DG - I've read several of Haruki's novels and I've listened to the jazz posts on YouTube. A cultural treasure.
I'm wrapping up Sy Hersh's memoir, Reporter. Knopf 2018. Hard to associate Sy's idea of journalism with the tripe from Messrs. Mariano and Petty in the Sunday T&G 5/17/26. Ray's use of his space to reminisce about the past is a painful read. Maybe a click up from a Denny's placemat, with or without the crayons.
I agree with your savagery of Petty's column, Bill. Could've been said with just a picture of Groucho Marx under the Rent Control headline saying, "I'm Against It!". Ray's adjectives are, "catastrophic", "disastrous", and "desperately". I hadn't heard about the asteroid, Joe, but my rent has doubled in eight - (8) years.
And what does Worcester, MA have to do with St. Paul, MN, Montgomery County, MD and New Rochelle, NY? Even Cambridge, for that matter. The column nears its close predicting, "By 2036 Worcester would lose 18.53% of the city's property value, which would require a 22.74% residential tax rate increase to compensate for the erosion of the tax base.". Pretty precise #s for ten - (10) years out. (Of course, "This would be disastrous for our city's budget.") This is a guy who wasn't even familiar with the terms attached to adoption of the Specialized Stretch Code.
Twelve thousand - (12,000) new rental units through 2034 is the drumbeat. Are those "occupied" units or just out of state portfolio widgets? Affordability? Petty closes by reminding Worcester residents he's "in support of bringing down costs" but the line item consuming over half their budget is not on the table. Ideas, Joe?
Gotta close by commenting on Steven Schimmel's letter in the same edition, titled, "A few facts on Iran, Israel". One of the said "facts" is, "No international court has issued a final verdict finding Israel guilty of committing genocide. Accusations against Israel are contested, even among experts." Rotting Palestinian corpses unfortunately are not among the experts.
Re: the choice of citing St. Paul as a city where rent control being passed caused development to dry up, if you look into it further it turns out that Minneapolis (the other “Twin City”) refused to enact rent control after voters OK’ed it and they still had an even worse drop in development!
Thanks for the tip on NTS man. This is pretty incredible curation. Listening to the 'Jazz in Haruki Murakami Novels' now. Super cool. Post is great too, if infuriating to read yet another recap of how the cops and Chamber run this city unfettered while the council dicks around pretending it takes an hour to go from Newton Square to Tatnuck Square because of bike lanes and "something must be done" okay then how about a CVS in Newton Square too so you'll stop whining for a day but again great playlists on NTS. :)
Seanie D - I receive "Chamber Exchange - The Newspaper" for free in the mail. The Spring 2026 issue arrived today. It includes a column by Micheal Kane II expressing the Chamber's opposition to the rent control initiative. Lots of information and commentary identical to Petty's column. St. Paul, MN gets a mention, and Kane artfully changes Petty's "ten years" to "a decade".
DG - I've read several of Haruki's novels and I've listened to the jazz posts on YouTube. A cultural treasure.
I'm wrapping up Sy Hersh's memoir, Reporter. Knopf 2018. Hard to associate Sy's idea of journalism with the tripe from Messrs. Mariano and Petty in the Sunday T&G 5/17/26. Ray's use of his space to reminisce about the past is a painful read. Maybe a click up from a Denny's placemat, with or without the crayons.
I agree with your savagery of Petty's column, Bill. Could've been said with just a picture of Groucho Marx under the Rent Control headline saying, "I'm Against It!". Ray's adjectives are, "catastrophic", "disastrous", and "desperately". I hadn't heard about the asteroid, Joe, but my rent has doubled in eight - (8) years.
And what does Worcester, MA have to do with St. Paul, MN, Montgomery County, MD and New Rochelle, NY? Even Cambridge, for that matter. The column nears its close predicting, "By 2036 Worcester would lose 18.53% of the city's property value, which would require a 22.74% residential tax rate increase to compensate for the erosion of the tax base.". Pretty precise #s for ten - (10) years out. (Of course, "This would be disastrous for our city's budget.") This is a guy who wasn't even familiar with the terms attached to adoption of the Specialized Stretch Code.
Twelve thousand - (12,000) new rental units through 2034 is the drumbeat. Are those "occupied" units or just out of state portfolio widgets? Affordability? Petty closes by reminding Worcester residents he's "in support of bringing down costs" but the line item consuming over half their budget is not on the table. Ideas, Joe?
Gotta close by commenting on Steven Schimmel's letter in the same edition, titled, "A few facts on Iran, Israel". One of the said "facts" is, "No international court has issued a final verdict finding Israel guilty of committing genocide. Accusations against Israel are contested, even among experts." Rotting Palestinian corpses unfortunately are not among the experts.
Worcester Panics
Right on Steve. Mariano's drivel gets a bunch of time in the next podcast ep. Editing it now
Re: the choice of citing St. Paul as a city where rent control being passed caused development to dry up, if you look into it further it turns out that Minneapolis (the other “Twin City”) refused to enact rent control after voters OK’ed it and they still had an even worse drop in development!
mmmm almost like they're being willfully misleading to scare people
Thanks for the tip on NTS man. This is pretty incredible curation. Listening to the 'Jazz in Haruki Murakami Novels' now. Super cool. Post is great too, if infuriating to read yet another recap of how the cops and Chamber run this city unfettered while the council dicks around pretending it takes an hour to go from Newton Square to Tatnuck Square because of bike lanes and "something must be done" okay then how about a CVS in Newton Square too so you'll stop whining for a day but again great playlists on NTS. :)
It's also hilarious his choice of example squares, those being the only ones he ever goes to. But yeah, NTS? Good shit
Seanie D - I receive "Chamber Exchange - The Newspaper" for free in the mail. The Spring 2026 issue arrived today. It includes a column by Micheal Kane II expressing the Chamber's opposition to the rent control initiative. Lots of information and commentary identical to Petty's column. St. Paul, MN gets a mention, and Kane artfully changes Petty's "ten years" to "a decade".