In 1979 the American Antiquarian Society purchased a small hard-covered account book containing a daily log from January 1, 1869 to June 2, 1870.  Clues of the anonymous diarist’s identity began to reveal themselves in his cursive scrawl: a young blacksmith apprentice from Stow, Massachusetts working in Medfield.

That diary is now coming back to life in the form of a blog with each entry represented by a new post.
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From the American Antiquarian Societies new Past is Present blog.

Does anyone out there have any insight as to what they chose for a CMS? Was the work done internally or outsourced?

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The moderators of the event did a fine job and asked some decent, less than predictable questions, but the answers… man, are we in tough shape. Maybe it’s just a byproduct of our form of government and the perceived limits it places on the Council and Mayor, but there is a significant lack of well fleshed out, inspiring ideas coming from this crew. It seems that when tasked with difficult times local politicians almost appreciate being confined by a particular set of legal and administrative constraints; but we’re hiring them for the job of lawmaker, so those constraints are artificial in the sense that these are the very people charged with creating/adjusting those constraints to suit todays needs. Our local government exists in a sort of suspended animation, more relevant to 1947 and 1983 (most recent years of charter change) than 2009. Someone needs to step up and point out that 2009 is neither 1947 or 1983 and the future of the city can not be dependent on trajectory set 60 years ago.

One question presented by T&G columnist Dianne Williamson, which was surprisingly not mentioned in either Nick K’s coverage in the T&G or Worcester Magazines liveblog of the event, set the tone of this campaign season for me. It was possibly the easiest question to answer and all four candidates failed miserably. Referring to the public records lawsuit the T&G is currently involved in with the WPD and City Administration, she asked:

‘is it appropriate that public money be used to keep public records from the public?’

The only answer, of course is “No, it is not OK.”

All four candidates wobbled on that one with the predictable answers we’ve been hearing since this public records debacle began. But it raises the question, how can we take anything a politician says sincerely if they believe the public system they function in should not be open to scrutiny by the public they represent? Without real transparency in government there is little reason to have faith in any of the position papers, talking points and claims of general awesomeness all four candidates seem to be comfortable presenting.

Why does this matter? Well unlike question 2 which the voters of MA passed with a rather loud voice (65% in favor) last fall, medical marijuana is currently being debated in the state legislature (their vote, not ours). House Bill 2160 is the one to keep an eye on if this is an issue that’s important to you.

Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance

When the City Administration responds to complaints like these as if there’s an actual problem it forces one to wonder how a project like City Square, assuming it actually comes together sometime in the next few decades, is expected to succeed. How exactly does the city plan to capitalize on the mostly disposable incomes and general untainted enthusiasm of young people by chasing them away?

But what’s most interesting about this latest non-issue is the city response, cameras on the common to keep an eye on loitering. Not that language and the actual meaning of words is important to Worcester Administrators…

Loiter
verb [ intrans. ]
stand or wait around idly or without apparent purpose

… but it sounds like the only people loitering on the common are the old folks sitting around all day waiting for someone to come along and give them something to complain about. If loitering is the concern, I hope the WPD plans to act upon this scourge and lock up all the pensioners or at the very least give them them a ride back to their respective nursing homes where they can’t shit on anyones good time.

The first in this series will feature candidates for School Committee on October 12th at 7PM. The CHUA PHO HIEN Bhuddist Meditation Temple at 96 Dewey St was kind enough to open their doors to the community for this event and the majority of candidates for School Committee have confirmed. Due to the number of candidates, the format for this event will be a structured Q&A forum, an actual debate would take a week or two to wrap up and the CBA passed on my idea for a Thunder Dome style event.

Next up will be a debate between the two District 4 candidates for City Council, incumbent Barbara Haller and challenger Grace Ross on October 26th 7PM at Chandler Community School, 114 Chandler Street. This is the debate I’m most excited about personally, as I can’t think of two candidates for local office more engaged with their community and dedicated to the people they work with on a daily basis. Considering how issues facing D4 tend to dominate local press, setting a tone for the rest of the city and the large number of business areas and dense residential areas contained within D4 there is no question the long term success and growth of Worcester is dependent on D4. With that said I would encourage anyone interested in Worcester politics to sit in on this debate, regardless of your voting district.

Finally, we have the Mayoral debate. Similar to my experience with the Mayoral forum we hosted at the Dive Bar two years ago, finding a date that works for all the candidates is proving difficult, but we should have that wrapped up later this week.

Councilor Rosen and I will be meeting soon to ink the topics for each group, but we’re open to including ideas from interested parties. If you have concerns that you would like to see addressed at any of these forums please feel free to leave a note in the comments, or email me: buckpaxton@gmail.com

Can Worcester claim the same?

But tonight, while waiting in traffic I finally learned the mystery of this mans fundraising efforts.

“Need money for beer or pot. Honest.”

When I read that, my heart fluttered a bit. Here we are in the midst of economic turmoil watching every species of vermin at every level of government and the private sector go out of their way to hoard every lost/last penny from every living room sofa. Not an honest man or woman in the bunch and yet we the citizenry still willingly comply and turn over our cash. And then there’s this guy, not only does he just want a beer and a bowl pack but he’s willing to admit as much in simple language anyone can understand.

Honesty. Even if misdirected, it’s quite refreshing. I suggest we find this man a consulting gig in City Hall.

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Unrelated, I want to apologize to those of you who actually read my drivel from time to time. Since I started this site way back in July of 2004 I’ve always found it a great release of sorts and enjoyed the conversations and friendships it’s spawned. It was never intended to be a local political blog but just the musings of another dude living in Worcester before there were many dudes living in Worcester doing much musing online, however the former prevailed and the tone was set. Over the last few months it seems like there’s less and less time in the day (parenthood) and fewer and fewer local political stories of interest bubbling to the surface. Frankly the political scene in worcester, both the politics and the politicians have become a bore in the most abysmal sense. I find myself thinking back to Mulford vs Levy battle royals on tuesday nights and when trying to compare that period to what we have today, it’s simply amateur hour on all fronts. So while I’m not throwing in the towel on this site, I will be backing off a bit and trying to regroup. I’ve got a few other projects in mind that I think will be more satisfying and hopefully for you, more entertaining. And if not, look for me at the bar and offer to buy me a beer, I’d much rather talk your ear off in person.