Facts, and nothing but the facts

Guest blogger, Dave "Dewey" Zimage

I decided to get some facts from the U.S. gov't about Worcester, Somerville, Springfield, and Providence. I chose these 4 cities because most of us DO NOT think we should "aspire" to be Springfield but rather use Providence and Somerville as examples of where we should be going as a city. BTW, I concur with that thought process.

Here is the link to the site - http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/25/2582000.html

To be honest, I think what you, Paul and others do in the city is admirable but I don't think Worcester is nearly as bad as the recent tone suggests in some of the posts. Granted some of the data from the government is "old" but this is the type of data that prospective business owners look at when deciding if they want to locate in a particular community. I only looked at the city proper not their defined metropolitan areas which in the case of Somerville wouldn't be comparing apples to apples because they are part of the Boston metropolitan area. In fact, I believe that accounts for some (if not all) of the higher median family home price in Somerville (its proximity to Boston). I think Worcester would look substantially better statistically as a metropolitan area in all of the categories.

I highlighted some lines that I believe sheds some rather positive light on Worcester when compared to the others.

1) We are outclassed by Somerville in the number of persons 25+ with a Bachelor's Degree or higher but we're fairly close with Providence.

2) We were the leader in total retail sales and sales per capita by a quite significant amount of all 4 cities. So much for the perception that a store would not want to locate here or could actually be successful.

3) The poverty rate in Providence was 29% vs. 18% in Worcester and our median income is higher than Providence. Somerville was way ahead of both cities in this category and I applaud them for it. However, I have to wonder, is this because young professionals started discovering Somerville 20 years ago as a natural extension from the higher housing costs in Cambridge? Even Paul has to admit that Somerville didn't happen overnight.

I truly believe Worcester has a perception problem more than anything else and we constantly sell ourselves short. The locals (especially those that have lived their entire life in Worcester) don't see the positives as quickly as an outsider because we tend to focus on what isn't working. We need to sell what is good about Worcester while working on the issues that are before us.

For example, some of the good stuff, an incubator for Biotech - MCPHS - Hanover Theatre - Centrum/DCU Center which put us on the entertainment map - world renowned Mechanics Hall - world renowned Worcester Art Museum - St. Vincent Hospital relocating to downtown instead of the suburbs - our colleges - Union Station finally beginning to hit its stride - Worcester Academy - Mayo Group's aggressive makeover of downtown (have you seen their rehabs on Portland Street yet?) - locally owned 4 star restaurants (why does success have to be defined by having an Abe & Louie's, Capital Grille, or Morton's) - Canal District being driven by private investment - Paulie's NOLA Fest - First Night (we are the oldest New Year's Eve First Night after Boston) - our proximity to Boston, the seashore and the mountains - Worcester's affordable housing stock. And the list could go on and on and on...

That is why I truly believe that CitySquare will help us (locals) focus on some of the positive stuff. If everything Berkley Investments has promised comes to fruition with CitySquare ( and I'm realistic enough to know that the project scope could change significantly over the next couple of years), what a positive story to shout from the rooftops.