March 08, 2009

Future Of Low Income Housing

One would think that after detailing the addition of 209 low income rental units during the past 5 years in such a concentrated area that we would be done? No way!! There are many more projects in the pipeline that I will lay out this week.

I have tried hard to make the neighborhood where we own a family business a better place. After serving on the Board of Directors of the South Worcester Neighborhood Center for 8 years, I had to resign. After protesting the construction 0f 25 more low income rental units at the former site of City Builders, not to mention the failed Cambridge Hacker project, I was branded as being "negative", not part of the team etc. I am going to use this blog to educate people to what this is. BIG BUSINESS!!!

Over $44,000,000 dollars on 4 projects. People are making lots of money on this and the tax-payers of Worcester in the end will be footing the bill. Try and build a low income housing project in one of the towns and the protestors come out. In Worcester we roll out the read carpet, hold ribbon cutting ceremonies, waive water/sewer connections, give out our HOME fund grant money, sell city owned land for pennies on the dollar, do infrastructure improvements for free (sidewalk) repairs and then honor the developers.

Worcester, Right time, Right place for low income housing developers.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quincy has something in the works that sounds eerily reminiscent of the long abandoned City Square fiasco that has contributed to the stagnation of Worcester.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2009/03/08/plan_for_center_gets_raves/?page=1

Paulie's Point of View said...

I don't think City Square has been the reason for the city's stagnation....blame the stagnation on the residents and leaders of the city who have all put so much emphasis on City Square..when you put all your chips in one basket and the basket has a hole..you lose everything!

David Z. said...

To all the doubters, City Square will be announced very soon.

Why do you think City Manager Mike O'Brien filed the order a couple weeks back to designate City Square a special zone to spedd up the permitting process.

David Z. said...

That of course should have read - to speed up the premitting process.

Paulie's Point of View said...

so much hype about City Square in my opinion has actually stifled development..folks have held off doing anything to see it possibly take off

what is real surprising is how few heavy hitters we have out here..even during the last booom all we got was no-lo income housing developed

Bill Randell said...

Dave Z


South Worcester Industrial Park (SWIP) was granted the same designation at the end of 2007 or beginning of 2008.

The winninig bidder has yet to take title for $1.

Bill

David Z. said...

Bill,

The difference between the two projects is that UNUM (City Square's trigger tenant) wants their headquarter building built as soon as possible. Hence the designation for City Square. BTW, when the announcement is made other leases will be announced, also.

Anonymous said...

You know I was around this town in the mid to late 60's when the Worcester center was built and this is sounding more and more like deja vu 40 years later.

Buildings dont change anything......be it new school buildings or NO/Lo new housing .....or new commercial space......you have to change the people......adn Worc is moving in the wrong direction in that dept.....just follow bills posts re low income housing tidal wave in worc,........wimmmmen aint going no where near that place if you got pajama people chillin' along with 36" pants on a 26" inch waist

The reality is that the Worc center was toast by the mid to late 80;s when it was 15 to 20 years old and thsi is the reality that no one is addressing ..........WHY DID WORC CENTER DIE ???........... correct that problem and City Sq will succedd.

it's like this........the poor little kiddies cant read nor write........so WTF do we do............knock down thier 40 year school biulding and make em a new one.........then the jokers over on Irving St. are shocked 2-3 years later when SAT's scores and grades are getting worse not better.......of course too many of these clowns are also products of the public school systemm too ( BTW I am A public too)

Jonas Clark building over at Clark Univ has 1861 engraved above the doorway (or is it 1881?) At Harvard yard the buildings are even older.......get my point???

and oooooooh also b/c the state pays for 90% of new school construction.........the city just never bothers to maintain teh school b/c a new one only costs the city 10 censt on the dollar..would you manintain you caah if papa kept paying 90% of the cost of a new one??

Keep drinking the city Sq kool aid ..........i have lived through 3 or 4 rebuilds of both the Common and Linncoln Sq..........cant Worc ever get things right?........call me realistic not negative.