If you ask me Nick K was 100% right not sure what to make of this editorial from the Telegram??
At noontime last Friday, public officials, veterans and a grateful public gathered in the rain on Worcester Common for the rededication of the city’s World War II memorial. The moving, hourlong ceremony was an appropriate and welcome reminder of the role that so many of this nation’s men and women played in defending freedom. Sadly, however, the Common has in recent months all too often been host to less dignified activities.
Anyone who lives or works in Worcester’s downtown — or regularly passes through the area — has seen and heard all too much in the way of inappropriate language, crude gestures and unruly behavior. Panhandling, loitering, drug dealing, assaults, and allegations of illicit sexual activity have all contributed to a coarsening of the city’s public spaces. Worcester remains a very livable city, and her problems are a far cry from some beleaguered urban areas in the country, but she is not immune from the activities and trends that cause many to think twice before venturing downtown.
It is too easy to attribute the trend to the reduction in police foot patrols in the area, or the closing of the Police Department’s substation on Front Street. Police presence certainly has a deterrent effect, but so too does the presence of ordinary citizens shopping, walking and going about their legitimate business. In time, a recovering economy and projects such as CitySquare should serve to change the dynamics of downtown, drawing more would-be shoppers and residents to the core of the city to bolster the efforts of the patient — and sometimes long-suffering — entrepreneurs and residents already there.
But a weak economy is no reason for law-abiding residents not to blow the whistle on crassness and crime. We encourage the public to patronize downtown businesses when they can, and to notify police and public officials when they observe, or are the targets of, inappropriate behavior. No one should have to think twice about crossing the Common or taking their lunch on a park bench in the Heart of the Commonwealth.
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...
5 months ago
5 comments:
So as I walk through the common to shop at non-existent stores, I should notify non-existent police of rude and crass behavior? Perfect!
We did not have enough shoppers at Worcester Center so we renamed it Worcester Common Fashion Outlets and we still had few shoppers.
Now we're going to demolish it and build City Square and viola, shoppers will drop out of the sky like rain drops.
Back to the future in 2001 and the Worcester Medical center was going to revive downtown and then fast forward to 2007 and the new courthouse was going to fill up the sidewalks of the north Main St. area.
What is it the Telegram and Gazette and many of Worcesters promoters just do not get? History just seems to repeat itself and too many are numb to the reality of what Worcersters urban core has become, almost a wasteland.
As I walk through the Canal District on September 12th to Canalfest, complete with a non existent canal, I think to myself, what is wrong with these Worcesterites?
What I observe as I drive through downtown, is how few people, in the middle of the day, in the middle of the work week, appear to be dressed for work.
"What I observe as I drive through downtown, is how few people, in the middle of the day, in the middle of the work week, appear to be dressed for work."
>>the bright minds including entrepenuers, youngins', business owners all fleeing this city noticed it way before us Sprout
Sheryl Roberts says, Jim McGovern-ment had his chance for 14 years, and it's time for him to go. McGovern's votes for Obamacare, cap and trade taxes, and pork barrel spending have burdened the private sector, raised taxes, hurt business, and killed jobs.
The top issue in this election is job creation. Marty Lamb, 3rd district Congressional candidate, is the only candidate who has created jobs and signed the front of a paycheck. As a small business owner and job creator, Marty Lamb knows how to control spending and manage a budget. Marty Lamb is the only candidate who has created comprehensive plans to cut spending, stop illegal immigration, and provide economic revival.
Marty Lamb has been running for Congress since April 2009. He knows what it is every day to meet the payroll, support his family, and pay the bills. He's working very hard throughout the district, and what's on people's minds is jobs, jobs, jobs. We need a job creator like Marty Lamb for our congressman, not a job killer like Mr. McGovern. A vote for Marty Lamb is a vote for job creation. A Congressman Marty Lamb will be in-step with working people and a return to fiscal responsibility. A Congressman Marty Lamb will work for us, because he's one of us. That's the type of change we need in Washington, a return to a people's Representative with a Congressman Marty Lamb.
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