• LIQUOR LICENSE LETDOWN: The liquor license seemed like a shoe-in: A group of downtown business owners already operating a Front Street convenience store, were looking to add wine and alcohol to their retail mix. They came prepared to the License Commission hearing: a retired Worcester cop spoke on their behalf; their lawyer presented a petition from customers and neighbors vouching for them; and the attorney related that the team already had a liquor license in Spencer. The plan seemed problem-free. Until the other package store owners showed up. One after another, liquor store proprietors including Bill Randell (Randell Package Store), Bob Largess (McGovern’s), and Bob Kirsch (Kirsch’s) spoke out against the new license, claiming that a liquor store downtown was unneeded, and that the area had a history of failure for licenses. They pointed to the recent closing of Bancroft Liquors on Franklin Street; Kirsch said his business didn’t even experience a bounce when it shut its doors. Thus, he claimed, there wasn’t a demand for another liquor store in the area. So, despite a complaint from the convenience store’s lawyer that the group was merely trying to stop competition, Commission Chairman Kevin O’Sullivan said public opinion was against the new operation; the Commission ruled against the new license.
• MAJOR MAJOR: The new Major Taylor statue is getting rave reviews except for one small detail: The inscription. There have been some quiet questions about the grammatically awkward phrase that finishes the inscription. It reads as follows, with line breaks as they appear on the monument:
HE FACED CLOSED DOORS AND OPEN HOSTILITY WITH REMARKABLE DIGNITY
TO BECOME THE FASTEST BICYCLE RIDER IN THE WORLD
AS HE TITLES HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY
• ON THE PLATFORM: With the general election finally under way, Worcester has some representation on the Barack Obama team. Longtime political operative Paul Giorgio was one of four Massachusetts representatives named to the Platform committee for the Democratic National Convention. Giorgio, a pledged Obama supporter, is the only local representative to any of the three standing committees.
• WE’LL TAKE FRIDAYS: Is a five-day work week too much? Councilor Kate Toomey seems to think so. She’s asked the city administration to look at the feasibility of moving some employees or departments to extended-day 4-day work weeks in order to save on energy costs and personal gas bills.
• CITYSQUARE. SERIOUSLY. FOR REAL. HONEST. NO JOKE. WE HOPE: At least, it looks that way. The City Council approved advertising the “new” CitySquare deal last night, which will allow developer Young Park to proceed with demolition and construction with fewer tenants locked into lease deals. Park and consigliere Barbara Smith-Bacon were in chambers on Tuesday, but declined comment on the floor.
• A TIME TO PRAY: Monday will be the first official court date for a group of local Roman Catholic activists on trial for praying the rosary in the lobby of the Federal Courthouse in protest of the Iraq War. At the pre-trial hearing, the group, representing themselves, is expected to argue for the right to put the war itself on trial. They are charged with refusing an order from a U.S Marshal and obstructing entry to a U.S. courthouse.
• FOUND MONEY: After all the budget move machinations at the last minute, here’s the final word: $250,000 in savings from the airport contract with MassPort is going to the schools; $400,000 from the City Manager’s contingency fund is being split 50-50 between the schools and the public library, which will now be open on Mondays. And that contingency money will be replenished by free cash, should any be available. Got that?
• LOST MONEY: But not everyone is happy with the move. Despite being held up for activists as a tongue-in-cheek model of how to “get blood from a stone” by Councilor Phil Palmieri, Firefighters 1009 head Frank Raffa complained that contingency funds were supposed to go to fund unsettled labor agreements (salaries) of public safety employees. Though respectful, his comments are emblematic of the ongoing battle between education and public safety, and could be the harbinger of larger labor disagreements down the road.
• CAB FARE INCREASE: It’s going to cost a little more for that cab ride cross-town. Facing huge gas prices and diminished margins, taxi drivers in Worcester won a small victory last week when the License Commission voted to increase the “drop fare,” the fee you pay for getting in the cab before you go anywhere, from $2 to $3. In a rare show of unity between Yellow Cab and Red Cab owners, proprietors of both companies teamed up to ask for the ruling, with Toni Donovan of Red Cab calling the move a “matter of survival.” The fee change will go into effect in waves as cabs are inspected by the city over the coming month; half the cabs will go to $3 after June 17 or so, half the week after. o
