Tag Archives: Mike O’Brien

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

Ice skating on the Worcester Common ice oval … $25 per pair of skates …

By Rosalie Tirella

… rental fee, if you don’t have a major credit card to go with the $3 rental fee

$2 per person – admission fee to this public space

Imagine being a poor family of, let’s say, five: a mom and a dad and three kids, 10, 12, 7 years old, and two of you don’t own skates, and you don’t have a credit card or your major credit card is tapped out. A day on the Worcester Common, public land, will cost you. And if you don’t have the dough, tough luck. You’re not allowed on public space.

Thank you, former Worcester City Manager Mike O’Brien!! The ice oval was O’Brien’s baby – he didn’t ask the community for any input – and so was the Ebenezer Scrooge price policy. O’Brien was not at all sensitive to poor folks and their struggles. He created this ice oval admission policy with his typical arrogance and rammed it down our throats. Yep. Create an ice rink on public land, in the middle of an impoverished city neighborhood, and charge $$$$. His line was: People will see its worth ONLY if they have to pay for the PRIVILEGE to skate on it.  What bull shit. O’Brien’s arrogance turned lots of human service workers and neighborhood activists against him. At the end of his Woo stint, Mike O’Brien stopped serving the PEOPLE of Worcester, a GATEWAY CITY, and got stuck doing somersaults inside the pockets of local biz folks.

We and others in the community railed against his insensitivity (remember how he lied to us all about keeping our neighborhood swimming pools open?) … boo boo boo we repeated over and over again. Then came the feds …HUD investigated Worcester and found O’Brien’s office wasn’t minding the store … . His people weren’t keeping track of how fed monies were being spent. So O’Brien  left, looking haggard, gray and peeved. Near the end he told me his job  had aged him in dog years.

Woof! Woof! You have no one to blame but your micro-managing self, Mikey!

NOW THAT WE HAVE A NEW, SENSITIVE, CARING, CITY MANAGER – ED AUGUSTUS – WHO PUBLICLY  SAID POOR KIDS BREAK HIS HEART, A GUY WHO WORKED FOR THE CHILDREN’S DEFENSE FUND …we expect MORE. WE EXPECT HEART.

We expect him to nullify ALL ICE OVAL ADMISSION FEES AND MAKE FREE SKATES AVAILABLE TO POOR KIDS.

Augustus is making almost $200,000 a year! A single guy. No kids, no college funds, no big headaches …  It is tough to relate to people on the edge when you are so lucky and privileged. Here’s hoping Ed Augustus can empathize and rise to the occasion!

FREE THE WORCESTER ICE OVAL, Ed!

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

Here’s the official Ice Oval admission policy  and rental fees from the CITY OF WORCESTER:

“Admission for public skating is $2, children 6 and under skate free.

“Skate Rentals .During public skating hours at the Worcester Common Oval, ice skate rentals will be available for $3.

“Planning to rent skates? Save time by printing the attached form below and completing the application in advance. Remember you will need a MA driver’s license or a MA state identification, PLUS a major credit card in order to rent skates. If you don’t have a credit card, a $25 fully refundable cash deposit is required for each pair of skates rented.

“OVAL-SKATE-RENTAL-APPLICATION-Final.pdf OVAL-SKATE-RENTAL-APPLICATION-Final.pdf”

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

Pathetic.

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

If we want downtown Worcester to come alive …

By Rosalie Tirella

… we need a STRONG mayor. And I ain’t talkin’ pecs and abs! I’m talkin’ City of Worcester government. We need to change Woo’s form of government from a strong city manager type  to a STRONG MAYOR type.  Under former City Manager Mike O’Brien, we were half way there! But … We have to consider the under belly of this beast!

The push for a turbocharged downtown Worcester lead to the side-lining of some of our urban neighborhoods, some folks would say to the absolute shitting on our inner-city neighborhoods and their iconic institutions. This began in earnest under Mike O’Brien. I believe it’s his true legacy. You either love him or you hate him for it. O’Brien, earning his spurs in Worcester’s parks department, started out as a Woo inner-city neighborhood booster, but as the years wore on, he grew less progressive and aligned himself with local biz folks (some slobbering, bullying, down-right mean, whacky and clueless) who lead him to believe abandoning Woo inner-city cdcs and neighborhood centers and neighborhood activists was a good thing. O’Brien turned a deaf ear to lots of good folks – really, anyone who dared to disagree with him. He was dismissive, didn’t return their phone calls, slashed their funding, didn’t meet with them … . In a nutshell: Former City Manager Mike O’Brien could be a real prick!

Like I said, this latest Woo clamoring for a strong mayor form of government is rooted in O’Brien’s my way or the high way reign. Yes. He made stuff happen. Roads got paved, downtown Woo streets were reconfigured,  the colleges paid us a few pennies and made a commitment to our downtown and public library system. But a lot of  good people got thrown under the bus, poorer neighborhoods became more downtrodden, poor people who needed services sometimes went without … and he brooked no divergent view points. He was positively dictatorial!

Maybe now that O’Brien’ s gone we can do this thing right and ELECT A STRONG MAYOR. Not get stuck with one for 10 years just because our city council is too weak and idea-bereft to pull a pushy city manager in – or set some parameters for him. Just because our city council and city economic development team can not lure big businesses to Worcester – businesses that will create hundreds of jobs for our people, just the way our mostly extinct factories did decades ago (not everyone wants to own a small biz).

Maybe a kick ass strong mayor and his or her kick ass strong mayor staff can set a real economic development agenda for Worcester, come up with some fresh ideas and not get too bogged down by our teachers union and other municipal unions.

Maybe if we choose a strong mayor form of government we can get a strong mayor in the Walsh or de Blasio mold. (O’Brien was too Bloomberg for us!)

Or maybe not!

It would all be up to the Worcester voters, WHICH WOULD MAKE THINGS AROUND HERE INTERESTING, EXCITING, AND FUN!  Which would also make things around here more democratic and sensitive to our changing demographics (more minorities who tend to vote Democratic and will want their fair share of the Worcester pie.) … But the change in Woo’s way of governing itself might also make Worcester political life more cut throat, and tough, and open to $$$$, bribes, desperation, shady characters, etc. But that’s OK! We have former lieutenant governor and Worcester mayor  Tim Murray to teach us all about crooks and crooked fund raisers and crooked political crimes that come with wanting to be elected to a cool office!

So, with a strong mayor we could end up with a guy or gal who could really make downtown happen. But we would want our strong mayor to show the love to and support inner-city neighborhoods and the immigrants, lower income people who often live here. Plus, be a moral, upright, forthright human being!

Easier said than done!

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

If only Ed Augustus were a Republican!

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By Rosalie Tirella

Things would be so different over at the Telegram and Gazette’s editorial desk. Chief editorial writer Chris Sinicola would be singing the candidate’s pro- biz, pro-money agenda! The Telegram has always been a Republican rag, out of step with the city it covers.

Now, more than ever, we see the clunky chemistry.

The peeps love Augustus. He’s in the neighborhoods, much like the super hands on Mike O’Brien was. Only he’s not hanging with thr money crowd. He’s talking with firefighters and school teachers and regular folks, folks who may not even own real estate!

Mon Dieu! What’s a used car saleslady like Beth Proko gonna say about this? Four or so years ago the Old Injun Fighter looked at a used truck Beth and hubby wanted to sell him. He said Beth came on to him. Yuck! (The OIF was always a broad-magnet.) And they tried to sell him a used truck that wouldn’t pass inspection. Double yuck! (And ILLEGAL!)

But hey, Proko owns some real estate. That makes her more important than the kids or inner city neighborhoods of Worcester! It makes her more important than a muscular City of Worcester board of health.

It’s all about money, her money, for Beth. Lower taxes for Beth and the T and G. Forget the neighborhoods and making the Woo of tomorrow, our kids of today, healthy and strong. Former city manager Mike O’Brien spent too much time listening to Proko and her ilk. So much so that the federal funds and projects that he took credit for, but were really secured by the good Dems in our state house and in DC, seemed to say I LOVE WOO HOODS. Not so. He loved Woo developers. He had no taste for neighborhood activists. Just like the T and G editorial board, which intimates that district city councilors are intellectually inferior to at large city councilors. A recent T and G editorial says at large councilors have the vision. District councilors whine about potholes. What kind of cocaine has T and G chief editorial writer Sinicola been snorting? We can only guess the kind cut with rat poison.

Ed Augustus is proving himself to be a hit.

The T and G and the biz community want him to be a miss. Cuz they are more into money than helping people. Hence, Beth Proko asks straight out ASK ED IF HE WANTS THE JOB AND … HE REALLY SHOULD NOT TAKE THE JOB BECAUSE SHE WILL THINK LESS OF HIM IF HE DOES. Beth is full of shit.

And the T and G now wants a paper pusher/desk nerd city manager when former city manager Mike O’Brien was the opposite, as in the hoods as you can get. But he was singing a Republican tune.

The T and G thinks the people pushing for a neighborhood-centric city manager are morons. We cannot wait until this stupid rag gets dumped by Mr. Henry and becomes THE WORCESTER TAB.

In the meantime: GO, ED, GO!!!!!!

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog

Worcester’s “leaders,” great and puny in spirit

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By Rosalie Tirella

Everything compassionate and great and wild (we’re speaking Worcester, here), City Manager Mike O’Brien has managed to squelch. Everyone third-rate, he’s managed to embrace.

The ragged little Occupy Worcester brigade that wanted to make its voice heard on our city hall common a few years ago? Well, City Manager O’Brien had the police out in full force, ready to take out any scrawny vegan kid who got too cocky. Sometimes I’d drive by the common and see as many cops as protesters. Of course, the city manager refused to meet with OCCUPY Worcester. Wouldn’t give the group the time of day. And why should he have? They only wanted to talk fair wages, decent, affordable housing – you know, all that rad jazz.

Who spoke to and for Occupy Worcester? Joe O’Brien, then mayor of Worcester. Joe got their idealism and the very real city/American problems these brave folks were trying to call attention to.

When the city’s community development corporations (CDCs) came under fire, unjustly I believe, Joe O’Brien stood up for all the great work they do. He didn’t want them to become the whipping boys for a bunch of business folks who, if this were the invincible Worcester of the 1940s or 1950s, and our factories were humming and their presidents and owners ran the city, you know, the men who not only employed thousands in their factories but also built things like the Higgins Armory or the Worcester Art Museum or donated land to create Elm Park, you know, real captains of industry, well, these small biz folks would have very little sway or pull. They would be treated like the small-time shit-kickers they actually are.

But hey, it’s 2013 and we’re desperate – for real solutions. Worcester, like so many American cities, is a shadow of its industrial self. So we are stuck with third rate characters like Bill Randell shitting on the CDCs and setting city policy and bringing Santa Claus to our planeless airport and being a hero for it. We are stuck with Artie and Paulie and all the ies, as if we were dealing with gigantic two year olds, calling poor people who would have had better lives if the factories were still around to employ them, NO- LOs – as in no low income. And some how Artie’s hatred and Billy’s slipperiness rule the day, here in Wusta.

Green Island Grrrl, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

Occupy Worcester and City Manager Mike O’Brien’s tight-ass-ed-ness

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By Rosalie Tirella

Last Worcester City Council meeting, “official” Worcester showed its true colors: an emotionally constipated city that cannot – and will not – tolerate the new and different. More over, it shows how autocratic we have allowed our city manager, Mike O’Brien, to become.

Maybe it’s time for a Strong Mayor for Worcester – someone who can actually lead the city in confusing times, someone who can actually lead. Period. Maybe speak to the angels within our souls.

But hey, this is Worcester. Konnie Lukes and the grinches will prevail!

By voting this past Tuesday night to back up City Manager Mike O’Brien’s decision to not deal with Occupy Worcester – shut them out – the Worcester City Council showed itself to be a few degress short of fascist and (their real goal) gave a kind of carte blanche to the Worcester Police Department when it comes to booting Occupy Worcester out of Wormtown. Violence may be used by the WPD. Who knows. The City Manager and the WPD have it all under control – we the people – through our short-sighted city council/elected officials – gave them the right.

We Worcesterites and anyone with a heart, an interest in free speech or an intertest in righting the social/economic ills in this country can just take a powder. Occupy Worcester will not be speaking for anyone here in this town. The second largest city of New England will be silent in the OW movement. So different from Boston (national heroes!), Providence and small cities in Vermont, etc.

We will, thanks to City Councilor Konnie Lukes and the other city councilors who last week signed onto her screwy order to back up CM Mike O’Brien’s decision to freeze out OW, have stifled OW. Except for Ric Rushton and Mayor Joe O’Brien – who voted to support Occupy Worcester’s very American right to protest, to speak against social ills, to gather on our city and town commons to protest injustice or just to meet. The City Council put a billy club over the questioning, unweildy and idealistic head of Occupy Worcester.

Not exaclty a very scary bunch of folks. Many of OW’s trrops are young. Many are older. There are even a few retired Worc. professors thrown into the mix. For Lukes and company to treat the OW brigade members as if they were a few steps away from being Worcester’s premier drug lords and hoodlums. People who will wreak havoc on Worceseter! People who will bring guns, drugs, etc to the fine streets of Wormtown is nutty.

For the most part this movement is beyond peaceful – it’s almost too egalitarian. So egalitarian that it has yet to come up with specific goals and issues it wants to get behind. (See below posts for some ideas from Michael Moore). But they are great polticial street theater. They are calling attention to America’s BIG ISSUES/BIG PROBLEMS. And they are inspiring other AMERICANS to say enough is enough! More and more people are catching the OW vibe -which is things don’t have to be this crumby. Big banks don’t have to have the regulatory freedom to bend all the rules, go under and then expect the American taxpayer to bail them out.

Talk about socialism!

So three cheers for Worcester Mayor Joe O’Brien and Worcester City Councilor Ric Rushton for remembering that America was founded on some of the things that OW is trying to do in 2011. Three cheers for their respect for free spech and the right to gather peacefully.

A kick in the nuts to Konnie Lukes for getting all paranoid and treating OW as if they are … Abbie Hoffman! And shame on all the city coucilors who voted to support her order to support Miker O’Brien’s lousy snubbing of OW.

They will not go away, Mike O’Brien. And if one of your cops gets too free and easy with the billy club or pepper spray, Worcester will make national headlines.

Abbie Hoffman would be proud of OW! I wish he were here to help lead the way today!

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.