Worcester needs a 10 percent cap on affordable housing. The only exceptions should be affordable homeownership and senior housing for ages 62 and older. The 10 percent cap is the most important issue facing Worcester, and Worcesterites should continue pushing the City Council to establish the cap. Without the cap, Worcester will never experience sufficient restoration.
You can’t rebuild Worcester with just hospitals, colleges and institutional buildings. Worcester also needs a powerful retail center second to none. Without the cap, Worcester won’t be able to attract the upscale stores and the million-dollar condos needed to build a tax base. But with the cap will come full commercial restoration, and the beauty of the Hanover Theatre will become a microcosm of what the entire downtown will look like in the coming years.
Also, the cap will help eliminate budget deficits, high crime and constant tax increases. State government says that 10 percent of affordable housing is reasonable and allows communities to do their fair share without placing an undue burden on any municipality. I agree. Let Worcester move from 14 percent back to 10 percent.
Worcester voters must understand that all surrounding towns have 10 percent caps, unwritten, but they exist. For example, Auburn will never go beyond 10 percent, and it’s towns like Auburn that are stealing Worcester’s stores, high-income people and even our city employees.
Worcester needs the cap because we are getting so poor that we can’t fix sidewalks, open pools or even buy a real Christmas tree.
Same Time Next Year
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It’s been nearly a year since I wrote about the problems that come from
having 11 bosses who are not on the same page about anything, as well as
suggestion...
6 months ago
1 comment:
110% on point for what ails Worcester.
I will bet my right arm that this is Mr Chernisky's 5th letter to editor this year, all of which deal with exact same topic.
I thought T&G had a 4 letter limit per year and I assumed it was a calendar year limit. I think he also may have had 5 letters in 2009. Frankly, this could even possibly be #6 letter for this year .
Any hope to stem teh rising tide of low income housing MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST first trim the number of non profit, gov't supported low incmoe housing builders in Worcester and that aint happening until 2013 at the earliest and only then if Jim McGovern is tossed. I think we have at least a 1/2 dozen of them. Even tossing Barack Obrien and his Belmont climbing Schwinn bicycle in 2011 will not stem the tide.
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