Wicked Local
Most of the state s COVID-19 restrictions are set to be lifted this weekend, a large relief for many after 14 months of living with the pandemic. Local businesses are gearing up for a big shift in how they ve been operating and are staffing up to meet an expected rise in customer traffic.
Mae s sandwich shop on Ocean Street opened in October 2019, but because of the pandemic, the first Marshfield summer in their beach-adjacent business as anything but what they expected, so owners Eileen Price and Sam Kauff said they re excited to see what this season brings. The fact that it s coinciding with the start of summer is a little stressful for us because we didn t have a real summer last year, Price said. We re adjusting to more people coming out because they feel more comfortable with vaccines or people opening up again, and also the nice weather. We re trying to manage a new level of busy that we haven t had before.
The Worcester Regional Transit Authority Advisory Board voted overwhelmingly to continue fare-free service for the next 6 months while a new fare-collection system is implemented, a compromise reached after discussion of the effort revealed deep divisions among board members
“Let’s see how we do, we’ll be post pandemic, hopefully, let’s see what ridership looks like, what the economy looks like,” Advisory Board member Gary Rosen said. “On January 1st, I will be still advocating (for fare-free service), some won’t be, that’s fine. I think it’s an excellent compromise.”
Rosen urged other zero-fare advocates on the board to support the compromise. The motion to extend fare-free service passed with all board members in favor and board Chairman William Lehtola abstaining.
WORCESTER Stephen Quist doesn t look at elected office as the start of another phase of his life or his career.
The District 5 City Council candidate has a get in, do the job, get out approach and said that if elected to the seat being vacated by Matthew Wally, he won t stay any longer than he has to.
What the lifelong Worcester resident hopes to get done is get through a short list of measures mainly aimed at giving taxpayers relief without adding to the rancor of the annual tax rate debate. I m running on four things, Quist said in a recent interview. If people don t want to get sick and tired of me, then pass my four things and I ll be gone in one term.
If the coronavirus pandemic was supposed to send people fleeing high-priced dense cities in favor of more affordable options where people can work remotely, the Worcester area has not been a major beneficiary.
A new analysis by the real estate firm CBRE Group shows fewer people moved out of the Worcester metropolitan area in 2020 than did in 2019, at least from those moving to or from elsewhere in Massachusetts. But fewer also moved in, leaving the area with what appears to be only a slight advantage.
Nearly all those departing residents stayed close by, CBRE found in its national look at where people moved during the health crisis. Many of the largest and most expensive urban areas saw residents flee, including Boston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.
KEYNOTES: Residents recall outdoor rinks of yesterday
Rosemary Rimkus
The frigid temperatures have frozen sections of the Assabet River and area ponds, allowing locals to continue the time-honored tradition in Hudson of outdoor skating. Hudson resident Dave O’Neil, 94, member of the 1943-44 Hudson High School hockey team, recalls that Tripp’s Pond was always frozen in those days by the end of December, and provided practice space for the team. “We practiced daily on a rink we cleared at Tripp’s, and then played all our games at the old Boston Arena,” he recalled, “traveling by bus.” Coached by Tom Fielding, the team made the state semi-finals in 1944, and was beaten by Needham High 3-2, O’Neil remembers. He recalls there were several outdoor rinks in the 1940s and 50s: at the VFW (now Amvets) parking lot on South Street; in the parking area between the State Armory and W.T. Grant store (now Robinson’s). Old newspaper records show that in 1929, the Firestone Rubbe