You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Politically speaking, it blows from the east. Hot, sometimes; full of rain at others; but it always blows from the east. The city of Worcester and the Greater Worcester Land Trust recently secured the signing of a conservation restriction on 9.62 acres of DMH land to be effectively added to the footprint of Green Hill Park — a mere seven (7) years after the state had agreed to the deal. Seven years; and it almost didn't happen at all.
Outrageous as this seems — and it is outrageous — it is also somewhat instructive, and even cause for optimism in a convoluted sort of way. First the history:
When the proposal was originally made to build the Voke School partially on park land, it set off alarms within the environmental community, which was familiar with the city's long and ignominious record of degradation of park land. Green Hill Park — originally a bequest of more than 500 acres — had been chipped away at for various non-park purposes over the years (a landfill; Rte I-290; the Air National Guard Armory); the fire department had appropriated a large piece of Institute Park; a large chunk of Newton Hill had been sacrificed the last time the city decided to build a high school (Doherty High School); and now this.
There followed an acrimonious stand-off between the city administration and the Green Hill Park Coalition, out of which came a series of agreements that would protect for conservation purposes a total of about 35 acres — including the 9.62 that was finally signed, sealed and delivered last week.
Originally given a window of 45 days within which to approve the CR deal, the state Division of Capital Assets Management (DCAM) proceeded to take seven years. They were all set to approve it a few months ago when they were sidetracked by the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA), who had enlisted the Department of Mental Health (DMH) in promoting the possibility of placing windmills on the site.
So many initials; so little wind. Nobody had actually tested the wind on the site, but more important, local environmentalists were simply not willing to backtrack on park land preservation promises no matter how "environmental" the rationale. The city manager felt the same way. State officials finally signed the deal last week; case closed.
Now, we have to admit that we love the idea of an array of windmills lining a prominent ridge of the city, merrily generating electrical power and signaling to the rest of the world that we are being smart, progressive and entrepreneurial about power generation; and as part of the recent give-and-take with the state, the city manager apparently made promises to be pro-active about alternative power generation. This says to us that we need a windmill site. Let's get on it.
Everybody's cynical first choice, of course, is the airport, but it appears that as long as we subscribe to the cargo cult of airline service we can't touch that one. Next up: the Greenwood Street Landfill. What a choice! It's big, it's wide open, it's away from neighborhoods; it's spectacularly prominent; it's not really suited for anything else — and it's not already a park.
The manager's Energy Task Force is due to deliver some recommendations to him this month, but it is perfectly clear which way the wind is blowing -- toward clean, renewable energy sources. Everyone's united on this one. Let's find the right site and get moving.