WORCESTER – The Worcester City Council meets Tuesday night, October 15.
Ahead of each City Council meeting, ThisWeekinWorcester.com [TWIW] will provide a preview to help keep readers informed of the on-goings of the city’s governing body.
Each preview will highlight items from the City Council agenda for that week that haven’t already been covered by TWIW.
This week’s preview consists of three items: whether the City can move Halloween, if some side streets should have speed bumps, and the prospect of Worcester hosting a Triple-A All-Star Game when the Red Sox arrive.
Moving Halloween to Saturday Might Have Some Legs
Though it seems many in Worcester would guffaw at such a thing as moving Halloween’s trick-or-treating activities to a day other than October 31, it appears as if the move may have some momentum.
Originally brought forward to the City Council back in early August by District 5 Councilor Matt Wally, at Tuesday’s council meeting it will be addressed again — along with some important information from City Solicitor David Moore — whether or not to move to Halloween to the last Saturday of October.
According to Moore’s communication to the City Council, Halloween isn’t an official city, state or federal holiday and therefore isn’t governed by any city, state or federal laws.
Additionally, according to Moore, Mayor Joseph Petty is allowed to make a proclamation declaring that Halloween is the last Saturday in October.
Although the mayor’s proclamation isn’t legally binding, it would give the City Council the legs it needs to move this change along. Moore also notes that Mayor Petty could continue to promote this change in his role as chair of the school committee and facilitate Worcester Public Schools sponsoring Halloween events on the last Saturday of October.
Due to the public safety issue at the heart of Councilor Wally’s original request, City Manager Edward Augustus will meet with Worcester Police Chief Steve Sargent and WPS Superintendent Maureen Binienda to discuss the issue further.
Wally Proposes Speed Bumps on Side Streets to Slow Drivers Down
Councilor Wally has another item on Tuesday’s agenda regarding speed bumps.
Wally is requesting the City Manager to ask DPW Commissioner Paul Moosey to research temporary speed bumps and the possibility of using them on residential streets that have a high volume of traffic with cars traveling above the speed limit.
According to Wally’s request, the city of Lawrence and the towns of Braintree and Belmont already use the speed bumps.
The speed bumps would be seasonal and removed in the winter.
Triple-A All Star Game at Worcester’s Polar Park
District 1 City Councilor Sean Rose is requesting that the City reach out to the Red Sox brass and request that Polar Park host the Triple-A All-Star game during the inaugural season of the Worcester Red Sox in 2021.
Unfortunately, that season’s All-Star game is already slated to be hosted by the Round Rock Express at Dell Diamondin Round Rock, Texas.
However, Rose is correct in trying to spark a conversation with the MLB about bringing the All-Star game to Worcester as soon as possible. It doesn’t appear there’s a location set yet for the 2022 game, so here’s to hoping Worcester can lock that down soon.
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