• NEW RULES FOR TAXIS, LIVERY CABS: After a conversation that started more than two years ago, the City Council approved a new set of ordinances for taxis and livery cabs in town. Among the changes: The chief of police — who already had most of the regulatory authority — is now officially in charge of most aspects of licensing taxis and livery cabs, not the License Commission, though the Commission retains control of fare rates. Livery cabs and their drivers now must all be licensed by the city; owners of both types of vehicles will pay a fee of $100.
• MORE RULES: Other new and old regulations in the chief of police’s revised Taxi & Livery Regulations (which didn’t require Council approval): There’s a driver dress code (no swimwear, bathing suits, jogging shorts, or torn or ripped shorts); and livery cabs can’t have external markings that would distinguish them from private vehicles. This presumably includes the N.Y. Express vans. Livery cabs can only take payment by check, credit card or U.S. mail billing.
• IT’S LIKE TSA IN YOUR CAB: And more: All taxis and livery vehicles are subject to random spot checks at any time or location and taxi and livery drivers must all keep a daily log of all pickups; livery drivers only are required to note the name and number of all passengers. All logs must be kept for two years, and must be made available to any police officer upon request.
• WHAT UP, WYMAN?: What’s going on with the Wyman-Gordon property? On Tuesday, Economic Development chief Tim McGourthy said the company has essentially been “incommunicado” about an internal review of their semi-empty downtown property, despite a dozen calls. And City Manager Michael O’Brien revealed that Wyman has been debating a further expansion at the site. He told councilors that he expected an answer by now, but said he’ll put in every effort to get an answer from Wyman-Gordon by the July 8 meeting. Still, Councilor Phil Palmieri said that if the company was going to be so uncooperative, the Council should just take the item off the Economic Development monthly update. Palmieri declared, “nothing will happen” if Wyman Gordon was off the agenda. “Not a thing! Not a thing,” he declared. He said, essentially, that with or without it before the Council, the city manager will still call Wyman-Gordon officials and the company will do what they’re going to do anyway. Palmieri also said that since the city manager was not getting in touch with the company officials, he should enlist the help of other businessmen who are better connected. Councilor Barbara Haller disagreed, but did agree that another tactic was needed. “It’s nothing short of insulting — it’s unacceptable,” she said about the company’s silence. Palmieri’s motion to remove the item fell, 7-4.
• BEER MAKES US A BIG BOY: Last weekend’s golf tournament at Green Hill Golf Course was a resounding success, if you ask city officials. DPW Commissioner Bob Moylan called the event a “huge success” at Tuesday’s Council meeting, crowing about the $14,000 profit the city got ($18,000 if you count what Maxwell Silverman’s proprietor Gus Giordano, who was the food/liquor supplier for the event, donated back to the city). But the real conversation behind the success? It all — as always — came back to beer at the parks. Giordano called for the Council to allow booze on a more regular basis at the course clubhouse, and Moylan reiterated his support for issuing event-by-event licenses to tournaments as a way to pay for the course more effectively. And Gary Rosen called allowing beer an example of “Worcester being a little daring — it’s a sign of growing up, a sign of progress.”
• FIORILLO’S FINANCES: Nick Fiorillo has some unpaid bills. A couple of hours before we went to press on Wednesday, a very nice girl who called herself “Jamie” called into our offices, having seen our past articles on Fiorillo. She asked if we had any way of contacting him (and, a bit too forcefully, told us it had to be phone, not e-mail). We held off on giving a number, but she gave us her contact information without identifying where she was calling from: a quick Google search of Jamie’s 888 number revealed a collection agency; a number of posters on message boards say they focus on student loans.
• GRADING THE BOSS: Who doesn’t love annual evaluations? Next week will be (almost) all about City Manager Michael O’Brien, as the councilors grade his performance over the past year. O’Brien released his self-evaluation on Tuesday, highlighting his administration’s work over the past year, and looking at goals for fiscal 2009. The “success” part of his evaluation reads like a narrative history of the past year in policy — new healthcare reforms, the rail summit, Washington Square redevelopment, storefront improvements, and improved inspections. On the 2009 goal side, the city manager says he is looking to: Lock in labor contracts, including a move to 25% employee health care contributions across the board; finalize a transfer of the airport to MassPort; realign the fire companies and “incorporate expanded partnerships”; improve energy conservation; address the backlog of street and sidewalk repairs; and stimulate the housing market. o
Scott Zoback may be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
