Category: Worcester

When City Councilor Gary Rosen proposed that Worcester look into getting rubber sidewalks, Pie and Coffee celebrated his unconventional vision, Buck Paxton argued against the idea, and Worcester Magazine mindlessly ridiculed him.

Then, in last week’s InCity Times, Gary Rosen wrote an article explaining the idea, and defending it against his critics:

While arborists, street department and city officials, and newspapers like the Boston Globe and In City Times think that the idea of rubber sidewalks has a great deal of merit, our Worcester Magazine called it “bizarre.” I know that we can be and should be more creative and innovative in Worcester.

The primary benefit of rubber sidewalks, as he describes them, is that they deal better with growing tree roots, bending rather than cracking.

Budding rubber sidewalk geeks will want to read the installation manual (pdf). The section “Releasing rubber sidewalk pavers” seems to indicate that swiping a section of sidewalk would be easy.

Professor Corey Dolgon and some of his Worcester State College students have studied a Worcester neighborhood that’s home to several social service programs, and found that the people there are supportive of these facilities.

(Read the “Mending Fences” report.)
Continue reading “Report: Worcester neighborhood likes “group homes””

From tonight’s City Council meeting agenda:

23. Charles Luster request to change the name of Chandler St., from Main St. to Park Ave., to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Worcester Magazine notes that four new streets will be created by the CitySquare project, which the City suggests be called Church Street, Mercantile Street, Trumbull Street, and Eaton Place. You know they could only have come up with such crappy names on purpose, to wave a red flag in the face of those who love the city, in hopes that those folks would respond with a list of excellent names such as Worcester deserves.

Why not name one of the new streets MLK? Follow that up with Abbott Hoffman Way and Harvey Ball Boulevard (which would lead motorists right to Smiley Square).

We now have a street named after Major Taylor. Let’s keep the momentum going and recognize more Worcester heroes this way.

Speaking of Worcester heroes, Gary Rosen is on his way to becoming my favorite City Councilor with agenda items like this:

37. Request the City Manager consider the feasibility of introducing rubber sidewalks in the City of Worcester. (Rosen)

A worthy follow-up to his rat proposal.

The reader who submitted the above agenda items also sent this one in:

C. Request City Council Accept an Offer from the Worcester Sharks to Provide Transportation, Admission, Food and Refreshments for City Officials to Attend the Inaugural Worcester Sharks Game at the Portland Pirates on Friday, October 6th at 7:05 pm.

Kevin Ksen and Matt Feinstein have written their accounts of an incident in which Worcester police roughed up Mr. Feinstein and arrested Mr. Ksen while the two were passing out flyers. The police version of the story has Mr. Ksen blocking the police from entering a house. Not surprisingly, Messrs. Feinstein & Ksen remember things very differently.

As noted previously, Kevin has filed a complaint relating to this incident.

Kevin Ksen, a well-respected Worcester activist and frequent contributor to the Worcester Independent Media Center website, has filed a complaint against the Worcester police for “harassment” and “false arrest.”

Kevin and another activist were passing out fliers for a rally protesting the filming of the “COPS” TV show in Worcester when some police showed up, with the “COPS” crew in tow. Kevin says that when he tried to take photos of the situation for Indymedia, things got out of hand.

Good story in the Telegram:

With the first flash, Mr. Ksen said, Officer [Mark] Rojas “quickly grabbed my arms, which were in front of me with the camera, twisted them up behind my back and slapped cuffs on me in seconds. I was pretty amazed how fast I was cuffed.” During the episode, he said, officers deleted a photo from his digital camera and threw away the fliers he and his friend were distributing.

[…]

In an open letter sent Monday to Worcester City Council members and others, Mr. Ksen said his own case was another for “the list of stories we have all watched unfold this past year through which the bad cops have given our City and the (Police) Department a black-eye …”

Lest you forget, a few days after Kevin was arrested, Worcester’s Police Chief kicked “COPS” out of the city, saying:

“I just believe it is in the best interest to ask ‘Cops’ to leave.”

Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme, from today’s Worcester Telegram & Gazette:

“I just believe it is in the best interest to ask ‘Cops’ to leave.”

The decision follows both a protest against the show at Worcester City Hall, and a Wednesday meeting between the Chief and community leaders.

According to Worcester Magazine’s Scott Zoback:

Apparently, no other city has seen a citizen protest mounted over the presence of the FOX TV show “Cops,” like the one held at City Hall this week, and the show is 17 years old. That’s what the FOX crew has told folks and a search of our newspaper database service appears to confirm it. We found some Portland, Ore., activists who posted angry messages on forums; and Chicago, San Francisco and Honolulu flat out refused to let the show tape in the city.

According to the Telegram:

This is only the second time a city has reversed its decision to have the show film its officers. Cincinnati officials decided against having the show in their city in 2004, according to [“Cops” creator John Langley]. The “Cops” crew went back after the officials changed their minds, he said.

“Maybe Worcester will change its mind,” he said. “We’ll be happy to film there.”

And here is Buck Paxton’s take.

Man, it’s tough blogging about Worcester from South Bend.

[Part of this blog entry was removed after I realized I was misreading a statement in the T&G.]

From the annals of parallel invention: In the Worcesteria referenced above, Scott Zoback ran an item about Gary Rosen’s rat resolution titled “Rat Attack,” a couple days after I ran an item about the same resolution titled “Rat Attack!”