If anything, telecommuting should be HELPING Worcester, as we’re definitely getting people moving here from Boston. The big issue is lack of retail. Someone mentioned that Maker to Main would fit in in downtown Hudson, which it would. Because that main street has enough retail where people could “make a day of it.” Worcester doesn’t have that

It makes sense honestly, especially looking at all the market-rate housing popping up in the Canal District. Main St. definitely has issues though. It's really sad that they did this big fancy street renovation, and it's still so unfriendly for anything but cars

DCU shouldn't be struggling as much as it is though. I know the casinos and newer venues in the Boston area hurt them, but it's insane that they've gone from pulling the biggest bands in the world to not being able to even get like bottom-tier acts. Mismanaged honestly. It's not the best venue, but they should do better than THIS.

And Polar Park would be a nice little venue to see a show in, if they figured out the door thing. Quincy is having a nice little musical festival at essentially a high school football stadium this Summer. Polar Park could have at least pulled something like that off if they had planned the building better

Sounds fine to me, honestly. We're never going to get robust and well-funded public transit here unless people actually USE it here. The developments are right on a bus line and right by the commuter rail. If the companies building them see demand for folks without cars to rent, the fewer parking spaces the better

It's kind of ironic that the discourse around the neighborhood went from "Polar Park will be great to the Canal District" to "why haven't the lazy restaurants done better in changing their whole businesses to adjust to the impact of the ballpark?" in a span of only a couple years

It's not an unfair question, but that's not how the park was sold! The rhetoric was that it was going to be a rising tide lifts all boats situation, and that clearly wasn't the case. Property speculation may have happened anyway, but it's not "being mean to the ballpark" to spare a thought for the service workers who are losing jobs before the holidays when these places close

Dive Bar closed specifically because the property's landlord wanted to make a "family baseball destination" that never ended up happening. And Smokestack closed because the building was sold, probably to become parking from what I've heard. COVID and inflation make for good scapegoats, and they definitely play a part, but most of the closures seem to be from greedy landlords thinking that they can make a quick buck before everyone wises up to the ballpark not really helping business in the area

I think it was though. You had a bunch of shops and restaurants on Green St. and it was honestly the place in Worcester that felt most like an actual city block. When my cousin came to Worcester to look at colleges, I took them to Crompton/Smokestack/Dive Bar, because that was a good representation of the area. Now two of those 3 places are closed because of the ballpark

I think a lot of it has to do with being a symbol of when the city had a vibrant downtown. You look at old pictures of the Denholm, and you see crowded sidewalks and a bustling area. To see it get torn down and replaced with another bank or something would be a further example of our failures in urban planning

I would tend to doubt it honestly. They tried to put in a slot parlor not too long ago, and there was incredibly strong opposition. Wouldn't be shocked if they tried some sports betting location at some point though. Not sure how the licenses work with the new state law

We called Ford's when we had squirrels nesting in our soffit, which turned out to be kind of useless. They trapped 2 in humane traps, but didn't do anything about remediating the issue of how they got in in the 1st place. I ended up having to patch the soffit myself, so it was a semi-expensive move of 2 squirrels

Well sure, people drive like maniacs, which is awful. But I don't think that the potential for a head-on collision because someone decided to dump half a tree onto the street for the better part of a month is the best solution, as opposed to a speed bump

We don't really, sadly! I wish we did, since my wife is Chinese and loves dim sum, but you really have to head into Boston for the real deal. Someone should open one though, could be a real niche, since this question comes up somewhat frequently

Oh, I feel so bad for the dog across the street! She's gotten WAY more reactive since she has to listen to the other German shepherd bark all day. It's tough because I have a little terrier mix puppy who was recently attacked on Tower by a chocolate lab, (be careful on Tower FYI) and we live on Proctor too, so we go past the shepherds every day on walks. It's gotten to the point where my dog will cower and sniff the air every time we get to the corner, and I have to watch like a hawk to make sure that the dog isn't loose

The last person to see Scola alive was her estranged ex-husband who her friends claimed was abusive if I recall correctly. He also had a bunch of scratches on his hands after her death, which he said was from putting in a window AC. He was also a lawyer who worked with the DA, and the thought is that maybe prosecutors didn't go as hard as they could have into the investigation. Nobody was ever charged. Sad case. Not even like it was some big hush-hush thing, or conspiracy. If you read the T&G articles at the time, the cops and columnists basically come out and say what they think happened

Yeah, I feel for that dog who is very young, and really badly trained. My dog is terrified of him. They keep him tied out on a way too short chain and he barks and snarls at anything that walks by. He was loose the other day, so I picked up my dog and carried her, and he followed us sniffing at my back while his owner just kinda stood there and halfheartedly tried to wave him back. He’d probably be a nice dog if he was better trained. A real shame