• MAXWELL STATION: The news that Maxwell Silverman’s and proprietor Gus Giordano are taking over Union Station’s Grand Hall and the old “The Restaurant” space is huge, on a number of fronts. Essentially, the agreement calls for Giordano to run the Grand Hall, a big change in reality if not practice from when Joe Petrou was the sole liquor license holder, but not officially in charge of the space; the Worcester Redevelopment Authority was. Assistant City Manager Julie Jacobson, the head of the WRA, says that Giordano is taking over all management and event responsibilities from the WRA and management company OR&L. “Gus will be operating the events business there. And as such, anyone who wants to book the hall will have to go to him.” Giordano’s deal is also structured differently from past arrangements, and calls for Giordano to pay 50% of hall rental fees and the greater of 7% of gross revenues or $83,000 each year; the first year doesn’t have the $83,000 minimum. As Giordano is now responsible for the hall, he can set rental rates as he sees fit, something he’s taking full advantage of: He announced on Tuesday that any event booked during the first 60 days will have no hall rental fees. That’s a $4,000 savings, based on the fee set for hall rentals by the WRA last year. Giordano’s rental is sure to have short and long-term tangible results — his plans for a real-life coffee shop/café alone will improve the lives of commuters.
• GUS GOES GOLFING: The other interesting piece is how Gus Giordano’s new partnership with the city will play into long-term plans by city officials to schedule more booze-friendly golf tournaments at the Green Hill Golf Course. Giordano was commended for donating his catering services and profits for the first-ever tournament with booze in June; at the time, he called for more tournaments of that nature, and is clearly the favorite in some officials’ eyes to be the main provider going forward.
• CHARTER TRACKING ON HOLD: Charter Communications has frozen plans to track customers Internet browsing habits. As we reported in June, the company had been planning to test out a new program in several markets nationwide — including Central Massachusetts — that would intercept data as it was transmitted over their lines, and use the data to feed users advertisements more tailored to their browsing behavior. The company called the new program an “enhancement”; privacy activists cried foul, and Congressmen Ed Markey and Joseph Barton asked the company to hold off until concerns could be addressed. Local Charter spokesman Tom Cohan says that for now, plans are on hold. “[Central Mass] was going to be one of the pilot areas. We’re not going to launch at this time.” In other Charter news, the company announced the inauguration of its Charter High-Speed Internet Max service, with speeds up to 16 megabits per second in Worcester.
• MAYBE NOT MATIAS: Efrain Matias, the Worcester man federal agents have charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, has a storied history of distribution charges in Worcester. In 1996, he was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute; while awaiting trial on those charges in August 1997, (which were eventually dismissed), he was arrested with two other men and charged with marijuana possession, intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute. Those charges were also dismissed. Then came the big one. In 2000, a 29-year-old Matias was arrested in what police heralded as a landmark cash seizure. Matias was apprehended in his house with 1/2 a lb. of weed; about $400,000 in cash was found at his apartment, in another apartment, and at a Shrewsbury storage unit. “We’ve had a lot of complaints about this guy for a while,” said a Worcester police sergeant at the time. That case led to a protracted legal battle over whether police had obtained the search warrants appropriately; after the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts overturned an Appeals Court ruling and allowed the search evidence in 2004, Matias pled guilty and was sentenced to two years probation.
• HOSTAGE WATCH, WORCESTER STYLE: WTAG host Jordan Levy is absolutely fed up with the school superintendent search, and he wants you to know about it. On Tuesday, Levy unveiled his “hostage watch,” a daily calendar counting the days Worcester schoolchildren have gone without a real superintendent in place, dating back to Jim Caradonio’s announcement that he was stepping down. For the record, as of July 4, we’re at day 171.
•THE CONTE FUND: The John Conte charitable trust, AKA his remaining $225,000+ in campaign funds, continues to be a source of funding for local charities and pols. Conte had a slow June in terms of giving, but still managed donations to the Central Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association, the State Bookstore, the Friends of Mercy Center, Geraldo Alicea, and the Worcester Democratic City Committee. And there’s also the $99.73 in phone bills he paid to AT&T and Verizon.
• PEROTTO’S PRINT BILL: Then there’s former City Councilor Mike Perotto. He’s not engaged in any campaign that we know of, but he spent $638.67 on printing and postage in June, according to his most recent campaign filing. That’s on top of a $405 donation to the city Democratic committee.
• IT TAKES A TELEGRAM TO REACH THEM: And in case you missed it, don’t expect to get someone in Worcester when you call the Telegram with a billing or delivery question later this fall. Actually, don’t expect to get someone in the same hemisphere. As part of the latest round of company layoffs, the paper reported earlier this week that some customer service calls were being outsourced to Illinois-based APAC Customer Services Inc.; that company said its Phillipines-based operations would be handling the calls starting in mid-September. o
Scott Zoback may be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
