On November 22nd, Governor-elect Deval Patrick and Lieutenant Governor-elect Tim Murray announced the creation of their Transition Committee. 208 people from across the state to continue the new administration's "grassroots" effort.

54 women were appointed by the two campaigns to this committee, not a very balanced start to the announced "grassroots" effort. Sadly, the numbers get worse when you look at Mayor Murray's neck of the woods. How many women from Central MA received this accolade and recognition from the new administration's?

Read more . . .

Family and friends gathered on November 20th as part of the national "Transgender Day of Remembrance" at All Saints Church on Pleasant Street.

The Alliance at All Saints and AIDS Project Worcester (APW) organized Worcester's first remembrance day, joining San Antonio, Hartford, Boston, Edinburgh and Vancouver along with many others.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred and was first held on November 28th, 1998 in memory of Rita Hester who was murdered in San Francisco.

Worcester Remembrance  |  a personal Worcester story

November 20th, 2006 was a "Global Day of Action in Solidarity with the Struggles of the Peoples of Oaxaca & Chiapas".

In Boston, a Plantón (Tent City) was erected on the Boston Common with street education on the repression in Oaxaca and Atenco, the popular movements in Oaxaca and Chiapas and the growing global solidarity. The day of community education was followed by a march on the Mexican Consulate demanding military forces out of Oaxaca and the resignation of Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

Worcester's Cha Cha Connor arrived in Oaxaca, Mexico on November 10, 2006. In these reports she discusses the Oaxaca strikes, subsequent repression and the November 20th EZLN blockades across the state of Chiapas.

Photos from Chiapas blockades  |  Interview with Cha Cha Connor from Oaxaca (audio)  |  Call for Donations

Lynne Simonds, who challenged City Councilor Barbara Haller in last year's City Council Election, is once again asking hard questions. Simonds lays out the details of a special property transaction made between the City of Worcester and a realty trust with strong ties to Councilor Haller.

Referring to 809 and 811-813 Main Street, Simonds writes, ". . . the properties were never auctioned. Instead these two parcels were sold separately to the 800 Main Street Realty Trust, via direct negotiations on August 19, 2002."

Simonds lays out the facts about this transaction. Over four years later, all Main South residents have to show from this "planning decision" is a few piles of dirt.

Read more . . .

Remembering Veterans on Veterans Day, people opposed to the war in Iraq assembled on Worcester Common to call for US troops to return home and to bring attention to the local costs of the Iraq war spending.

Worcester Peace Works, the Worcester-Pleasant St. Friends Meeting (Quaker), Progressive Labor Party and Clark PeaceWorks staged a City Hall backyard performance reminding everyone how $340 billion in Iraq War spending has robbed us of the projects, services and initiatives many in Worcester would like to see. Organizers dramatized this loss through a performance art piece where local groups were presented this money, only to have George Bush and his war cronies snatch away their checks.

Read more . .

The Worcester County Chapter of the ACLU of Massachusetts held their annual meeting and awards ceremony on November 9th in Worcester, celebrating a year supporting and fighting to defend civil rights during these difficult Patriot Act years.

Over 100 people attended the dinner to support the local chapter and to recognize Bellingham H.S. teacher Brian Newark's stand for his students' civil rights by challenging a new school policy that required teachers to report students who refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance and salute the flag each morning.

What else has the Worcester's ACLU done to make Worcester County better this past year?

Read more . . .

Update: Here's the list of wages with overtime omitted.

The other list includes all wages.

(PDF of follow-up stats.)

Over the past few weeks there's been discussion about raising City Manager's O'Brien's salary so that it exceeds School Superintendent James Caradonio's salary. City Treasurer Tom Zidelis recently announced his departure, apparently for higher future retirement earnings. Earlier this summer the focus was on how much in teachers' salaries (i.e. teacher cuts) would need to be eliminated with the projected school budget deficit. Alot of talk about salaries and earnings ... so who are Worcester's top 100 wage earners? The facts might surprise you.

• 73 of the top wage earners are Worcester Police Officers
• Only 19 are school employees, most of these are administrators, few teach
• 92 are male!
• Of the 8 women, none are Police Officers

Dozens gathered in front of Worcester's City Hall October 30 to remember Indymedia journalist Brad Will, who was killed on October 27th while reporting from Oaxaca, Mexico. Will, who was 36 years old, reported for New York, Bolivia and Brazil Indymedia. He died from a gunshot wound from attackers while filming along protest barricades. Some reports from Mexico are stating that the shooter was a police officer dressed in plain clothes.

While most recently in Oaxaca, Will's work included in depth coverage of violent evictions in Brazil as well as the RNC demonstrations and New York City community gardens. Will was a longtime Indymedia journalist and vocal proponent for the growth of Indymedia and independent journalism.

Photos of Worcester vigil.

WCCA videos of vigil.

NECN video.

Updates and Breaking News   In Memoriam

Feb05 Radio Indymedia interview on evictions in Brazil and role of Indymedia

The Pleasant Street community based group, Women Together/Mujeres Unidas is continuing their efforts to transform the Pleasant St. neighborhood.

Formed in response to youth violence in the Greater Piedmont neighborhood, Women Together/Mujeres Unidas has most recently focused their collective strength on building a community park on a long vacant Pleasant St. lot where the Winslow Street School once stood. The "crazy idea" of a group of neighborhood women buying the Winslow Lot and building a park is becoming a reality, and everyone's invited to join in.

The steps to creating a park at the Winslow lot   |    Winslow Park Walk-a-thon

BJ Hill is walking across Massachusetts in the hope of bringing peoples' personal messages to the next Governor. Hill, who teaches ESL grew-up in Leicester, and presently attends Worcester State part-time. The impetus for his trek was both a love of walking and a desire to see the Commonwealth, he explains that he "found a mission" shortly into the walk during a town meeting in the small town of Charlemont.

He writes, "The selectmen were complaining to their state representative that the governor doesn’t seem to understand life out in rural Massachusetts. It felt like they were a million miles away from Beacon Hill. " It was then he decided to collect messages from ordinary people along his route and attempt to deliver them to Beacon Hill.

Read more ...   Follow his journey

While the Mexican government is hosting the G8+5 Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, it has also been mounting a massive violent attack on the people of Oaxaca.

"Over half of the Oaxaca's 3.2 million people, most of whom are indigenous, live in poverty, and 21.5 percent of those over 15 are illiterate, while the average number of years of schooling is 5.6 years -- almost two less than Mexico's national average. Many students in Oaxaca's rural schools lack books and desks. In May, tens of thousands of teachers seized the capital's leafy central plaza to demand wage increases and improved school conditions. The following month, Governor Ulises Ruiz sent police to attempt to retake the heart of the city. Since then, radical social movements of workers, peasants, students, women and others have joined the striking teachers, building street barricades and taking over radio and television stations." (Defend Oaxaca)

Worcester's Cha Cha Connors is working in Chiapas and sends the following updates.

Call to Action   |   Student Activist Disappeared   |   Free Ramiro Aragón Pérez

Breaking News: Oaxaca Indymedia

On May 1st all of Worcester's immigrants stood together. This past August 12th & 13th they took to the soccer field for some old time bragging rights in this town as part of the first Worcester World Cup organized by Cultural Exchange Through Soccer (CETS).

Elm Park Community School Field was filled with players and spectators both days watching 16 teams from 13 different countries compete. In the end, Togo defeated a tough Albanian team for the Men's Championship, while Team U.S.A. defeated a strong El Salvador team for the Women's Championship.

For many though the weekend was alot less about soccer and alot more about community and the face of the new Worcester.

See the teams |  Results, story and photos |  Original announcement  |  Earlier story on Cultural Exchange Through Soccer

On August 17th, the Worcester Fire Department confirmed a case of arson directed against the new transitional housing program for homeless women veterans on Canterbury Street. Someone/s poured a flammable liquid up and down the hallway attempting to burn down the house which was scheduled to have the first two residents move in later that day.

Less than a week later, this first hand report tells the story of bombs being spray painted on the sidewalk in front of a rooming house in the Elm Park neighborhood that has been targeted by some NIMBY groups and "community leaders" in recent weeks. "The neighborhood, in essence, has been under a kind of code red, terror alert, . . . . the graffiti symbolically represents to me the kind of panic many city officials and leaders are instilling in people over social services and poor people who live in our city."

In late 2005, a crib recorder videotaped the arrest of Paul Pechonis and the warrantless search of his home that followed. That videotape was later provided to Mary Jean of Leominster who publishes a website critical of District Attorney John Conte. In February, '06, the MA State Police served Ms. Jean a "Cease and Desist" order for posting this tape on the internet.

This initial incident was another black-eye for DA Conte and then also for Attorney General Tom Reilly who once again stepped in as a Conte defender, failing to support the clear issue of free speech. Released into the wild -- via YouTube, the much debated video is now widely available.

The First Amendment issues raised by this case are of vital interest to anyone who maintains a web site and are being defended by the Worcester and Boston ACLU offices. Even more so, this case is of significant interest to media outlets such as Worcester Indymedia which promote and are defined by the open-publishing newswire available to everyone.

Read more . . .      Watch Video

What is open publishing?   Worcester Indymedia's publishing and editorial policy

A local demonstration, part of a national lobby day for a sustainable cease-fire, will take place 12noon on Wednesday, August 16th in front of Congressman McGovern's office at 34 Mechanic Street, Worcester. Though a ceasefire has been established as of 5AM GMT Monday, August 14, Worcester area residents call for sustainable justice and peace beginning with:

• A sustainable ceasefire
• A just resolution to the conflict
• Israeli withdrawl from Lebanon
• Reconstruction aid to Lebanon

Wednesday's event is part of an ongoing effort for justice in Lebanon. Read indymedia coverage of the August 4th demonstration.
Event flyers: Full page and Quarter page

Worcester's Toxic Soil Busters took their campaign to rid Worcester's neighborhoods of lead contamination deeper into the community this past week as they unveiled their new demonstration site at the Hawley Street Community Garden.

The Toxic Soil Busters take the call to fight for environmental justice seriously. Lead levels in Worcester's back and front yards remain dangerously high in many of our poorest neighborhoods and they refuse to stand by. Formed as a youth led cooperative within the Worcester Roots Project, the Toxic Soil Busters bring a combination of commitment to justice, dedicated energy and economic drive to their community work. Attacking the real issues, Worcester Toxic Soil Busters are not only, "not afraid of no lead", they're not afraid of redefining youth development and community organizing in Worcester.

Full Article + Photos | Earlier: Toxic Soil Busters Day

Neighborhood residents, youth and community leaders have organized the following in response to the FOX TV COPS’ presence in Worcester.

Community Speak Out
Monday, July 24th Worcester City Hall at 3 p.m.
Facilitated by Roberto Diaz and Xavier Johnson
Featuring: Community members affected by the heightened police presence

At a meeting of community leaders Friday evening there was a broad consensus that residents of our neighborhoods were feeling an increased police presence as part of filming for FOX's TV show COPS. Many talked about seeing or hearing from youth about cruisers "lookin for some action" with backseat cameramen. Sadly, several spoke of seeing Police Officers stopping and harassing homeless individuals. "They ride by these folks every day” said one meeting participant, “yesterday and again today I saw them stopping to hassle these same people.” The overall consensus of leaders was that youth, our neighbors, and families are being hurt by FOX's COPS being in Worcester.

Press Release | A Personal Account | Download the Flyer

Other local independent coverage: Radioball is both amused and concerned.

"Sentiments in the country range widely. Some are defiant, saying, 'We’re accustomed to bombing. We’re not scared of Israel. The Lebanese resistance will protect us.'...Most wait with baited breath, assuring each other that in two days the whole thing will blow over....The planes sound close. We walk up to the roof. Dahieh is visible – flames rise and fall. The Israeli planes strike again. We hear bombs explode and the flames glow higher. The lights on the street below go out."

Lara Jirmanus, a medical student at UMASS Med and an active Worcester Global Action Network (WoGAN) member sends first hand reports from Lebanon. Lara has been in Beirut for several weeks working at a Red Crescent clinic in the Shatila refugee camp and teaching capoiera in Bourj el-Barajneh.

An Appeal from Beirut | July 18th UPDATE | Original News Reports . . .

Also:    First hand communications from Beirut IndyMedia founding member Raida Hatoum, and, Cyprus IndyMedia member Petros Evdokas.

Additional coverage:  Israel Indymedia    Global Indymedia           Local Vigil Friday

Legal Assistance and the ACLU of MA announced plans to proceed with a class action lawsuit in federal court challenging the Worcester Public Library’s policy [draft] restricting the borrowing privileges of residents of homeless shelters, transitional housing programs and youth residences. The suit has been filed on behalf of three residents in Worcester family shelters, along with the Central MA Housing Alliance and the MA Coalition for the Homeless.

The extent of the library's discriminatory policy was uncovered after a public records request made by the community-based group Real Solutions in early January. This lawsuit follows an extended period during which Real Solutions members, the Worcester Chapter of the ACLU and Legal Assistance met with Worcester Public Library staff and Board members and held informal conversations in hopes of reversing what was at first presented as a draft policy.   Read more . . .

What do you think? Post a comment

Full Text of Lawsuit   Press Release   Policy draft              Earlier: How to make a public records request in MA

Worcester's Major Taylor Association is announcing that the Massachusetts Legislature has approved $205K for the creation of the Major Taylor statue outside the Worcester Public Library. The statue, designed by Maryland artist Antonio Tobias Mendez, honors the 1899 world cycling champion Marshall W. "Major" Taylor, also known as the "Worcester Whirlwind."      Read more ...

July 23rd is the date for the Major Taylor Association's Fifth Annual George Street Bike Challenge - the hardest 500 feet to pedal in Worcester.

George Street Bike Challenge   Worcester's Major Taylor Association   More about Major Taylor

Elsewhere on Indymedia:   Pittsburgh Indymedia's Rustbelt Radio - Bike Fest

Since its launch on June 8, 2004 the Worcester Independent Media Center has increasingly become a center for community based journalism, neighborhood based news, and a watchdog of local decisionmakers and corporate entities.

In recent weeks Worcester Indymedia has continued to grow as more and more area residents learn about the site and become part of the WoIndy community. Come here not only to learn what's happening in Worcester and around us, but come here to share your news stories, photos, announcements and commentaries. "Become the media" as we like to say. The WoIndy organizing collective meets monthly, watch the newswire if you'd like to attend one of our meetings.

As WoIndy grows, our outreach to efforts are growing as well. Check out (and distribute) these Public Service Announcements (PSA's).

Audio PSAs   Video PSA (QT 22mb)     How You Can Participate

Where do our City Councilors stand? While Councilors vote on a list of items every Tuesday they also cast a vote by their decisions to attend, not attend, be seen or not be seen at community events and fundraisers across Worcester. In recent weeks everyone except for Mayor Murray and Paul Clancy attended at least one of the virulent SMOC hearings, but during that same time only Gary Rosen and Joe Petty attended the “Walk for the Homeless.”

While Worcester is becoming a “minority majority” city, our City Council is once again all White and not socio-economically representative of our City. It is easy for Councilors to be more comfortable attending the annual St. Patrick’s Day activities while “missing” the Immigrant Rights Rally, Latin Festival and Kwanzaa gatherings. It is understandable why this happens, birds of a feather do still flock together, but it should be unacceptable for the old White boys networks and East Side/West Side cliques to define and limit City Councilor and community interaction. Our hope is to maintain an ongoing attendance record to help all of us learn where our local officials dedicate their time and where they don’t.

City Council Watch

Mayor Tim Murray declared June 20, 2006 "Toxic Soil Busters Day". Members of Worcester Roots Project went before city council yesterday to receive the mayor's proclamation that commended the youth for their work making Worcester’s soils safe from lead contamination and setting examples as activists for social and environmental justice.

Cases of lead poisoning in Worcester have quadrupled in the past year, and the yards in Main South and Piedmont are some of the most contaminated in the country. This creative new group of 15 and 16-year-olds from these neighborhoods are creating a co-operative to tackle this issue, calling themselves the Toxic Soil Busters Co-op

Got lead in your yard? Could your neighborhood possibly have a bad case of environmental injustice? Who you gonna call?
The TOXIC SOIL BUSTERS!
They ain't afraid of no lead.

More on this fight for environmental justice | Watch the video of the mayor's proclamation (11mb) | Contact them

Neighhbors on Ashland St. and residents of 5-7 Ashland St. have long been angered by and frustrated with the owner of 5-7 Ashland. The problems connected to this property have been a never ending conversation for years at community meetings and discussions with Health and Code, Fire, and Police Officials.

As illegal activity again grew this spring, and garbage and trash accumulated all around the building, neighborhood residents decided the ‘official’ routes weren’t working and they needed to take things more into their own hands. Twelve neighbors went to Housing Court in early May and got the City and Courts attention. When the mortgage company announced plans to auction the property, neighbors said, "Enough is Enough".

Meanwhile, as neighbors gathered for their protest and press conference residents inside recapped ongoing frustrations with the owner. "I only see him on the first of the month." said one resident between her tears as she worried what would happen after her whole building went into their fifth day without having any water.

To say that local anti-war organizers surprised Worcester's Democratic Party leaders by holding a simultaneous "welcoming" for Senator John Kerry to Worcester outside the Broadway Restaurant on Water Street is an understatement. The Who's Who of local politicos were all on hand and anti-war protestors were not who these local Dems and Senator Kerry were hoping to see at 7:30 am.

Kerry has recently stated he made a mistake in voting to support the War but many still feel he played presidential politics in not just deciding how to vote, but in maintaining his staunch support for the vote and war in the years that followed.

"Who will be the last to die for a mistake?" paraphrases Kerry's April 22, 1971 testimony to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations at a time when he showed leadership in bringing the Vietnam War to an end. Today he just leaves folks wondering, "Which polls and rhetoric will John Kerry mimic today?"

Worcester Indymedia article

Photos: at Flickr

Video: Demonstrator Michael True (AVI)

The two campus directors of the Citizen Schools after school programs at Worcester East Middle School and the ALL School have been suddenly forced to resign and laid off by upper management of the Central Branch YMCA. The Citizen Schools program, an after school program for middle schoolers run by the YMCA has operated in Worcester for the past 4 years. The last year has been heralded as the most successful year of the program yet. Over 100 students attended the program last year (voluntarily staying after school for 3 extra hours) in high risk/high crime neighborhoods. Teachers, school administration and program staff have celebrated the last year as the most successful yet.

Yet despite these acclaims and despite the fact that school budgets are being cut and Worcester is in more need than ever for support in the school system the upper management at the YMCA has been unsupportive of the program has refused to fight for its survival and has dismissed the directors of the two campuses.

Read More: A Report from Emergency Meeting | Original Call to Action

Worcester’s community gardens will host the Regional Environmental Council’s ‘Art at the Gardens’ this summer. And we’re not just talking about your mom and dad’s favorite folk singers, we're talkin' slam poets, tilemaking, tie dying, bike sculptures and many other ways to get your hands dirty in the arts. There are 22 community gardens in the city, some are youth run, while others are senior, neighborhood or school-based. Unfortunately, as Worcester’s gardeners plan for a festive and productive summer, community gardeners in South Central LA are sadly facing eviction from the 14 acre farm they’ve harvested from since 1992. Are Worcester’s gardens safe?

Arts in the Gardens
About the South Central Farm  |   South Central Farmers  |   LA Indymedia Coverage

Safe Homes, a program supporting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, will host an event to recognize local leaders working for equality. The Safe Homes People of Courage Awards will be presented in a ceremony on Tuesday, June 6th.

The 2006 Award of Courage Honorees are: Corporate Award: Central Mass. Business Council, Paul Leone & Adriane Zakarian, Co-founders  ~   Volunteer Award: Ruthie Turbidy  Public Service Award: Judi Kirk, Worcester YWCA  Youth Award: Conor Caracciolo  Special Recognition: Cha Cha Connor  Award Of Courage: Rev. Aaron Payson, Unitarian Universalist Church Of Worcester

The event's guest speaker is Arline Isaacson. Ms Isaacson has worked on behalf of GLBT individuals for twenty years. She is currently the co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus which has been a leader in shaping state policies.

Over the past month, Worcester Indymedia has filed public records requests of area high schools to learn how well schools notify students and parents about the "No Child Left Behind" requirements that force schools to release private information to military recruiters. WoIndy also wanted to see the different forms and protocols being used at area schools.

Based on our research, it is absolutely clear that when fully and clearly informed, significant numbers of students and their parents choose to opt out of having their private contact information released to military recruiters.

44.6 percent of all students at David Prouty High School in Spencer opted out this year; and an amazing 73.1 of the Class of 2006 at Leicester High School has opted out. Meanwhile, neighboring Auburn High School reports that zero of their students opted out this year!

• Read the complete article
• Latest regional data from optout.pieandcoffee.org

Who lives in Worcester continues to change. Today, 77% of City residents are White, but tomorrow looks very different. Based on the census, only 55% of youth under the age of 18 are White, while 26% are Hispanic, 9% Black/non-Hispanic and 6.5% Asian. Now take a look at the Worcester Public Schools and only 46.5% of students are White.

Recently Worcester’s City Clerk, David Rushford released more statistics highlighting this transition. Through his office’s tabulation of marriage license applications Rushford was able to show that in 2005, 34% of marriage license applicants reported they were born in another country. If you add African Americans, the colonies of Puerto Rico and Guam and 2nd generation immigrants we’re getting closer and closer to the magical 50% line.

The wedding tabulations create a list spanning 94 different countries, and while it's less and less of a surprise to find Brazilians near the top, who in Worcester is keen enough to have predicted Ghanians would lead that list by a 2-1 margin.

As awareness grows about the size, commitments and financing of the downtown CitySquare proposal, more people are stepping forward to raise concerns. Boston based Berkeley Investment and Greenwich based Starwood Capital want to create “a new urban district” on the 20.2 acres once called the Galleria, featuring 650 condos/apartments, senior housing, office, retail, and entertainment space.

Questions are being raised though about using City funds for infrastructure improvements, the possible use of CDBG funds to pay for the City’s pledges and how such a large project supported with public money can happen without requirements for green building design.

As advocates for the homeless prepare to vigil in front of City Hall to remember homeless people that died this year, some are asking how the growing gentrification of CentreCity improves Worcester for everyone. And when Worcester’s new Daddy Warbucks, Starwood Capital, boldly proclaims “globalization of real estate is the next big trend” — others ask, “Is this good for Worcester?”

Growing Community Effort | Wormtown Spy’s Call to Action

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