Paul Giorgio—A tale of 2 Cities: Skyline Cafe Vs. Coffee in the Hall
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Thank goodness that Mayor Joe Petty stepped down from the chair and brought sanity back to a Council that was spiraling out of control. Which gets me to the Tale of two cities?
It seems that we routinely praise the Worcester technical high schools culinary arts program and rightly so. The students do a great job turning out lunches every day. Lunches that are available in their restaurant for the public to purchase at a discounted price. From what I have been told, you have to get there early, because there is great demand for the delicious and inexpensive offerings.
Worcester Tech has been doing this for years, formerly at their Grove street building and now on Skyline Drive. In all the years of this program, I have not heard one complaint about the food or about competition. Not one restaurant on Shrewsbury Street has complained about the school based restaurant. In fact they look forward to hiring the grads from the culinary arts program.
So it came as a surprise that the Worcester City Council was all a flutter over the opening of a coffee stand in City Hall.
Different than Food Trucks
In the past, I have expressed concern that food trucks will hurt local restaurants and I still believe that. However, I believe that the matter before the council was totally different.
This is a small space within City Hall that would serve coffee, donuts & muffins. It would be run by special needs clients from the Seven Hills Foundation. Seven Hills, a Worcester Institution, runs several programs at their Hope Ave site, including a sheltered workshop and a job training program. They regularly place clients in jobs throughout the area.
The goal of the coffee stand is to liven up the first floor of City Hall with some activity, while providing an amenity to City Hall workers and life skills to the workers who will man the stand.
This is nothing new or cutting edge. In fact most public buildings have these kinds of services, usually run by the Commission for the Blind. The State House has one and so does the Federal Building.
Councilor Lukes said she would get calls opposing the stand. I bet she hasn’t gotten one.
But let us recognize that there are struggling businesses downtown. That is just a reality. In fact there are two coffee places within 100 feet of City Hall Plaza, one on the corner of Main and Front Street-Dunkin Donuts and another-Honey Dew on the opposite corner of Main and Pleasant St.
A lesson in Capitalism
Maybe we need to engage those businesses in this project. How about a joint venture? The clients from the Seven Hills Foundation can manage the coffee shop, learn some life skills, earn some money, and act as greeters in City Hall.
The Seven Hills Foundation could buy the product they sell from either the Dunkin Donuts or the Honey Dew Donuts, whichever one comes up with the best deal.
That would be a lesson in capitalism for the clients of Seven Hills and it would also be a lesson to the rest of us about compassion.
Paul Giorgio is a longtime Democratic Party Activist who has worked on numerous campaigns. He was a Lead Advance Person for President Clinton & Vice President Gore. He was Deputy Director of Special Events for President Clinton’s first Inauguration. He has been elected a delegate to numerous Democratic National Conventions and recently served as one of President Obama’s representatives on the Platform Committee. In 2013 he was chosen as a Presidential Elector. He is the President of Pagio, Inc., publishers of Pulse Magazine, Vitality Magazine and Worcester Medicine.
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