1) Parker Companies
2) Pressmet
3) Woodmeister
4) Tatnuck Boookseller
5) Morgan Construction (sold)
6) O'Coins7)
7) TiNova (I have a gift certificate)
8) Allegiant Air
9) Salter School
10) Barbers Crossing
11) EB Luce
12) DeScenza Jeweler
13) Bancroft Tire and Car Sales
14) Applebee's downtown
15) Mayfield Plastics to Millbury
16) Palsons Office
17) Union Station Restaurant
18) Blues Club at Union Station
19) Vincent Jewelers
20) Bob's at Webster Square
21) Sh'Booms
22) Parker & Harper on Dewey Street
23) Manoog Plumbing
24) Fidelity on Belmont
25) Sheraton Lincoln on Lincoln
26) L Hardy
27) Shaws on Grafton Street
28) Java Hut
29) Marshall's Greendale Mall
30) FDR Library
31) Plumber's Museum
32) Emilia's
33) Luciano's
34) Struck Cafe
35) KB Toys
36) Friendlys on Lincoln Street
37) Blackstone Harvest
38) Bancroft Liquors
39) 80's Club
40) Stowe & Degon
41) Woodfire barbeque
42) Zoots on Grafton
43) Hollywood Video on Grafton
44) African Museum on Canterbury Street
Same Time Next Year
-
It’s been nearly a year since I wrote about the problems that come from
having 11 bosses who are not on the same page about anything, as well as
suggestion...
4 months ago
32 comments:
I take it you haven't called Amity to ask about their plans to move to Stow.
Actually I e-mailed an info address on the Amity website, I will now.
Jahn;
in yer opinion why is there not an outrage as to what is happening..this is not rocket science..you have a city full of folks with no jobs or a desire to have jobs then the productive move to locations where there are folks with jobs and a desire to have jobs??
Those that do vote.. keep voting in cats who rarely advocate ideas that are bringing jobs, productive folks into the city...we are making it uncomfortable for a museum to expand, we had a pol making assinine statements about tearing down a mall wall:>) and for the few productive coming to the city to pay a $99 tax..
I was at Block 5 Sunday after the Saw Doctor's show and I chatted it up with a Pakistani lad who goes to WPI...he has absolutely no plans to stay here after graduation..he stated a few oft heard comments..few if any intellectual enclaves to hang out atwithin the city..no book stores, no upsacale cafes, dirty city...no scholarly feel to the city considering the amount of students within it's borders..no jobs being a number 1 reason...
I hosted a small running event out of The Hibo last night (Hibernian Club)..100 folks..my buddy from Somerville and I hung out at Kelley Square directing..it was amazing how dirty the area is on a day to day basis...trash everywhere..none of the biz owners cleaning up..how does the city propose that this is a new exciting entertainment zone and not keeping it clean..
*city did clean Chandler last night and this was a welcoming site..now if the biz owners along Chandler would only take the "Q" and assist
no answer at amity?
All:
The tickets are in for the fundraiser in my boy's honor at Dzian art gallery...
http://www.dzian.net/dzian/events.html
...at least SOMETHING is goin on downtown, eh ?!?!??!
:-)
Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA
Paulie, the problem is that we cannot get new politicians into office, because all the local pols are bought and paid for by city employee labor, except for Konnie who is logically calling for pay freeezes....but I am not sure how that works, given all the labor contracts already in place.
Then there is McGovern who sends us Comm. Dev'ment Block Grant money, but he "earmarks" it for more low income housing.....so he can do photo ops in the newly rehabbed parts of Main South...then drive back Home to Upper Burncoat Street.
I for one am tired of being governed by McGovern..........and I dont care if he's nice guy either..........i aint really a bad guy.......but that aint got nothing to do with anything........Jim is destroying the citys future by providing money for low income hosing............keep it in Washington.......we dont want it nor need it........and let's lose at least 7 of these non profit housing groups. i.e. Low Income Pimps.
And what happened to the African Musuem.........they get run outta Dodge or something ???
we should take up a collection and send Bill to a shrink to help him get over the loss of a $25 TiNovo gift cert.
$100 gift certicate
Dollar Video at Tatnuck Square (on life support)
Rich
Dundar is a nice guy. That is more a question of the video place marketplace and his lease expiring.
Bill
Jahn snd others;
I am firmly believe that the city is just to lawless..we don't enforce parking meters, our streets our terribly dirty and this could be rectified by a progressive street cleaning program like is in place in Cambridge, Somerville and many other Greater Boston cities and towns..once a month a street is cleaned and it is encumbent upon those parked on the street to have their vehicle moved..if it is moved no problem and if not it is towed and the street gets cleaned..we started cracking down on snowplowing this year by towing cars and we have that idiotic leaf cleaning programs..we would get rid of a high percentage of the losers living in this city cause right now it is just to damn easy living in this city for so many who contribute nothing and they rarely if ever get spanked..I guarantee that the amigos next door who rarely get up before noon would look elesewhere if they had to get up at 9AM to do a damn citizen's act and just maybe some nice folks who appreciate urban living would move in cause the streets were clean and free of houses full of losers
Don't forget Anna's Kitchen & pub in the hotel/condo/whatever across from the Registry. That was an absolute gem in that there were only a few Hungarian restaurants around New England and that one was a 'destination trip' for various Eastern European folks throughout New England as the word of mouth was so good on the food! Too bad they drank the 'Kool Aid' and got locked into a lease just before all the construction got started in and around the hotel and registry and took away both off street and on street parking for close to 2 years. What's the failure rate of restaurants ... 90% in the first year? They held on for 2+ years with all those obstacles they faced. In my opinion, that left the city with a real black eye as these folks invested a ton of money to come here from Boston, have not 1 but 2 restaurants downtown...and then all the construction bled them dry with no contingence plan to get diners into the restaurants other than "OOPS, it sucks to be you...".
Having those 2 restaurants there now with the opening of the Hanover Theater would have been a really good thing !!! (with all apologies to Martha Stewart")
Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA
Paulie, the city always looks a little rough after the snow melts........and all the waste and shopping carts buried in parking lot snow piles and windrows along the streets become visible and is w/o a doubt an eyesore.
Too bad the council cant get some of these employees who allegedly work long hours, like the trash haulers who are done at noontime everyday, to come back to the DPW yard and hop into a street sweeper for a few hours every afternoon.
Also Paulie, they do sweep at night in the immediate downtown area or at least they used to?? I only know this b/c on a rare occassion I have been downtown at late hours and also once upon a time a sweeper operator had to call the police b/c as he was moving along Worc Center Blvd ( since renamed?) a couple of heads popped out of some manhole covers. The police report says a couple of WPI frat boys were playing civil engineer Ninja's in the tunnels under the streets. Probably the same bunch who chopped down a Christmas on resevior land in West Boylston, only to be busted b/c they were making too much noise. Guess we get all of MIT's rejects.
jahn prowling the streets late night!!! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I am talkig about the neighborhoods..they get done once in the spring and one in the fall..not nearly enough..when you have such a huge population that has no idea what cleaning up in front of where one lives means..our current trash pick-up is terrible with no enforcement..bags go out days in advance and just sit there..animals get into the bags and then the sidewalks look like a chicken & pork killing zones for weeks because none of our fine upstanding urban citizens can bear to miss the "Price is Right" so the debris just piles up.
If the Canal District is going to be the next hot spot then the city needs to treat it as so...benches and trash barrels should be in place even if temporary until a new streetscape plan is developed..DPW workers should be in place after midnight cleaning up for the next day..debris sits all over the place and for weeks on end..go to the Temple Bar in Dublin..if you stay in a Temple Bar hotel..you hear them cleaning up very early getting ready for the next day's business..same in Faneuil Hall..if Worcester wants to get over this hump then it has to start copying some of the ideas that other progressive cities are implementing....Somerville was very leary about implementing the Cambridge "clean streets program"..cause we didn't want to be Cambridge..well..Somerville has never been cleaner and more prosperous and I can't tell you how many young kids native to Worcester or Worcester area grads live there now..Frank Sinatra was the only cat who could do it his way..Worcester needs to start looking at what other "cities on the move" are doing..and NOW not after sitting at the table like some of our esteemed leaders like to do...
Paulie, to directly quote a woman who was answering phones over at the DPW one day some time in 2006 (wow do I wish I got her name now), "I don't care what goes on in Baltimore. I only care what is going on right here in Worcester."
It's disturbing to wonder how many folks working for the city of Worcester may share this sentiment.
niayimost city employees Gabe..it is an ole work force that is ready for retirement not a work force ready to be a city on the move and this has been a big problem for Mick O'Brien in my opinion.."changing the ways" folk think and do things..
I struggled with my district councilor to move on this trash issue in the Chandler/Winfield/Dewey triangle..the yellow bags when used are put our early..recycleables just left on the sidewalk in no containers (only doing to save on yellow bags not as an environmental issue for them)..my city councilor insisted on writing the letter which I put out door to door..the letter pretty much stating that the neighborhoood trash rules were going to be enforced..well no one listened to the letter..so I tried to arrange a meeting with our city liason on this issue..so that enforcement could begin...he missed the meeting, wouldn't return e-mails, city person after city person would say "that doesn't sound like him":>)..bottom line..I wasted mucho time on the issue and with no backbone from the city...it is still a problem in my hood and throughout the urban core of the city..cleaning Main/Elm/Highland & Chandler weekly is nice but more needs to be done if this city expects a MAJORITY of good folks to live in/come back to the urban core of the city..cleanliness is right up there with safety..
Trash Enforcement should be high on this Council's list...hitting one in the pocket is the only way since the time of man to get an issue resolved that can't be resolved on a citizen basis..
To many city employees are very happy with the status quo..they get a nice pay check, benefits package and status in the city for the boat to be rocked..human nature..this city needs more young studs and babes who wanna make a name for themselves in the urban renewal enclaves..our Economic Development Boss is an example..he didn't come to WormTown to live in a three deckah and then retire to the west side..like many in this city urn to do.."get out of Dodge City instead of taming Dodge City"
I recently was in Cambridge and was surprised to run into a former code department city employee now working for the City of Cambridge..I nevah saw him smile so much (yes I had dealt with him in the past:>)..he stated it was like night and day..the City of Cambridge meant business about enforcement, the swill he has to deal with was cut in 3/4 (thats what happens when folks in an urban environment live like folks are supposed to:>)..he was enjoying his work he told me:>)
That being said..is there anyone out there using non-toxic, bio-degradable laundry detergent??
I have been using for sometime...it is expensive but a step in the right direction I am told..
Is it me but has anyone heard from a leader in this city about this issue other than.."it will bankrupt the city"..."we don't disagree with the EPA and the Clean Water Act, we just want some controls"...when will the city start an educational program geared towards clean waterways..and how important a clean envoironment is to property values and who wants to live in a city??
Paulie in multi family neighborhoods......esp.with 3 deckers...........it's impossible to determine who put the trash out unless you see it actully being carried to the curb/sidewalk. Often the landlord ends up taking the fall for it.
The city guys, for example, arent going to go through anyones weekly garabge to find a name on someones junk mail and then trace down the garbage owner and the cops will say it aint their job.....they are too busy working 29 hours of detail work every week.....at least not for household rubbish...illegal dump sites are a diff story.....
Paulie the city will look better, once the crews get to work with the spring cleaning.....as I said before.....the dirty melting snow is unsightly and often leaves behind lots of buried junk & waste.
I do tend to agree, some employees are there from 9 to 5, just to get their 30 yrs in. This city council attitude of lotsa of hard woorking city employees (10 sick days per year on average!) putting in loong hours & hard work is 98% urban myth. Maybe some higher up salaried professionals do ......but there is no way in hell that our trash haulers are working 8 hrs a day.......yet the Waste Mangemnt recylcing guys do.
Unfortunately, the city becomes the employer of last resort for too many people and nepotism is absolutely over the top and nepotism breeds incompetence & mediocrity. Also the sense of entitlement with many city employees is something you'll never see in the private sector. Just look at some airport employees who may allegedly be posting here.....or......for example, the T&G reports that firemen think they should have a say in what fire station(s) remain opened or closed. Try telling St Gobain that you still want to make 6" inch grinding wheels, when no one buys 6" grinding wheels anymore. You'll be out on your +++.
This will all change but not until the money runs out....b/c the council is in the back pocket of city labor........the 80% pensions and lifetime health ins will eventually bankrupt the city.
I have to respectfullly disagree Jahn...the neighborhoods in the urban core of this city are very dirty all times of the year..the DPW has been doing a admirable job but they can not do it themselves and this city citizenry expects this..cars sit to long on the street making them inpassable when street cleaners come by and the city is reluctant to ticket or tow..thus effecting most around this issue..I deal with it on Chandler & Dewey all the time...I or an employee daily am forced to clean up out front or else be embarrassed for living with such shit around...sidewalks on Dewey and Winfield are a disgrace..again when you let the inmates run the asylum this generally happens..
Worcester needs a progressive street cleaning program and a progressive trash dispoal program that has some meat to it and yes that means fines..I could care less if folks can't afford it..Worcester can no longer afford the mass exodus of young kids moving to look for a real urban experience..kids on the west side should be salivating to move to the urban core of this city just like folks salivate to eventually move to the west side..an urban experience and still close to home..we need clean streets and sidewalk along with safe sidewalks..get these issues resolved first and then we can chat about rubber sidewalks..oy vey rubber sidewalks:>)
http://worcesteria.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/the-color-of-money/#comments
I missed last weeks City Council meeting but there is a Mp3 video on the above of Konnie Lukes speaking of the pay to c ertain folks in the city...
The most interesting was her comment on the census coming out soon and the changing demographics..her comment on who is moving out and who is moving in was very telling about where this city is actuallly going..this is what the CC should be dealing with....Clancy went after Konnie on salaries..no word on the census report comment..
Java Hut near Webster Square left us but it looks like the bike shop next door is expanding so in asmuch as the city has lost a valuable spot for folks getting together to hear poetry, chat about GWB and drink coffee..another valuable asset is moving forward:>)
Paulie, Clancy is bought and paid for by the teachers union.......i believe he's a teacher in Millbury H.S. .......and he's also possibly the union honcho at Milbbury H.S., too.
I knew a teacher there years a ago.............who was working late & doing extra things above & beyond the call of duty for free...Clancy told him he couldnt do that.......i.e. he couldnt stay late and work extra work unless the teacher was paid for it... i.e. it was not in the union contarct.
Toomey is another one also owned by the Worc Teachers........being a former school committe person.......
One cannot be labor friendly and taxpayer (customer) friendly
Paulie, what do you think will happen if one of your GIQ imbibing, porch dwelling, neighbors gets lugged for littering....... he gets ticket.........then never pays it........and if by some unimaginable stretch of the imagination he ends up in court for non payment................what ya think the judge will do.....try collecting a debt judgement someday.......and even after 3 warnings from the judge..........if the guy get sent to jail who do u think Glodis is going to let out first when it gets overcrowded up there.......
The changing demographics might mean another district councillor for Main South District and the West side district and/or north end districts get combined into 1 district. More babies = more representation.
Wait till Mass loses a House seat in Washington DC.
they had better start reversing this trend or slowing it down to allow more cats like myself from outside the city to get in and assist in changing this urban core or else all this hard work the city has done will be for nothing...locals are not going to retake the huge areas of poverty in this city...they left a long time ago and it will take decades for them to come back..I travel in few circles BUT I like to be around a lot of different folks..some locals are always commending me for making the decision to live in the urban core and to be fixing up my houses like I am as well as some of the urban stuff I am doing but none of them would ever do this..and some think I am a moron:>) and you know they nevah would:>)
I have felt for along time that D4 should have two city councilors..Barabara Haller has my support and anger..there is just no way that one person can handle the entire district alone..as long as the "powers to be" keep shoving in more huddled masses urning for free housing,free food,free medical & free legal:>)
I plan to make that next Worcester Synergy Group at Mahoneys on the 27th...hopefully it is not just the same folks who do everything in this city...this city desperatly needs more younger folks involved and not just for the downtrodden down at Stone Soup (this is a maxi cottage business in this city) but folks doing funky stuff like promoting the bike path, getting the library open all the time, more events..even if they are only road races..something should be happening in this city all the time..business streescape meetings (is there a city out there with more uglier biz streetscapes-my own Chandler Street comes to mind)..stuff happening for the city and for folks who are actually living...
Anyway, I am off to church and then maybe to Pittsfield (nevah been there) to see if it is as bad as Jahn paints it:>)
I'll report back tonight mates:>)
Paulie, as I said in another post..............a tree lined Chandler st would look absolutely beuatiful...............but we dont have the money and biggest reason the city as no money is the cost of city labor..................imagine how many trees could be planted if the average city employee was reduced to 4 paid sick days per year instead of 10..............think anyone of these 10 jokers down there on Tuesday night would ever touch that one........no way in hell.....see Nick K today......he's hit the nail right on the head.......councillors will say sick pay say is a collective bargianing issue and thats the Managers turf............but when it comes time for raises they are all in there telling the manger he has to do this and that to make their city employee conmstituents happy.......
Maybe Mcgovern could "earmark" our Comm. Dev. Block Grant Funds for trees........instead of housing for people who basically live like trees.......i.e ....do little or nothing but stand around and drink & litter...but at least teh trees only drink ground water and litter with their leaves only once a year.....dont think for 1minute that when Mcgovern sends us money............he's already made it quite clear where he expects it to be used................low income housing !!!!!........b/c trees dont vote........
Here's a letter to the editor of the The Day, a newpaper in New London Ct. New London seems to have similar financial issues as Worcester and the letter is entitled:
New London should trim the fire companies
The city of New London, instead of hiring more relatives of firefighters to sleep at the firehouses, should close two of the three fire stations in the city and cut the size of the fire department to about 17 people.
The city needs to get rid of all the chiefs, battalion chiefs, assistant battalion chiefs, fire inspectors, assistant fire inspectors and so on. The city should also lay off all the emergency medical technicians and privatize the the ambulance services, whose main functions are to ferry drunks and drug addicts to Lawrence and Memorial Hospital.
A city like New London, which measures about seven miles by two miles, can no longer afford this fire depeartment. Many New London firefighters are well to do. They sleep at the firehouses and work two and sometimes three other jobs. They easily make more than $100,000 per year.
The firefighters main duties are eating donuts, playing Parcheesi, and watching television. They will always need a fire chief to oversea the Parcheesi tournaments, as they sometimes can get out of control.
Patrick Crowley
Quacker Hill
Did anyone notice in Saturdays paper that shares in St Gobains parent company in France are being bought up by a publically held European buyout company.
This should raise a lot of eyebrows in Greendale and on Main St. Nick K. however reports that Main Street is pre-occupied with other pressing issues, like breast feeding.
Thank God this Rushton isnt our Mayor. Like Nick implied, creating problems where there are none.
What's St Germaine been up to lately? Mr. St Germaine is going to be creating ooodles of problems where there are none, b/c his full time job is councillor. At least most or all of the others have full time jobs to occupy their day and I dont care who's a good guy and who isnt.
just got back from a day of western Massachusetts snooping..made it out to Pittsfield, MA....very vibrant Americana downtown with a flair of funky hipness that Greenfield and Haverhill have about them...still has a downtown theatre called the Capitol and it has a number of Roman Catholic Churches..I made it into St. Charles for a few prayers:>)..the high school is downtown with the balllfields surrounded by houses..the doors to the school are purple...like I said the town has a distinct Americana feel with a certain funky hipness about it..this is one thing Worcester does not have..that Americana feel with a certain funky hipness to it....there just is nothing hip about this town..the one funky coffee shop where if you had some balls you could read your own poetry or something from Dylan Thomas to a crowd - Java Hut went out of business and the Bean Counter is nothing but a bunch of counter kids all with tattoos trying to out do each other but funky hipness does not ooze out of the place..west side politics does:>)
Anyway..the vacancy factor in Pittsfield is low..most of the downtown property has been developed or maintained...very clean city/town and even in the hoods surrounding the downtown..I tried to find the Main South part of town and couldn't..not sure if they have one..but even the areas that were blue collar-low income were clean..evidently the less fortunate in Pittsfield have a wee bit of pride for themselves or else there is strict enforcement...
Pittsfield has a Ben & Jerry's:>) and it does have a wee Burlington, Vermont feel to it..not the downtown area but the surrounding hoods around Burlington, VT....easy peaceful feeling..folks stay close to home.
Wahconah Park (first I ever heard or seen it) is just outside downtown..a historic minor league ballpark with no minor league ballclub...most of the radio news and music comes out of Albany, NY...
After Pittsfield..I head north towards Dalton/Savoy to get on Rt. 2..stopped off at the Stllwater Restaurant in Charlemont, MA for dinner..$20.00 all you could eat Easter Dinner buffett..and you could take scraps out for your dog:>)My Beagle loved the ham:>)
we have a tree lined Chandler from Park to El Bueno Sabor:>) However the trees are so small and thin that one has to look hard to see them even in the growing season..I as well as a few others ponied up money for some of them..
Few maintain the trees in front of their shops and houses..it is not just the Pajama Crowd that gives little back my way Jahn..you would think the cats at Barney's Bicycle would-they gotta be crunchy granola right...they don't even??? Go figure..numerous foodies on the street and if you look around the trees and the area is loaded with butts, yellow plastic bags..this makes me sick to be quite honest
The new trees over on Elm and side streets are maintained by a citizen group-I know cause I have been told so by the Chief Forester for the city..they fertilize, trim and groom..I have been doing for 4 trees but I just can't do for them all..the city did it's job on this one Jahn...the citizens have failed miserably in mi own opinion:<(
hooked on Pitsfield
nice front page to their web site
http://www.pittsfield-ma.org/
I forgot to add that I drove thru Orange, MA on the way back..now there is a depressing downtown looking for some identity..also popped into Turners Falls aka Montague...nice funky downtown
was just watching Jordan Levy..he states he hasn't seen race relations as bad as they are today in 30 years...when was the last time anyone saw him walking around the minority hoods of Worcester let alone Detroit, Roxbury, Dorchester, Harlem, Bronx??????
I am trying to think if there has been even one instances lately that I have heard one of my neighbors mention Barack H. Obama, Hilary or even Mayor Kwame:>)
This guy is so out of touch with the urban happenings in Worcester or anywhere else..he is worried about urban riots...
Hank Stoltz "The City that Reads"
can anyone name more than one book store in the city?
Barnes and Noble is the only one I know of...up next to Staples
How can a city the size of Worcester only have one book store?? Where do you folks buy your magazines?
Honey Farms, 7-11, and in days gone by, the Paris Cinema
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