That tofudog the Daily Worcesteria ate at 1 am last Thursday night might be a crime after tonight’s City Council meeting at 6pm.
The debate over new rules for street vendors continues at the top of tonight’s agenda, and sources say the final vote could go either way. There’s been background discussions to slightly adjust the new ordinance to allow midnight closings; and there have been moves to mimic Boston’s ordinance, which requires vendors to have an established spot, rather than make them move every 5 minutes.
And, of course, there’s the original “new” ordinance, which would, if taken literally (more on that in a minute), effectively prohibit most vendors in Worcester.
Where the debate stops, no one knows.
Business supporters of the strict ordinance seemed surprised at the last city council meeting on how far it would go, and were overheard saying that wasn’t their intention. No matter, they still want it passed. And one of the chief political sponsors of the bill intimated after last week’s meeting that s/he didn’t anticipate it being taken 100% literally in all cases; essentially, that the bill was being passed with the intention of selective enforcement.
So, if this – or yellow boxes, or having city swimming pools – is on your hotlist of what matters, show up to tonight’s council meeting to voice your opinion. Otherwise, we’ll be blogging it all live so you can watch from your comfy air-conditioned couch while we swelter in high back wooden church benches.
See ya at 6!
3 Comments
July 8, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Don’t you think this city has more to worry about then street venders? How about giving more money to the bus system so people can get around. You can’ have a city without public transportation. Take a page from the PVTA or UMass Transit.
July 8, 2008 at 5:51 pm
From the air conditioned City Council chamber…?
Be careful: you’ll have old timers talking about the days when City Hall didn’t have A/C!
July 18, 2008 at 9:09 am
[...] is a surprising amount of activity around proposed restrictions on Worcester street vendors. The Catholic Worker national gathering was held in Worcester last week. Worcester is trying to get [...]