- Ice Skating rink starts today
- WCRN moves downtown today but has no phone lines
- CSX on the radio all the time now
- Rumor mill says Mayo Group has given up on Worcester
- Picked up some mag called Central Mass Insider, I think, about high school sports and there was a story that Fenway was thinking of moving to Worcester Airport. Was this the April Fool's edition?
- Will I ever see anyone in the new pocket park on Winslow/Pleasant once it is done.
- Shrewsbury Street merchant told me that his windows have been broken 4 times this year.
Quick question driving around I see construction at:
- Winlsow/Pleasant
- Skating rink
- Burwick Furniture
- Union Station Garage
- Washington Square
- May Street
Jahn, what do these 6 projects have in common?
31 comments:
I'll go with the easy/most apparent answer on this one. Hope It's not a trick question!
All involve Gov't money......
And as an aside they give the appearance of a City on the move.........unfortunately...........moving on Washingtons and Beacon Hills dime.
Do I need the fingers on both hands to count the number of times the Common has undergone renovation in the last 35 years ?
Yes, you will see people at the P&W park when it is done. The neighborhood pushed for the park, the neighborhood has done fundraising for the park, and the neighborhood will use it.
There's been very little public investment in that neighborhood for some years.
who's kiddin' who here??? There is public investment everywhere in this neighborhood..drive by 224 Chandler Street today and look at the half open windows..the screens up halfway..the curtains tied up in a ball blowing out the windows..the clothes hanging on my fence (not for long)..trash all on the front lawn..not one man in the house leaving for work today, tomorrow or anyday this week for that matter..most catching up on their reading this summah...LOSERVILLE and we do nothing but allow it in this city on da move
Jordan Levy just stated Hartford,CT has died...and that John Kerry will be re-elected with huge numbers...hmmm
We have a few ready for death ourselves here in Massachusetts..John Kerry in office 25 years
cascading waters:
I hope that you are right and lots of people use the park. Drive by it three-foce times per day and I will let you know. Considering the location of the lot and the close proximity to Elm Park, not to mention Beaver Brook, I question the use.
Bill
What's the P & W park ......Providence & Worcester.........Potheads & Wino's.........?????
Cascading, I have to ask, exactly what you mean by public investment in that neighborhood and please be specific as to what and where.
Paulie, I too have wondered over the years about people who open their screens in the heat of teh summer. It does nothing for cooling their apts and I have to wonder if they all wake up the next morning (or afternoon) with misquito bites all over themselves.
Bill, I agree re the park situation and I think you should also mention the park facilities over the Doherty High area as well. Maybe you should snap a few photos of the activity or inactivity there and post them in the fall of 2009 after the park has had a run for one season.
City Sq drop dead demo date (a.k.a. DDDD) is now June 30, 2009........woweee.........talk about an ever moving target. It s/b put in the Boston Gun Range
I was at the liberry this morning and while i was in there I was thinking of going over to Bancroft for a coffe & muffin at that place in the basement, as I have done a few times in teh past. Drove by there, but....WRONG! It's closed and windows are waxed?? I cant recall the name of the place and maybe thats why I never knew it was on Bills closure list (I assume its there?)
BTW, Jahn is always pleased with the library. Kudos to the city for doing a good job there, although I dont know at what cost.
I'd also like to add the NSRA money being funneled into the neighborhood-see Suney's & Bahnan's recent do ovah...money that the Chandler Street Business Association is funneling to a youth employment program this summer....that will include cleaning Newton Hill, Castle Hilll Park and the trees on Chandler Street..money that the Chandler Street Business Association is funneling to the Latino Restaurants on Chandler for English classes (I am dying to see how many enroll:>)....anyway ALL PUBLIC MONEY!
I'd bet heavy that 50%+ of the housing in our neighborhood is publically subsidized-I refuse to use the word investment as there is very little return on money pumped in! Still have dirty streets, high crime, low voter turnout, miserable schools marks...shall I go on:>)
Jahn:
The name of the place was Common something or other. Common Ground??? Seriously I heard from a reliable source that Mayo has had pretty much enough with Worcester.
Parks in this area.. We have one on the corner of Austin/Newbury, Beaver Brook, Castle Park, Elm Park to name a few. Did we really need a pocket park on Winslow and Pleasant Street?? I will not even mention the Commons or Newton Hill for that matter.
Bill
You all have cars.
I'm guessing none of you have small children.
Have you ever set out to walk to Beaver Brook or Elm Park from that stretch of Pleasant? with little kids?
There's a reason the moms (especially) in that neighborhood worked so hard for that park.
Bill, I'm guessing your referring to Newton Hill? Where you can't get a free tennis court, where the basketball court is always buzzing, and there are people coming on and off the hill with dogs?
you have got to be kidding me..Elm Park is to far? What about the field just around the cornah where the World Cup soccer match has been happening the past few years..we expect nothing from so many..now we can't even ask that they walk a wee bit to the park...oh boy what a surprise anyone with one iota of a thought of being part of the urban community is fleeing Woostah Urban en masse...Newton Park most of the time is as quiet as a field mouse..I am up there daily..Beaver Brook the same..Castle Hill even more!
I saw the city painting cross walks the other night..something many of us have been on the city to do....now I have found out we have been wasting our time cause they are not being used..oy vey
BTW..long time city guy with a mom who was a long time city gal..she walked to school, walked to work and walked us kiddies all the time..she also worked her way thru college as a mother and worked to supplement the household along with my dad..
I don't mean to get anyone mad, but Elm Park is a great park and is two blocks from Winslow/Pleasant. In addition this location's highest and best use, with all the traffic, is commercial which is vital to our tax base so we have monies to maintain all the parks.
To spend approximately $500,000 to purchase the parcel and another, I don't know how much to install, seems crazy. It just seems like a crazy idea to me.
Bill
who's getting mad:>)..this is a great example of more money wasted by our government..more money wasted on folks who contribute very little but get so much from regular hard working folks..again look at the house next door to me-224 Chandler Street..leaves me no choice but to stay vacant or get the same type of tenants-LOSERS...sorry if the term bothers folks:>) Not really
I'll be spending my summer elsewhere this year...thousands spent cleaning up my house-private investment:>)..nice yard and all I heard last night was hoss shit noise till late in the evening..doors and windows open all day..loud music..underwear hanging off windows to dry, yellow trash bags all ovah the front..I am embarrased to invite folks ovah:>)
Someday more will speak up:>)
Paulie:
Good to have you back.. Cascading Waters it does bother me now that I reread your comment that none of us must have small children? What the hell does that mean. In fact Jahn may even be a child.
Matter of fact I took my small child to the Grecian Festival, where Harry was nowhere to be found. It was a great time.
I hope thousands of mothers walk their children to this pocket park, but I fail to see how this park is so much more accessible to the people on Pleasant Street then Elm Park which is literally two more blocks away?
Pocket parks on Pleasant/Winslow, skating rinks on the Common and Skybridges are simply are waste of tax money....
Bill
and I should add the City of Worcester should be embarrassed that there is so much of this in the city!!!
Let me make this clear. I have seen the plans for the park and they are very very nice.
I just question the necessity and the amount of money being spent on it. In the end, now that the money is spent, I only hope this park is used.
Me, too, Bill.
And I think it will be. The neighborhood has worked so hard for this that they definitely have that support.
As for kids, most people I know who have them or are around them think that more parks are a good idea. On a day like today, sitting under a tree (if you can't be at the beach or in AC) is something everyone should be able to manage.
"we all think parks a GOOD idea..it's the amount of the unused ones that have us troubled"
I saw the plans for the pocket park, they really do look nice and the people involved have worked very hard on it. We all, as weary taxpayer says, think parks are a good idea.
Right now I drive by so many parks that are already underutilized and undermaintained. Besides the ones already mentioned here in the course of a normal day I drive by Maloney Field and Crystal Park. I just can not help but ask again, how far is it from here to Elm Park?? Literally it has to be less then a 1/4 mile.
I hope that this park is a huge success and it is constantly being used. Honestly, I just do not see this happening.
Hope that I am wrong,
Bill
one last thing
I do not blame the parks department for all the parks being maintained appropriately.
This is truly one department that is understaffed considering the number of parks in the city of Worcester.
I'd like to see more sidewalks fixed, more gangs kicked off cornahs, more police presence around all the crap business in the District that has day after day violence eminating from them..see cornah of Dewey & Winfield every day for the biggest group of losers...the hell with more local park space that is already underutilized by lazy people!! Journey up to Castle Hill Park sometime:>) The Hookahs use it more:>)
I'm all for greenery-see trees on Chandler Street that I dropped $1K into the bucket for along with alot of other caring business owners..but this is more Woostah nonsense...more for those who continue to give less!!!
Lets face it..we have a highly developed group in this city who know how to reach into others pockets..AND quite effectively!!
CC Clancy a few weeks back stated that there are streets in the city that may not get fixed in 20 years..yet we are building more park space because a few mothers who sit home all day can't walk a few blocks with their kiddies (please don't tell me it is federal dollars)...another example of a regular guy giving alot-taxpayer and not getting anything back!!
Yesterday..I watched three grown men sit by the pool all day at 224 Chandler Street:>) I busted my ass working on the house
This area has seen little
"public investment" ..PLEASEEEEEEEEE spare us all the dishonesty would ya!
"This is truly one department that is understaffed considering the number of parks in the city of Worcester" - Wild Will
>>>was that not evident in the head Forester's e-mail to me two weeks back Wild Will when I inquired into the work on the Chandler Street trees:>)
Pau:
Well said.
Seriously the number of people dedicated to maintain all the parks in Worcester is, I forgot how low. At the same time I do not see why we can not tap into the tenants of Sheriff Glodis to help with the mowing and upkeep.
Bill
"I do not see why we can not tap into the tenants of Sheriff Glodis to help with the mowing and upkeep."-Wild Will
>>>probably same reason I can't find out who/which PUBLIC Agency holds the Sexy 8 certs next door..we would be trampling on their civil rights...funny..I miss one payment on my mortgage or credit card and every damn agency in the WORLD can find out but a regular Joe Smoe taxpayer wants to find out why a house full of grown men who receive free housing, free medical,free kiddie pick-up to school,free foood,free legal,free health can sit around all F'n day on my dime and destroy my neighborhood in the same time!!!
Then I gotta listen to our Congressman chat the other night on TV about the "face of hungah"..how about the "face of so many losers" killing the neighborhoods..I bet he really knows nuttin' about this livin' in trendy Washington:>)
Cascading, I am still hoping for a response to my question about more public investment in the area........specifically what and most importantly where.
Also Cascading, I have yet to know of a poor family w/o a car.....although I am sure a few probably do exist...in fact many poor families have 2 cars. What you're omitting however is that the transient boyfirends(s) who are technically not part of the family have wheels....as a matter of fact the wheels are bolted to the Escalades with $5,000 chrome/alloy rims and I am sure they'll all be in town this coming Sunday.
How did the Moms "work so hard" for that park? Showing up at a few meetings an making alot of noise is, IMO, not really hard work. What will these moms do if the park becomes a haven for Hobo's? Cascading, if that park becomes a huge success how would you like to live next to it...........alternatively if the park becomes a Hobo Haven, how would you like to live next to it?
Cascading says the poor cannot walk across Park Ave (inspite of their lobbying for crosswalk signals there)..........so we'll have some public investment in a small bus to transport them to Beaver Brook?
What about the Martin Luther King Building on Dewey St...........now there's millions of Public dollars invested in buildings, payroll costs, utilities, etc, etc. To what end, I am not quite sure. Then there's the eldery high rise on Pleasant St
Bill, I had assumed the city already owned that land................$500,000........WOWEEEE.........classic case of bad planning and way over paying....it was probably sold off at auction after the school was razed (which was 1978-1979)....and now they buy it back !!!
Common Gounds was the name of the coffee shoppe in the The BancroFt that closed up???.........did it close recently???....and I can think of another Common Grounds that I would just love to see closed up...put a few overpaid, unqualified hacks on the unemployemnt rolls.
Jahn:
Right again on Common Grounds...
I believe you are right that the guy bought the property from the City of Worcester and turns around and sells it back for 500K. Can you believe we paid 500K for that lot??
Bill
Hay whats 500 large ones so a few stay at home mom's and dad's can have it easier..would have gone a long way for the WPD fighting crime or the DPW fixing the sidewalks and streets..hell I wouldn't have had to lay out $$$ for city trees, city trash barrells and the $$$ to my staff to empty them and hauler to haul:>)
As John Monfredo would say "It's all for the children"
Paulie:
The purchase price of the land was close to 500,000. The work being done it was I believe another 500,000.
Bill
The more I think about it I believe the total price tag was 1.25 million so the work must be more in the 750,000 range
Jahn, did they not call the park acorss from the Hanover when it was built I think they called that a "pocket park".
Imagine that 1.25 million for a new park and how many are only minutes away? Wouldn't want all the mama's wearing out the soles of shoes now would we??
To think how many walked miles to work in the past or to school..me being one of them..how many still do:>)
Now with the heat wave gone for now...I think I'll walk my dog the 1/2 mile to most likely very quiet Newton Hill.
I keep thinking about how hard the stay at home moms worked to get 1.25M for a park...and then I keep thinking about hard we have worked to get some lousy trash containers picked up on Chandler and area streets to NO AVAIL:>) We have major crime and grime in our hood and the first priority is another park within a area close to so many already...it's not that I am against parks and the availability Cascade..it's our priorities as a city..lets' keep the stay at home dad's and mom's comfy as we make it even more undesireable for those with jobs, educations and kid's who actually take advantage of the 60% city budgeted school system.....so congrats for all the hard work..is there anything you can do about trash pick-up now?? Cause the rest of us who have jobs and work hard at em' and then come home to work even hardah to make the hood a little bettah are failing!!
taco the mornin' to ya
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