Tag Archives: William Coleman

VOTE today, Sept. 10! Worcester polls open until 8 p! … + … We forgot to endorse JOE and BILL 🇺🇸🇺🇸!

Wow. How could we have forgotten about Bill Coleman and our very own mayor – Joseph Petty – when we posted our political endorsements yesterday?

This morning we woke up …
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… and remembered! pic: R.T.

So:

VOTE FOR JOSEPH PETTY – our mayor and city healer: the politician who brings us all together, a man WHO IS FOR ALL OF US – Woo’s poor city kids, bike riders, school teachers, cops, environmentalists, small biz folks, the Paw Sox and their gentrifier boosters, the comfy, entitled middle class West Siders, the struggling Green Islanders …

The city is doing well on so many levels because we have a mayor that – unlike former Woo mayors Ray Mariano and Jordan Levy – doesn’t suck up all the oxygen in a room. Doesn’t have a big fat mouth like they did. Or a HUGE EGO. Or fight Konnie Luke’s proposals at every turn. Or hold grudges. Or get vindictive. Or stay provincial. Nope. Mayor Joseph Petty, who’s seeking re-election as councilor and mayor, just quietly brings people together – to build a better Worcester. And he’s not bizarrely ambitious like Tim Murray, now screwing the working guy and gal as executive director of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. Nope. Joe wants everyone to WORK TOGETHER. For the benefit of our youth, our homeless folks, our minority WPS students, our city parks …

Joe’s a good person. Thoughtful. Easy to talk with. And he follows through.

VOTE FOR JOSEPH PETTY – CITY COUNCILOR AT LARGE. Mayor in November.

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Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty at Worcester’s WPD Night Out in Main South. file photo: Ron O’Clair

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VOTE FOR BILL COLEMAN!!

Yes, we know: This perennial city council candidate promised – like ol’ Gary Rosen – that he wouldn’t run for POLITICAL office again – that he’d hang up his VOTE BILL COLEMAN signs🇺🇸 for good. That he’d be the political elder statesman we hoped he’d become – advising young pols just coming up…

BUT NO…BILL, LIKE LEVY AND MARIANO, LOVES THE LIMELIGHT.

So, what the hell … VOTE FOR BILL COLEMAN, CITY COUNCILOR AT LARGE!

What has the City got to lose? Is D 3 City Councilor George Russell any more intelligent or impressive? What has LONGTIME political everything Gary Rosen done on our City Council these past two years? Not much. Kate Toomey? Loved by the WFD and WPD … but why???? Equally unimpressive.

William (Bill) Coleman IS A GOOD GUY WHO ACTUALLY DOES LOTS OF HANDS ON stuff for WORCESTER’S folks. He was a nutrition teacher for UMass Extension for many years – working with and running classes for our WPS students. And other city kids.

He’s painted American Flags 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 all over Worcester – and the East Coast.

He’s easy to talk with. He tries to help.

He gets involved with city projects, like our Lincoln Square monument to WORCESTER’S Fallen Black Soldiers …

He attends Worcester City Council meetings – often floating GREAT IDEAS. But sometimes there’s little follow through… Bill’s onto the next GRAND WORCESTER IDEA!

Billy knows all the Woo players. They’ve given him the cold shoulder for years! This is WRONG. Bill lives and loves WORCESTER, but our movers and shakers have frozen him out – like they have many Woo minorites through the years. Hopefully, city politics is changing – for the better.

Bill knows Worcester history. He is fascinated by our political past – not depressed like so many of us! He’s an optimist! That is a good thing!!

Here he is, years ago, putting up shelves in my first Woo apartment:
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Billy!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 file pic: Rose T.

Billy worked hours that day – so nice to my dog Grace. So enthusiastic for the new InCity Times! He brought the 20 or so shelves and braces, and with his electric drill created a newspaper “morgue” in my spare bedroom.

I never forgot that – and his other favors through the years.

BILL HAS HELPED so many folks in Worcester! He deserves to be elected to city council to serve the City he loves!

VOTE 🇺🇸 WILLIAM COLEMAN III – CITY COUNCILOR AT LARGE!

– Rosalie Tirella

Today, Worcester! Get out and vote!

By Rosalie Tirella

The Worcester of 2015 is multiracial, multicultural and multi-voiced. It’s a city with a healthy middle and upper-middle class and biz community. But it is also a Gateway City filled with immigrants, second generation Americans … lots of poor families, hungry children … youth violence, racial strife – BIG CITY CHALLENGES!

We need city leaders who can work our problems with: INTELLIGENCE, SENSITIVITY, OPTIMISM.

So, today, ELECTION DAY, please vote for:

Mayor – Joseph (Joe) Petty (incumbent)

Great person! Smart, thoughtful on the issues, won’t be swayed by the naysayers or the alarmists. Rebuilt Elm Park, pushed for a recovery high school AND a high school for the gifted, working to upgrade so many of our public schools, working with the police department to keep our schools safe, building playgrounds and safe spaces for our inner-city kids. THIS IS WHAT JOE PETTY IS ABOUT. COMMUNITY. All of us sharing the good things,feeling we have a say … that we ALL matter: black, white, poor, straight, gay, inner city, suburban style …

He’s our QUIET MAN – and we mean the JOHN WAYNE flick! Don’t let his modesty fool ya! Petty’s tough and determined! Go, Joe, go!

RE-ELECT JOSEPH PETTY!

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Councilors at Large

PLEASE VOTE FOR:

Joseph Petty (see above. You have to vote for Petty in this category too, if you want him to be re-elected mayor).

Morris (Moe) Bergman

A steady voice. A calm, thoughtful, smart guy who LOVES our public schools. He’s had three kids go/going through the system – so he’s not just talk! He knows the school buildings, the teachers, the courses. He is PROUD of what our public schools offer kids and their families. Moe is also for a brighter downtown, economic development … a better Worcester for all.

Juan Gomez

We love Juan! He is so real! Warm, yet tough! Fun and cute but biz savvy. We have been a Juan fan for years, back when he was a Worcester city councilor who was business friendly but never forgot the peeps! He was always honest about the issues, where he stood. Sometimes that cost him a vote or two but, for us, that spells INTEGRITY.

Ronald O’Clair

InCity Times writer and long-time Main South community activist Ron O’Clair KNOWS THE ISSUES, KNOWS THIS CITY. Ron is a life-long Worcester resident and truly enjoys the people and our zippy Woo vibe. He gets a kick out of the great things, but the guns, violence, drugs bring him down, like it does all of us. He wants to help us save our inner city – stop the violence and the drugs! And that is a wonderful thing!

VOTE RONALD O’CLAIR!!

Philip Palmieri

This District 2 guy wants to graduate to At Large! And why not?! The district Phil’s been serving for years encompasses downtown Worcester, the bustling Shrewsbury Street, parts of Green Island, pretty middle class neighborhoods – in other words: Worcester in microcosm. And Phil has NEVER been shy about weighing in on city-wide issues anyways – or beginning the conversation on some important Worcester issue, outside his district. This has always been a good thing for Worcester.

Phil Palmieri is an experienced Worcester city councilor, works the problems Hard and SMART, like there’s no tomorrow!

Worcester needs Phil! GIVE him your vote!

William Coleman

Billy Coleman has been a pal for years. What you don’t see when he’s kinda got the spotlight all to himself is: HE REALLY IS A VERY CARING, LOVING PERSON WHO IS THERE FOR ANYONE. Billy is a GREAT PERSON! Which means he’ll work hard for ALL THE PEOPLE OF WORCESTER – meet you, talk with you, hear your side of the issue. He’s a gentle soul who doesn’t hurt folks, and he is especially sensitive to the poor, the homeless, city kids … the people others sometimes forget.

VOTE WILLIAM COLEMAN!!!

District 2:

Vote for Candace Mero Carlson!

She wants to take Phil’s place – she’d be a great voice and advocate for D 2. Candy holds a special place in my heart because she is a GREAT DOG LOVER! Has had English bull dogs that are just gorgeous! And spoiled, like my Jett and Lilac. Candy is also people focused, has done so much volunteer work, community advocacy ….LOVES WORCESTER! She knows District 2 and would represent it with smarts, grace and intelligence.

VOTE CANDACE MERO CARLSON!

VOTE TODAY! Vote for the Worcester you hope to see!!!!

Worcester City Councilor at Large Candidate Bill Coleman …

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… sent me this photo today. It was taken five years ago by Billy, who is also a great Worcester community activist!

Cheers to Gus (owner) and all the terrific customers and staffers at his BEAUTIFUL Pickle Barrel Restaurant and Deli on 305 Pleasant St., in the heart of the BEAUTIFUL Piedmont neighborhood!

Thanks for the gift, Billy!

VOTE William “Bill” Coleman for Worcester City Council this fall!

EAT AT THE PICKLE! Read InCity Times!        – R. Tirella

Nick K.’s column on candidate Bill Coleman

By Rosalie Tirella

I called Worcester city council/mayor candidate Bill Coleman last night. He writes for us and is also a friend who has helped me in so many ways, both personally and professionally (i. e. building shelves to hold ICT issues, doing small carpentry/handy man projects around the house; listening to me when I need a sounding board, etc.).

So yesterday I said: “Hey, Bill, I just read Nick K.’s column on you. I thought it sucked. You finished 8’th in the preliminary election (for an at large city council seat – you need to place 6th or better) and he showed you no respect. Minimized your very strong showing by poking fun at you.”

Bill, ever the optimist, didn’t see it that way. “It was OK!”

I guess Bill believes crappy press is better than no press at all.

Wrong.

Nick and the T & G have been making fun of Bill Coleman for years. And in a way, Nick’s latest column on Bill smacked of a more subtle kind of racism. If another of the city council candidates – white and well heeled – had won the spot Bill did this past preliminary election, Nick would have written an entirely different piece. He would have been impressed! He would have written: Look out incumbents! But no. It was just Bill who won. So Nick poked fun and make jokes. In Nick’s column, Bill didn’t get any credit for the job he did so well (8th place!) – only back-handed compliments. Crumby compliments that pissed me off – and lots of Bill’s supporters, of which there are many.

Nick, when was the last time we had an African American city councilor? When was the last time we have had a person of color speak for people of color – or just regular folks – on the Worcester City Council?

Maybe like twice in the City of Worcester’s history.

Bill Coleman has made a name for himself in Worcester doing many good deeds, meeting a ton of people, listening to their concerns, touting the folks and establishments he loves. He is as high energy as they come – certainly more energetic than you, Nick, a fat, gray-haired, old columnist who has overstayed his visit, when it comes to covering politics in this town. You have been around for so long (more than 25 years!!) you can’t even tell that the city you have been writing about so drippily for eons is changing.

WORCESTER NEEDS NEW COLUMNISTS for NEW TIMES!

Summer jobs for Worcester youth 2011: Working together

By William S. Coleman III

It is so good to see the positive, high energy of young adults working throughout the city of Worcester at many summer job locations to making our neighborhoods clean and safe. Thanks to the help and leadership of the city and community leaders we were able to secure $1,723,368 to provide 1,211 summer jobs for our city youth.

It is very important for the city of Worcester to provide summer jobs for city youth, fun activities for families and a place to cool off. The public safety of our community is dependent upon our city being a welcoming place that is safe and secure for all of our residents and visitors.

The city with state aid and the support of the business community and private foundations along with Community Development Block Grant Funding made a positive effort to help our young people develop positive work experiences.

According to Jesse Edwards, City of Worcester, “With state Youth Works funds all the youth are paid $8 per hour. WCAC Coordinates that program and some of the larger employers are the Boys & Girls Club and YouthGrow. UMass’s program Building Brighter Futures with Youth also employs a large number of youth using their own funds all are great programs to highlight.”
As I drove around the city and observed young people doing their summer jobs I had the opportunity to speak with many and they were all grateful to have jobs, make new friends and welcome the opportunity of helping their families with some of their summer earnings.

I spent some time with the youths from the Pho Hien Vietnamese Buddhist Temple on 96 Dewey St. they were working on Chandler Street, helping to make their neighborhood much cleaner and pedestrian-friendly place for all residents to eat and shop. This is the third consecutive year in which the youths have worked on summer projects reclaiming public sidewalks from the hordes of trash on the side of the street curbs; or from the forever growing bushes and overgrown trees that usually cover half the sidewalk (which forces pedestrians to take the more dangerous route on the streets).Within the job the youths trim bushes, cut dead trees and grow new trees, weed out the sidewalks and streets, pick up trash, and mulch tree beds; in that sense anything to make the neighborhood more appealing to the residents and businesses. The youths from the temple cover a huge range within district 4, from intersections of Chandler and Park to the intersection of Chandler and Main and also from Pleasant to the intersection of Piedmont and Main streets.

There are a total of 10 youths with a youth supervisor that work under this program. The group has an age range from from 16 all the way to 21 years old. The youths come from many different educational backgrounds with some attending high school and others attending college. Here are the list of the summer youth workers.The youth supervisor is Hung Nguyen who is the President of the youth organization at the Temple and is also currently attending University of Massachusetts Amherst class of 2012 majoring in Poly-Sci. The youths are: Rittha Tran who has just recently graduated from University of Massachusetts Amherst this year as sociology major, Hieu Nguyen who is also attending University of Massachusetts Amherst class of 2014 as physics major, Minh Ly who just graduated from Claremont Academy this year and will be attending University of Massachusetts Amherst as a Physics Major as well, Chien Nguyen who is attending New England Tech on becoming an Electrician, Thu Ly and Linh Hoang who are attending South High School class of 2012, Hung Ngo and Loi Tran attending University Park Campus School class of 2013, Tan Trieu attending Claremont Academy class of 2013, and finally Khang Ta who graduated South High this year and will be attending Worcester State as an un-declared.

All the youths work with their best efforts to make the neighborhood a much cleaner and safer place for everyone and gain satisfaction from reviewing their progress on streets they have worked on.

Throughout our city “on the move” we must continue reach to out to our city youth at every stage and provide opportunities for safe places to play and to improve educational and learning opportunities with recognition for the good work youth and adults contribute to our city. We all must work for a safe and clean city.

There were 121 youths working the Wheels to Water Program, a program that helped Worcester families find a cool place to swim and have safe family fun. Five students were hired as park stewards. 230 young people worked with UMASS Memorial Health Care, Building Brighter Futures with Youth Program. By far the largest number of youth concentration was with the Worcester Public Schools Work Plus Program which employed 400. UMASS medical hired 25 young people. Mass Bar Foundation hired 20. Project Yes hired 22. YouthWorks hired approximately 360 youth.

Summer jobs from last year are down from 2010. In 2010 the city and community leaders coordinated $2.3 million in funding to support 1,500 jobs. In 2011 1.7 million in funding supported 1,211 jobs.
We need more for year ‘round programs to employ youth. Many of our young people are helping their families with money as they complete their education in these tough economic times. I congratulate the young people for their work to help make our city clean and safe.

Too much stuff! In 2011 let’s donate, recyle …

By William S. Coleman III

Everybody just stop and take a minute and inventory everything you have. Now I’m talking about shoes, shirts, dresses, coats, plates, your cups, kitchen gadgets, furniture, combs, brushes, TV’s, typewriters, computers, videotapes, CD’s , DVD’s, old LP’s, sneakers, rotted food in your refrigerator, telephones, fax machines, old love letters, underwear, toothbrushes, books, radios, air conditioners that don’t work, tires, stuff in garage or attic, unused medications, old batteries, pens, pencils, kids (just kidding), empty plastic bottles, lawnmowers, newspapers, socks, slippers, canned goods in our cupboards, too many sins on your soul, too many pocketbooks, too many receipts, too many tools, too many bad memories, too many broken hearts, too many thoughts of woulda, coulda, shoulda, too many regrets, too many missed opportunities.

We’ve all got too much stuff!

During this time of year think about lightening your load. Continue reading Too much stuff! In 2011 let’s donate, recyle …

Let’s celebrate Black History month!

By William S. Coleman III

The month of February is celebrated as Black History Month in the United States and Canada.

Celebrating the accomplishments, past struggles, trials and life-giving sacrifices of African American communities and those who along the way who fought for their equal rights, reminds us of the greatness of the American Spirit. Just think it wasn’t that long ago that African Americans could not legally cast a vote or be educated in public colleges throughout many parts of this country, simply because of the color of their skin. On our journey to equality we have jumped many a hurdle. When I think of the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to help all Americans fulfill the promise of America as handed to us in the wonderful document of our Constitution of United States of America, it brings renewed pride for me to say, “We are a great country.” Continue reading Let’s celebrate Black History month!