Writings
Choices for Worcester, page 3
What is Current Reality?
I am not a researcher. So you must understand my analysis is from personal observation, experience and intuition – not researched facts. I acknowledge my generalizations are probably too sweeping.
1. Socioeconomic
Ultimately a community is the sum total of its citizens. All cities have people at the socioeconomic extremes and at various places in the middle. I make no pretension to know the spread here or elsewhere. But like you I have impressions. I also believe a reading of socioeconomic conditions is necessary to engage citizens in the process of renewing a city. It is a guide to public taste, aspirations, and what is “practical and doable.”
I see Worcester’s socioeconomic profile along these lines:
An underclass
A sizeable class who are trying to survive day to day by hook or by crook. They are supplemented by a number of rootless teenagers. It’s a visible group in downtown areas and extends to other parts of the city but I have no idea the proportion to the total population. This group is likely to have no interest in community renewal.
The poor and trying hard
This group devotes all their energies to satisfy the first two steps on Maslow’s Ladder (Food, Shelter and Safety) with not much left for building “a city on the hill.”
The low-income working class
This group ekes out a living but generally has limited education and narrow interests.
The self-sufficient
Individuals who potentially have civic interest but perceive themselves powerless to be an influence on city affairs.
The middle-income class
A large group who are economically sufficient and have a sense of belonging to some constituency in the city. However, they feel disempowered about government and Worcester.
The upper-income
An educated class who are sensitive to and have a stake in the city. They understand what is happening but they can be boiled frogs just like everybody else.
My point in engaging in this exercise of establishing vague socioeconomic categories is to alert us to practicalities. It is the people in the latter three categories that will drive transformation. They have the capacity for self-sufficiency and civic responsibility. Are there enough of them? Can we talk a common language? What are common interests we have for the city? Can they be engaged in reform?