Tag Archives: mayor

InCity Voices

Worcester City Councilor District 4 Sarai Rivera’s time has come …

By Rosalie Tirella

… to be mayor of Worcester, to lead our city, to reflect our city to the world, to advocate for its people – many struggling under the sledge hammer of racism and poverty. The languages, the music, the goals of our people – a new Worcester blooming every day – Rivera can understand them in ways that our Irish pols – the guys (and gals) who’ve lead our city for decades – can’t – no matter how empathetic and smart they are.

District 4 Worcester City Councilor Sarai Rivera should be Worcester’s next mayor.

It only makes sense.

It’s her time – it’s ours.

Providence, Lowell, San Francisco, Los Angeles – all these 21st century cities have mayors who reflect their hubs’ panache … souls. They fit each other…like a glove. The people look to their mayors for leadership because they are TRUE REPRESENTATIVES of their metropolises!

Rivera is where the city of Worcester is going. Is at! All the multi-colored, multi-ethnic, multi-tongued folks, many immigrants new to rough and tumble America, lots poor, lots at the mercy of drugs and guns and our mean streets, lots entrepreneurs looking to make it happen for them and their families in America. Filled with hope!

Our people, their complex dreams, our complex neighborhoods evolving in ways that Worcester City Councilor Michael Gaffney denigrates, exploits … for fear and racist votes. Ultimately, Gaffney doesn’t understand the city. He’s from Webster – don’t be too hard on the arrogant rube. Mike Gaffney is a nowhere pol. He is a throw back for all those voters in Worcester who want white, Catholic, Irish – a rap on the head with a wooden ruler for the kids in our public schools who disobey their teachers. A 1950 world where a Mareen Binenda, 65 and Irish, would make the perfect Worcester school superintendent. But old prejudices die hard!  Our Worcester School Committee members – terrified of district representation, terrified of losing their votes and POWER – have given almost ready for retirement Maureen the job! How incredulous!  How old Worcester!

The powerful will fight to hold onto their entrenched power until their intestines leak out.

Power: read: influence, great jobs, money, nice neighborhoods … THE WORKS. And the quiet forgotten Worcester middle class who pay the city’s bills will vote a Gaffney out of their prejudiced resentment at a city they can no longer understand and accept. …But they too cannot escape the real Worcester. Their xenophobic eyes can only be closed for so long! They can only rant and rave on Aidan Kearney’s racist blog for so long!  Former Woo School Committee woman Mary Mullaney’s son Aidan can carry on her prejudiced past for only so long!!

The numbers are against Kearney and Gaffney.

The numbers are for Rivera.

Our public schools are already majority minority.

Walk down our streets – mostly you’ll see people of color making their way down them.

When you cross Park Ave, our city neighborhoods – from Green Island to Piedmont to Vernon Hill to South Worcester to Webster Square to Downtown to Main South – are majority minority. Our old Catholic churches are dying, crumbling down …

It’s a new Woo – and I don’t mean the artisan bread eating boutique shopping white kids who,  if they left Worcester, would be replaced by white kids that GET THE REALITY OF OUR CITY. And would work to include people of color and the poor in their farmers markets, etc. And they would buy houses here. And their white little kids would go to school with Black and brown  little kids – and it would be a good fit. We don’t need to beg and crawl to the phonies. The right cool progressive Millenials will find us. The wrong ones will buy real estate in  the suburbs and move away and send their kids to the suburban schools! It’s always been this way in Gateway Cities. It’s self-correcting city living. The beat goes on!

I’ve watched the beautiful Worcester District 4 City Councilor Sarai Rivera for several years now. Our relationship has not always been placid and warm. But over the past few years when our paths have crossed – at city meetings, at festivals – she’s been smart, sweet, tough, funny, warm, determined … and open. She has, through her several years on our Worcester city council, STOOD FOR RIGHT. A HUMANE WAY of solving Worcester’s new city problems. People first. Integrity first. Compassion first. Whether it be the  long suffering elephants and lions in the circuses who come to town, the small biz guy or gal, the inner city resident dealing with drug dealers, the drug addict overdosing, the young kids of color looking for a voice in city government Rivera has lead with grace, intelligence and not a little style (she wears the coolest, sexiest, prettiest, most colorful clothes!)! She is a great listener and makes her decisions, casts her votes intelligently. I’ve always been proud of her votes for people … and animals! I am proud to call her my district city councilor!

Rivera, in her early 40s, is happily married with a gaggle of boys. She has a few college degrees under her belt. Runs her own church, sings her own song! Loud and strong and proud!

SARAI RIVERA FOR MAYOR!

InCity Yum Yums

A healin’ helping of JOE! – Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty’s inaugural speech

Delivered January 4, 2016 …
 
Good Evening.

Before I begin, I first want to thank my wife Gayle & my children, Nicole, Joseph and Andrew; as well as my parents. Without their support, I would not be here.

JMP headshot
Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty. photo: mayor’s office

I want to recognize my colleagues in government, my fellow councilors and members of the school committee. City Manager Ed Augustus, School Superintendent Marco Rodriques; and City Clerk David Rushford who deserves our thanks for organizing tonight’s ceremony.  And all of us on stage tonight owe our gratitude to the voters who have entrusted us with elected office.
 
Honored Clergy, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have to say that over the last two years the thing that has made the greatest impact on our City is the hiring of our City Manager Ed Augustus.  Ed and I work together hand-in-glove on so many issues.  And it is that synergy that has led to an unprecedented level of cooperation between the administration, the city council, and our school department.  Our city cannot move forward if the schools, the school committee, the city and the City Council are not working together in the same direction.
 
I chose the Hanover Theatre for tonight’s ceremony because in a sense, this theatre represents the history of our city.

It first opened in 1904 as the Franklin Square Theater and then became the Loew’s Poli Palace.  What began as a stage for vaudeville became a movie theater, which closed in 1998, then falling into disrepair. Eventually because of the vision of Ed Madaus and Paul Demoga, it was restored with the help of the WBDC and business community, government and the people of our great city.

I cannot think of a more appropriate metaphor for Worcester.
 
Worcester has a rich history.  Our city like every other city in America changed with the shifting population patterns, as people chose to live in suburbs.  At the same time we suffered job losses, as industries moved south and eventually overseas.

But I am here to tell you this evening, that Worcester is back and it is better than ever.  Today we are building a future that is worthy of our past.

In the last two years we have made great progress.  So many projects were completed, such as the Myra Hiatt Kraft Bridge at Elm Park, and many other projects moved closer to reality. We now finally see City Square rising. None of this would be possible without the concerted and coordinated efforts of the city council, the manager, the private sector, and of course our partners in state government. 
 
This is an exciting time in our City.  Over the next two years we will have an unprecedented building boom across our City.  We are seeing some of our long vacant buildings repurposed and reinvigorated.  We are seeing this at the old Courthouse which is in the process of becoming market rate apartments.  The Osgood-Bradley building is being turned into student housing for 250 students who will be just steps from Union Station and downtown. 
The economic development fight of Gateway Cities like ours is how we attract outside investors to take these long vacant buildings and bring them back to life, creating the space that the innovation economy requires and that many residents seek.  

Through judicious use of our TIFs and working closely with our developer community, we can see that Worcester is winning this fight. 

The new hotel at Gateway Park is almost complete, the ground breaking for the hotel at Washington Square will be held in the next couple of months, and the AC Marriot at City Square will soon start to rise from the long vacant land that was once the Galleria. The parking garage behind the Unum Building will be open this spring.  

MAKE NO MISTAKE: Worcester is under construction and open for business.
And this message is being heard across our region.  Boston knows it.  Hartford, Springfield, and New York City knows it.  And the twice-daily express trains starting in May only confirms that Beacon Hill knows it. 
 
Union Station to South Station in under an hour has been a dream that will finally come true. This plan that started under the Patrick/Murray administration will become a reality under the Baker/Polito Administration..  But 2 trains are not enough, so I call upon Governor Baker to increase this service.

Connecting Boston to Worcester will change our state and our city. Young families priced out of Boston, can move here. 

There are several pieces of the economic puzzle that still require work.  Our major task over the next two years is to create a comprehensive plan for the North end of Main Street.  Construction is underway at the old court house, but we need to rehabilitate and activate the Memorial Auditorium. I can report that talks have been going on between the large stake holders in that neighborhood, including the Worcester Art Museum and WPI.

The WRTA is moving from Grove Street, to South Quinsigamond Ave., which will create a valuable parcel ready for development.  Plans are already underway for a grocery store on this 4 acre site.

From the Old Courthouse to the bus company, we will create a corridor of economic prosperity. 

Economic growth cannot be limited to downtown; it must include neighborhood development as well.  And Worcester is growing from its Downtown out.
 
In order to sustain this economic growth we need active and healthy citizens.

The Community Health Improvement Plan continues to develop, leading us towards our goal of being the healthiest city in New England by 2020.

Our citizens become healthier by being more active.  We need clean and safe parks, where both children and adults can enjoy our green space.

And with a new Health Commissioner in Dr. Mattie Castile, we are changing the way we are talking and thinking about health.   
 
But there is one public health challenge that is growing and that is the nationwide opiate epidemic. We must find a way to end this plague that is taking the lives of our children, friends, and neighbors.

Because addiction does not recognize neighborhoods or city and state borders, this is truly an issue that requires a collaborative approach.  Working with our state and federal legislators, I will continue to advocate for the resources and funding to address this crisis.
 
We cannot separate the health of our families from the performance of our students.  Healthy families send healthy students to school.  Healthy students spend more time in the class room, focus more, and achieve more.  We have to create the understanding that what is happening at home and in our neighborhoods has a direct connection to what happens in our schools.  We CANNOT separate the two. 

To this end, as the Chair of the School Committee, I am calling for an enhanced health program for our students.

A more comprehensive health program will make Worcester students better informed about the choices they make and how they can stay active, safe, and out of trouble.  We must prepare our children for TODAY’S world, not the world of our childhood. This is especially true in the area of health.   

Our schools have achieved so much and continue to move in the right direction.  Let us put an end to the misinformation spread for political gain. 

The truth is that Worcester has the BEST urban school district in the Northeast by most every measure.  Our graduation rates are the highest of any large urban system, almost 15 points higher than Boston and nearly 20 points higher than Springfield.

We have aging schools and we are investing in them, with over 45 million dollars spent on repairs. I am proud that the new Nelson Place School will be finished in 2017.  South High School has entered the five year eligibility phase and will most likely be seeing a massive refurbishment, if not a complete replacement of that school. Burncoat and Doherty High Schools still need to be repaired and replaced. I will not give up that fight.

I am also looking forward to the establishment of the Advanced Academy. This academy will cater to the best and the brightest of Worcester’s students and help them achieve even greater success. 
And as we enhance our school facilities we must continue to open them up to the public and to the community. 

Manager Augustus, our former superintendent, and I began discussing opening our school facilities for after school programs.  We must continue to make our schools the epicenters of our neighborhoods.

All of these issues will continue to develop over the next year and I am going to make sure that whoever the next superintendent is, that person will be dedicated to making this vision for our schools a reality. 
 
Part of having healthy and active students, parents and residents is through the cultivation of our parks.

We all take pride in our parks and for a number of years we have had a concerted effort to create conservation land and open space in our city.

But we have largely ignored and forgotten one of Worcester’s most valuable natural resources-our Blue Space-our lakes, ponds and rivers.  Our rivers were once used as sources of power, damned and used as sewers.  

It is time that we treat our Blue Space as we treat our Green Space. It is time that we pay attention to Indian Lake, Coes Pond, Salisbury Pond and Bell Pond.

I am calling for an innovative program in our Parks Department that will bring the people of Worcester to our water and the water to the people. 

I envision a boardwalk around a portion of Salisbury Pond.  This space will allow for recreational activity, drawing students from WPI and connecting them with the economic growth we’ve seen at Gateway Park, driving development further down Grove Street.  This will be yet another addition to a changing neighborhood.

Indian Lake has long been a venue for boating and swimming, but it needs some loving care.  We need to work with both the YMCA and Bancroft School to return sailing to Indian Lake.

Lake Quinsigamond is one of the premier rowing venues in the world.  It must be better utilized as a tourist attraction and rowing destination.  In 2016, Worcester will host the US Rowing Masters Championship, which will bring upwards 6,000 people to the lake this August.

In 2013 the Public Works subcommittee endorsed the plans for a linear park running from Lincoln Street to the 290 bridge, providing a walking and bicycle path and a canoe launch.

While keeping a two-way road, we can explore a larger boardwalk during Phase Two that runs the length of the lake.  This project would draw visitors who want to row, kayak, canoe, run or simply walk, enjoying one of our forgotten jewels.

We must continue to engage our cityscape and accentuate the beauty of our City. We are seeing this already at the Coes Pond project. 
The Blackstone Visitors Center and the improvements along the Middle River Park will create a blue space corridor for the College Hill and Quinsigamond Village neighborhoods.
Walkways and boardwalks will allow our residents and businesses to use these spaces to their fullest potential. A city like ours must celebrate its green AND blue space. 
 
A city such as Worcester must also celebrate its arts and its creative economy. 

Our buildings are part of our cityscape and part of our public space.

We have begun a very successful mural program, such as on the wall of this theater and in the Canal District.    We must expand this program.

In addition, we must institute a public art program.  I am calling upon every large developer in Worcester to set aside money for public art.

It is time to add a little excitement to our urban landscape.  It is an affordable way to enrich our City and make it more beautiful.
 
As we make our city more beautiful and livable, we must continue to make it safer.

Worcester is a safe city.  If you have been the victim of a crime, it is personal and nothing we can say will make you feel any better.
But the reality is that crime is down in Worcester and it is down significantly.

There is an old saying that bad news travels around the world, before good news leaves the front porch.

At the August City Council meeting our Chief of Police, Gary Gemme filed a report on the state of crime in our city.  The Chief’s report was a clear and concise assessment that there exists, “the perception that Worcester is not a safe city,” however “This narrative is inaccurate.”  This year, like the four previous years, in most every major area, our City has seen a decline in overall crime from year to year. 

And yet the perception persists, sustained by self- serving political rhetoric and the angry grumblings of the talk radio set and the BLOG-osphere. 

The nationwide urban trends of increased crime and opiate addiction are alarming and we are right to stay vigilant and continue to fight; there is much work yet to do and losing even one life to violence or drug addiction is one too many.

For my part I have made sure that every time the Police Chief has come before the City Council that we have given him the resources he has requested. And I will continue to do so.  We will give the fine men and women of our police department all they need.  They deserve nothing less nor do the people of Worcester expect anything less.
 
In closing, Worcester is a changing city.  Our population is changing and so is our economy.  The jobs of the 19th and even the 20th century have been replaced by the jobs of the 21st century.

The steel industry has given way to video gaming. The automotive business has given way to biotech and the tool & die industry has given way to medical research. These are the types of jobs that weren’t around when I was younger. 
Yes…our City is changing.  Young college graduates are now staying here and starting businesses.  Our population is more educated and more diverse.

Our immigrant parents and grandparents came here and with strong arms built our factories, with strong backs they built our roads and with strong hearts they built their families and our city.
Today new immigrants are joining the ranks of those who came before them. 

We must welcome these new residents because they are our future.  Someday a young man or woman from Ghana or Syria may stand before you taking the oath of office for mayor.

It is incumbent upon all of us, as Worcester residents, and especially those on this stage tonight to recognize that we set the tone for the discourse in our City.  What those of us on stage do and what we say has real consequence for creating the city that our residents deserve.

Our words matter and words are powerful things.

If we want these professionals and young families to stay in our city and build our city, then it starts with what we say.  We need to realize that when we speak, the rest of the state is listening.
When we speak, businesses that we are trying to attract are listening.

When we speak, qualified candidates who want to lead the best urban school system in the Northeast are listening.

We must create an environment in our city that is welcoming to all people.
 
The campaign is over and it is time to govern and lead our city.
If we want to make Worcester a better place, we must offer solutions.

If we want to make Worcester a welcoming place, we must offer hope.

If we want Worcester to be a leader in the 21st century, then we must lead.

Yes, words are powerful things.  Let us speak the truth: that Worcester is a safe, livable city whose future has never been brighter.

Thank you.
 
 

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog

For these Worcester times: Re-elect Mayor Joseph Petty!

By Rosalie Tirella

When did Worcester cease being the city of my childhood (rough and tumble working-class town with so many shining stars!) and become the Worcester of 2015? Kids with guns killing kids, home break-ins galore, folks addicted to heroin dying in stairwells, slug-fests at local high schools with teachers taking it (literally) in the chin, poverty so encompassing many of our school children look like they’ve walked out of a Charles Dickens novel?

It is heartbreaking to see what former president George Bush (and before him prez Clinton and vp Gore with NAFTA) have done to this once great country.

Cities and towns all over America suffer because of our warped economy – one that rewards and perpetuates a healthy upper middle class but creates a bigger and bigger under class every day.

The factories are gone, the mines shut down, the farms industrialized … and the good paying American jobs that immigrants and uneducated folks used to catapult themselves and their families into the American middle class are gone with them.

Now it’s service jobs galore and everyone makes $8, $9, $10 and $11 an hour. Everyone lives pretty much on the cusp of homelessness. No wonder we see hunger, violence, drug addiction … despair in cities and towns all over this great land – Worcester, included.

Have you ever seen so many Dollar Stores in Worcester? You used to see them in the poorer parts of the South. Now they are here and all over the country – and doing gangbusters.

Where are the stores for the working middle class in Worcester? The old American Supply on Front Street? The old Sylvia’s Dress Shop on Franklin Street? All gone. Yes, we can blame Wal-Mart, but it’s their cheap prices that drive working families there. Stores built for the $9 an hour paycheck.

Where does the Mayor of Worcester, a supposedly ceremonial job, fit in with all this?

Why should we care so passionately about giving the Worcester MAYOR’s job to incumbent Joe Petty or challenger Mike Gaffney in a few weeks? (We love Bill Coleman but, seriously, he’s gotta get a new hobby!)

Because THESE TWO GUYS HAVE TOTALLY OPPOSITE WORLD VIEWS … DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED SOLUTIONS TO THE SOCIAL ILLS THAT ARE EATING away at Worcester – and America’s – soul.

It’s more than Democrat (Petty) versus Republican (Gaffney).

It’s more than KEEP GOVERNMENT OUT OF MY POCKET BOOK (Gaffney) versus IT’S NOT THE POCKETBOOK – GOVERNMENT IMPROVES PEOPLE’S LIVES (Petty)…

It’s about TRUST, DECENCY, NO GAMES and FAIRNESS/RESPECT FOR ALL OUR CITIZENS.

That’s what Worcester needs now and Mayor Joe Petty, who is running for re-election, has all of the above!

Today’s Worcester has a huge amount of people who are poor. The Worcester of 2015 has a majority minority school system. Our housing is expensive and our people don’t have the dough to pay for it and all the essentials. THIS IS AMERICA. THIS IS GRINDING POVERTY that never lets up for lots of Worcester families. Plus: So many of our kids and families are folks of color, come from different parts of the world. This adds more layers to our challenges. So many Worcester families are under duress – racism, poverty, domestic abuse, shitty apartments, violence in the streets …

Mayor Petty has worked to RELIEVE THE PAIN AND BUILD BRIGHTER FUTURES FOR ALL WORCESTER FAMILIES.

He gets that we have a diverse population with lots of needs. He believes good government helps meet some of those needs.

Mayor Petty has:

Pushed for the RECOVERY SCHOOL for Worcester kids once addicted to drugs and now ready to learn in a supportive classrooms

Pushed for an ACADEMY FOR THE MOST GIFTED WORCESTER PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS. Sorta like a mini Boston Latin housed in Doherty High School

Beautified Elm Park so it is gorgeous and there for all folks to enjoy

Worked effectively and sensitively with Worcester folks of all colors and creeds

Pushed for city programs that support Worcester inner-city youth and families

Pushed for several playgrounds and playscapes to be built at some of Worcester’s neediest inner-city schools in some of Worcester’s poorest neighborhoods

Championed Woo’s inner city neighborhoods and small businesses

Has taken an even-handed approach to the violence that erupted in the city and around our public schools. Petty did NOT bash anyone, was no alarmist … HE JUST WORKED THE PROBLEM and things got better. And he took the heat from morons who had a less nuanced view of the problem.

NUANCED!

That’s the word!

In the Worcester of 2015 we need NUANCE! We don’t need folks screaming:

WE HATE DR. BOONE!

BRING IN THE NATIONAL GUARD!

KILL THE CDCs!

WHITE TEACHERS IN WORCESTER RULE!

MAUREEN BINENDA FOR WPS SUPERINTENDENT – OR ELSE!

CUT OFF THE MOSAIC FOLKS AND STICK BRENDA JENKINS HEAD ON A STICK!

These folks, on a very deep SUBCONSCIOUS level are racist/classist, but will never see it. They are not living in the Worcester of 2015. THE WORCESTER OF TODAY.

Or maybe they feel the societal/economic changes in Worcester and they’ve panicked.

They want to preserve the old Worcester World Order – one where you CALL IN THE COPS, GET THE IRISH TEACHERS WPD BACK-UP, STOP BUILDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING, EXERT SOME TOUGH LOVE.

This is the Old Worcester World Order that Worcester city councilor at large and Worcester mayoral candidate MICHAEL GAFFNEY IS EMBRACING AND ESPOUSING.

It ain’t gonna work, Mike!

GAFFNEY IS SO WRONG FOR THE WORCESTER OF TODAY IT’S NOT EVEN FUNNY.

IT’S DOWNRIGHT SCARY!!!!!!!!!

Like presidential candidate Donald Trump, Worcester mayoral candidate Gaffney reflects the fears and prejudices of people.

Also their rage, disappointments, longing for an America, a Worcester, that simply no longer exists. That is gone FOREVER.

It was always complicated, but the big factories and big employers that gave folks – in America and Worcester – the foundation (filled stomachs, bills paid, a little house maybe) from which to solve problems is GONE. Now we’re in crisis mode. And people are wicked freaked out.

You can vote your fears and prejudices and vote for Gaffney November 3.

As a city councilor Mike Gaffney’s done shit. He’s for cutting everything. Then he demagogues the problems that he helped create with his scorched earth politics.

Sure he’s bright and very articulate and a good writer, but so were the Harvard professors and scientists who years ago published papers on the intellectual superiority of men over women because women’s brains were physically smaller. The brilliant professors papers were elegantly written and people all over the world bowed down to their brilliance. But they were still full of shit. STILL WRONG.

They had used their intellect to SUPPORT PREJUDICE. They had elegantly, scientifically backed into their era’s deepest prejudices.

This is what Mike Gaffney is doing today, in Worcester.

Let’s vote for a guy who is bright, hopeful, open and willing to admit great ideas can come from any one – even a gang banger’s mum, even a former drug addict, even a slip of a black girl running up Harrison Street to get to Union Hill School on a lovely Worcester autumn day.

VOTE JOSEPH PETTY FOR MAYOR OF WORCESTER!

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog

Hurtin’

DSCF7052

South Worcester Neighborhood Center Executive Director Ron Charette (right) and his brother at SWNIC’s 2014 Holiday celebration. More than 1,000 families went to Camp Street and were given holiday meals, new toys for children, personal care products and/or winter clothing. Ron helps Worcester folks get through tough times! (photo by Ron O’Clair)

By Rosalie Tirella

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to me (cuz this is Worcester politics), but IT DOES (cuz I’m STILL an idealist): Worcester city officials and our local state legislators are gonna pretty much let the South Worcester Neighborhood Center die.

Close its Camp Street doors forever.

Stop caring for and helping hundreds of low-income/working-class South Worcester, Main South and Green Island families.

Within the next couple of months. 

Pathetic! Our Worcester city councilors and state legislators vote themselves raises left and right, give themselves perks galore, own nice homes, vacation homes, buy Worcester rental property at sweetheart deal rates, etc, etc, but they can’t come up with the paltry amount of $$ it takes to help a social service agency put food into the mouths of poor kids.

Or give warm winter clothes to a poor local guy or gal who needs to brave the Woo elements.

Nope! It’s to hell with you! I’ve got mine! And Worcester’s destitute get more destitute. Every day the city feels poorer, more and more like Pottersville in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Before Jimmy Stewart rubs his eyes and realizes it was all a BAD DREAM.

SWNIC IS HURTIN!  

The South Worcester Neighborhood Center goes WITHOUT HEAT THIS WINTER!

It goes without $$ to pay its Crompton Park site manager. 

But who cares?

It’s only poor people! Most of them don’t even vote! And they’re not politically “connected” in any way, shape or form! So there are no consequences for politicians who drop the ball.

Oh, well!

Hungry little kids?

Too bad!They’re only Worcester’s future!

Why should Worcester political LEADERS care if SWNIC’s summer program for kids – the one that has Holy Cross college students volunteering with low income  kids all summer long FOR FREE FOR FAMILIES – why should our city councilors give a hoot if that program ends? And working parents have one less FREE child care option?

One more latch-key kid roaming Hacker Street shouldn’t make a bit of difference!

Why should the Worcester City Council or Worcester officials care if SWNIC’s food pantry closes? Or its referral program ends? Or its bilingual staff becomes unemployed?

Their tushies are warm on their SUV’s heated cushies! In some instances, courtesy of the Worcester taxpayer!

To enter a FREEZING COLD South Worcester Neighborhood Center in the middle of winter because Worcester city councilors or our local state legislators can’t cobble together the grant money or funds from somewhere to keep SWNIC staff and volunteers warm is heart-breaking.  The elderly SWNIC volunteers who come in to the center to knit winter hats and scarves for the poor of Cambridge, Southbridge, Webster or Canterbury streets have to sit in front of little electric space heaters to do their knitting!

Why should Worcester pols care? It’s only Worcester’s old people!  Why honor or even respect our senior citizens?! They just toiled in our factories, built this city! Who gives a fig?!

This brand of thoughtlessness was on full display when then Worcester Mayor Tim Murray, heading out the door to become Massachusetts’ newly minted LG, DOUBLED the salaries of all Worcester city councilors and Worcester school committee members pretty much on the heels of cutting the Worcester School Department’s recently hired minority teacher recruitment officer.  The person was part time and made around $20,000 a year.  Murray did this knowing there would be no political consequences for him because he was leaving city politics – only to self-destruct on the state and national political stages. Money, greed and selfishness brought Timmy down when he was lieutenant governor. Tim had a false sense of security because he graduated from, got his “diploma” from the Worcester School of Good Ol’ White Irish Boys Politics.  He, like the rest of his fellow grads, hit all the right benchmarks: white, Catholic, Irish, St. John’s High School, Holy Cross college, Fordham University or Boston College, trips to Ireland, Christ the King Church, those pointless, beige cable-knit sweaters … . Too bad Tim was a moron and threw all his blessings away! Too bad he wasn’t listening to more Sinead O’Connor and less crooked fundraiser pal. (For Murray to play the naive altar boy and deny knowing anything crooked was going on was a stupid Murray lie on top of more Murray lies!)

But Tim Murray begat City Manager Mike O’Brien, and former City Manager Mike O’Brien changed over the decade he lorded over us Worcesterites. In the end, Mike O’Brien became a Republican leading a Democratic city, and too many organizations and people with clout in Worcester resisted him. He couldn’t realize his vision. So he left. O’Brien, who once said, almost teary eyed!, that Worcester was THE VERY FIBER OF HIS VERY SOUL and who was also on a not-so-secret mission to kill all affordable housing in Worcester is now living in very Republican Southboro and schlepping affordable housing for Winn Development! HA! How’s that for poetic justice?!

But I digress!

It was Mike O’Brien, as Worcester City Manager, who began freezing South Worcester Neighborhood Center’s funding a few years back. But SWNIC Executive Director Ron Charette soldiered on, running the center, helping more people than ever, running a kick ass summer program, etc. He called O’Brien’s City Hall office and asked for meetings with O’Brien every other day. To talk, discuss the center and all the people it serves. O’Brien’s office never once returned Ron’s phone calls.

Then things got tighter. New City Manager Ed Augustus was supposed to meet with Ron, then cancelled, then acquiesced – but only if he could bring his lawyer to the meeting with Ron.

Pathetic.

Does Augustus know a Worcester social service center needs heat? Does Augustus know the center will close without some money earmarked for it? Does Augustus, who makes almost $200,000 as HEAD OF WORCESTER and lives just outside BOSTON IN MILLIS, where I’m certain he supports his town’s social service center, even CARE?

Like I said: SWNIC is hurtin’. Which means more poor families in Worcester will be hurtin’. Soon.

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

So many great American mayors have been Italian-American!

Like the golden age of American movies, when director Frank Capra, the son of Italian immigrants, made films that captivated an entire nation (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,  It’s a Wonderful Life, so many more!), Americans have looked to Italian American mayors to make our cities – especially our big cities – everything that is best in us. This country’s diversity, its fearlessness, its cacophony, its poetry, its eclecticism, its inclusiveness, its loves, lusts, physicality, brilliance, beauty  … Yep. We Americans seem to fall head over heels in love with our Italian American mayors, who reflect us back to us! Through their VISION – and Tom  Menino had VISION in spades! He just looked like my uncle George! And not like Charlie Baker!

Tom Menino, like we American city dwellers, was … complicated. Smart. Compassionate. Competitive. Poetic…

Why does it so often fall on us Italian Americans?  Is it “my people’s” love of family, kids, gardens/nature? Our ability to be hands-on, in-your-face, ever present? To not be afraid of good, hard WORK?  Our ability to love the underdog to death cuz we know what it can feel like? (even when we are “in” we are still out, to many folks!) Our emotions, so thick and entangling?! Our go for broke style when we truly love someone, like our mothers – or our cities?

For so many of us Italian Americans, it’s this: The intense, physical work ethic we bring to our jobs is the love we show God for the gifts she has given us! Every day! When I think of Tom Menino I think of the poet’s words: “WORK IS LOVE MADE VISIBLE. ”

Work is LOVE made VISIBLE …

Amen.

– Rosalie Tirella

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Here, from The Boston Globe, is a fantastic column on the late, great Boston Mayor Tom Menino!

– R. T.

Menino went from accidental mayor to transformative figure

By Adrian Walker

Thomas M. Menino began as an accidental mayor, presiding over an inherited administration. He ended as a transformative figure, a man who embodied vision, even as he rejected the concept.

The longest-serving mayor in the city’s history became acting mayor by the slimmest of margins — he had won the city council presidency in 1993 by a mere vote. But after becoming acting mayor that July, he moved so quickly to consolidate power, and to win the confidence of voters, that within a few months he won the office by a landslide. It was as if he had been there for years. …

To read the entire column, CLICK HERE!

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog

I drove into Hartford …

By Rosalie Tirella

… a few days ago to do some city exploring and visit some old stomping grounds.  I was there years ago, and back then Hartford was, in many ways, shabbier than the Worcester of almost two decades ago. …

But two days ago it was like … WOW.  Their downtown freaking blossomed during the last 15 or so years! Looked fantastic. Looked cosmopolitan. Looked bustling and hip and busy, busy, busy. Call it a mecca!  Call it a hub! Call it hubba hubba! Call it A REAL DOWNTOWN.

When I was there many moons ago the captal of Connecticut had long ceased to be the insurance capital of America. You’d go downtown to the art museum on a Saturday and the city would be a ghost town. During the work week it was busy, as the folks from West Hartford, Wethersfield, Bloomfield and other suburbs commuted into work, but the core of Hartford looked and felt a lot like Worcester’s core. Maybe a bit buzzier but still kinda old, outdated … not at all exciting. Zzzzzzzzz…

Then WHAM! BAM! BOOM! Two days ago I saw a totally revived downtown Hartford: It had pizzazz! It was cool, vibrant, artsy, big biz/small biz-ridden, chock full of busy people of all ages, colors and walks of life.  People actually looked pumped to be making their way down the streets. I wanted to be a part of it! Just one of a million peeps running their lives, together, diverse, engaged with their city.

Why does downtown Worcester still suck? Why does it still look pretty much the way it did 15 years ago? Yes, our neighborhoods put Hartford’s to shame. From the few Hartford hoods I was in, they felt just as dangerous and looked just as poor as they did almost 20 years ago. Hartford  just doesn’t have a west side, Burncoat or many other fab WOO-like hoods.

BUT THEY have A DOWNTOWN to DIE FOR!!!!!!!!

Let’s not argue them versus us. Let’s admit that an incredible downtown like Hartford’s would make Worcester pretty much purr-fect!

So … is it our city manager form of government that keeps downtown Woo back? Is it stupid, brain-dead Woo city movers and shakers who just don’t have the talent or ambition to aggressively get new biz to move to Worcester, bring new ideas to the table? Is it the stifling Worcester nepotism that enables mediocre city leaders to stuff our tax payer-financed city government with their uninspired and uninspiring moron pals and relatives? Is it the vicious Worcester back-biting that can leave folks black-balled for years? Is it our urban factions, cliques filled with self-righteous prigs who refuse to work with folks who have different world views, different styles of talking, writing, living, BEING? Is it Catholicism at its most puritanical, punitive, circumscribed, SHITTY?

I don’t know what the causes are for our still pretty lackluster downtown. But I do know, Worcester, we better get moving!

InCity Feature, InCity Letters, InCity Voices

For Two Economists, the Buffett Rule Is Just a Start

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From The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/business/for-economists-saez-and-piketty-the-buffett-rule-is-just-a-start.html?_r=1

Other great stories from the Inter-web!!  – R.T.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/16/puppy-protection-act-michigan-breeders-puppy-mills_n_1428512.html

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/13/150567665/newark-mayor-enters-fire-in-come-to-jesus-moment?sc=tw

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17679417

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/us/antibiotics-for-livestock-will-require-prescription-fda-says.html

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

For the record … And where was Mayor Joe Petty?

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By Rosalie Tirella

FYI, Wonderpoop: We are 50! Not 51!

Most likely we have had more sex partners than your entire family. Like I told a pal: He’s married but to which dog??? I pity his kids – they must be ashamed of their dad – he hates everyone in Worcester. Libels everyone in Worcester. Believes in nothing really. Thinking he is some witty guy who is uncovering the TRUTH, when he is just some meanspirited guy with (most likely) a teeny dick that he is overcompensating for. Wonderpoop should do a brave thing – like print the entire list of City of Worcester employees salaries, like we do at InCity Times.

Fat Chance. He would lose his job (at City Hall?? the T & G??).

Our wesbstats are comprised of unique visitors and total visitors per month. When Wondershit gives us all his name – we will give you all our webstats.

And finally we are resuming our little TV 13 “Straight Talk” show. Just for a few episodes. People seemed to like the show.

Almost as much as they like my newspaper!

Now! Back to Watching Worcester! Sorry we had to get sidetracked by some worm we will … eventually OUT. We DO KNOW School Committee member Tracy O’Connell Novick of Olean Street knows Wonderpoop – and has encouraged him to run for public office. Are they West Side neighbors?? Thanks, Tracy!

Now, back to business:

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

Mayor Joe Petty

Where was Joe? A few days ago Danny Donaghue, Petty’s assistant at the Mayor’s office, called me to say Petty could not meet with me because this MBTA meeting had come up. Tres important! Petty had to be there! Could we reschedule our meeting?

I agreed! Wormtown can’t lose trains! After all, that’s why we’ve allowed CSX to expand, to dump hundreds of freight cars/tons of pollutants into our gritty city (to make it even grittier).

But to our surprise: Worcester’s mayor, the titular head of our city, was a no show at the MBTA meeting. City Councilor (and pal) Ric Rushton read a letter to the MBTA from our Mayor Petty.

Now was this in the best interest of Worcester? To have the Mayor of Worcester MIA? Having a surrogate read a letter? How totally non-effective! Say what you say about Tim Murray but he would have been at the meeting (as mayor) pounding his fists, railing against the Boston Machine (which he is now a part of)! Maybe all the drama would have changed a few minds.

Not with No-Show Joe!

Mayor Petty, fellow councilor and political opponent Konnie Lukes said your full-time Boston job may take you away from your Worcester job as mayor. That being in Boston would mean not being able to attend early meetings in Worcester. Not being able TO REPRESENT OUR CITY AND ITS RESIDENTS’ INTERESTS.

Let’s hope this isn’t a taste of things to come.

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

Wonderland Wonder-shit, Tracy Novick and more …

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By Rosalie Tirella

We know this: Wondershit (from Wonderland) has no idea how hard I work to put my paper out. He’d last 2 secs w/ ICTimes – not 10 and a half years (as I have) – earning and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to publish my paper. Don’t worry Wondershit, I have just told tough guy # 2 about you – he’s told me he could hire someone to kill you/slash you up! Hey! What fun! When you come from places like Green Island, Wonderhsit, you are only a person or two away from someone who can do extreme damage to your enemies. I told my pal: NO! NO! It’s illegal! Wondershit will have to be slayed by words! The laptop is mightier than the sword!

But back to Wondeshit! He (along with his loser wife and two or so loser progeny) has done nothing for Worcester except bitch (via his hateful website) about its people and landmarks! We know he hates:

* Barbara Haller, former Worcester District 4 city councilor. Saying she didn’t do any work, poking fun at her at all times. – plain wrong, Wondershit, plain wrong.

* Worcester City Councilor and former Worcester Mayor Joe O’Brien – calling him a “socialist,” calling him a do nothing, just like every other right wing nut in town. Wrong again, Wondershit.

* Paulie C., the guy behind Worcester’s only Jazz festival – really the only guy who has made something cool happen on Chandler Street. Seems like Wondershit was especially vitriolic – especially brutal with Paulie after Paulie’s SUCESSFUL event. Two days after NOLA, Wondershit had to go on his shit-kicker website and claim that there were no attendees at the jazz fest! He wrote that everything NOLA sucked and Paulie should pack it up! Even though it was hosted by Carter Allen of Boston’s WZLX fame (cool!) etc. and people attended. Wondershit just knocked Paulie to death. Later he made it a point to intimate that the guy is an alcoholic and of course Wondershit is pushing a non-local (Paulie is from Somerville) out the door the way all stupid Worcesterites do so often – to the city’s detriment. Provincial is just another name for Wonderhit.

Wondershit hates everyone and everything in this city! He can’t get on board for anything. More stuff/folks he hates and libels in his blog:

* Bill R. – calling Bill a slumlord and distibutor of booze to minors, via his inner-city liquor store. I may disagree with Bill over CDCs, but he runs an OK store – most likely a piece of sanity in an otherwise INSANE innercity neighborhood. I am there … I drive by .. I know the folks who work there. All pretty nice folks – a nice clean space.

* Tony Economou – Worc. Biz group. Why does Wondershit say horrible things about this group/attempt to do fancy investigative pieces when he is just publishing pulbic info on uppermiddle class Worc. folks? Because Wondershit, like most middle-class Worc. homeowners, will most likely see his property taxes go up, via the new Worc. city council. Tony and his group had a little to do with this. Get over it Wondershit-head – you will have to shell out some bucks. You can afford it – like most Worc. cheapskate whiners.

* Wondershit also hates: All things Worcester Mag, all things ICTimes, all the local radio stations. And the TV stations, too! He hates everybody!!

NO WONDER HE STAYS BEHIND HIS FILTHY LAPTOP AND HIDES HIS IDENTITY. HE FEARS FOR HIS LIFE – AND HIS WIFE’S AND KIDS’.

BUT WE’LL TRACK HIM DOWN – THIS MONTH, NEXT YEAR, I CAN WAIT.

One thing: Wondershit doesn’t diss the T & G (or the city of Worc. bureacrats for that matter), so maybe he works for either entity. Forget about the fact that Wondershit breaks copyright law every day – not providing links to the papers etc he takes his graphs from. He just copies and pastes their stuff right onto his website – the T & G seems to be OK with this. Which makes me think he works for them.

* Does Wondershit attend blogger coffee events? Sit in the back and make notes about all the people he hates, the city he loathes? We do know Tracy O’Connel Novick, Worcester Public School Committee person, knows this blogger. He said Novick once encouraged him (over blogger coffee?) to run for public office! Puh-lease, Tracy Novick! That’s the last thing we need – Wonder-shit shitting on everything in town.

* OH and as far as Tracy Novick goes, we have heard this from John Monfredo, fellow Worcester School Committee member: This will be the last time Novick is VICE CHAIRMAN of the WPSchool Committee. Monfredo is head of the WPSC rules subcommittee and he is working to make it a rule that second place vote getters get the vice chair of the Worc. School Committee – not people who do backroom deals like Novick did. Monfredo told me he was not going to vote for Novick getitng the vice chair slot, but Mayor Joe Petty (the Chairman – like all Worc. mayors – of the school committee) went to him and told him to do so, to make the WPSC seem cohesive and positive. Monfredo told Petty he was againt Novick as Vice Chair because she had alientated so many minority parents of WPS students with her Dr. Boone witch-hunt. Monfredo told Petty it would send the wrong message to so many Worc. Public School parents and kids if Novick were to be vice chair.

Petty didn’t listen – and Novick doesn’t care who she offends. So now the city must live with this mistake. But, thanks to John Monfredo, the WPSC rules will soon be changed to make this Novick’s first and last stint as Vice Chair. The process will be fair – just like the way it’s done with the Worcester City Council.

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

Konstantina Lukes for Mayor!

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By Rosalie Tirella

Tough, smart, classy, fearless. Konstantina Lukes, former mayor of Worcester, and one of 2011’s mayoral candidates, goes toe to toe with the boys in this boys town. She is not afraid to stake out her own territory – yet she will listen and evolve. (Lukes gave City Manager Mike O’Brien a perfect score during his job evaluation this year, after being a friend of former Worcester City Manager Tom Hoover and hating the way he was pushed out of his job.)

She is anti-chicken but pro-homeowner, voting for lowest residential tax rate for years and years (unlike opponent Joe Petty, who will most likely vote to raise it).

Konnie is fun – even though many people think she isn’t.

Konnie is progressive. If it weren’t for Konnie Lukes (acting as head of the Worcester School Committee, when she was Worcester mayor), the Worcester Public Schools would not have Melinda Boone, PHd, leading our schools. The first female, African American school superintendent for Worcester, Boone is the epitome of professional. She is also caring and committed to all the students in the WPSchools -white, brown, black.

Konstantina Lukes was a cool mayor last time around. People thought, when Lukes was elected mayor four years ago, that she would be a bit tough to handle. She wasn’t. She worked with everybody, treated everyone with respect, opened her office doors to all. She represented our city with grace and spirit. She attended ceremonies but she also did the day to day stuff – not very sexy but necessary.

This time around she promises to be a full-time mayor once again – unlike Petty who has a full-time job in Boston. (If you count the 45-minute commute to Boston in the a.m. and p.m., Joe Petty will be missing from Worcester for 10 or so hours a day, courtesy of his Boston job. That’s pretty much daylight hours!)

And unlike th e T & G, we do not think Petty is “well-spoken.” We actually think he is inarticulate – watch the City Council meetings and you’ll see for yorself. Konstantin Lukes is well spoken! She can speak passionately and eloquently about anything – using complex, compound sentences! (something Joe Petty has yet to master!)

And finally, to all you gals out there, when a woman wins, we all win. When a lady like Konnie – a lady who is no handmaiden, a lady who is strong and strong-willed – wins elections – without have to be goofy, whorey, kiss-upy, when a lady wins political office being exactly who she is, that is a WIN for all of us strong-willed ladies. You know, the ladies who color outside the lines sometimes. The ladies with dreams. The ladies who don’t define themselves through men.

When a woman like Konstantina Lukes wins, all women of all shapes and colors and personal preferences win. In the work place, in society, even in our own families.

Vote for Konstantina Lukes for Mayor Tuesday, November 8.