City bids for new animal shelter

Posted by Jeremy Shulkin

It looks like the city has taken seriously the Worcester Animal Rescue League’s threat to not accept any dogs from Worcester if the draft pit bull ordinance passes, but instead of caving to the pressure the city is going full-steam ahead.

On July 27, less than a week after WARL announced its position on the ordinance, the city put out to bid (scroll down to page eight) services for constructing a new animal shelter. Bids are due August 13.

You can read all the provisions of the bid at the link provided, and we’ll hopefully have more info in Thursday’s paper and updated here.

For anyone who’s ever wanted to make a drinking game for city council meetings

Posted by Jeremy Shulkin

Often times when I’m liveblogging city council meetings, there will be some comments or mini-discussions about creating a corresponding drinking game. If we can learn anything from our neighbor to the north, however, it’s that those kinds of games are probably best done from the privacy of your own home. From the Telegram/AP:

KEENE, N.H. — A city councilor here says a group that turned a meeting into a drinking game didn’t help its cause: easing Keene’s open-alcohol-container ordinance.

Two of the three people charged with disorderly conduct are associated with the libertarian Free Keene movement.

Two of them were drinking from containers labeled “not a beer.” Rules posted online required participants to take a swig at the mention of certain phrases, such as “call to order.”

Mayor Philip Dale Pregent says there was no way of knowing if the containers had beer, but he says the participants were causing a disruption and declined his request to stop.

The second meeting of the summer session is tomorrow at 6:00. Mixing booze with a motion about how to change the dual tax rate and a public forum for passionate pit bull owners? That sounds like a pretty good time to us.