How the Dual tax rate has shaped Worcester- ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?

One of the things that bothers me most about Worcester is the slow march to elitism of the City.

What do I mean here?

The City Council always talks about how they want to save neighborhoods and make this a great livable city.

For this reason many councilors continue to support the lowest residential tax rate, and support the Dual tax rate that the city lives by which was adopted in 1984.

The UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES of this has been to create an ELITIST CITY.

What do I mean by this?

I came to Worcester in the Fall of 1989 to attend College.  What I found was a solid Blue Collar city where small business thrived and there was a strong local economy that "bought local". 

Since that time it has been a slow but noticeable slide from a City with its own economic engine to a city that is quickly becoming the housing center for Marlboro/Hudson and Natick/Framingham.

The commercial tax rate is $33.33 and Residential is $15.21.

This has forced so many of those Mom and Pop businesses to be replaced by larger corporate entities.  

THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR WORCESTER.

Here comes Starbucks, Chipotle, Ruth's Chris, Chick-fil-A and others to take your money out of the Worcester Economy.

Gone are Morgan Construction(Primetals Technologies), Most of Norton Company(St. Gobain) and Paul Revere Insurance(UNUM) 

They are being priced out due to the commercial tax rate, and big companies like Fidelity Investments are skipping Worcester even though they like the location and the worker base.  They simply cannot justify the TAXES.

This is creating a City of trendy Coffee Shops and Cafes that cater to the new residents who have disposable income simply because it is cheaper to live in Worcester since they don't have to go to work every day.  Yes these might be family owned and small local businesses, but the majority of residents who live in Worcester cannot afford to go to Crust or Birchtree Bread.

We still have Breen's, Herbie's, and Bennie's but even these are getting too expensive for their customers due to the increased taxes.

Do you like the Worcester of the 90's or the Elite Worcester of Today