The Worcester Shuffle:

Way back in the 1990s we used to refer to going to the bars on Millbury Street as the “Millbury Street shuffle.” It wasn’t a negative connotation, just our plan for popping in and out of several places during the evening.

Well, it seems that others are doing a form of the Millbury Street shuffle around Worcester. You see, the savvy Worcesterite knows that each new apartment complex offers new tenants a deal on rent. So the shuffle about the city has been interesting to watch. A former neighbor at the Junction Shop Lofts, moved from there to the Edge, and now to Front Street. He’s probably scored four to six months of free rent. Good for him.

The apartments on Front Street were offering two free months, up front! If they can’t get to 90% occupancy on that type of incentive, no one can. The up-front incentive may not be the best way to ensure a long term tenant or payment of rent, but business decisions have been made and financials crunched.

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Build it and they will come or not, central planning sucks:

Plans for the 1920’s themed restaurant at Hanover Theater went bust. This is the site that was developed by using taxpayer monies provided through the WBDC back in 2014. It was finished in 2016 with a host of City Councilors and others cutting a ribbon. The City Manager had told me he dreamed that we could bring back Legal Seafood, but they were a no go. Originally Sonoma was supposed to go into the site, but didn’t.

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Semi-professional sports in Worcester:

Worcester Railers attendance is down 244 on average. It’s not as if Worcester has had problems with attendance with supporting sports ventures. We’ve only had a few hockey and baseball teams and maybe a couple football teams that couldn’t make it in this market. Based on our amazing track record, $101 million dollars in city-taxpayer backed loans for a baseball team that will compete against the current baseball team for audience seems like a better idea every day.

Oh well, at least Worcester will have a redesigned intersection at Kelly Square, even if it is designed for traffic flow in and out of the stadium that will cut off pedestrian traffic from one side of the canal from the other. It’s not like the stadium “investment” was supposed to be a boon to the Canal District by bringing pedestrian traffic into the area.

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What’s good for the goose:

Councilor Rivera blasted the Superintendent of Schools over the placement of a police officer at Claremont Academy. As her obvious hatred and disrespect of the Worcester Police is well known, so it’s not really news. Of course, it must have been weird for Council Lukes to sit by during Rivera’s rant. After all, Rivera and Mayor Petty attacked her several years ago for daring to make suggestions for police deployment and questioning the decision-making of the police Chief.