I got up early Saturday and walked out of my hotel, off Faneuil Hall, for a coffee. After grabbing my coffee, I decided to take a walk, which ended up going through the old downtown crossing, combat zone ( no longer exists), chinatown and back through the financial district.
Although I was thinking of a peaceful quiet walk, comparing the current Boston versus the Boston I remembered when I went to college between 1982-1986, it was the complete opposite. The sidewalks may not have bussled with people going to work, but every single block had construction. This is no exaggeration I could not find a block that did not have construction workers, sidewalks blocked to raise steel beems, a crew were filming a motion picture (The Surrogates with Bruce Willis) and cranes were everywhere.
There was one major difference between this construstion and the construction that goes in Worcester. This was private construction!! Think about it-- Federal Courthouse, local Courthouse, Union Station, Parking Garages, Centrum, Convention Center, Gateway, Hanover Theatre, CDC projects or Ice skating rinks on the Common. All public.
The combat zone was entrenched in this area for years and now you can not see a trace, except for the Glass Slipper down the same side street. Maybe the big difference between Boston and Worcester is the reliance on private, not public, investments?
Coming back to Worcester I saw a sign on 290 that said Worcester Cultural District Exit 16-18, can anyone tell me what this means? If someone pulled up to on the sidewalk and ask how to get to the Worcester Cultural District what would you say?
WRRB/Telegram District City Council Forum 10/18
-
This forum is for all district council candidates; all candidates are here
today. Format: 14 total questions, 4 questions across districts (for all
candida...
6 months ago
22 comments:
Directions to Worcester Cultural District:
1. Flight arrives at ORH
2. rent car and drive to town on east/west connector
3. take a left at the Arts District (you know you are there when all the people standing on corners appear to be wearing pajamas)
4. keep going past the Canal district (you know you are there when you don't see a canal)
5. when you see the city square district (you know you are here because the City Manager will be doing a press conference - while on ice skates - about how work will start any day/week/month/year) you have less than a mile to go
6. arrive at Worcester Cultural District
7. Leave Worcester Cultural District to spend money in Boston or Providence
Wild Will;
glad that you are enjoying your vacation..I was on the Cape this weekend and am off to Lake Winnipesaukee to see Peter Frampton & Jethro Tull tonight..
WTF? I know Bill said ORH airport chatter is off limits for the next few weeks, but did a 737 fly into ORH at appx. Noontime today , Sunday August 2 ?!?!?!?!?!??!?
Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA
...make that, Sunday, August 3...
My head was still spinning for seeing a jet fly into ORH...
Harry Tembenis
Worcester,MA
Cultural district...............I'd direct them to
a. Dunky at Main & Hammond sts or
b. Great brook Valley or
c. Plumley(Lead Paint)Village or
d. to a Yellow Box syringe disposal site
Worse yet imagine if they arrived via the Kelley Sq exit....and have to pass by panhadlers where the exit ramp meets the city strreeets..................talk about the proverbial curb appeal.......as they drive by they see the cardboard sign ......."Help Curb Homelessness & Hunger" (and enable my drug addition).
I am sure that when that sign was put up (I remember laughing about it too) that it was during some sort of push for a development plan that never happened.
Worcester- constantly putting the cart before the horse. Problem is the cart is full of Worcesterites and they want to get out. They should really just take that sign down. It is kind of a joke.
Hey Bill I hear what you are saying about Boston but there would be private investment here too if our metropolitan area was one of the biggest in the country and our city population was that dense and we had a waterfront. Not really a fair comparison.
Gabe:
I would never expect the amount of projects in Worcester to rival that of Boston, but can you name one private project downtown?
Bill
Bill, I have to agree with Gabe on this one; you’re comparing apples to oranges when comparing construction activity in Boston vs. Worcester. First & foremost, Boston is the state capital. If Worcester was the state capital we would probably have a population in excess of 200,000 and have a much different looking city center. Also, we have no major TV station to call our own. Years ago, Worcester was allocated Channel 5. Imagine if we had the presence of a major player like Channel 5 broadcasting from our fair city. You can’t buy that kind of publicity night after night. That’s why Providence and Hartford have distinct advantages over Worcester. They are the state capitals and have major media outlets.
I think that a much fairer comparison would be Worcester vs. Springfield (although Springfield does have 2 network affiliated TV station). Let’s compare the two;
Worcester has a larger population (I know…bragging rights only).
Worcester is much safer.
Worcester has a much better school system.
Worcester is in much better fiscal shape (& we’re not in receivership and never have been).
Worcester’s 2007 residential tax rate is $12.10 vs. $16.04 for Springfield
Worcester’s 2007 commercial tax rate is $25.32 vs. $31.91
As for private construction activity in Worcester we may not see cranes piercing our downtown streetscapes but it is happening. The investment by the Mayo group, Gateway Park, building rehabs in the Canal district, etc.
Dave:
You want to compare us to Springfield?
Bill
Guys, and girls, I am not trying to compare us to Boston nor am I knocking the Mayo Group nor the Canal District. I was mainly focusing on downtown.
All I am trying to say is that there is a problem here and a reason why the City Square has not started. One can say the real estate market or the credit market are to blame, but how do you explain Boston?
Twenty years I have worked downtown and we have little private investements. This is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Bill
Bill, you're missing the point. Although I could say to you, "you want to compare us to Boston?" In other words, you can't. But Worcester will always be at a disadvantage to the cities we're often compared to (or held up against, E.G. Providence) because we are not the state capital or major media center which spurs, by nature, a lot of investment. A more realistic side by side comparison (and I think Worcester is far better) is Springfield.
Maybe we should not compare is to anyone else? Bottom line is that no private monies have not been invested downtown the past 20 years.
What can we do to change this to actually get people to Choose Worcester.
Capitol cities, on the water/seaports, larger population base, media outlets, etc are all good...........one add'l thing they all have that we dont is service via major 2 digit interstate highway routes..........
Boston I-93, I-90, I-95,
Hartford I-84, I-91
Providenc I-95, ,
Springfield I-91
Note Worcester (I-290 & I-190) is served only by two feeder, 3 digit interstate routes...yet other cities on the move (except Spfld) are all served by at least one 2 digit intERstate (often by two 2digit interstates) and not just by two 3 digit intrAstate/connector raods.
We dont have the roadway system and everytime the issue of roads comes up they get ROAR'ed. Also note one needs roads to have a viable airport in this day and age of deregulated comm. air service.
Worc is going no where anytime soon w/o adequate road service. Our only hope is $9.00 per gallon gasoline b/c that will bring major employers back to the city from the suburbs/495's of the world.
Add in the fact the city is run indirectly by the city empolyees (try getting elected w/o the city employee vote....Only Connie can) and add in the overabundance of Pajama People housing...and we've got a prescription for fiscal disaster & receivership.
Wait till Kennedy buys the farm and the funding coming to Mass. is reduced b/c his clout isnt there to bring it home. At least it will maybe stop a few CDC's dead in their tracks.
Boston & Greater Boston have taken advantage of the last two real estate booms Gabe-Worcester has not!
Look at the lot that still sits empty at Chandler & Park...west side crushed that development.
We are a major destination for bright minds to be made even brighter they all leave afterwards..we have no real master plan for the city - I support CitySquare & the Mayo Group ideas buit is there anyone else??..Hyannis had a real plan for the redevelopment of the downtown after years of spiraling downward and losing to Falmouth and other vacation destinations and the fruits are now being borne..yah we are not Hyannis but the same thing is happening in Haverhill, Manchester, Nashua and other smaller sister cities to Boston.
Every major corner in the the urban core being turned into low income housing aint cutting it mates? Major corners are suppposed to be the locations of major developments..they are called cornahstones:>)
May & Main, Chandler & Piedmont, Piedmont & Chandler, Madison/Chandler & Main...who is behind the curtin?? I feel like a bit part in the Wizard of Oz!!
Where in Boston would such pieces like May & Main be what we are getting..dense low income housing in an already saturated dense low income housing area that we have spent millions trying to clean up and in such a gorgous bldg that we have such a low supply of in the urban core???
In Woostah we fight over hot dogs stands:>)Enuf said!
BTW folks, back in the mid 60's Eddie Mahar was going to save Worcester..............it was called The Worcester Center Mall...............now fast forward 4 decades City Sq is now filling those same shoes?????.....
we need more than just buildings and cranes on the skyline..and not only is City Sq "saving " Worc.........but the old "savior" (the Mall) will be razed to aacomdate it
Think about it...the 3 major office towers in Worcester were all built in late 60's to mid 70's.......Old Mechanics Bank tower at Worc center........Sov Bank tower opposite City Hall and the old Guaranty Bank "almost" tower.
No major office tower built in almost 4 decades ..........speaks volumes........
Dave;
Bill is not comparing Woostah to Boston and either would I..but we are not Springfield..and to compare us to them is on the negative side even more than the N-Vibe that runs thru this city..we have lost mucho opportunities because of poor planning..MED City comes to mind..the educatonal opportunities should have been exploited years ago...instead we try to run them out with councilors who get on their campuses asking for $99 taxes on their students instead of negoitiationg with them like professionals..we have a major part of the city where all the influences lies that has killed many opportunities for this city because it would "possibly" ruin a way of life in the city that has been protected for 100's of years.
The point I believe Bill was making is that there is still development happening..mucho where he was recently but if you travel about you will still see other projects happening elsewhere...we have none here but where I stated above and lots of it mate...what other "City on the Move" loads up every urban cornah and corridor with even more dense low income housing that it already has oodles of??
You want to compare us to a city on the brink of receivership and led by a core of pols that all have been indicted in recent years..not my idea of a "City on the Move".
I am glad you have pointed out how poor our media is out here..I have been banging about our lead radio guy for a long time-nothing personal but not news to me! I want a real radio guy not a guy who gets invited to everyones dinnah party!
Paul:
Thank you. I do not expect us to be developing as much as Boston. Admittedly they have alot of features that we do not have.
There are people out there investing monies. We need aggressively pursue with attractive packages that I outline in the next post and build quality market to upscale housing in our city core to bring quality people with income to downtown.
Bill
Speaking of media outlets.........Jahn Is tiring of this sense of entitlemnt for Community access television...which channel(s) are paid for via my monthly cable bill...........frankly I have never watched it......except for a few mins. when accidentlaly hitting the wrong clicker buttons
Someone please give me a numbered list of the reasons Worc has to have this foolishness....esp given the rise of the internet in the last decade or so...which internet didnt even exist back when community access TV was dreamed up. Time to put this dinosoar out to pasture. Who does WCCAA and their sense of entitlement think they are........the Fire Dept??
Let WCCAA's performers try out for AMerican Idol........and the pols can use the interent to broadcast their mugshot to the electorate...........the funding for this WCCAA is nothing more than a tax that I have to pay monthly as part of my cable bill..........and please dont tell me it amounts to only 1 slice of Pizza from El Deliscico every month.
Also it must have been a slow neews week....Mr Nemeth clealry seemd Hungary for something to write about. Come on Bob le'ts keep it local in that weekly column............lest the T&G becomes a Boston Globe weekly supplement Thanx.
I would love to have Buddy on the radio in Worcester.
I was hoping the new guy on WTAG in the mornig was going to be more of a Buddy, York or Howie Carr type. He is another cheerleader.
Bill
Everyone knows that I am not huge fan of Mr Nemeth, but how was his story this week-end pertinent to anything. If you ask me it was a silly editorial.
How about Worc & Providence team up to get Rte 146 100% upgraded to interstate highway standards.........by buildng overpasses at Rte 146 and Boston Rd in Slutton (near the former adult drive-in)...and also in North Shithfield (near the former adult drive-in). These overpasses would knock out the last 2 stoplights between Worc & Prov. Of course on the downsiide it makes TF Greene even closer, timewise.
At least it gets us another 3 digit interstate feeding Worc........it can be dubbed I-595...(or the Greeneway)
And speaking of directions....for directions to Worc's Cultural Attractions.......click on the city website................click on directions.....and look for directions(s)to Worc Cultural District(s)???????....
There are directions to:
a. the Parks Dept (Aids Awareness day?)
b. to the police station (bail out your wayward child/friend)
c. To Green Hill (burnouts a la carte [free lobster])
d. to Code Dept (for a condemnation hearing)
e. to the airport (for?)
BTW Bill, hows that Wayfarer sign program coming along?
I tell you that city website is amateur day.
At the very least the directions s/b bulleted.........and not listed in paragraph style......even I know this and I once even got a C in english composition once. (teacher didnt like me b/c I knew his brother, the black sheep of the family from a part time job I had)........
We need some news out of police headquarters. Whats the problem in reviewing the WPD books? Every stone they turn over more problems cropping up? 7 allaegedly wayward cops and 100K in fraud just the tip of the iceberg...HUH...??
Nemeth should take them to task next Sunday. Circle those wagons.............the Apaches will be taking some scalps soon.
OK the rain is over...........back outside again.....see if I can get the grass mowed b4 skies open up again.
Post a Comment