Right? Such a good point. I'd love to be able to do what I do locally and more directly contribute to the Worcester economy.

Where?

Sadly, the city has massively overbuilt (outwards mainly) and the tax base will never justify the current infrastructure maintenance costs without an increase in economic productivity. It's a very difficult hole to climb out of, and will require some changes in management perspectives.

Yup I worked at the med school part-time for minimum wage and I legit had to pay for parking directly out of my paycheck.

TowerHill Botanical Garden, in Worcester county, West Boylston

Perhaps more monitoring by police to help with the people that constantly speeding on side roads, running red lights, stop signs, almost hitting pedestrians, etc.

Verizon sucks with their prices gouging.

Whichever you decide, (and especially if you are selling electronics or anything else high dollar) please consider meeting a potential buyer in a well-trafficked public space, or at the police station. I'm reading about a lot of incidents (especially with FB Marketplace and OfferUp) with people having knives or guns pulled on them.

Straight forward, no. Nothing special in Woo.

yes, but they generally validate so you don't end up paying almost 10 bucks. it starts adding up quick if you need to go there a lot. saint v validates.

the lavine cancer center at memorial is the worst. the lobby pay machine is cash only so to pay with a card you do it at the exit barrier. this creates long lines that have five times made me have to pay the 3 bucks when i was in an out of the lab in 20 minutes. they purposely manufacture long lines so you don't get out before the 30 minute mark.

then when i drive myself to chemo at the acc i pay about 10 each time.

so 3 dollars x3 per month at lavine and up to 20 per month at lake ave and that doesn't include cat scan appointments, neuro appointments, and all the rest. getting rides is difficult.

fuck umass and their predatorial parking fees. it's not just people visiting gran for a few days that have to park there.

It was. It's been vacant for almost 20 years now, though.

A more walkable city & better public transportation, including possibly having electric buses on tracks so traffic wouldn't be an issue for them. I would love to see 290 buried underground and the city brought together again instead of being split in half by a highway. The area where the highway is could become parks and entertainment areas which would make the abutting areas more attractive. This would help downtown too. It's a huge project but look what it did for Boston.

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This plus they need higher paying jobs overall. It's not a great system when so much of the city has to travel to Boston everyday just to make a buck. For people like me in my industry, there's lots of work we could do in Worcester but there's no point in working there when I can make triple by going to Boston.

A tetanus shot

Agreed 100%. I take my kid to an indoor playground $15 per child without time restrictions. ABS kids at west Boylston

lol no

You know, sometimes I actually think locals are not the best people to ask about this kind of stuff. Locals are usually just living their lives and often pay no mind to the stuff around them, or if they are, they don't think it's too special.

With that being said, I agree with you about the drive. My rule of thumb has always been that I need to stay at a place at least the amount of time the round trip takes.

Can confirm: https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-high-speed-fiber-internet-massachusetts-customers

Worcester needs to think about the people who live here and not the people who don't. One of the biggest problems with the boondoggles we've spent on like the outlet mall and the baseball stadium is that they're predicated in bringing people into Worcester, but not necessarily making life better for the people who already live here. Meanwhile, too much of the housing/development discussion seems to be centered on people who don't live here ("people will want to move here from Boston since it's cheaper!") too, which is ridiculous.

To be honest, one of the things we need is for people to stop thinking they need to "fix" Worcester. That's one of the ways we end up with these grand schemes that end in disaster. That isn't to say this question isn't good; it's just that so many people think that XYZ is going to magically make Worcester better and we've seen from experience it doesn't. Instead if we want to improve Worcester we partly have to appreciate what we like about Worcester and look for smaller ways to make a change, which will hopefully all add up. And a big part of that is not trying to get other people to come in and fix our issues with their money or whatever, but do it ourselves.

One thing I'll say to that effect is that IMO Worcester needs a better understanding of what we do well. For example, people talk up the restaurant scene here, but I feel like I'm in a bizzarro world because the places that are usually discussed are the most mid yuppie shit I've had. Meanwhile, Worcester does casual hole-in-the-wall/diner/casual better than most places I've been. I'd much, much rather go to Dalat, Fatima's, Miss Woo, and their ilk than whatever mediocre trendy place just opened downtown. Why try to out-trend the big cities when we've already got other good stuff going on?

for some fucking stores to be open past midnight.

pre covid there were at least 24 hr grocery stores and gas stations. now everything is closed down at 10 like we're in the boonies.

in a city of 200k+ i should be able to get lasagna at 3 am or a pack of cigarettes without having to drive to the other end of the city.

overnight hospital workers, ems, etc have always been unserved here, but now with so many people up and about at night it's obscene that nothing is open.

and maybe a gd indian restaurant that isn't also a pizza place or in a food court.

I live in Worcester and often commute to places like Springfield/Agawam (Six flags and MGM), Mohegan Sun, Boston etc., I need at least a good 2-3 hours worth of entertainment plus a lunch/dinner to justify traveling that far. Honestly it’s hard for me to think of much in Worcester that would do that for me - Maybe a show at the Hanover theater or music at Mechanic’s Hall? A Woo Sox game (during the season obviously)? I also love the Free Play Arcade bar and could probably see myself driving 80 minutes to go there.

That's not the one that was an adult theater for a bunch of years, was it? I'm not thinking of the Paris Theater on Front Street across from Turtle Boy.

I was there everyday for two weeks last month. It was usually $4 each time. I thought it was reasonable.

IMO that's largely because New England has a decent scene of locally-owned places. Most towns have an independent pizza place, for example, while in other parts of the country you're lucky if there's a Pizza Hut or Domino's.

Would much rather have fewer fast food choices but better local choices than vice versa.