In an unusually brief meeting Tuesday night, Worcester city councilors focused on a handful of neighborhood quality-of-life issues, including traffic safety concerns on Boylston Street and a request for duck crossing signs near Hadwen Park.
Councilor Tony Economou asked the Worcester Police Department to increase enforcement of double-parking on Boylston Street near Chino Ave., describing the situation as an ongoing public safety concern.
“It’s right at what we used to call ‘Cozy Corner,’” Economou said. “This has been an ongoing issue here, and the issue is, if you’re coming down the street on Chino Avenue, and you come up to Boylston Street, you look left, you look right, you look left again and there is no traffic so you decide to pull out, there are cars double-parked right there, right on that corner, and it’s creating a public safety issue, because it forces you into the next lane, over the yellow line, to get around the traffic that’s congregating along that roadway. It’s just dangerous.”
Economou said stronger enforcement and ticketing could help discourage drivers from parking in a way that creates hazards for motorists.
The councilor also raised concerns about public consumption of alcohol outside a business in the same area.
“Unfortunately, people are standing out on the sidewalk having their drinks—their alcohol beverages. Whether it’s the business that’s at fault, or people taking their free liberties to drink in public, I think this needs to be curtailed one way or another, whether we enforce the open container law, or enforce other actions on the business.”
Councilor Kate Toomey suggested the city also work with the courts, which she said are not doing enough to address repeat offenders.
“Our officers are doing their job. The courts are not doing anything,” Toomey said.
She later clarified that some repeat youthful offenders who have already been through diversion programs may need incarceration, where treatment programs are available.
Economou said youth offenders were not the source of the problem.
“This isn’t kids,” he said. “This is adults, and it’s an issue in this neighborhood, a long-term issue and it needs to be dealt with. This needs to get rectified, and the only way I see to handle this is by strong enforcement and putting the hammer down.”
Council Vice Chair Khrystian King said he supported the underlying motion but not the amendment involving the courts.
“It’s unclear to me what exactly the intention is as it relates to our court system,” King said. “Our court system is designed in a way where we are not incarcerating people for low-level offenses, and there’s a whole litany of different responses to different concerns and violations that come before them.”
City Manager Eric Batista said Worcester police were already aware of activity in the area and could address the concerns.
“This is something we could easily mobilize our department and our team to address,” Batista said.
The motion was approved by a 7-3 vote.
Elsewhere on the agenda, Councilor Gary Rosen raised concerns about the safety of ducks and geese that regularly cross Stafford and Hadwen streets near the Shaw’s supermarket at 68 Stafford St.
Rosen said he recently heard from residents who reported motorists driving through flocks of birds as they crossed the roadway. He requested signs near the entrance to the Shaw’s parking lot and near Heard Street warning drivers about waterfowl crossings, similar to signs already posted nearby on Webster Street.
“Now, would the sign stop anyone who’s crazy from driving through a flock of these ducks? Probably not, but I think it does alert people to the fact that [they should] be careful, because ducks might be crossing that day at that time,” Rosen said.
“I know it’s not the most important issue that we have here in the city of Worcester. But, I think a couple of little duck crossing signs near Shaw’s and near Heard Street would maybe make people more aware of what’s happening with the duck population and, unfortunately, the geese population, too, because they use the same area to cross.”
