Election, Primary, Special Election

Worcesterites will have another busy election season starting this November.  Voters will hit the polls in November for city elections, on December 8th for the special election primary for Sen. Ted Kennedy’s former seat, and again on January 19th for the actual special election.

Just imagine if Worcester had needed a primary in September.

The special election dates were announced by Governor Deval Patrick today.  The governor said he would not be a candidate for the Senate seat, and continued to voice his support for a change in law allowing him to appoint an interim Senator before the election.

A legislative committee will meet on that change in law sometime next week; even if it passes all the necessary hurdles, any appointee may have just 100 days in office.

McGovern coming home for Kennedy funeral

Despite being at the tail end of a week-long congressional trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, Congressman Jim McGovern is making special travel plans to be home by Friday afternoon, in time for Sen. Ted Kennedy’s funeral.  McGovern’s aides arranged a 26-hour cross-globe trip to get the Congressman home in time, the Boston Globe reports.

Turtle Boy Music Awards

With over 20 bands already committed, the 2009 Turtle Boy Music Awards throughout the Canal District is lining up to be the most intense single night of music in Worcester’s history.

Confirmed acts include:

Hey Now Morris Fader, Jason James and the Bay State House Rockers, Dan Burke, The Jesse Fontaine Trio, Dental Plan, Delta Generators, New Pilot, Grand Evolution, Miars, Sift, Castine, Baige O’Bannon, Jubilee Gardens…and more.

Stay tuned to turtleboymusic.wordpress.com for the most up to date info!

Super 88 Chain sold

Asian supermarket chain Super 88, whose plans to move into downtown Worcester dried up amid tough competition in the Boston area, has been sold to Hong Kong supermarkets, another similar chain of stores.

Next in line for Lion’s seat

Who will succeed Kennedy?

The two most prominent Central Massachusetts names mentioned are Congressman Jim McGovern and Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, though the chances of either running is slim, especially if state law doesn’t change to allow the governor to appoint an interim successor. McGovern has more sway in House than he would as a rookie Senator; Murray, despite his huge campaign war chest, is dead set on running for reelection, say his people. Aside from the two potential Kennedys – Ted’s wife Vicky and nephew Joe are most frequently mentioned; either would have the clear emotional edge over challengers – the most likely candidates on the Democratic side include Attorney General Martha Coakley, and Congressmen Michael Capuano and Stephen Lynch, and former Congressman Marty Meehan.

But that doesn’t mean Kennedy’s death won’t have an impact on Worcester politics. Word Wednesday morning was that Governor Deval Patrick may support a change in state law allowing him to appoint an interim Senator to fill in during the several months before an election, and there is potential support from State Senate President Therese Murray for the change. Speculation is that Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray could be considered by Patrick for the seat, should he want it. Such a move would take Murray out of politics after that short term ends, however.

The Lion’s Legacy

Even knowing this day was coming; even knowing it was coming soon, the loss of Senator Ted Kennedy took the air out of the room Wednesday morning. He was the Last Lion, the last of a dynasty, the institution and rock of Massachusetts politics.

Any longtime Massachusetts resident, anyone with the smallest tangential tie to politics had a Kennedy story – how he had shook their hand, helped them get money for a key project, helped them when they were down on their luck.

To his family, he was “Uncle Teddy,” but he served a similar role for many in the state while operating as the last true patriarch of Massachusetts politics.

Congressman Jim McGovern, on a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, released a statement calling the Senator “my inspiration, my mentor, my colleague and my friend. Slán go foil, Senator.”

Massachusetts Biomedical Initiative head Kevin O’Sullivan, a former State Representative, says, “I don’t know how many people were really close to Kennedy…he was like royalty.”

“There was a zone around him…an aura that is hard to describe.”

“He would step into a room and had that ‘it,’ whatever that was.”

As a politician and business activist, O’Sullivan says he found the Senator very helpful. “The guy could deliver. I found his office to be very receptive. I thought his staff people were people that got out and about.

“Kennedy had an incredible knack for feeling the pulse.”

“He was an icon.”

But probably no one in Worcester was closer to the Senator than former Worcester City Councilor and former Worcester Regional Retirement Board head Mike Donoghue.

“He is going to be missed…he will go down as probably the greatest US Senator ever to serve,” says Donoghue, who recollects Kennedy “coming by the house, getting out of the car, playing basketball in the driveway with the kids…helping the kids with their homework, sitting down to dinner with the family.”

“It’s hard to explain. Here you are with one of the most prominent people in the country, and here he is in the yard playing basketball…having dinner with us.”

Donoghue says that in private conversations, Kennedy “talked about caring for people, about not doing enough.”

“He was an individual that really cared…that always took the high road. Even knowing the positions he took would be controversial and many would not agree with…he was not afraid to take a position and debate the issue.”

“In Worcester, he made a difference,” says Donoghue. Particularly in the areas of education, elderly housing, biotech, many say key projects wouldn’t have passed without direct or indirect influence from the Senator. Indeed, little of importance in the state seemed to ever pass without his tacit or explicit approval…or at least input.

“Massachusetts lost a great Senator, the country lost a great senator, the world lost a statesman whose entire political life he fought for those that didn’t have a voice. And personally for my wife Maureen and I, we lost a senator, but we also lost a very good friend. I was fortunate to call him a US Senator and my friend in the same breath.”

Hazy Future

Spiritual Haze has always been something of a media favorite, if not a hospitality industry curiosity-cum-pioneer in Worcester. The hookah lounge was the first true hookah-focused business in town, an act quickly followed by several other spots around the city. And the business’s story – proprietor Victoria Mariano started it as an outgrowth of coursework while still an undergraduate at Clark University – was unique. Mariano focused on attracting an 18+ crowd who wanted nightlife, but couldn’t go to 21+ bars or didn’t want alcohol-focused crowds. The business and Mariano have been written up several times, including in <I>Worcester Mag<P> and the <I>Telegram<P>.

Now, ongoing complaints from neighbors have led to a status hearing for the lounge, and for Mariano to consider moving the business to a new location, potentially cutting its geographic ties to the Clark campus that birthed it and supplies many of its patrons.

In this week’s Worcester Mag, we look at the situation facing Mariano, who will attend the status hearing in front of the License Commission this Thursday.

Blog Log Digital

Posted by “Jeff”on wormtowntaxi.com

It’s been a long, slow evaporation of manufacturing jobs, here in Worcester. Over the course of many years I’ve seen it happen. Weasel used to have a factory job, and it was a good one, too. Once upon a time, you could just walk in to one of the many manufacturing businesses here in Worcester, fill out an application, and get a decent paying job… just like that. And that job could ultimately pay well enough for you to raise a family, and even buy a house. You didn’t need a college degree, and in so many cases, you didn’t even need a high school diploma. These were the thousands of unskilled labor jobs that took on employees as fast as they could find them to do the work. And it was all OJT (on-the-job training) in just about every case. I was just talking to Weasel about it today. Those days are long gone.

Posted by “Bill Randell” on worcesterma.blogspot.com

What completely confused me about the interview was Dick Kennedy saying “Direct Air has the ability and is willing to grown into other cities??” Simply put they do not. We are going to have to just worry about keeping Direct Air flying into Sanford and Punta Gorda, never mind adding new cities. Maybe if we are lucky we get Myrtle Beach back in March. Sorry, but an airline like Allegiant now that it has turned public and has the capital can expand into other cities. Not Direct Air. Maybe the most telling part of the interview was Ed Warneck saying that “some flights have had 8-12 person per flight and that they have lost a few million dollars.” Direct Air can not lose a few more millions and if we don’t have better loads in the fall, they will be done at ORH.

Posted by “Kari Whitney” on veganparenting.com

Calling all Vegans. Move to Worcester and you will never grow tired of your vegan dining choices. We found an awesome bagel shop called Bagel Time. It’s a small family owned place that is so New England (this is a hard concept for me to explain) and the bagels are amazing. What makes the bagels even better is that they offer (and sell) Toffuti Cream Cheese! One of my favorite foods is cream cheese and bagels so as you can imagine I am at this bagel shop as often as I can persuade my family to go with me. Keller is pretty easy since he loves the chocolate chip bagels. A fantastic restaurant called Buddha Hut had a fundraiser buffet for the local veg group a few days ago and we went. We had eaten at this restaurant when we visited in July and love it. What made it even better is that the buffet was $10 per person but Keller got to eat free. This was good for us but not good for the Buddha. Keller ate like he had eaten salad and veggie burgers for a week. This restaurant is so delicious. 100% vegan chinese food with health in mind.

Posted by “Mike”on thatsthepits.com

I think our elected officials are playing games with us. These head games are going too far. The President, the Speaker of the House, the Congress, and the White House Press Secretary should be ashamed of themselves. Does this President want this Healthcare Bill so bad that he and all of Washington would play games with the American people? Why? We have to find out from a half hearted media just what is going on in Washington. Such as a snitch line! It’s been removed now because of the outrage from the American People. What would have a snitch line given the White House. Well, it would have a probably did give them a list of Americans willing to turn-in their neighbors, or websites, or people just talking about healthcare concerns they have or failed to understand. How can we not fail to understand, we’re not told the truth. Such as, over the weekend we seen news reports about the President dropping or considering dropping the Public Option part of the Healthcare Bill. Now White House Press Secretary Gibbs says that will not be dropped. That would have been a start, but it still wasn’t there yet. You still needed to keep a level playing field when it came to rates versus the private insurance companies. We also wanted those meetings about end of life to be gone and eliminating a board making decisions on our healthcare. Ya it’s our healthcare, not our elected officials. Our elected officials are suppose to listen to us, not go by the good ol boy network.