A Safe Bet?

To slot or not to slot, that is the question.  Well, that has been the question in Worcester over the past several weeks after it was announced that a Chicago-based gaming company has targeted Worcester for one of the coveted Slots Casinos in Massachusetts.  Does Worcester take the plunge into to this business endeavor?  I have always been a proponent of legalized gambling in Massachusetts, but I must admit this decision is not that simple.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  I personally feel that something needs to go into the vacant lot along Kelly Square. It has been unused, underutilized and undeveloped for way to long.  Is a Slots Casino the answer to that problem?  I don't know, I used think I did, but I really don't.  Good friend, Nick Kotsopoulos of the Worcester Telegram, recently wrote about the City Councils plan to get out and find out how Worcester residents feel about the potential of a Slots Casino in Worcester, namely the neighborhoods directly surrounding the proposed area.  That is the right approach to start but it needs to be a series of meetings.  The response from those meetings, although crucial, should not be the deciding factor, as only detractors tend to go to those meetings and could be counterproductive.

My brother-in-law lives in the proposed area and I took it upon myself to ask him his thoughts.  He is one of the most optimistic people I have ever known, so I knew I would get a no nonsense type of answer.  He told me "...hope spring eternal but I've seen studies that show good and bad. I am wondering about rents and property values."  Not a ringing endorsement but also not an opponent.  So I decided to look at the studies myself.

The Worcester Regional Research Bureau (WRRB) did two studies on the subject.  One done in 2007, when Gov. Deval Patrick initially proposed legalized gambling and one a few weeks ago, which was just a follow up to its 2007 report.  The 2007 report, in my eyes, was very thorough and definitely raises some legitimate questions to having a casino in Worcester.  The report talks about gambling itself and the addictions that it can bring to the city.  It talks about how the money the city would get would level off and eventually dry out.  The report discusses how a casino in Worcester would not solve the problem of people taking their dollars out of state to another casino.  It explains that under the state’s plan, all the casinos that would go up throughout the state, and the ones that already exist in Connecticut and Rhode Island, would all be going after the same dollar and begin to "cannibalize" each other.

The WRRB was very detailed in its research and raised some outstanding points that would make a large proponent, like me, stop and think about my support.  However, there were three points that the report showed that I am having trouble understanding.  I am not going to say I don't agree with those points, I feel that they were not comprehensively researched.

               

The first is the point that the profits will be re-invested out of state by the casino owner.  I am not saying that wouldn’t happen, but how does the WRRB declare that without knowing what deal the casino company makes with the city?  City Manager O'Brien and the city council may make certain demands based on the projections and guarantees that the developer makes, I hope that is true.  But to arbitrarily make a blanket statement like that they would not invest in Worcester would be misleading.  The city council has made it clear that this will be a two way street, and as most governments go, the city will try to protect itself.  I may be naive to think that, but the sensitive nature of this topic may make them think harder about that.

The second point I had trouble understanding is the opinion on how the surrounding businesses will lose money because the money they are generally getting will be diverted to the casino.  I'm sorry, but I'm not getting this one at all.  If that is a true statement, why do these types of organizations promote sports stadiums because it will help the surrounding businesses?  Wouldn't business be diverted into the sporting event that sells concessions and paraphernalia?   I think this falls in the same category.  Also, the casino will be drawing from surrounding areas that normally don't frequent these establishments.  I think it would be a wash at worst, because we need to keep in mind that it's not a full-fledged casino but a twelve hundred machine slots parlor.

The final point that caught my eye, and had me scratching my head, because it basically rejects casinos virtually anywhere in Massachusetts.  The WRRB maintains, from a study done by The National Impact Gambling Study Commission, that gambling addictions doubled among populations within fifty miles of a casino, fifty miles.  To put that in perspective that covers as far east as Boston, as far south as East Greenwich, R.I., as far west as Holyoke, MA and as far north as Manchester, N.H.  There isn't a proposal out there that has a casino outside of those parameters.  So it really doesn't matter where this thing goes, the WRRB is against it.

The rest of this study goes into the social implications of gambling addiction.  For every study that says these casinos cause gambling addictions to sky rocket, which are truly valid arguments, there is a study saying that it doesn't.  That is where I am down the middle; my feeling is that if you are addicted to gambling it doesn't matter where you put this thing.  But I also agree that if you put this thing here, we could see more gambling addictions, it's a classic Catch 22.

I truly don't have a dog in this fight.  If the casino is built then finally something gets developed on an unused lot that has been up for discussion anytime a new venture comes through.  If a casino is not built, then nothing changes, which in Massachusetts is very welcomed.  The city council is taking the right approach here, but they need to go in with a clear mind.  Let's not be against "just because"

For the proponents of the casino, I'm with you.  For the opponents, I am with you too.

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.

The Safest Trip in the World

Last week I felt bad for President Obama, I truly did.  It was not because he was taking flak from the right for submitting his Presidential Bracket before submitting a budget.  We haven't had a budget in almost four years, why should it get in the way of March Madness, geesh!  It wasn't because his gun control bill is falling apart in the Senate faster than a Kardashian marriage; the Constitution is strong in that one.  Nope, I didn't feel bad for the President in either of those scenarios; it was when his car broke down in Tel Aviv. 

Poor guy, totally out of his control, and what was most embarrassing  about it was it happened during a state visit to Israel, where our relations have been extremely strained lately.  The reason the car broke down was because the wrong gas was put in it. Very embarrassing!!  It got me thinking about how something like this could happen and reminded me of a documentary I watched several years ago by National Geographic called Air Force One, about what goes into a Presidential trip.

Franklin Roosevelt was the first President to fly in a plane, which was because he needed to travel overseas to discuss strategy during World War II.  That was when the Presidency was no longer an American job but became a global job.  Presidential History has spanned over 200 years, Air Force One has been around for only a quarter of that and has become a full blown operation no matter where the President goes, foreign or domestic.

The documentary covers one of Bill Clinton's last trips in Air Force One to California.  It covers the days leading up to take off.  The first piece of business is the meeting with the pilot, the Secret Service, FBI, and local authorities.  They discuss any possible scenario regarding the President's safety, which means act of terrorism and the crime rates in that particular part of the world where he is going.  They finalize the schedule of the trip to the absolute second.  Once they have all that finalized it's time to get moving.

A day or two before the trip an Air Force Air Lifter loads up the Presidential motorcade, including a backup limo for the President, and sends it to the destination with the "Advance Team".  The Advance Team is on the ground at the destination making sure all bases are covered.  They check the fuel purity and then they seal it and guard it to prevent sabotage.  They also re-survey the runway and mark in detail for the pilot to see.  They go over every contingency with everyone involved with the landing of Air Force One.

Back at Andrews AFB, the morning of the flight they check everything on the both Air Force Ones to make sure everything is working on the first try.  It's not enough that someone is working on this plane almost every day, they leave nothing to chance.  The food on the plane is shopped for the day before at several regular grocery stores, chosen at random to once again avoid sabotage.  The team scans the tarmac for debris, by hand.  They are literally working to make this the safest plane in the world, and rightly so.

The operation that takes place to get the President to where he needs to be on time and safe is truly an extraordinary sight.  It is definitely worthy of the office and it allows the President work while traveling.  They even have a soldier with him carrying a case called "The Football", which holds launch codes for a nuclear strike.  No stone is unturned and the operations precision is impressive.  So you can see why I felt bad for the President when his car broke down.  Next time they just need to make sure the limo has the right gas.

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.

Definitely Something Special

I love my community and I love my city, Worcester.  Although there are times I complain how the city goes about things, it's still my home and I will promote it anyway I can.  Since the age of 16 I have volunteered and worked in many youth programs in Worcester.  I have coached Little League and Babe Ruth Baseball.  I currently coach High School girls’ basketball.  I used to run an AAU program for inner city girls and I currently help run a local Babe Ruth League.  But all that pales in comparison to the volunteering I did last weekend that makes me smile every time I do it.

Each year I volunteer a couple of hours of my time as a basketball official for The Special Olympics.  I don't know what it is but watching those young adults play brings a smile to my face.  They are extremely competitive, they say the funniest things, and watching them celebrate after making a basket could make the hardest man smile.  It is honestly one of the best days of my year.  I grin ear to ear the whole time I am there and the players treat me with the utmost respect by giving me unsolicited high fives and hugs.

As I was refereeing the game and feeling really good about what I was doing I started to watch the coaches of these teams.  As a basketball coach I sometimes have a hard time getting my players to follow the easiest of tasks.  I couldn't begin to fathom what these coaches must do to get these athletes to comprehend.  They must have extreme patience and I truly commend them for that.  My partner for the game was a player I used to coach a few years back and we would chat at halftime and talk about how much fun we were having.  All I could think about was these great coaches and what their practices are like.

My favorite part of the day was when one of the athletes was about to inbound the ball and he looked at me and asked "Am I doing good?"  I could do nothing but smile at him, as the family members of his teammates got a good chuckle.  I responded to him by giving him a high five and saying "You're doing awesome", because he was.  That boy went down the court and scored one of the few baskets that were scored in the game and you would have thought he just won the NBA Championship.  He ran back on defense faced his bench and bowed to them as if he were Keith Lockhart.  I applauded the action and nobody seemed to care.

I recently read a book about a former AAU Basketball in California that exploited and put his players under so much pressure that they were destined to fail.  He eventually parlayed that experience to start a nationwide camp and makes millions of dollars each year, and then he left the kids high and dry.  You will never see that scenario with these coaches.  They have big hearts and tremendous patience; they are truly role models in every sense of the word.  I am sure the parents of these athletes are grateful for these coaches; I just want them to know that I am grateful as well, not that means much of anything.

So, if you ever have the opportunity to go to, or volunteer at, The Special Olympics I highly recommend you do so.  Rooting for all these athletes, especially the coaches, is best things I have ever done.

3D

If you don't take it from, ask my wife.

Snow Sense At All

As most have you have probably figured out I am not a big fan of big government.  I believe there is a role for government but it does not need to consume every aspect of our lives.  I truly feel that a big government style of politics is too bureaucratic, too tedious and too corrupted.  I also truly believe that big "city" government is all of that and then some.  City government just can't get out of its own way.  I will confess that their hearts are in the right place but there is only so much a city government can do and when you create a large bureaucracy, such as in our illustrious city, a lot of common sense goes out the window and I have seen it many times.  The latest was this past Friday during the snowstorm that nobody saw coming.  It wasn't the plowing operations I found humorous but it was the trash collection, yep trash collection.

Like everybody else on Friday I woke up put on the news to see about cancellations and check the forecast.  I went on to Facebook, Twitter, the City's website and saw nothing about trash collection being canceled.  I thought nothing of it because I had seen  the below statements on their Facebook page the previous days.

On Wednesday 3/6 

Snow won't stop our sanitation crew from collecting. Trash and recycling WILL BE collected tomorrow. If your collection is tomorrow, make sure it is curbside between 6:00am-7:30am. Please help us squash the rumor that is going around by sharing this message.

Rumors?  I didn't know there were rumors about the Sanitation Department or the trash collection, so rumor is squashed with me.  How tough is our sanitation department!!!!

Since the storm did not come on Wednesday night or Thursday morning and local communities were closing shop in anticipation the DPW once again took to social media with this post on Thursday 3/7

Just a reminder, trash and recycling are on a normal collection schedule today. Please make sure trash and recycling are curbisde between 6:00am-7:30am. For questions, call (508) 929-1300.

Ok, got it.  Trash is being picked up on Thursday.  

So since the DPW took a Gung-Ho approach to weathering the conditions of lack of snow on Thursday, one would assume that the fearless employees of the Sanitation Department  would be out in full force to pick up our trash on Friday.  Since the DPW did a fabulous job squashing any rumors about trash collection being cancelled, I was full of pride to put my trash out in a snowstorm and walking through about 7 inches of snow down my driveway to get it to the curb at 6:00 am.  Because, as all of you know the city requires you to Set recyclables and trash at the curb between 6:00 and 7:30 AM on your scheduled trash/recycling day. Set recyclables and trash apart by at least 4 feet. That is from the city's website.  

I work from home so as I was going about my day and I saw this message flash up around 8:30 am on Friday

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Trash and Recycling Collection Delay: Weather-related

Due to the severity of the weather forecast, there will be no trash and recycling today, on Friday, March 8th. Friday’s trash and recycling will be collected on Saturday, March 9th.

Please bring any trash or recycling away from the curb so the plows can continue uninterrupted.

As a reminder, trash and recycling should be placed curbside between 6:00am and 7:30am.

 For any questions, please contact Customer Service at 508-929-1300.

So for the Thursday collection the DPW found it necessary to warn residents of Thursday pick up two days in advance that the Sanitation Department was going to collect trash during a day of flurries but didn’t communicate that trash collection would be canceled on Friday until an hour after they require you to have the trash out and quite frankly after people have already left for work.  This wouldn’t be so bad had they not been communicating how efficient they were the previous two days.  This happened because of a lack of common sense.  The Worcester School Dept. used great common sense on how they handled cancellations.  Some communities canceled school on Thursday as well because that was when the storm was predicted to be at its worst, not Worcester.  They saved the day and it looked to be a good call.  So why can’t the DPW follow suit.  On Friday when school was canceled why couldn’t they just cancel trash pick-up?  Nobody would have had an issue with it.  But because of this blunder some residents saw their trash get buried in the snow by the plows because they put the trash out and went to work.  I was out and about and saw a man literally having to dig his trash out of a snow bank.

It’s easy to just say to let the trash stay in the snow until it melts.  But if residents did that, the moment the snow melts they would be getting nuisance notices from the DPW because their trash is out when it is not supposed to be, no matter the reason.

This happens when you have too many cooks in the kitchen.  That decision needs to be communicated no later than 7:00 am.  I have no doubt that the decision was made in due time.  But it had to get through so many channels to get the word out, that it didn’t get out timely enough.  It also may be that the DPW’s “Social Media Communicator”  doesn’t get to work until then and that was their first duty of the day.  Whatever the reason, when you have a 24 hour operation such as the DPW, and the success and the dependencies of these communications to residents through social media, there is no reason that updates can’t come out in a quicker and more convenient manner.  Just saying.

On a side note, my road did get plowed three times during this storm and we are grateful.

3D

If you don’t take it from me, ask my wife.

Child's Play

I had a whole article written about sequestration and to be quite honest I didn't want to be "that guy".  I decided to write about a toddler instead.  Not the ones that are acting as our elected leaders in Washington but actual children.  Have you ever looked at a toddler and asked yourself, what is that child thinking?  Well, I think that question has somewhat been answered.

I enjoy spending some time on social media.  It helps me broaden my intellectual, and very often non-intellectual, mind.  I prefer Twitter to Facebook because there isn't much dialogue on it and I can "follow" celebrities with the same interests as me, which points me to other interesting articles and comments.  However, several months ago my wife told me of a Twitter "handle" called "The Honest Toddler".  Since going to that website I have to admit I have been pretty addicted and every now in the then I will say to my wife "Did the Honest Toddler say anything interesting today?"

As a dad of a 3 year old and a 10 month old I can totally relate to this.  Ironically, "The Honest Toddler" is a mom from Canada.  Her name is Bunmi Laditan and started the Twitter account as a joke because of a parenting showdown with her 2 year old.  She uses it as a release from her parenting frustrations and to have fun.  That is the same reason I think my wife and I enjoy it so much.  We have pretty much two easy kids with the occasional melt downs for various reasons, but I have to say we are blessed.  We are very laid back parents and have no problem laughing at our children, sometimes we even instigate jokes of our children for our own amusement.  Good stuff.

I find this character funny for a couple of reasons.  The first is the scenarios that it (an asexual character) comments on, I have been there and as frustrated as I was at the time I can completely laugh about it later on.  I also find the toddler speaking the truth.  As much as I like to listen to parents talk about their rationale as to why their toddler acts a certain way, it's just a guessing game.  Do my kids have tendencies?  Absolutely!  But just when I think I have that tendency licked they change it up on me and I am back at square one and I feel my daughters are mocking when that happens

Here is a list of some of my favorite tweets from The Honest Toddler:

On Parents diagnosing symptoms:  They're looking for solutions on the Internet. Trying to get real medical advice from the same place as funny cat videos.

On his visit to the doctor: They overpowered me but not before I gave the doctor the slap of a lifetime.

On his Civil Liberties: In time out for the third time today. Not one trial. Can she hold me without charges? #ACLU

On life: "All you need is love." See? Nothing about pants.

On getting busted:  "You're giving me gray hairs." First of all, I ate my gray crayon months ago. Second, stop lying.

                     

                 Even if I had listening ears I wouldn't wear them every day.

Bedtime: "Thank God for bedtime." That's hurtful.

So tonight when your toddler doesn't want to sleep don't go out and by Dr. Ferber's book on sleeping.  When they don't want to eat, no need to get Elizabeth Pantley's book and when they are being crazy stay away from the 1-2-3 Magic books.  Just log onto Twitter and follow The Honest Toddler.  You may get your answers, if not you will definitely get a chuckle.  If you wait until May The Honest Toddler has a book coming out it's titled The Honest Toddler: A Child's Guide to Parenting 

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife