This new speed limit makes the roads dysfunctional. Traffic went from “so bad it’s time to move” to “absolutely intolerable to travel during high traffic hours”. A 25 MPH speed limit is insulting and not has not made any significant slow down in general traffic. It certainly causes a true traffic jam if you attempt to leave your home or conduct business in the city. However, when you’re driving with mostly reasonable people, who prefer to be treated as adults, that can operate a motor vehicle faster than the 49cc mini motorcycle weaving in and out of the sidewalk safely traffic moves at a reasonable speed. Enforcement was piss poor before what will change now except for the signs? Perhaps more people being harassed for attempting to travel at a reasonable rate of speed for a motor vehicle? Actual traffic enforcement prior to this and or upgrading the city’s roads might have been other ideas. Or did we loose too much money on the ballpark to be able pay for that? I am indignant over this asinine move by our city’s decision makers.

Hi all! My younger brother is special needs and is unable to drive. He works near Sturbridge as a dishwasher and currently uses uber to get to/from work which eats up a lot of what he earns.

Is anyone aware of any programs I could look into that would help to defray these costs (or alternatives as I don't believe there is any public transit that way)?

Regal Cinemas Worcester North

Opening Jan. 2025

The city council is meeting tomorrow night, 12/17, and will vote on whether to re-hire Batista and amend his salary (presumably upward).

If you have doubts about this decision, or want to endorse it, members of the public get 2 minutes to speak.

Genuine question- Anyone know how much effort went into finding a possible alternate candidate for city manager?

I'm in Worcester for a weeknor two and I was curious if there were any dnd groups I could be a guest in. I lean toward roleplay more than rules and I can whip up a character sheet on the fly.

Went there for the first time this past weekend and looks like its got some potench for retail arbitrage and for finding vintage gems

I'm visiting for a wedding and am looking for a covid safer restaurant in Worcester for a dinner with friends and some older relatives beforehand. My guess is that any outdoor options are done for the year or too cold for the most in my party to handle.

I'm looking for something that's large and not crowded. We have some meat eaters and veggie people. Chinese, Thai, maybe Italian, would be great but anything would be great! Weeknight dinning. Two older folks in wheel chairs. thanks!

Anyone (in Worcester) use Walmart+ ? I have a one month trial and trying to decide if I want to keep it. Placed my first order today and I was happily surprised at how fast it was. The ordering was mostly ok except for replacing stuffing with scalloped potatoes which was odd, but I chose to keep the substitution anyway. The driver didn’t follow my notes about delivering to back door, not a big deal but wondering if they just ignore notes? I’ve read that the service can be bad or great depending on location. I honestly don’t mind tipping since I don’t drive and it’s a convenience for me, as long as they don’t expect huge tips. Is it worth the $12.95 a month plus tips for deliveries? I do use Paramount + so thats a bonus.

Anybody know how to get in touch with the person that rents band rehearsal spaces in the old mill off Webster Ct?

It’s that I’m from Worcester, but in England?

After the DAs report came out about sexual misconduct and egregious behavior- just wondering my if anyone has personally experienced the police departments abuse? Or seen examples of it?

Seeing alot of fuss on Tik tok about these drones on the east coast. I’ve seen few videos from cape cod, has anyone in Worcester had any sightings themselves?

Has anyone here used an experienced V.A. Loan officer? Any recommendations?

Don’t forget to test and mitigate if needed. Radon monitors and test kits are not expensive.

Looking for some suggestions on where my buddy and I can go to watch the Arsenal match next Saturday. Not sure if there are any pubs that frequently play soccer matches or what.

All, sorry to take a few days to get back with an update from the MBTA CR meeting; we did meet Wednesday for two hours with Jarred Johnson of Transit Matters and Fred Salvucci, who was Secretary of Transportation under Governor Mike Dukakis, 'though to say that is to underplay his importance to Massachusetts transportation (go read his Wikipedia, if, like me, you were too young to experience any of that directly!). The plan of the meeting, which I think we achieved, was to draw from their more state-level experience on what our asks and the prioritization of them should be. Both have been, among much else, very involved in the West Station (that's the Allston former railyard) + former Allston exchange on the Pike discussion; both/all of that will impact any of us trying to get in or out of Boston. The latest in what I think we can refer to as "that saga" is here.
I took four pages of notes, but to boil down:

• Salvucci stressed being "additive" rather than divisive, and in that end, there was emphasis on Worcester being a lynchpin in East/West rail: what impacts Worcester naturally impacts anything farther west of us. Johnson spoke of Springfield-Worcester-Framingham-West Station as the pieces of a regional rail system as well. West Station is imagined as being able to connect into Cambridge ultimately, as well.
• The Allston work is projected to cut the Pike to three, possibly even two, lanes in that "throat" section by Boston University during construction, which naturally, one would hope, would create impetus for people to turn to taking the train. The hope would be for there to be capacity to take them, though there's doubt that this could now happen ahead of construction starting on that Pike project. When I raised that I'd seen at least one suggestion that it would also possibly cut the rails back to one line, there was strong concern at the table; Salvucci said that we needed to make it clear that this was absolutely unacceptable.
• The work on the drawbridges out of North Station, Salvucci suggested, far from being not our worry, could possibly, if not done correctly, make a potential connection with West Station less possible (or less easy, which probably isn't quite the right word, either). He suggested that project should be able to do three bridges, replacing the two. (I don't know a lot about this, but include it in case others do or want to look into it; I know some of you are heading that direction from the train).
• Salvucci noted something which crossed into my professional work in noting that Fair Share's full capacity isn't being used (the Legislature is budgeting for less than it brings in); he said it should be used to "provide opportunities we did not have" by BONDING against it (I have heard this on the education side, too!).
• Johnson advised us to keep a close eye on the contract renewal coming up, and to think of what the asks for that should be. Keolis, after all, runs trains in France (and you can go look up the kind of service they have there!). He suggested that the ask should be "how much more are you going to give us?" They both seemed to think that the next contract would be a long one (like 15 years? 20 years?) to ensure the operator has skin in the game on what I'd think of as capital work; Johnston suggested looking at Toronto's recent contract for things to check out.
• As for what gets us faster service: a triple track, at least in parts, so an express can pass a local, and electrification. Both of those are in the long term plans, so not hopeless, and, again, we should think of ourselves as asking not only for ourselves, but for everything west of us.
• As a closing note, Salvucci, who knew offhand about every federal grant we'd gotten for any of this, flagged MAKING SURE WE DO NOT LOSE WHAT WE HAVE with the incoming federal administration. Some of the above work needs contractual commitments by late 2026 in order to move, and we have no friends of public transit coming into leadership.

I would happily take a class in listing to Secretary Salvucci talk about transportation, by the way. If you ever get a chance to hear him, take it!

As always, these are my notes and paraphrasings, so please take it as that, and I'm glad to take questions if you have them.

Starting early Monday, Worcester City Manager Eric Batista's administration launched a disinformation campaign against the DOJ report on WPD. https://thisweekinworcester.com/batista-administrations-disinformation-campaign/

Saw today the show was sold out. If anyone has an extra ticket they’re trying to get rid of that’d be greatly appreciated!!

Where is there a good church? What's the bishop like? Is the scene here faithful or more progressive?