Writings
Choices for Worcester
William J. OíBrien
September 26, 1991
What are the alternate paths to Worcester’s future?
What scenarios can we envision for the city? A scenario is not a prediction. It is, instead, an alternate path to the future that can be influenced by the choices we make.
I see three alternative paths. The first one is:
The Main Road
This is where the average American city is headed. It’s not a pretty picture. If you recently have been to Hartford, New Haven, Springfield or Syracuse you have experienced the phenomena of the declining American city. It is characterized by high dependency on welfare, growing numbers of people who are illiterate and innumerate, failing public education and increasing breakups of families. These cities have declining economies, severe budget problems, and rising conflict over how declining tax revenues are spent. Municipal workers are demoralized. Downtowns are dead or nearly so.
Among these general conditions of deterioration are pockets of vitality and community strengths; solid neighborhoods, prestigious institutions, flourishing professions, private clubs, cultural associations and prosperous businesses.
If you take a frog and drop him into a pot of boiling water he will summon every bit of energy to leap out and escape. If you drop the frog into cold water and then turn up the gas, the water heats up so gradually the frog hardly notices it until he is cooked. By then his muscles have atrophied and he’s gone. Unwise political, social, and administrative policies over thirty years are now coming home to roost.
The Main Road cities are struggling for minimal survival with band-aids, funding cutbacks, expedient solutions, and heated demonology between special interest groups. Those who choose to live in a community that provides enrichment, reasonable safety, and aesthetics move on. And, of course, a person’s age usually has a strong influence and their mobility and choice.
Many cities have completed extensive downtown development in an attempt to rise above the problems of the Main Road but it hasn’t worked. The fundamental problem is not one of physical decay but one of diminished human spirit and apathy.
The second alternative is:
The Low Road
The difference between the Main Road and Low Road is the speed at which deterioration is occurring and the relative balance between “pockets of vitality and community strength” and the forces of decay. While it’s a matter of judgment, cities like Newark, Jersey City (NJ), Lawrence (MA), and Gary (IN) are already well down the Low Road. The Main Road eventually becomes the Low Road. The outlook for the Low Road cities is bleak: gang rule, racial warfare, and gradually becoming outcasts from neighboring communities.