Parking meters

Haller says a good number of parking meters she comes across are broken.  Moylan says that while upgrades at lots are made, many meters are 30 years old or more, and are expensive to repair.  They’re at the point of “obsolescence.”
And Palmieri wants the number of minutes on the meters to be researched–some of them [...]

Back to Budget

We’re recessing back to Finance.  We’ll continue blogging.

Smith stands alone

Weird exchange.
Block Grant funding was about to get approved, when Smith – after a quick whisper conversation with Petty – rose to say he was concerned his District wasn’t getting enough money, proportionally.
Clancy quickly rose to say that the distributions are done by the number of eligible neighborhoods; Smith’s district simply doesn’t have as many [...]

St. Gobain, start trucking

Rushton and others want St. Gobain and other companies that use CSX for transportation to consider using alternative methods.  He’d also like other towns in the area to do the same with their major manufacturers.  What would those methods be?  Trucks?  Planes?
Palmieri adds that he’d like one of the City Manager’s staffers to be dedicated [...]

MassPort money for class size

Rick Rushton wants the $250,000 from MassPort to go directly to reducing average class sizes.
8:35

Salisbury Street response time

Joff says the response time on upper Salisbury Street–his own hood–is the worst in the city, and something needs to be done.  Maybe coordinating with Holden, maybe looking to build a new one truck station….perhaps on donated Assumption property.  “People in that area [should] be protected like other parts of the city.”
“We need to get [...]

Medical Savings, from Germain

Germain (we guess his background in insurance really helps) has brought up a new idea to save money on medical insurance.  He’s calling for a “dependent audit” by a private vendor, a look at how many “dependents” the city is covering that shouldn’t be eligible.  He’s saying we could be looking at $1.4-$2 million in [...]

All about the Golf Course

Councilor Eddy wants to know if the upcoming golf tournament is a “proper test” for what the city could bring in over the course of a full year.
DPW Commissioner Bob Moylan: Yes, a successful event will be a good measure, and a good show of what we can do.
Councilor Germain: Was taking over the clubhouse/golf [...]

Council meeting

We’re missing the budget hearing as we speak, but you should all be looking forward to a fun council meeting tonight: There’s items calling for a partial ban on outdoor advertising on retail buildings, to require retail establishments to have proper trash disposal and, while we’re at it, how to make it easier for local [...]

NO MORE SLOGANS! NO SE PUEDE!

No Slogan Day is upon us.
This Thursday, we’ll carouse all night in celebration of just one day with no Worcester slogans.
Slogans are a Worcester epidemic that need to be eradicated, and we’re proud, in conjunction with Worcesterite.com, to be doing our part.
Thursday night, we’ll be down at The Dive Bar on Green Street, celebrating “No [...]