Reasons To Love Worcester That Would Make Most People Hate Worcester: Post #1

Today I am moving some stuff into my new apartment downtown (more about that in another post) and after going up and down a few times I buy a drink out of one of the machines in the building and I go outside and start to drink it while enjoying the nice weather we are having. I have my head kicked back in classic drinking posture when all the sudden this voice is right up in my ear.

"YOU KNOW WHO'S PLAYING AT THE CENTRUM TONIGHT???!!!", the voice says.

I tell the dude he shouldn't just come up on people and yell in their ear like that.

He just gives me a funny laugh and yells again, "OZZY OZBOURNE!!!!"

Now when he first yelled in my ear my reaction in my head was like, "WTF, who is this annoying Worcester street person and what the hell does he want." Then I realized hey, this guy is probably in his early 40's. He has probably had a much rougher life then I can ever dream of having and today his favorite rock n roll dude is in town and that makes him so happy he just wants to tell everyone he sees on the street. I can actually relate to that. He even had some old Ozzy concert T shirt on.

Is his wierdo look and smushed mouth and missing teeth making my city a less attractive place? Sure. Not his problem though. A little public art and cleaner streets and buildings would help the city much more than this guy showering, getting some new clothes, and having some dental work done.

I am thrilled actually that this little guy is walking around my city today spreading the good word about his favorite rocker. I am a little dissapointed however in my initial reaction and what I am sure are going to be more reactions like this to this guy throughout the day. Even more dissapointing is the thought that someone might have a conversation with him today and go home to Holden or Sterling and tell their family how "run down" the city is becoming over chicken pot pie.

Irked

So apparently there was an armed robbery yesterday in the Midtown Mall. I had just eaten breakfast about 6 hours prior to the robbery in the Midtown Diner.

The Midtown Mall has always been one of the saddest things to me about downtown Worcester. As in many things in Worcester the short sightedness of whomever the management company is who handles this place blows my mind. The Midtown Mall is so cool. The layout of the place. The narrowness of it. The atmosphere in there could be incredible. Instead we have what we have in there which is some pretty sketchy stores and a half decent breakfast/lunch place. One of the stores literally just seems like someone selling clothes out of boxes.

Unfortunately in this case, no one can go in and tell someone what to do with their private property. No one will open up anything half way decent in there due to most folks being scared as hell of the place.

If it were up to me I would boot some of the tenants in there when their lease is up and try to attract a different kind of shop in there. In the Worcester community I know of two different people trying to open up boutiques in the city and I am sure they would give the Midtown Mall a look see if it wasn't so unappealing to potential customers.

We can't however tell the folks who run the Midtown Mall what to do with their building. All we can hope for is that they see the fact that a different type of person is calling downtown home these days and that person is looking for more than knock off jewelry and clothes sold out of cardboard boxes.

Here is the small T+G article on the robbery. It generated alot of attention in the comments section:
http://www.telegram.com/article/20071025/FRONTPAGENEWS/71025004

One Side Of A Conversation About My Friend Worcester

...He's coming over for dinner tonight. He's really a good dude. ...What's that? ...Yeah that's him, the overweight guy that needs a haircut. Yep. ...Yeah.... I guess I get used to the smell you know?.... You just have to get to know him I guess ... Yeah, but you have to get past all that, I mean listen, I know the dude really needs a shower and a shave and someone really needs to take him out to get some new clothes... What?... yeah, dude does really need to get some self esteem you're right. Actually the self esteem is almost more of a problem then the poor hygiene. I have never met someone that has such a bad attitude about himself then this guy.... What??!!Oh my god he's not scary at all! Yeah, I guess he does look kind of scary. Really he's just kind of wierd but he's completely harmless, he's probably more scared of you then you are of him.

But here is the thing though. I've known him since we were kids and we're like brothers. He's an amazing cook... Yeah really good, good musician too, and a good artist. He's got so many really good ideas but he can't seem to get off his ass and get anything going.

...okay, so you won't be over for dinner? That's too bad because I am telling you he's a real good guy and a good person to get to know.

Okay, take care of yourself, bye...

First Friday II