‘Still the best thing in Worcester’: A decade of growth transformed the Canal District; Plans for 2021, beyond build off that momentum
Updated Feb 14, 2021;
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A decade isn’t long in a city like Worcester, which began its history under British rule.
But within a few square blocks of the Canal District, the last decade created a lifetime of change.
Turn back the clock to 2011 and the landscape of the city’s most bustling neighborhoods is unrecognizable.
Kelley Square - without a peanut - remains one of the state’s most dangerous intersections. A vacant dirt lot sits where the Worcester Public Market now welcomes hundreds of people daily. North, up Green Street, Crompton Collective, Birchtree Bread, Smokestack Urban Barbecue are yet calling the District home.
Worcester Magazine
WHAT THE CLUCK?: Politics is not for the weak or timid. It is a bloodsport where one has to be willing to take a pummeling from any and all directions. But there is one issue so divisive, so heated, that Worcester city officials have sidestepped it for years, quickly dodging and hiding as soon as it rears its ugly head. What is this third rail of Worcester electoral politics that causes so much political carnage that it s usually shuffled out of sight almost as soon as it s raised? Is it residential vs. commercial real estate tax? Defunding the police? Sex education? Well, yes. Actually all of those, but also … backyard chicken farming. It s an issue that brings strife every time it arises, revealing political fault lines, fracturing friendships, ruining reputations … and now it s back. According to an article in the Telegram & Gazette by Steve Foskett, “Members of the Planning Board said Wednesday they liked the idea of reviving a discussion about allowing