Lake Canobie Park

You've all seen the ads on Coke cans all over New England. But trust me its worth the effort, even when you have to rub elbows with the rowdy carnie-esque crowd that congregate at these places. If you have kids under 5, this is the place to be. We had to pry my son off of rides, and he now holds forth for ten 15 minutes about ferris wheels.

Welcome to my new blog - let's see if I can stick to it and make it relevant this time.

This blog will be devoted to happenings and my view on issues affecting greater Worcester and beyond. Occasionally, I will even be entertaining.

Let's start with an issue I love to discuss and that will dominate this blog - homelessness in the city of Worcester, and the smugness with which some discuss it. There have now been two studies in the City that essentially prove three things:

1. programs do not affect property value
2. programs do not create crime
3. people like programs in the neighborhood.

The second study, released by Legal Services of Central Massachusetts - gave me hope. Newspaper accounts tend to focus on the outrage and public outcry over the siting of new programs. Rarely do we get to pick up the curtain and view what's actually going on - people in the city support the homeless, they are compassionate, and not a bunch of crazed NIMBYs running amock. what a relief, eh?