Talk ain't cheap

A look at what city council should be debating

by Carolyn Given

City council could be gaining major popularity points with residents (er, voters) if they made headlines with talk about issues that concern the community. Here are a few ideas.

Neighborhood blight

Although Mayor Raymond Mariano points to the unprecedented demolition of abandoned buildings during his tenure as mayor as a step in cleaning up neighborhood blight, there's a growing sense that more should be done to save homes -- not tear them down. Hasn't Worcester already cornered the market on empty lots?

"We need to save our affordable units -- the three-deckers -- rehab them, get them back on line," Councilor Janice Nadeau says. "Three years ago, they used to say, we had 5000 three-deckers. Well, if we have 4000 now, we're lucky."

According to city figures, last year there were 551 structure fires (51 determined to be caused by arson and 43 undetermined), up from 529 in 1995.

A recent Municipal Research Bureau report recommends that the city establish a neighborhood and community-development agenda to fight the impact of what the bureau calls TOADS: Temporarily Obsolete Abandoned Derelict Sites.

Adopting and acting upon such an agenda could help fill the nearly 1400 vacant lots and abandoned buildings in Worcester that serve as havens for drug dealers, squatters, and arsonists.

But if Worcester's poorer neighborhoods are to be cleaned up it won't happen by City Hall working alone.

"The city puts a lot of money through the [federal] block-grant process into neighborhoods, but there doesn't seem to be enough coordination after that," says Sarah Lang-Kennedy, neighborhood-development coordinator at Oak Hill Community Development Corporation. "I don't see that as anyone's fault. Everyone needs to help: churches, schools, businesses, residents, and agencies need to throw their hats into the ring and work on the rebirth of the city."

Contaminated sites

It's hard to imagine that commercial real-estate agents have a hard time pointing to potential locations for industry to relocate in Worcester. It seems there are miles of abandoned or underused warehouses. Twenty seven percent of commercial buildings, in fact, are vacant.

But 214 local industrial sites are environmental hazards, of which only three have been targeted by the Central Massachusetts Economic Development Authority for state-funded cleanup and redevelopment: Fischerville Mill, in South Grafton, at the site of the old Omni/Duralite plant, the former Institutional Linen site on Mason Street, in Worcester, and the South Worcester Standard Foundry site on Southgate Street, which has been slated for redevelopment as the South Worcester Industrial Park. But the wheels of progress turn slowly.

"I see no progress, and it's been two years. This stuff is not getting discussed on the city council floor as much as it needs to," says city council challenger John Lazzaro. "The Central Mass. Economic Development Authority is not getting the job done."

But Councilor John Anderson counters, saying toxic-waste cleanup is complicated and expensive, particularly if businesses are required to pay for cleanup of toxins left by past owners. Just one more reason for industry to avoid Worcester.

"It's tough to get rid of whatever you take out," Anderson says. "It's a cost a business person sees as an add-on cost simply to start up [in Worcester]."

Citizen review of police

A stepped-up street presence and community-policing efforts have helped reduce Worcester's crime rate, but crime seems to be increasing inside the department.

Offenses such as the illegal shifting of federal COPS grant funds from one account to another (forcing the federal Justice Department to order Worcester to return the money), an improper discretionary bank account established for use by the police chief, the department's use of excessive force at the Youth Center (resulting in the resignation of an advisory board member), a series of "head-shop busts" that amounted to nothing but embarrassment, the recent 16-month jail sentence of former Lieutenant William Goddard for stealing funds reserved for a youth anti-drug program, even the murky question of how many sworn police officers Worcester technically needs, seem to spell one thing for Worcester: citizen review.

Cities across the nation have formed panels chaired by citizens to review the police relationship with the community. Maybe it's time Worcester City Council take a look.

Arts district

When Providence redeveloped its downtown, local artists provided balance, synergy, and glue to its revitalization efforts. In striking contrast, Worcester has no spokesman for the arts, no Buddy Cianci to marshal support or funding for a downtown arts district, despite the interest of a number of property owners in the vicinity of Union Station who stand to gain from $20 million in neighborhood restoration in conjunction with Union Station renovations.

A 1995 city-sponsored workshop included a proposal to convert abandoned buildings into entertainment complexes with surrounding areas used for cafes, brew houses, or a movie theater. Subsequent reports have called for an arts district to be created alongside other development initiatives. But as yet, no plans have seen action.

In fact, any city action with regard to the arts comes in the form of cuts, usually blamed on Proposition 2 1/2. (Few remember that the Cultural Commission once had a full-time executive director who reported to the City Manager.)

Worcester's historic void in cultural and fine-arts leadership has become a legacy that city council should reverse.

Worcester's airport

It's been tough times at the Worcester Airport. The Massport-funded media promotions to drum up interest in flying locally have so far failed to result in new carriers signing on or fill the airport's empty lobby with passengers. City council recently proposed a $400,000 cut to the airport budget, a move that would no-doubt ground the airport service and one that comes on the heels of Continental Express' announcement that the airline would stop flying from Worcester (the airline's plans have since been delayed).

The rash of bad news hasn't fared well for the lonely airport on the hill.

"Unless we strike oil or become a casino and generate slot-machine revenue, I'm not going to get new revenues until we get new carriers," says Blair Conrad, airport director. "This heavy burden of negative publicity is not helpful -- almost all of it is internally generated from within the community.

"Is city council saying we're at a decision point? Cutting $400,000 out of the tax levy assures that we will not be able to operate. It's that simple," Conrad says.

Conrad proposes city council become creative and take the debt-service (the airport carries a $1 million deficit) off the airport's back. Conrad also wants city council to give the airport credit for revenues it generates from the Airport Industrial Park, revenues that could help retire the airport's debt service. "This has been argued many times before, but the council doesn't want to talk about it," Conrad says.

Money

When former Councilor Robert Hennigan sat on the board under Mayor Jordan Levy and City Manager Jeff Mulford, he chaired the Municipal Operations Committee when it performed a Prop 2 1/2 tax-cap study that determined Worcester could hit its tax-cap limit ($25 per thousand) as early as 1999, limiting the amount of revenue the city can raise through taxes. If that happens, Worcester would then have to rely on its economic base for revenue. "The answer is to look at the expense side of the ledger," says Hennigan referring to places where city council can find potential savings. "But people don't look at that in an election year."

Out-takes