New England Flavor

Things are looking very fall-like in Worcester, and after a relatively dry autumn, that quickly changed last week with alot of rain, but that has subsided, thank God.

As we continue to look at the municipal elections, it's becoming more clear that there are going to be some familiar faces sitting in City Council seats. Is this something to get excited about, to the point of screaming out loud, or do we do our best impression of Mcauley Culkin in "Home Alone"?

Looking at Mayor Lukes's campaign, it's not hard to read into it that she's not trying very hard to be the Mayor of the City of Worcester. By all accounts, it appears that Konnie enjoys being involved with city politics, but can do without the role & title of being mayor. It's sad because I believe that Konnie wants to be innovative, but she is stifled and has been squeezed by the "boys".

Let's take a look at Gary Rosen's campaign. Here's a man that has built a reputation as an educator & a man that knows how to "press the flesh". Not one to knock his hustle, but it's baffling that Mr. Rosen has built his campaign around being seen on street corners holding his sign, smiling and waving. Pretty amazing, right?

With voter turnout for the Primary Election at 14.58%, it does appear that we're on the road to the same old destination, with the same old passengers. Boy this ride is downright boring.

Change is inevitable

"Change is inevitable, except from vending machines"
- Author unknown

This statement couldn't be more true, especially these days when those running for City Councilor, Councilor-at-Large and the Mayoral seat are grabbing for headlines. Sure, the fact that they want the "big seat" or the responsibility is something to be commended, it still doesn't sit well with residents that many of these men and women are doing nothing more than stroking their ego. Oh, the word ego evokes feelings from every person, even the homeless person on Main Street.

The fact that today is August 17th, and Mayor Lukes, Councilors Irish, Palmieri and now Perotto, who has taken the approach to gaining name recognition by taking the high road calling on his competitors to, "to dispense with the political sniping and concentrate on the issues." as printed in Richard Nangle's article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette Newspaper.

Earlier this week, at the City Council meeting, Councilor Philip Palmieri directed some strong comments about "doing better and working harder" towards Robert Moylan, DPW Commissioner, regarding the litter and graffiti in the city. Commissioner Moylan responded by stating that DPW, for the past 10 years has loss positions, and is "doing more with less". During this exchange, Moylan commented that DPW has picked up and removed over 2 tons of litter in the city and needs more man power and money to correct these issues. Doesn't it always come down to money? Well, it does take money to pick up all the trash that many residents casually throw in the streets, or in the case of the Granite Street neighborhood, folks drive southbound, towards Route 20 and dump their tires, mattresses, bed frames and whatever else they don't want to pay to have removed along side the Street.

As I wrote in my post earlier this week, a large issue facing the City of Worcester is the lack of PRIDE. People who have called Worcester home for many years, have seen Worcester go from an industrial blue-collar city to one where many businesses left or couldn't afford to do business in the US due to outsourcing and cheaper labor costs elsewhere. Coupled with the fact that Worcester doesn't have any significant destination sites that would attract people from throughout New England or from around the world to visit the city.

Worcester hasn't done a good job of marketing itself as a "College City" because the colleges and universities themselves don't communicate often or see the benefit to cross-marketing to get the best students to select a college/ university in Worcester. The so called "brain drain" is in full effect, and it doesn't seem that people care that many graduates choose to leave Worcester and Massachusetts for that matter. When key factors such as the cost of living and the salaries that graduates are being offered are out of whack, it should come as no surprise that graduates are leaving the city in high numbers and moving to states such as Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia in record numbers.

Again, as the city moves into a serious time when "Change is inevitable", there should be no surprises when September 11th comes and we find some politicians shocked and upset to how residents voted.