The One Montvale Rd. Saga Continues…slowly

The battle over the tennis court at One Montvale road spilled over into last night’s city council meeting–sort of. With the property’s owners, Adi Tibrewal and Elizabeth Todd, in attendance councilors Smith and Palmieri addressed the concerns of both the Montvale Historic District and the home owners, with both of them mentioning the need to get more “facts.”

Councilors Smith and Petty requested that the city study the impact of expanding the district, as well as explaining how this situation–having a “historic” tennis court in your backyard–is affected by the city’s current zoning laws.

As for Tibrewal and Todd, they showed without knowing their situation would be brought up. “We wanted to talk to Smith and Petty face to face,” said Todd, and after speaking with both Palmieri and Smith, they were told to hang around for the meeting.

And so while nothing actually changed during the city council meeting (a vote on the matter has been postponed since March of 2008), Todd is hopeful that something good will come out of her and her husband’s appearance: Palmieri’s impassioned speech in their defense tacked on the idea of bringing real estate agents and attorneys together to hash this out, hopefully for private meeting between all parties on Tuesday.

11/24/09 City Council Live Blog

7:09: It begins! It’s crowded and busy out in the hallway, and there’s a good-sized crowd in the seats

7:10: Eddy starts us off with a resolution to honoring judge, city councilor, and mayor Paul Mullaney for his commitment to the community, and his 90th birthday. “It’s far too often that we don’t speak enough about the people who made this city what it is today,” says Eddy.

7:13: Mullaney speaks. “It gives me a great feeling for Thanksgiving and the holidays to follow.” He attributes his long life to never having a cigarette and adds “I never had a drink of alcohol–until I got to the city council.”

7:15: Rushton stands up to complement Mullaney as well. Says that his father-in-law ran against Mullaney for congress in 1974, and that it’s a testament to both men that they could have a “spirited debate” on the council floor and then walk away friends.

7:18: Toomey stands and calls the judge a role model. Her uncle and Judge Mullaney were on the council together too.

Worcester P.D. Announces Their Arrival on Twitter

The Worcester Police Department have joined the masses and are now on Twitter. Along with posting media releases and real time updates, the department “will also enter crime updates and alerts, road closings and other community related information.”

Joining the social media site is another step for the department to continue to be a “transparent organization while utilizing modern media outlets.”

To follow the Worcester PD on Twitter head over to their site at http://twitter.com/worcesterpd.

USDA to go with tree injections only

The United States Department of Agriculture has informed the Worcester legislative delegation that the USDA will use only tree trunk injection to treat Asian Longhorned Beetle host trees in Worcester. Commissioner Scott Soares of the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture informed Chandler of the decision in response to a letter supporting tree trunk injection sent by the delegation including Sen. Harriette Chandler, Rep. Vincent Pedone and Rep. James O’Day. The delegation opposed the use of soil application because of the potential environmental harm it posed to public water sources due to leeching. Soil injection deposits seven times the amount of Imidacloprid, the pesticide used to combat ALB, into the soil than trunk injection puts directly into the tree. Worcester has already lost more than 25,000 trees due to the Asian Longhorned Beetle and an additional 1,400 have been tagged for removal.

Rev. McFarland to Address “Community Relations” on College Hill

Due to the continuing excessive partying going on by Holy Cross college students on College Hill that some say is worse than ever, Rev. Michael C. McFarland, President of Holy Cross, will be holding a press conference Monday, November 23, to address “community relations.”

The press conference will be held in Hogan Campus Center Ballroom Lounge at 10:30 a.m. and will have Charlotte Holler ’10, director of community relations for the Student Government Association, addressing the audience, as well as Rev. McFarland.

 

 

 

 

City Council Live Blog 11/17/09

7:06: And we’re off!

7:06: Collin Hassett with National Grid is here to request conduits underground on Mill Street and June Street.

7:09: Councilor Eddy brings up reliability issues for these neighborhoods and asks what this construction will do to alleviate the problems. “This project doesn’t address those areas on June street” replies Hassett, but they’ll be able to better pinpoint problem areas, and he says they’ll be requesting future projects to better their service. “This is more or less the first phase for us to address broader issues,” Hassett responds.

7:12: Eddy asks about a pole held up by a rope on Tatnuck Street. Will these projects address the “pole with the rope?” Hassett says he’ll be in the area tomorrow and will take a look at it.

7:16: Rosen brings up Swine Flu. Asks how many vaccines are available. The answer? 6,000. Enough for Worcester public schools? Yes. Volunteer nurses and staff from the Red Cross and other medical societies will be in the WPS tomorrow providing vaccines.

7:20: Rushton gives a “public service announcement” regarding hunger in Massachusetts. Notes that single mothers are suffering from hunger at a higher rate than others in our community. Asks people listening to drop off some food if they can to food pantries, the Mustard Seed, or churches and synagogues.

7:21: Rushton brings up Diamond Chevrolet’s departure from Worcester. Requests exit interviews between businesses that leave the city and Worcester’s economic development team to see why they leave.

7:23: Haller stands up to agree with Rushton and takes it a step further, requesting entrance interviews as well, asking them why they came to Worcester.

7:24: Eddy stands up to talk about replacements for council seats. He cites that if he were to leave, since he ran unopposed, no one would be there to take his seat until the next election. He says that maybe someone with three write-in votes would take his spot. “Is that the mandate?” he asks.

7:26: He wants a charter commission that will address this. “We’re talking about a joke” that would take his place. For the record, Santa Claus and Mickey Mouse were only one vote away from tying for second place in the D5 election.

P&W RR hits a rough stretch

Below is recent post from ProgressiveRailroading.com on the struggling finances of the Providence&Worcester Railroad:

Revenue, income plummet for Providence and Worcester

On Friday, Providence and Worcester Railroad Co. (P&W) reported third-quarter net income of $158,000 compared with $534,000 in third-quarter 2008. Diluted income per common share fell from 11 cents in the year-ago period to three cents.

Operating revenue declined 25.4 percent to $6.1 million primarily because of lower conventional freight and container volumes.

“Signs indicating future increases in traffic volume have been mixed and, therefore, management cannot definitely predict when economic conditions will improve sufficiently to enable the company to return to operating profitability,” P&W officials said in a prepared statement.

Quarterly operating expenses decreased 24.4 percent to $6 million as fuel costs and usage accounted for about one-third of the decline. P&W also reduced operating expenses by $390,000 because of net funds received from a third-party shipper to fund track maintenance expenditures in exchange for certain track maintenance credits.

The 545-mile P&W operates lines in Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, as well as two intermodal yards in Worcester, Mass.

Blog Log Digital 11/16/2009

Posted by “EXTRACHRIS_P” on worcesterin365.blogspot.com

Mr. President, Our men and women of the armed forces are busting their humps out there on the battlefield and they need more help. Make a fucking decision. You are the President of the United States. What the fuck are you waiting for?

Posted by “Nicole” on nicolecommawoo.wordpress.com

Not sure why I heard about this at work instead of in, say, the Telegram, but…A year after it announced that it wouldn’t be sending paper renewal notices for driver’s licenses, the Massachusetts RMV will offer an online reminder service.  Still no idea what those who don’t have easy access to computers and/or never hear about this service (and/or never look at the expiration date on their license) will do.