December 29, 2009

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.

9 comments:

David Z. said...

I have a spread sheet comparing the 4 cities that will save you the time and energy looking through the web site. Unless Bill can figure out how to add it without losing the formatting, you can email me and I would be glad to send it to you.

Regards,
Dewey

Email: dmmz823@yahoo.com

Bill Randell said...

Dave

Sorry.... All the columns get squezzed together when I try to cut and paste.


Bill

John said...

"locally owned 4 star restaurants (why does success have to be defined by having an Abe & Louie's, Capital Grille, or Morton's)"

I agree with this wholeheartedly. The wife & I attended the Decemeber wine dinner @ Bocado last night & it was great. We have been to about 6 this year & we feel extremely lucky to have such a great place 10 minutes away

Paulie's Point of View said...

I guess I look at things from a different angle Dave..continued slide backwards with urban schools,middle class leaving not moving to urban core..colleges becoming even more insular...no new job creation...constant quality of life issues in urban core...no one voting in urban core....few leaders from the urban core being developed..no big projects during boom or now in urban core..few if any of our leaders addressing these issues...stats are great..reality sucks..I would say we are moving closer to springfield than the other way

Paulie's Point of View said...

There is more to quality urban living than driving to bocado from whitinsville,nola festivals or first nights..being able to walk down the sidewalk and be accosted by troublemakers..house broken into three times a week..dirty streets everywhere...house after house of adult men not working by choice...boarded up house everywhere..little if any quality retail and this the case for most of the urban core...it aint in the stats but it is on most minds about wootown urban

Bill Randell said...

Dave

I agree with Paul on this one. We realize that there are alot of great things to do in Worcester. Tonight I stopped by Evo with my daughtere, what a great place.

It is the overall direction that bothers me. Not saying we can not turn things around, but right now we are moving closer to Springfield then anything else. Personally I truly thankful that we have the colleges and UMASS in Worcester. If not for them, we would be Springfeld.

Bill

David Z. said...

Thank you Bill for allowing me the chance to be a guest writer on your blog.

And thanks everyone for your replies although I'm a little dissapointed that Jahn didn't give me his thoughts about all of the good things I mentioned about Worcester.

Perhaps I should have included the WFD & WPD in my list of good things about the city.

jahn said...

David, kudos for taking the time to do this work

I was quite surprised to hear the info about the retail slaes figures..........interesting

Worc must selling many more scratch tix per capita.....LOL....sorry had to give ya jab....you know me....[g]

Paulie's Point of View said...

How much of this retail sales is based on federal largess..ski and welfare money?

Is it real money earned....

You have made point we are all aware of dave but you fail to address the issues that are responsible for the continued decay of the demographics....point I have outlined...without addressing these issues how do you see a urban rebound? Unless you think citysquare will xcite the so many stay home dads to start working and to read to their children each night