Council's silence on the big issues has been deafening.

Byline: Nick Kotsopoulos

COLUMN: POLITICS AND THE CITY

Batten down the hatches.

Board up the windows and bring in the pets.

Secure the lawn and patio furniture, and gather up any toys the kids might have out in the yard.

Check to make sure the flashlight batteries are working, dig out some candles as a backup and have a radio handy.

Lastly, stay off the streets and don't park the car under any trees; a big wind is about to blow into Worcester.

Yes folks, the City Council returns to business Tuesday night.

Yikes, now there's a scary thought!

The last time the Gang of 11 gathered at City Hall, back on Aug. 12, they went on and on about street vendors - one of the more pressing issues of the day, NOT! In fact, they talked so much about those who sell hot dogs and sausages out of pushcarts that they were unable complete the agenda for that night.

It certainly was not one of the council's finest hours and it left the elected body with a collective black eye. In fact, some people still talk about that meeting because it was so downright bizarre.

Who knows what the council will do for an encore when it returns to business Tuesday night?

Things can't get any crazier - or can they?

The School Committee has met more often than the City Council since the end of June. That's because the council saw fit to cancel one of its meetings in July and its first meeting in September - so much for "pressing" city business the council often likes to talk about.

Mind you, there are some who feel the people of Worcester should be grateful that the council has met only twice since the end of June, but that's an argument for another day.

The bottom line is that this City Council has not exactly distinguished itself since taking office at the beginning of this year. It began its 2008-2009 term with much hope, but that has since dissipated and been replaced by bickering among some members and a general lack of purpose or direction.

Oh, we are reminded time and time again that public safety, education, economic development and quality of life are the council's priorities; but what has it really done during the first eight months of its term to back up that talk?

The council has had some shining moments; members have thought out of the box on occasion and offered interesting ideas, but they have generally been few and far between.

What's been so dismaying is that there has been so little, if any, talk on the council on the many good ideas that came out of last fall's City Council campaign. A perfect example has to do with the

PILOT program, in which tax-exempt, nonprofit institutions and organizations would be asked to make voluntary payments in lieu of taxes to the city.

You could not go to a candidate forum last fall without hearing more than a few candidates hammer home the need for such a program - that the city needed it to generate some much-needed revenues. Indeed, it was the mantra of the campaign.

You know how often the council has talked about PILOT since taking office? That sound you hear is crickets chirping. That's right, there's been little, if any talk about it. So much for it being such an important issue.

Instead, the council has spent some time during its term talking "pressing" issues such as putting the hammer down on street vendors. And even that discussion is a contradiction to what the council supposedly stands for.

In one breath, the City Council talks about being pro-business and wanting to create an 18-hour downtown, yet, in another it talks about chasing street vendors (small businessmen in their own right) off the streets by midnight and generally making it much more difficult for them to operate in Worcester.

But you can't have it both ways.

Though the council is deeply divided on this issue, it is one step away from approving new, more restrictive regulations for street vendors in the name of "public safety, unfair competition that vendors pose for restaurants, and quality of life issues for residents." The council is actually supposed to take a final vote on those regulations Tuesday night.

When Mayor Konstantina B. Lukes was sworn into office at Mechanics Hall in January, she challenged her colleagues on the City Council not to shy away from pursuing new solutions to longstanding problems and issues facing the city.

One such longstanding problem has been the poor condition of the city's sidewalks, and the lack of sidewalks altogether in some neighborhoods. The council's solution to the problem is a recycled one: simply asking for more money.

But given the fiscal challenges facing the city, you know that's not happening anytime soon. Instead, it was a citizen, Joe Pagano, who came up with an innovative solution to the problem: allow homeowners to take the matter into their own hands and then receive some property tax relief from the city.

While the council was quick to embrace Mr. Pagano's idea, and it asked the city manager for a report on the feasibility of implementing such program, there has been no further talk about it. More crickets chirping.

Now, Mr. Pagano and the Salisbury Street Area Neighborhood Association are spearheading a new initiative to install sidewalks on the part of Flagg Street that runs from Richmond Avenue to Pleasant Street. No doubt councilors will quickly embrace that, as well, but what will they actually do about it?

After the City Council's last debacle of a meeting nearly a month ago, Councilor-at-Large Joseph M. Petty hit the nail right on the head when he acknowledged that it was time for the council to get its act together.

Mr. Petty, who is considered one of the more moderating voices on the council, said the council needs to put things behind it and start working together. He hopes the last meeting and the fallout that ensued will serve as a wake-up call to members to start focusing on bigger and more important issues.

Indeed, it's not too late for this council to turn things around and distinguish itself as an elected body. There are many good people serving on it and, contrary to what a lot of folks might think, they do have the city's best interests at heart.

They want a better Worcester and they want to make things better for those who live or run a business here. But to do that, the council must go beyond all of its talk and finally put last November's municipal election behind it.

NAME: WORCESTER CITY COUNCIL