Category: Worcester

Worcester election results, 2007 vs. 2009

chart2009-2007

Here are the election results for the Worcester City Council At-Large race in 2009, compared to 2007. The data points are the % of ballots cast for each candidate.

Some obvious points:

  • Emmanuel Tsitsilianos did very poorly.
  • Joe O’Brien did very well.
  • Aside from O’Brien, challengers this time did worse than last time.
  • Petty and Toomey are stronger, Rushton and Lukes are weaker. Rushton and Petty basically switched places.
  • Two incumbents were forced off the council last time (Perotto and Irish), none were forced off in 2009.

(Yes, charts for district and School Committee races are forthcoming.)

All Worcester incumbents (but one) win

The Telegram & Gazette is saying that all incumbents but School Committee member Bob Bogigian have won re-election. They say O’Brien has won the open City Council seat (Rosen not running for re-election) and mayorship; Novick & Biancheria are new on the School Committee (one of those seats being open, too).

Looking forward to seeing tomorrow’s numbers and making some useful charts.

Update via e-mail: “Channel 3 just referred to Joe Petty as ‘The Quiet Man’.” Heck yeah.

508 #90: Performance Oval

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Gabe Rollins.

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We talk about Gabe’s attempts to send his own survey to the City Council candidates; the “performance oval” behind City Hall; the Worcester energy barnraising; and the pros and cons of voting.

508 #89: Challengers

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Aria DiSalvo and Brendan Melican.

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Aria DiSalvo tells us about the “Stop Spewing Carbon” anti-biomass incinerator campaign.

Election molehills: Mayor Lukes’s husband has cars registered outside Worcester! Candidate O’Brien linked to his boss!

Brendan talks about the police department’s latest feud with the newspaper. Mike talks about the Center for Nonviolent Solutions kickoff.

As the centerpiece of the show, we come up with reasons to vote for every challenger in the upcoming election.

Mike contrasts Worcester Magazine’s search for an “edgy” writer with their past claims to be “non-dowdy.”

Worcesterites will be celebrating the October 24 International Day of Climate Action with a weatherization “barnraising” and tree planting.

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Worcester Center for Nonviolent Solutions kickoff

Great turnout for today’s kickoff event for Worcester’s Center for Nonviolent Solutions. Standing room only!

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Catholic Worker Claire Schaeffer-Duffy was emcee; Nate Pickens of Mosaic talked about his own experiences with violence in Worcester; Michael True explained the purpose of the Center; Congressman Jim McGovern shared some stories from his life and introduced keynote speaker Colman McCarthy, journalist and educator, who gave a wide-ranging talk on nonviolence and the people who practice it.

Nice to see a lot of people I haven’t seen in months; especially nice to see Bishop McManus in attendance.
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508 #88: First Snow

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Brendan Melican and Drew Wilson.

This week, we are snowed upon.

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Fresh injera is available at Fresh Farm Deli, 560 Lincoln St, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Big Y is carrying conspicuous amounts of locally-sourced food.

The McDonald’s vegan “feed-in” was popular; there’s a bike ride to a local farm sanctuary picnic this weekend.

We revisit the idea of local bloggers filling a small part of the gap the T&G is leaving. At some point Mike will try to define numbers for this thing.

Brendan talks about the recent City Council and School Committee debates and explains why you might want to attend one.

Mike shares how much time and money it takes to do a weekly show on WCCA TV13–not that much!

508 #87: Feedback

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel includes Drew Wilson and Brendan Melican.

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Brendan describes the recent city election debates. Drew talks about Worcester residents opposing cruelty to circus animals, another Buddha Hut buffet, and an upcoming event outside McDonald’s on Main Street; see also Futuristic Brunch. Annie loaned us a Worcester Bicentennial coloring book. You can reportedly get injera on Lincoln Street; we will follow up.

Update: WCCA has posted videos of the mayoral debate

Huge amounts of viewer feedback!

  • Sometime guest panelist Jack Stewart is looking for paid poll workers
  • Journalist Brian Goslow tells us what Worcester’s bloggers need to do if they want to do journalism
  • Joe O’Brien apologizes for spamming Mike
  • Another Joe says that “I feel podcasting can teach our [youth] members communication skills, job skills, leadership skills as well as help them to realize that someone who grows up in Main South, Great Brook Valley or Plumley Village can have a voice.” We definitely want to help any aspiring digital media creators learn the ropes.
  • Among other things, Nicole points out this complaint from “Members of the Commission on Disabilities, the Human Rights Commission and the Community Coalition on Bias and Hate” about this article in the InCity Times.

508 #86: More Worcester Journalism

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, we talk about Worcester Magazine News Editor Scott Zoback leaving, what it would take to beef up accountability journalism in Worcester (inspired by a Clay Shirky lecture), and legalizing medical marijuana in Massachusetts.

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In the coming weeks we will be interviewing Bill McCarthy and Rob Diaz. Feel free to suggest questions in the comments below.