Tough Task for Quality of Life Taskforce

A Taskforce Boss

Tough Task for Quality of Life Taskforce

The Worcester Quality of Life Taskforces has done much good. A recent column in the Worcester Telegram reported that the Taskforce has

1.      removed over 85 tons of illegally dumped trash

2.      levied $31, 000 in fines against the illegal dumpers

3.      visited over 3400 vacant or problem properties

4.      identified 128 homeless people encampments

5.      collected 1500 discarded needles

The Worcester Telegram article further said the following

“The task force has also visited 3,447 vacant/problem properties and citations have been issued for unregistered vehicles, overgrowth, trash, housing violation, unsecured vacant building and code violations.”

I brought attention to the overgrowth, because there is a Worcester (City) owned  property at the corner of Lake Ave. and Sunderland Road that has been overgrown  and trashed for decades. The City of Worcester has de facto abandoned the property.

Quality of Life Taskforce will have a tough time getting its boss City Manager Edward Augustus to clean up this City property at Lake Ave. and Sunderland St.

  

The City acquired the property with the intention of building a fire station. This followed the National Fire Protection Association’s best practice of locating fire stations on the outskirts of an urban area. The best practice was not followed when the City built fire stations on Grafton St. and on Franklin St.

This de facto abandonment allowed years of trash accumulation and overgrowth.The sidewalk along the property is unpassable, especially for the handicapped. Walking in the street is extremely dangerous as there is no breakdown lane at that intersection. There is no alternate route from Lake Ave. to the Plaza or to the bus stop.

Over the years several petitions have been sent to City Council in the hope that it would set a policy that would compel the City Manager to clean up the property and clear the obstructed sidewalks. One City Councillor lives nearby and drives by the overgrown and trashed City she has not done any to effectuate a clean-up. A second City Councillor has written a letter to the City Economic Department where he has no authority regarding the lot. I appreciate his effort.

In frustration I filed a complaint at the City Commission on Disabilities. This is a first step in the process of exhausting all recourses before going to Federal District Court with an Americans with Disabilities complaint. To my surprise the Commission responded and said it would investigate actions to clean up the City’s property. It sent my complaint to the Quality of Life Taskforce.

I do not hold out much hope that the Quality of Life group will overcome the objections of the City Manager who has for years intentionally ignored the problem..  

Are Schools Safer with Cops in the Building?

Are Schools Safer with Cops in the Building?

The Parkland Florida mass school shooting murders have blinded many people from making an objective and rational evaluation of the benefits or hindrances of armed police officers permanently stationed in public schools. Are the schools safer with them and could the costs of the police officers be better used?

 The Worcester Telegram has said recently the debate about School Resources Officers (school police officers) is “over”, meaning that irrationality and subjectivity has won out. As evidence recently the Tamaqua MA School District allocated money for a school resource officer.

The fact remains, however, that school resource officers have not prevented a single mass shooting anywhere in the US. Admittedly school resource officers have mitigated some shooting, but they have not prevented any.

I waited for the details of the Great Mills High School shooting in Maryland before writing this article. Initial reports were that a school resource officer shot and killed a student who had shot another student. The Sheriff Department later said that the student shooter took his own life. In either case the school resource officer did not prevent the shooting.

What have prevented school shootings are students reporting other students in need of services? This include social media monitoring and counselling. It is clear that the shooter in Parkland signaled his intent. This should not be left to the police alone. The School Safety Administrator should take the lead with the help of additional counselors.

The other proven method to prevent mass school shootings is the improvement of authorized entry to a school buildings. This issue was raised in the Good Harbor Safety Analysis report to the Worcester School Committee. The report cited a need for increased front door and other entrances safety at all of the schools.

There were no mass shooting in Worcester Public Schools before armed police officers were assigned an office in each public high school in Worcester MA.

These assignments were the result of bad publicity initiated by a racist blogger (Turtleboy), racist City Councillors (Lukes and Rosen), and an overzealous School Committee woman (Biancheria). They wanted armed police in the schools due to negative stereotypes of young Black and Latino male students.

The Worcester School District is invoiced by the police department one and one-half million dollars a year for the five officers in the high schools and for other protective patrols. The five police officers in the high schools could be reduced to two or three police officers dedicated to high school mobile patrols with additional duties in the patrol of middle and elementary schools. This alternate system should be looked at objectively as there were no mass shootings in Worcester Schools before or after the deployment of armed police in each high school.

The dollar savings could be used to hire qualified counselors, set up social media monitoring by counselors, and improved front door safety.

 It seems that any internal school problems can be handled first by the school staff and then by calling the police dedicated to mobile patrols of the schools.

When the public has asked for an evaluation of the permanent assignment of police to each high school, the Worcester School Administration has consistently responded with the mantra “the kids love them”. Although there is no material evidence of abuse of their police powers, there are antidotal articles of such abuse.

The police assigned to the high schools in Worcester do not meet the training, educational, and the experience requirements of a teacher or counselor. The police have consistently refuse to work under the supervision of a school administrator.

The police system of school patrols and assignments have been in place long enough for an objective review and analysis. It is time the Worcester School Committee and Worcester Police Department stop brushing off such an evaluation by saying “the kids love us”. It is time also to review front door safety