NB: game is at 10am, not 9.

take the bus, it's free!

Better yet, municipal sidewalk snow removal (done by the city with municipally owned equipment, not contracted to whatever local doofus has a pickup truck and wants easy money).

Let's go one better and have separated bus lanes with signal priority.

TIL that our elementary schools don't have libraries. Every day I learn something new about how much key infrastructure Worcester lacks. It's sad.

I think such a network could have the following as its core lines:

- Worcester to Providence, stopping in Millbury, Sutton, and a couple RI towns along the way

- Worcester to Marlborough, tracking 290 to give those commuters another option

- Worcester to Fitchburg, with stops in West Boylston and Leominster

Actions speak louder than words. If he were a decent guy, he wouldn't have all these cretins working for him and he wouldn't allow them to treat the community the way that they do. He doesn't get credit for talking nice while the people he hires brutalize those they are sworn to protect.

That's gonna have to change if we want businesses to succeed in areas where rent is high and space is tight. It is neither practical nor in any way desirable for every business to provide free parking immediately adjacent to its front door for all of its customers.

Just think about restaurants - they have tons of patrons on Friday and Saturday at 7pm, fewer at other times, and zero much of the time. Meaning that for all of their weekend customers to be able to park right there, really valuable land has to be set aside for parking and go completely unused the rest of the time. That drives the cost of owning a restaurant way up - because you have to own the parking lot, too, which brings you no revenue and spends most of its time sitting empty.

Here's a video illustrating the problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Akm7ik-H_7U

It's not the city's job to provide parking for restaurant patrons. It *is* the city's job to provide safe spaces for people to walk.

The way to solve the problem is making it convenient for people to get to the area without taking a car.

Real, separated bike lanes and people respecting the stop lines? Infrastructure that looks safe to walk, bike, or even drive on? You're right, that bus sure as hell is not in Worcester. But I'm confused, because based on what people here say, it's impossible to build streets like this in crowded areas.

Which means they'd have done it whether or not we passed the CPA, and this policy actually will have little effect on rent in the city outside of what landlords would have done anyway.

It's not really your fault; the misinformation campaigns ran strong on this one. Cheers to Yes on 5!

I mean this sincerely: what's the alternative? Your friend/kid/husband/roommate/mom borrows your car, injures a biker running a stoplight, and nobody is held responsible because no cop was on the scene?

I don't dispute there are technical issues that need to be ironed out with cameras. But it's worth looking at how those could be addressed rather than rejecting the concept. There are equity concerns at the heart of them, you're right. But there are other equity concerns about not doing anything that to me bear equal consideration - without real traffic enforcement, anybody who's not driving is a target for harm with no accountability to the drivers responsible. The status quo is not okay.

In general, I also think "if you own a car, you are responsible for what people do with it" isn't a terrible approach to making our streets safer. If we had cameras, there's no reason the laws couldn't be written to avoid the worst-case outcome you list there.Scaling the fines by income would be great starting place.

Our cops don't bother enforcing any traffic laws. Utterly absurd that the best funded department of city government can simply not do its job with zero consequences whatsoever.

Incidentally, this is why we need cameras at intersections. Nab speeders, red light runners, and box blockers all at once.

I agree, we should take half the space currently allocated to car traffic and turn it into sidewalks.

Until then, however, we should live up to the "sidewalks are for pedestrians" idea. DPW should tow cars that are parked on the sidewalks, every block of road/street in the city should have sidewalks on both sides that are wide enough for two wheelchairs going in opposite directions to pass without leaving the sidewalk, and there should be strict limits on the number of curb cuts in commercial areas to ensure that people using the sidewalk are safe.

I agree that transferring money from the bloated police budget to things that actually serve the community is a great idea too.

Adopting this policy means we gain access to a statewide pool of monies that we can’t get otherwise, but are already paying into through surcharges on real estate transactions. In other words, by passing this, we get access to way more money than it costs us in taxes.

The tax increase is tiny. Less than $5/month unless you are wealthy enough to own a huge home. The benefits are more than worth the cost.

Among the things question 5 does is create a pool of money to be used on affordable housing. Vote YES on Question 5 if you're concerned about the cost of rent.

Agreed. But as a pedestrian, on streets without sidewalks, I hate having to walk right down the middle of the road during leaf season.

I am not a fan of most of our city council members, but yeah, it is almost certain that they grease their palms on the side because they're way underpaid for the demands of the job. City Council member in Worcester is considered a part time job, even though doing the job well takes more than full time hours, and their pay is not high enough to reflect the demands of the work. Until they have a full time paycheck that's enough to replace what they would otherwise earn as full time professionals in the private sector, they will seek bribes.

If you want clean government, you have to remove the temptation to seek money on the side. That starts with paying officials enough to make corruption unnecessary.

It's tough in Worcester because this city doesn't invest in safe pedestrian infrastructure. Anywhere you run, you will have to deal with rageful drivers and ankle-breaking potholes, even on what few sidewalks exist. Feel free to DM me for suggestions, I run a lot all over town.

From where you live, I'd suggest the following route. It's a little complex but decent enough and if you follow your instincts and/or bring your phone the first time so you can see the turns on a map, you'll be fine. Here's a link to the route.

1. From Indian Lake, at the intersection of Holden St and Grove St, head up Nelson Place and into Assumption College by going around the yellow gate at end of Nelson Place, which is the back end of campus. Run through campus down to Salisbury St.
2. Head left on Salisbury and after just a couple hundred meters, turn right on Flagg St. The sidewalk is in very bad shape for the first bit here but improves after that. Take Flagg St. (which turns into Richmond Ave.) all the way to Pleasant St. You're about 2 miles into the route when you reach Pleasant.
3. Head left on Pleasant, then soon after turn right on Howland Terrace. Take Howland Terrace until it ends at Hadwen Rd. Take a left and connect down to June St. Turn right on June and continue a couple blocks to Chandler. At Chandler you're 3 miles in. Keep going on June St. to Mill St. It's another mile to get there, putting you at 4 miles.
4. Turn right on Mill St. This is a fast, busy road that's not great to run on, but it has a shoulder and a sidewalk. Both are often occupied by parked cars but by moving between them, you can manage. Continue on Mill St. about a mile, bending to the right, until you get to a stoplight. You're now back at Chandler St. and just over 5 miles into your run. You could turn around here for an out and back 10 miler if you want.
5. If you don't want to do the out and back, turn left on Chandler and continue to the next intersection. Go straight through it and then take a right on Tory Fort Lane. This is a small, one lane road that goes through a secluded area. No sidewalks but plenty safe. Continue for almost a mile on Tory Fort lane and follow the path you see on your left after the intersection with Caton Rd. Follow the path through a short stretch of woods and it dumps out onto a gravel road. Take the gravel until you can turn left. Turn left and you'll come out onto Olean St., a wider concrete road. You're about 6.5 miles in now.
6. Turn left on Olean St. and take it back to the intersection of Chandler and Pleasant, reaching 7.5 miles. Head left on Pleasant and continue back to the intersection with Richmond. Pleasant isn't great for running but it's not terrible iether. Now you're at 8.5 miles.
7. Continue back the way you came (Richmond to Salisbury to Assumption College, around the gate at the back and down the hill to Indian Lake. You're now back where you started, and you've run just under 11 miles.

I've lived a lot of places and MA drivers are the worst in the country. People here have no business giving driving instructions to others.

Yup. You wanna tailgate me at 75? Congratulations, now we're going 60.