Today was a beautiful day, despite an almost November-ish chill in the air. I was walking through the Common, which was full of bicyclists, pedestrians, and a few pigeons. I haven't been writing much lately due to a busy schedule, and I wanted to grab a few papers and a sandwich and come up with a few ideas.
The only thing the Common was lacking were people sitting at the tables located in the skating rink. Surely
Gabe's post from last summer (6/28/09) wouldn't still be relevant, would it?
Sadly, it is.
The chairs are chained to the tables. Here's a closeup:
I wanted to buy a sandwich, read a newspaper, and perhaps enjoy the view. I guess not.
Apparently Worcester residents can't be trusted to use tables and chairs on our Common, despite the cheery sentiment displayed for all to see:
In the past decade, the City has replaced an empty concrete reflecting pool with a lawn so people could have a nice green space downtown. Then they decided to replace the lawn with an ice skating rink that doesn't have ice or ice skaters. Then they bought chairs and tables to place in the ice skating rink during the nice weather so people could enjoy the Common. Why would anyone buy chairs and tables that can't be used on a weekend afternoon? If the fear was vandalism or theft, why not buy picnic tables that have attached benches?
At least our Common futility gave me something to write about, and something to forward on to our City Council. Maybe someone will answer me.
2 comments:
As a gal who lives across the street from those, I would love to take a book, grab a coffee and sit at the tables as the weather gets nice. As Gabe mentioned last year, the Commons are OUR "lawn" as living in an apartment downtown has no green space.
Maybe we need a nice flash mob equipped with their own chairs to occupy the Common some sunny Sunday afternoon...
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