October Update: Elections, Meetings, and Transit

We hope you all are well!

Next Meeting: Our next meeting is this Saturday, October 4th, from 4pm-5:30pm at Technocopia at 44 Portland Street (please use the furthest door to the left and the intercom).

Monty Khaldi and Sean Manion from Abundant Housing Massachusetts (AHMA) will be presenting on AHMA’s work and ongoing initiatives at the meeting, and Monty will also be presenting on his volunteer work as a Board Member of the Boston Cyclists Union.

Thank you to those who were able to make it to our Park(ing) Day installation and especially those who helped out!

Action Items

City Council Elections: City council elections are this fall! The general election is November 4th, and the deadline to register has been moved to October 25th. Here is a link for resources for registering to vote.

Here is a website you can use to find your polling location; polls will be open from 7am to 8pm. Here is an article with information on early, mail, and absentee voting, and here is a resource showing who is running.

Candidate Questionnaire: The Worcester Urban Planning Partnership, of which Strong Towns Worcester is a member, has released a city council candidate questionnaire for the November election. We are getting the word out that housing, land use planning, transportation, and mobility are on the ballot this year!

We could use assistance with outreach for this questionnaire; feel free to E-mail us if you are interested in assisting.

WRTA Survey: The Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA) currently has a survey open for a comprehensive service analysis project which will help shape bus service in Worcester and surrounding communities in the upcoming years. You can take the survey here!

Vernon Connected Workshop: There will be a community workshop for the Vernon Connected planning effort regarding the future of the Vernon Street Bridge and the surrounding neighborhoods on Tuesday, October 7th from 6pm-8pm at the Worcester Senior Center at 128 Providence Street. Here is a link to a survey on the Vernon Connected planning effort.

Leadership Roles: If you are interested in a Strong Towns Worcester leadership role of any kind over the next year, please contact strongtowns.worcester@gmail.com. This can be for the whole year or to be on call for events and initiatives.

Updates

The Worcester Regional Research Bureau and the Worcester Telegram and Gazette are hosting several candidate debates for the November election this October.

October 8th: Debate for at-large city council
October 15th: Debate for contested district city council races
October 29th: Debate for mayor

All three of these debates will take place at 7pm at Mechanics Hall at 321 Main Street.

Ongoing Efforts

We continue to advocate for the Now|Next Plan, the Vision Zero Safety Action Plan, the Mobility Action Plan, and the Housing Production Plan.
We have completed the Strong Towns Municipal Finance Decoder for Worcester and are using it to inform our advocacy efforts.
We will continue to advocate for tactical urbanism projects in collaboration with the Worcester Department of Transportation and Mobility and other partners. More updates are to come.