College Town

Harrington Corner, around nine thirty this morning.

I'm always struck by how this town empties out in the summer. It's like flipping a switch. One day there's the usual heavy traffic during the morning commute, the next day it's gone.

Clearly, marketing this city as a "destination" is pointless for the months of July and August. All the summer "destinations" are somewhere else.

Worcester is a college town, now and forever. Even the City Council does "selective enforcement" on matters academic... they pretty much take the summer off with only one City Council meeting in July, and one in August. But when it's a matter of accentuating Worcester's place in this universe as a college town, they seem to eschew any slightest hint of academia. PILOT, nail the college party animals, pass an ordinance that makes it illegal to rent apartments to groups of college students... somebody should make a list of how anti-college the city can get.

The colleges are the city's greatest asset. Their product creates the future.