And it seems Paulie and Councilor Rick (Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Economic Development) are bosom buddies nowadays. Even had a big date in Boston a week ago, went on some radio show and professed their mutual love of Worcester.
So Paulie is schmoozing with Councilor Rick. Hey, gotta get dem licenses somehow and who else better to schmooze with? For Councilor Rick it seems pretty convenient being a lawyer and Chair of the City's EDC - guide the fools through the permit maze and rack up the billable hours. So why's he hanging around with Paulie instead of CSX or City Square? Paulie is small potatoes.
So another restaurant eh? If you haven't already noticed Wusta is dotted with the carcasses of scores of failed restaurants. Every year a bunch go under. Most notably On The Park [sic] across from The Common, a couple at Union Station, and the one in the GAR building on Pearl St. All managed by experienced business folk. Yet they failed. Since our last encounter, Mr. Paul Collyer, head honcho of the Chandler St. Business Association (squawk box for a handful of measly businesses), has been busy marketing himself to anyone who'll listen, as an up and coming local entrepreneur. Even setup a LLC to dabble in real estate etc. - MET’s Place LLC.
Bit of a stretch considering Paulie’s previous business endeavors were less than successful. Especially the money losing NOLA thing. Now he’s setting his sights on becoming a restauranteur. Or sumptin like that.
If you don’t already know it, Paulie lives among the City’s poor and disenfranchised in the traffic corridor known as Chandler St., or as Paulie prefers to call it, the Village of Piedmont. We at Wonderland have an issue with that. Not that it's historically inaccurate (nobody knows for sure, but Paulie sure has spread bigger BS around town), rather it’s semantically inaccurate. Fact is Paulie's VoP is not a Village by any definition.
Notice the word community is included in the definition. That certainly isn’t what Paulie’s implying in his response to a blogger who inquired about the impact his restaurant business would have on the neighborhood. Paulie’s response: a big fat fuck you. It’s his neighborhood (he's boss of the CBA after all) so they can all piss off. Pretty freaking rude eh? But whata I know. Ya know, I’m baffled by Wusta’s business community's (that word again) negative attitude toward consumers. Recalling statements by business owners publicly haranguing the locals for not frequenting their establishments. In their minds you’re obligated to give them your business. I beg to differ.
No one likes to be condescended to, but in my experience that happens all too frequently around Clown Town. Might be one of the reasons why their businesses are sucking wind. No where else but in Worcester, MA do ya get a free dose of attitude with your purchase. The only thing those people respect is the money in your pocket - not you.
As a consumer it’s your money to spend as you see fit. Don’t like the service, the prices or the attitude, take your money elsewhere. You have no obligation whatsoever to patronize any local business. And all the more reason considering the movement by the Mayor and several City Councilors scheming with local businesses to screw the residential taxpayers with some fictitious argument about unfair taxation (more about that in another post). Well, if they weren’t such lousy business people, maybe they wouldn’t have issues.
Sad state of affairs in Wusta folks. I only hope the locals take into consideration comments from Wusta's business community (there's that word again) before they patronize any of them.
After all, it's your money.
