2000 Posts

This posts marks my 2,000 post. If someone told me that I will write 2000 posts, when I wrote post number one, I would not have believed them and probably would not have started doing this. Actually yesterday when I posted 1,999-- I thought to myself I need to think of something special for 2,000 and promptly forgot all about it until this morning, when I grabbed the newspaper.

I flip through the paper and read my favorites--Diane, Nick and sometime Shaun. Of course, however, my favorite on Sundays is my friend, Robert Z Nemeth. I met Mr Nemeth about three years ago, or was it longer, after he discovered the FLYORH website. As the chairman of the airport commission, I thought that he had contacted me and wanted to meet me at my office to work together to help the airport become what we all know it should be.

Instead Mr Nemeth stopped by my office to pontificate about that"if anything is going to get done at ORH, it goes through him", "he knows where all the bodies are buried" and then directed me to meet with the Chamber of Commerce. Thinking of somehow working together was the furthiest thing from his mind, I was just a "silly blogger".

I even wrote a letter to the airport commission per his recommendation, explaining that they should privatize the airport like Newburgh, NY did with their airport when they leased it to National Express for 99 years and actually called the Chamber to meet with them. My letter was noted in the board meeting and dismissed, never to be mentioned again because the consultants did not see a market. Then I met with the Chamber. That was a complete waste of time and when I walked out I vowed to never ever join the Worcester Chamber of Commerce.

I can not help, but think what if anyone actually listened three years ago. What if we had actually put together an RFP and marketed the entire airport for sale of lease and had articles in all the major media outlets? We will never know.... Truth be told maybe MassPort was the only option, but wasn't there some sort of fiduciary responsibility to the tax-payers of Worcester to make sure we received the highest price for this city owned asset?? Instead we want the City Manager to talk to the owner of the Midtown Mall.....

Today I grabbed the newspaper and figured there was no way possible Mr Nemeth could not write about the sale of ORH to Massport in light of the recently signed transportion bill. Flipping to page A10, I read the title "Day care for the frail". Nothing, not one word about the airport. Now more then ever we should be discussing the valuation of the airport, the terms of the sale, etc and not one word??? Summit Eldercare, are you kiddin me....

This blog started off about the airport and has morphed into other issues. After writing 2000 posts, I got to say this has been alot of fun but I can not help feel somewhat disappointed that the ideas on this blog expressed by me and others were not listened to. What did the City of Worcester have to lose to RFP the entire airport, instead they wasted their time putting an RFP out on two seperate parcels that only one person bid and never bought?

At the same I time, the blogs were new and people did in fact consider them as being "silly". Take a look at Facebook, I thought it was "silly" but now have joined and recently signed up for the Buchalter for City Council group. It has 126 members, not silly at all!! Here is hoping that are city leaders see these blogs as a resource. I am not saying there are not some "silly" ideas in these blogs, but there are some great ideas too.

As I finish my 2000 post, lets hope our city leaders worry less about ideas going through them, where the bodies are buried or going through the "proper" channels, but tap the blogs for useful ideas and maybe even, god forbid, participate in the discussions.