Tab Benoit in Fall River next weekend!

Tab Benoit of Baton Rouge, Louisiana is playing at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River next Friday night and I am heading down to check out to see if he would be a good fit for the 2010 Paulie's NOLA Jazz & Blues Festival....and I can afford him:>)

Transparency & Open Government

Dear Worcester District 4 City Councilor Barbara Haller;

I have been trying real hard to wrap my arms around this entire situation that we now find ourselves possibly in on Chandler Street with the lateral move of the PIP Shelter to the hospital...until now I never really concepualized how close it is to me and my properties as well as many others who have worked real hard over the past 7 years to change a stigma that has engulfed our mutual neighborhood and for so long.

Before I get to deep into this correspondence I'd like to add that the hospital has been a great neighbor but I wonder how honest a neighbor it has been with us when it had its representative at our monthly business meetings and this representative never once mentioned this lateral move of the PIP Shelter or for that matter had you or city representatives - both also at our monthly meetings!

I am happy to see that the city is taking action on the PIP Shelter and how it operates and you should be commended for the efforts you have expended on this issue over the past 15 years...but there is something very wrong about this move not being vetted with the Chandler Street resident and business community and well before an announcement was made in the local newspaper.

How do you plan to assist us in our fears that the clientele of the existing PIP Shelter will not now migrate down to Chandler Street once they find out that they will not be allowed to hang outside on the hospital grounds day in and day out like they currently do around the PIP Shelter....that the liquor store down the hill from the hospital and on Chandler Street will not become Kirsch Liquors II.....that the Keystone Plaze & Dunkin Donuts parking lots do not become the mess that the rear of the supermarket on Murray Street has become?

What assurances do we have that Chandler Street will not become the new Main South?

If you did not feel that this issue would have been of importance to us how can we expect that you will be an advocate for us if things do not go as planned. What is the plan and why did Jordan Levy who lives miles away and works in Paxton have more input on this then the neighborhood that the new plan was being implemented in?

It is very difficult at the moment to understand how you could be a champion watchdog on the social service providers for so long and essentially be the lead on expecting the social service providers to be transparent about their plans within the neighborhoods and then not feel that we down here on Chandler Street would expect the same?

This is not a NIMBY issue as we in the Village of Piedmont have endured our own mini PIP Shelters for years as well as the Mustard Seed..this is an issue of transparency, inclusion and the lack of it on such an important issue. I own outside the city and in other urban settings (this is not an issue restricted to Worcester) and I can not imagine such an issue as this not being vetted with the community - perhaps because these other communities have more respect for it's citizenry or just do not take them to be mummy dummies?...again I am trying to wrap my arms around this all and am trying to full understand how this happened with out the neighborhood being involved.

I hope to learn more about the new groundbreaking plan that has been proposed - I have some catching up to do tho and hopefully you will be able to assist.

Cheers

Paul Collyer

El Delisioso on the move!

Aren't they doing a great job cleaning up Main South??

El Delisioso has only been in the Village of Piedmont but mere weeks and already there has been a shooting investigation!

The only good thing about this is that it is now creeping closah to the west side of WooTown.....perhaps someone important from the other side of the tracks will get shot instead of one of the good folks on this side of the tracks who day in and day out are challenged by this hossshite that a select few in WooTown feel can correct but have yet to! When do the report cards come out??? Maybe when one of the beautiful WooTown people get hurt by this constant nonsense associated with this business that things will be responsibly resolved!

Village of Piedmont discussion tomorrow on WCRN 830AM with Gary Rosen

Tomorrow at 11AM.....a few business owners representing the Village of Piedmont will be on the WCRN True Talk 830AM Hank Stoltz Show which is being hosted by Gary Rosen.

This show on the Village of Piedmont will be informative,entertaining and motivating. The discussion will be one that will be enjoyed by WCRN listeners both in and out of Worcester. All cities and many towns have areas like the Village of Piedmont that have a proud past, a challenging present, but a bright future.

To be a part of the show call 866-876-4123 or 508-438-0965

Architect needed for Village of Piedmont historical rehab!

Creative architect needed to draft interior plans for a three deckah as well as create plans for decks and porches that will conform to the 1892 era.....fee to be negotiated.

Inquire @ qphome@aol.com

The Chris Fitz Band playing live this Sunday in Cambridge at the Battle of the Biggies Duathlon & 2.6 Miler

The Battle of the Biggies Duathlon & 2.6 Miler is this Sunday down at the American Legion Marsh Post #442....11AM start!

The Duathlon has sold out at 40 individuals and 10 two person teams...we still have some space in the 2.6 miler available.....also could use a few more volunteersAfter the duathlon and 2.6 mile run there is a BBQ and live performance by The Chris Fitz Band.....voted Best of Boston Blues Band in 2008..........I take that back the BBQ and the live performance by The Chris Fitz Band will begin before I finish the duathlon.

The Battle of the Biggies Duathlon & 2.6 Miler is benefiting the Somerville Math Fund.

See http://www.baevents.com/battleofthebiggies/ if you want to register for the 2.6 miler.....all welcome to the post music show- invite your friends..cash bar!

New England Patriots 27 - Miami Dolphins 17

I took a friend to the Pats game yesterday and it was a great day.......great parking, easy access in and out of the stadium, amenities galore inside the stadium and a great product on the field - the Kraft family has created a real jewel down in Foxboro and they deserve every thing they have earned including the accolades.....but the news article below that states that the Kraft family has applied for Stimulus Funds to build a walk way over Rt. 1 and that their application may be approved just seems to be wrong considering the reduction in local aid, the crumbling schools and transportation infrastructure not to mention the crappy sidewalks on Winfield Street in WooTown!

Where is former Speakah of the House Thomas Finneran when we need him?? Say what you want about ole Tom...he didn't mind standing up to this kind of nonsense when it needed someone standing up to it!

************************************

For the Kraft’s Patriot Place, a golden gateway
$9m in stimulus funds urged for footbridge over Route 1
By Noah Bierman
Globe Staff / November 7, 2009

The Patrick administration is pushing through a plan to spend $9 million in federal stimulus money to build a walking bridge connecting parking lots on either side of Route 1 near Gillette Stadium. The lots belong to Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, who is tied for number 468 on Forbes Magazine’s list of the world’s billionaires.

State officials decided to bypass a host of projects across the state - including road rebuilding projects in Canton, Danvers, Braintree, and Bellingham - to build the footbridge.
The bridge was included on a slate of projects, prepared by the administration, that was approved late last month by a regional planning board that determines how to spend federal transportation money in the Boston area. Most transportation projects reviewed for federal funding are evaluated by two sets of professional planners before such votes, but the bridge and some other stimulus projects on the recently approved slate received no such review. Remainder of article

Who say's it can't happen in the Village of Piedmont?

The greatest real estate turnaround ever
Charlotte Street in New York City's South Bronx was once the epicenter of urban blight. No longer. Now single-family homes line the strip and boats sit in driveways.

By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: November 9, 2009

NEW YORK -- Charlotte Street was an apocalyptic nightmare version of urban life.
Weed-choked, junk-filled lots flanked the three-block stretch. Burned out tenement buildings punctuated the sky, and abandoned cars littered the landscape.
The street, like much of the rest of New York City's South Bronx, had fallen to epic lows by the late 1970s. The area had disgorged nearly two-thirds of its population as living conditions declined and arson fires raged. Some landlords, unable to find tenants, torched their properties for insurance money. Other blazes were set by junkies, while still more were set by residents of public housing trying to get moved into nicer apartments.......remainder of article