A new blog: Paulie’s Point of View

This should be good.

Our good friend Paul Collyer is launching a new blog that will bring his unique brand of commentary to the Worcester scene.

This will quickly become a must-read—check out the new kid on the block here.

We’re out

Short meeting tonight.  We’ll be back tomorrow.

8:17

Hiring Freeze

Lukes suggests looking at the vacant positions, and a potential hiring freeze.

City Manager Michael O’Brien says he has already been looking at vacant positions at a case-by-case basis, with, as he calls it, increased scrutiny, if not an overall freeze. There are 25 open positions, which will result in a savings of $200,000-$250,000 for the year.

It’s about a balance between services and costs, he says. If all of the currently open positions remained open next year, it would be a savings of $800,000-$1,000,000 next year. That’s $32,000-$40,000 a position.

“There will be definite drops in service if we don’t fill these positions,” he warns.

Mayor Lukes is scolding Rick Rushton (and other councilors) for speaking on her item without having a true purpose(amend, oppose, clarify). Of course, if we were being real sticklers, she should be abdicating the chair when her items are being voted on.

8:01

Traffic vs. the public on Shrewsbury Street

Toomey and Germain’s item on making it safer for pedestrians in heavy vehicle traffic on Shrewsbury Street. Apparently, there was an email a number of councilors got from a pedestrian who almost got rundown at the intersection.

Toomey: “Traffic congestion has its plusses and minuses…it was a great thing to see Main Street clogged during Hairspray.” [ED NOTE: It was awesome.]

Germain: The left hand turn is dangerous he says, acknowledging that there’s already an existing no-left-turn sign.

7:52

Pay up

Retiree activist Virginia Ryan is asking the city to consider paying all or part of the Medicare expenses for seniors who were effected by the Section 18 vote.

“We want at least 50%…there’s a big difference now in what retirees are paying for Medicare.”

7:39

Commuter train crash in Canton

In the midst of an ongoing state negotiation for rail use/ownership reportedly centering around CSX’s liability on shared rails, there’s been a major accident in Canton between a commuter train and a CSX freight car.  (The rails in this section are owned by Amtrak)

WCVB has the ongoing story.

Auditor’s take

City Auditor is giving his periodic update on the city’s financial picture:

“All in all, the general fund is looking to have a $2 million reduction in [balance],” he says.

On the enterprise account side, the biggest problem looks like it will be the Airport account, to the tune of about $800,000.

“It would be wise not to see that fund balance go down,” DelSignore says.  Credit agencies look poorly on that kind of thing, and he says having another straight year of a negative trend could be bad.  He suggests looking at other ways of making up that gap.

7:20

Tonight, Tonight, there’s gonna be a meeting tonight

Maybe a rumble too.

Some good stuff on the agenda:

• Mayor Lukes is all about the freezes.  Last week, she raised the possibility of freezing salaries.  This week, she’s bringing an order that asks what the cost savings would be from an “immediate job freeze,” excluding the next police and fire classes.
• Last year some councilors (including Rick Rushton) bitched when Mayor Lukes raised the spectre of selling city assets.  Tonight Councilors Rushton, Germain, Toomey and Rosen are raising the same issue, asking for a cost/benefit analysis of “the sale of city-owned assets including real estate.”
• Toomey and Germain also want the city to review the traffic congestion at Starbucks Coffee on Shrewsbury Street and “recommend solutions in the interest of public safety.”  Umm, guys?  Public safety is important, but traffic means people are actually going to a business; that’s not a bad thing.
• And Joff Smith – jumping on the “make CSX actually do something for the city” train, wants the company to clean up their tracks along West Boylston Street.  (And, um, add some damn trains, right Joff?)

•  And much, much more chocolaty goodness.  Tune in after 7:30; we’ll be right here.  (In the mean time, go vote for the Best of Worcester.)