• Unilateral agreement: Over the past several weeks, Worcester has seen several unions agree to a larger health insurance contribution as part of City Manager Michael O’Brien’s ongoing budget reform efforts. So far, it’s been a slow trickle of mostly clerks unions to date, but this week, O’Brien announced that Local 495 was being switched over to a 25 percent employee contribution — the largest union to make the switch so far. Unlike the other unions though, it wasn’t a bilateral agreement. O’Brien acknowledged this week that he had unilaterally changed the union’s contribution after essentially declaring that the negotiations were going nowhere.
• Seniors, these days: The frequent crowd of retirees at City Council meetings, all looking for the council to pass Section 19 health insurance reform, has been coming for months, generally sitting silently, usually holding signs of one kind or another. But the past two weeks have seen their protests cut short. Last week, the group was removed from the chambers by police after chanting during a meeting; this week, they were forced to remove banners they had hung, under a new rule passed by City Council earlier this month forbidding anything to be attached to any surface of the room.
• Welcome to Dogtown, Worcester Edition: The ice skating rink behind City Hall is getting a lot of use, just not for ice skating. We’ve been witness to a few dog walkers using the walls as natural barriers to let their pets roam; we’ve seen other people wandering aimlessly. This week saw yet another skateboarder using the dry rink as a practice arena. Adding to the irony was City Manager Michael O’Brien having a private conversation overlooking the rink as the skateboarder worked. Next target? Empty city pools.
• The quietest election of all time: Since our last update on April 23rd, there has been some more movement in the very-quiet election season. Michael Galvin pulled papers for At-Large City Council while interim Superintendent Dierdre Loughlin’s son, Raymond Loughlin Jr., a former School Committee member, pulled for that board. Carole Deneault also pulled papers for School Committee. Incumbent City Councilor Kate Toomey and Mayor Konnie Lukes returned their signatures for a citywide race, as did Stephen Buchalter. Joe Casello returned signatures for a District 1 race, looking for another shot at unseating incumbent Joff Smith.
• Schools are the new political hotness: Also in election news, it looks like the School Committee has suddenly become the new place to pursue a seat at the table. Like his former teacher and current colleague Gary Rosen, City Councilor Rick Rushton is considering changing things up and running for School Committee this fall. Rushton says any decision about what he’s running for will come in a couple weeks.
• Failed Union: Last week, we reported on the confusion over at Union Station about who was responsible for removing a bike rack outside the building. Both the building’s manager OR&L, and its owner, the City of Worcester, referred us to the other party, saying it was the counterpart in charge. That’ll all cleared up: according to the final budget proposal this week, the city will take over Union Station management from OR&L this year.
• Worcester chooses Choose Worcester: The budget cuts also mean that, according to Assistant City Manager Julie Jacobson, the city will work on generally attracting business, but will no longer actively recruit businesses to move to town, instead relying heavily on Choose Worcester for that task. “We realize that is a priority … but we’re going to have to change how we do business,” said Jacobson on Tuesday.
• Direct to GO: Direct Air got some press from CNN this week as an “upstart airline” making a name for itself flying out of secondary cities. And Worcester got a mention in the article, albeit for the wrong reasons. The article cited last winter’s Sanford, Florida to Worcester flight that was grounded because of weather, leaving passengers stranded overnight without food, lodging, or staff to explain or help with the problem. The article does give some props to Direct Air’s Worcester service though, ending with, “Worcester had no commercial flights before Direct Air arrived last year — now it’s a quick jaunt away from sunny Florida.”
• Prison Break: The arrest of escaped Worcester County House of Corrections inmate David Laperle from a work-release site in Leominster was a big win for Sheriff Guy Glodis’ department, which hasn’t experienced such an escape in the five years of the widely-respected community-service program. But almost immediately, Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella said he wouldn’t allow inmates to work in his town again. Glodis spokesman Keith Mitchell says the sheriff is “perplexed” by Mazzarella’s decision, and says no other towns have called in concern. Out of a “two-inch thick folder” of thank-you notes for the program from towns, says Mitchell, “I have yet to receive one that says their dissatisfied or concerned.” As for why there was more news on the capture than the escape, Mitchell says, “I can’t go over our emergency management plan … because then inmates will know it.” But, he says, the initial priority was “seeing how quickly we could recover him … we started the process right away.”
