minutes and 49 seconds (the PROMISE). THANK YOU WFD! It does not, however, restore the overtime account (the WRINKLE) because not all unions have signed on as of now. Because of the overtime loss, brown-outs and temporary closings of companies will be used during periods of summer vacation and the like (NOT GOOD FOR US).

WORCESTER POLICE DEPARTMENT unions have agreed to the conditions. This saves 35 police officers, restores support to Community Policing, the Traffic Division, the School Liaison Program, and prevents demotions and 100 re-assignments (the PROMISE). THANK YOU WPD! Like the WFD, it does not restore the overtime account (the WRINKLE). So we will lose important programs like the Summer Impact, SWAT training (NOT GOOD FOR US). City Council voted, under the leadership of CC Bill Eddy, to hold the WPD budget for a few weeks to see if we could figure out a way to restore the Summer Impact. We all know that this program keeps us safe during highest risk summer months and we are not willing to kill it without a fight. The City Manager tells us that there is nowhere to find the money except by having all the unions agree to the 3 conditions (the STRATEGY).

That was the good news.

PUBLIC WORKS & PARKS: No union (Local 495) agreement yet. This means 19 layoffs, closing 2 yard waste sites (Foley and Clark Street) on Wednesdays and Saturdays, essentially the end of Keep Worcester Clean, no services for litter, overgrowth, trash, bulk items, graffiti. No parking enforcement except for downtown. New signage will only happen if $ can be found on an individual basis. No sweeping, no litter collection on business corridors, including downtown. Downtown trash receptacles will be emptied 3 times a week rather than 6. No park maintenance at 15 sites. No maintenance of veteran’s squares and monuments. THIS IS BOTH BAD AND UGLY FOR US.

INSPECTIONAL SERVICES: No union (Local 495) agreement yet. This means 6 layoffs, longer stretches between inspections, no Canada geese egg addling, neighborhood crime watch attendance reduced to every 3 months, reduced nuisance enforcement, reduced problem property reviews.

DEFINITELY NOT GOOD FOR US.

PUBLIC LIBRARY: No union (Local 495) agreement yet. This means 4 layoffs, reduced hours at Greendale branch, reduced outreach with WPS, must obtain a waiver to get State aid (if we fail to get the waiver the results will be 7 more layoffs and dramatic reductions at the Main branch), 10 Sunday closings at Main Branch, longer lines at the service desks. Also, fewer purchase of books, DVDs, audio books. All of this while the demands on the WPL are growing. OUCH! We have run out of Band-Aids. City Manager O’Brien tells us that he has groups that are interested in contributing money to the Library but only if the union agreement is in place – they are not willing to fund a system that no longer works.

CLERICAL POSITIONS: No union (Clerical Union) agreement yet. This means 8 layoffs in various departments. This will lengthen response times to housing court, assessment questions, and financial reports.

LESS WITH LESS.

Like I said at the beginning, the city budget is a work in progress. We need Local 495 and the Clerical Union to stay at the negotiation table and figure out how to stop the dire cuts in jobs and services. Our other unions have found a way to say “yes” and we cannot stop there.

Stay tuned.

Call for Action: Close the PIP now!

Date: Monday, October 4
Time: 11:00 am
Place: Sidewalk in front of 701 Main Street, Worcester

District 4 City Councilor Barbara G. Haller and Chairman of the Main South Alliance for Public Safety William T. Breault are holding a press conference to call attention to the unacceptable delay in closing the People in Peril (PIP) Shelter at 701 Main Street. Neighbors of the shelter are expected to attend and add their voices to a call to end the delay and close the PIP.

In 2007, the City Manager’s Task Force on Homelessness released its Three Year Plan to End Homelessness in Worcester, under the co-chairmanship of former Mayor Jordan Levy and former City Manager Jeff Mulford. The task force crafted a consensus strategy of homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing with wraparound services. The City Council’s unanimous support resulted in City Manager Michael O’Brien’s setting an administrative goal to close the PIP in 2009. Continue reading Call for Action: Close the PIP now!

Feelin’ stronger every day! District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller has been at her job since 2002 – and she’s still lovin’ it!

By Rosalie Tirella

One day District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller got a call from a constituent. The person lived in Main South and was annoyed as hell. There was a cleaning company across the street power washing/vacuuming the wall-to-wall carpeting in the apartment building across the street. Trouble was the power vacuum’s big hose was being run up the side of the building – not taken inside to do the job – so all the vacuuming (and crap being sucked up) was whooshing and brrr-brr-ing in the middle of the neighborhood – for everybody to hear.

Haller went to check it out. God! What a racket! The truck and its machine were loud. Haller could see why the neighbors were so upset. Then she made the classic Barbara Haller move – she went up to the truck, poked her head inside its window and yanked the plug out. The noise stopped; the machine stopped. The neighborhood was peaceful again. “I didn’t know I was going to do that until I got there,” Haller says.

The guys running the machinery ran out to see what was going one – and got miffed at hands-on Haller. Haller called Building and Code on her mobile phone – and after some negotiating, the City of Worcester made the company install mufflers on its giant vacuum cleaner. Thank you, Building and Code. Thank you, Barbara Haller.

One autumn day Haller sees a guy – obviously drunk – sprawled out on a Piedmont neighborhood street. He is scrawny, unshaved and sporting an unhealthy complexion. Haller, a dumpling shaped 60 year old, parks her little SUV by the curb and jumps out. She walks up to the guy, looks down on him. The guy – even in his drunken stupor – recognizes Haller. With a sigh he acknowledges this apparition. In an exasperated tone of voice he says, “I’m fine, Barbara Haller. I’m fine.” He waves her away. Haller is uncomfortable with this. But the guy tells her he can stay on the curb if he wants. He is annoyed. “Barbara Haller,” he says again and then falls back on the sidewalk again.

Seems everyone in District 4 knows their city councilor. Continue reading Feelin’ stronger every day! District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller has been at her job since 2002 – and she’s still lovin’ it!

The PIP shelter and what it means to Worcester

By District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller

The story of the PIP Shelter is long and complex. While there have been many individuals who will testify to its success as a safety net of last resort, there are many more who will testify to its internal chaos, especially before SMOC took over control in 2005. Founded over thirty years ago to provide protection to public inebriates after the decriminalization of public drunkenness, there are few who would deny that the PIP has grown to be an enabler and magnet for anti-social behavior.

Over the past twenty years my position on the PIP moved from a call for better management, to supporting an effort to relocate it to an industrial area, to a cry for closing it. I came to realize that a 150 person warehouse for individuals experiencing homelessness for a wide variety of reasons couldn’t be fixed – regardless of who ran it or where it was located. Over time the city council, the city administration, and the community have come to join in common voice to close this shelter at 701 Main Street.

During those years of pushing for the shuttering of the PIP, the question of “where will ‘they’ go?” was part of every discussion. My answer to that question was always to explain that it is not the responsibility of the struggling neighborhood around 701 to bring solution to homelessness, but rather it is the responsibility of the whole community. I served on every task force as we searched for the best answers. All of these efforts failed to close the PIP but they each served to get us closer by educating more people to the complexity of the challenge and increasing the resolve to do better. Continue reading The PIP shelter and what it means to Worcester

The Worcester Police Department

Back to the future or moving forward?

By Worcester District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller

Want to get the latest information on Worcester Police Department’s handling of the economic melt-down? Come to the WPD’s City-Wide Crime Watch Meeting on Wednesday, March 18th, at 6:30pm, at the WPD Training Room.

Fears that a lengthy recession/depression will translate into less police and more crime are reasonable. But, public safety is also one of the Council’s highest priorities and the commitment to explore all options is secure. Perhaps most importantly, our police chief remains committed to community policing and the Community Impact Division.

When we read things to the effect of “police class fired as soon as they graduate” or “traffic police may be a thing of the past” it adds to the doom and gloom cloud that seems to be following a lot of us these days. It makes us fearful that we are going back to the future – fewer police just when crime is most likely to increase. Some of us get angry, some of us get depressed. All of us get concerned.

I meet monthly with Chief Gary Gemme and he has assured me that he intends to keep the CID alive and active in our neighborhoods through this year and next, barring some dramatic budget hit beyond what we know. We lost the police recruit class for now and with vacancies not being filled, WPD is close to 50 officers short of the 382 we were budgeted for. So things are definitely serious. We had hoped to beef up traffic enforcement and the Community Impact Division. We had hoped to increase crime data access to neighborhood associations. We had hoped to start up a precinct office. All these are on hold for now. But the basic structures will remain and the public will be served. Continue reading The Worcester Police Department