Although school stopped over the summer, local politics did not! Here are five quick highlights from the summer.
City Council complicit in continued traffic violence
There have been several notable examples of pedestrians being hit by drivers around Worcester this summer. City Manager Eric Batista and Mayor Joseph Petty proclaimed a “traffic violence and road safety crisis” after rising traffic violence over the past couple years. However, words are not enough – we will continue to see these tragic incidents as long as the city remains committed to a car-centric worldview. Over the coming months, we will see if the city council continues to value the convenience of drivers over the lives of pedestrians. Large changes to infrastructure are needed, or deaths and injuries will continue.
Massachusetts Government to evict homeless from shelters
Governor Maura Healey signed several bills making finding shelter even harder for homeless Massachusetts residents. Stays in overflow shelters will now be limited to a maximum of 5 days. Additionally, 150 families will be evicted from shelters weekly, and only 7,500 individuals will be able to stay in family shelters statewide. These changes will force thousands out into the streets where they can be arrested at the will of police officers. Make no mistake, these changes are about criminalizing poverty even more than it already is.
Worcester Rental Registry made useless
Apartments here in Worcester suck, they’re often aging, poorly maintained, and unsafe. It’s a good thing the city council created a centralized rental registry that contains basic information and can be the basis for scheduling safety checks right? Well, good news and bad news. Good news: this does actually exist, with about 22,000 units currently registered. Bad news: the city council ( ⅓ of whom are landlords) elected to have all owner occupied buildings of three units or less removed from the registry. This means that thousands of Worcester residents will not receive the kind of protections their peers will.
Polar Park neighborhood developments
The neighborhood surrounding Kelley Square, Green Island, has changed dramatically over the past few years and will continue to do so this coming year. Just this summer a 6-story apartment building with 83 “affordable” units opened, and plans for other buildings in the neighborhood were released, bringing more five-over-ones to the area. Thoughts on the developments are mixed (mine included); many claim this is enabling or causing gentrification, while others claim that these developments are the best thing we have to attack the housing crisis in Worcester.
Corruption in WPD
The Worcester Police Department has been accused of being racist, sexist, and corrupt for years. In another example of this trend, we can see that current Interim Police Chief Paul Saucier applied for a job at SoundThinking, which makes the controversial surveillance system ShotSpotter™. This is after Saucier campaigned to adopt the sonic surveillance system in Worcester and headed the department’s drive to acquire other new technology, including drones. Saucier attempted to leverage public dollars, which paid for the adoption of the system, into a lucrative position for himself at the company. Saucier interviewed at SoundThinking while still a member of WPD, though he retracted his candidacy when he was promoted to Interim Police Chief.
