The Worcester City Council is a legislative body that governs the city of Worcester, Massachusetts. They have various responsibilities, as they are responsible for things like policy-making and making decisions that impact the city’s administration, finances, and community, such as infrastructure, public safety, housing, and economic growth. It is important that people know about the City of Worcester Committee Council, as whatever decision they make has an impact on this city and the people in it, as it is a representative system. It also gives us, the people that reside in this city, power and a voice, as we can bring up issues they can address in their weekly meeting every Tuesday, which I found very interesting, ranging from very random things like putting streetlights on a street or putting speed bumps on a road. This means no issue is irrelevant, as they hear everybody. In this weekly recap I will start doing, I’ll be talking about the main topics currently being discussed by the city that stood out to me.

On Tuesday, the 19th of November, 2024, the Worcester City Council had a meeting discussing a couple of ongoing problems/issues in Worcester.

For starters, a resident in Worcester requested for the City Manager to establish a citywide plan to establish, at a minimum, 30 pickleball courts by modifying some of the underutilized tennis courts in the city or establishing new courts, similar to all the other towns surrounding Worcester, to make the sport a more common thing in Worcester. Courts would be specifically built close to middle schools to catch the attention of middle schoolers, and it is currently being talked about by the council, which I personally think is a valid request, even though it is not really cost-effective, as I feel that if the children wanted to play the sport, they would. But I leave that to the Council to discuss.

Homelessness in Worcester

Currently, the always-so-controversial topic of homelessness is being discussed by members of the council, as they are currently trying to make a decision on extending the time of shelters, which could have a huge effect on homelessness in the city and also an effect on homeless people on their own. I personally think it will make them lazy if they have a place to stay at night and day. Currently, in Worcester, there are a couple of homeless shelters, but these shelters are only used at night as they are supposed to be stay-at-night shelters. But now the council is currently talking about extending shelter times to daytime, as winter is approaching and they need a place to warm up. They are thinking of using places like the Worcester Public Library as day shelters. This topic is currently in talks and will take a little while before the council makes a decision, as these things have a process. But I know that whatever decision they take will have pros and cons.

Polar Park

The Polar Park was one of the city’s most expensive buildings built by the city as an outlet for businesses and the city to make money off, but it looks like their plans didn’t work out and have failed, as there are talks by the council saying that, so far, since it has been built, they haven’t made a profit or even made back the money it cost to build the building. The city also had plans to build apartments around Polar Park, as they felt it would be an attraction and an apartment everyone would want to live beside, as it is right beside the Polar Park and it would be a great place to live. But the apartment hasn’t been completed, and the city is thinking of abandoning this project as their plan failed. Personally, I think the whole plan was useless, as they should have built a field that could have been multipurpose and used for sports like football, soccer, and field hockey, as they would have made more money off it. I also believe that they have bigger problems than building expensive five-star apartments.

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As these topics discussed are still in the works and they are usually lengthy, as there is a process to it, I hope the council and its members represent the people of Worcester to the fullest and keep the people at heart with whatever decision they are making. It is not for them but its people.