So all you have to do to get $800,000 from the government is suck up your pride and admit that you live in a dump? Where do we sign up?
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WWLP: Driving into downtown Ware, Main Street is decorated for the holidays; but when you look closely, you see empty storefronts, boarded up buildings, and fenced entrances. That’s why Ware’s board of selectmen voted Tuesday to designate the downtown business district and surrounding residential streets a slum and blight area. The unattractive label could help the town collect up to $800,000 in government grants to make improvements.
Ware Town Manager Stuart Beckley told 22News, “We’ll continue to improve the water and sewer and the roads. If you look at the mill yard, we should be able to do some facade improvement, and do some facade work and sidewalk work along Main St.”
A report by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission shows more than a quarter of the 468 buildings within the 6 mile slum area are deteriorating. In that report, 16 of the 48 commercial buildings are considered “blight areas”, such as here at the old Carrie’s Kutts and Otto Flower Shop. The businesses are just 2 examples of the problem spots located throughout the downtown area. At least 6 industrial buildings are in fair or poor condition. More than 40% of the 354 homes are either substandardly maintained or a total wreck. 9% of the buildings are abandoned
Ware? A slum? I don’t believe it. How could anyone call this magical land of splendor a slum? How could anyone say that 40% of the 354 homes are either sub-standardly maintained or a total wreck? So some people decorate their lawns with trash
Shovels
Discarded furniture
Broken fences
And broken dreams
If you call these places “substandard” then maybe your expectations are little too high.
Businesses are clearly thriving in Ware:
There was a line out the door at Wilson’s on Black Friday
The Dollar Tree is packed on a regular basis
The restaurants are world class
The parking lots have limitless potential
And the locals have plenty of time to sit on their lawn, rip butts, and play on their pogo sticks.
My question is, why aren’t more places applying to become slums and blight areas? The state just GIVES you money if you call yourself a slum? Where do I sign up? How are Southbridge, Spencer, Webster, Winchendon, Holyoke, Brockton, New Bedford, Fall River, Chelsea, and Pittsfield not all over this? Do they just have too much pride to throw up the red flag and say, “we’re basically a third world country, now please give us money”?
Oh, and don’t tell the people in Colrain about this. Those mother fuckers invented blight:
If they find out about this deal there won’t be any cash left for all the other slums. Good for Ware for sucking up their pride and going for the cash grab.
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9 Comment(s)
In the 1960’s Ware was full of immigrant Polish. The uppity Protestants on Church Street, where all the rich people lived, hated them because they were Catholic and didn’t speak English very well. These Polacks came with nothing but dreams and an incredible work ethic. Those of us who were Irish or French Canadian (a few Jews mixed in) watched in awe. The town flourished!
Main Street was full of lively businesses, A&P plus National Grocery store, several shoe places, Aubuchons, a sporting goods place, a bike shop, movie theatre and of course the fruit store (run by Polish Jews). Other than the Protestants, no one was better than anyone else, life was great. Then the fires.
The shoe shop burned down around 1979. Cheap shoes heralded its demise anyway. A few years later the whole block from the casino (movie theatre) to the corner of North st and up to what was the Post office burned. The town was done for.
The successful people moved out, Mt Carmel Catholic Church came down, a few Polacks stayed but the lazy immigrants and blacks moved in with their drugs, crime and EBT cards. What was, isn’t. And won’t be.
The short history of Ware through the eyes of an escapee.
Is Water Front Mary’s still there? That used to be a nice road trip.
I didn’t write that!
Webster won’t do it because the town council is controlled by the people with money who live by the lake. The shit heads on the drug infested side of town don’t vote, and those of us who aren’t shitheads are outnumbered by the 1%.
They sit in their big homes and don’t see the dilapidated buildings and rampant heroin abuse. Because they don’t travel west of 395.
The good side of town should just become its own town, and let the rest merge with the east side of Dudley (aka West Webster).
In my opinion,only property owners should be able to vote on town issues when it comes to spending money. Renters have no stake in it. They can vote for overrides,or other projects which may increase property taxes to pay for services or what not,but it doesn’t cost them a cent. Just my opinion.
Build a wall around it
Ware is in rough shape. Not sure anything can be done.
May as well just burn that money for heat because giving it to Ware will be a TOTAL waste. Can’t put lipstick on a pig.
I can see my house from here!!