I hope you're a spiderman fan.
The closest thing I offered to an olive branch
Sent July 16th, 2024, only to CityManager@worcesterma.gov
Please pay me to support the work I’m doing?
Also available for consulting, depending on the project.
Hi Eric, I feel like I owe you an apology
I keep realizing how drastically I underestimated the mess you were coming into.
I know I've created a contentious dynamic, and I am sorry about that. In theory, we should be working on the same things, not against each other.
I'm sorry for making some of these things personal - but it's been what's necessary to fight propaganda, and bring the focus back to the problems you're supposed to be resolving.
I did at one point think you were entirely self-centered, but you've convinced enough of my friends and colleagues that you're a good person that I believe you must have integrity and actually care about Worcester
But I think you're being realistic, that this is simply the middle of the your career, and ensuring to maintain connections and relationships for yourself.
I think that means you cannot do your job well. If I'm even slightly right about some of the power dynamics between companies organizations, "organizations" and the city administration, then I understand why it may appear that you are not able to accomplish anything.
But I feel like there are times - tonight's constable discussion for example - when you could do things for the better and you instead make things much worse. I struggle to reconcile how you can justify this - you can't possibly want those families evicted, but you're making it easier for that to happen more.
My belief about that position is that if you set aside your own self interest, if you set aside maintaining relationships that benefited you more than the constituents
I know you must know I'm right more than half the time, and also that it probably sucks so hard not to be able to agree with me.
What drives me these days is Uncle Ben's saying - With great Power comes great responsibility.
I do what I do these days because I can, because I have recognized I am powerful and can make an impact and I want make the world a better place for many people, and I see Worcester as a place that can be wildly better.
If that's what we both want, then why are we working against each other on so hard on so many fronts?
You're supposed to be the most powerful man in this city.
I couldn't manage my own business, it's why I sold it. I can't imagine how much of a mess, how complex the infrastructure you have to deal with is.
And I know none of these things are your fault, but they are your responsibility.
Worcester is going, and it's going well, but it isn't going in a direction where people who live here are going to be happy in five or ten years. I don't like that, and I'm sure you don't either. Maybe if we worked together, Worcester could be a place that doesn't systematically squeeze out it's most vulnerable.
I'm probably gonna continue campaigning against you a bit, and then pivot to campaigning against your job itself as we get signatures for changing the charter. My new argument may effectively be "You're doing the best you can, but Worcester is working against you" and I'm hoping that from that perspective maybe I'll notice more good in your impact on this city.
I understand you may not be able to reply to this, I understand you may never be up for getting coffee, and may continue to avoid me at Lunch on the Common. But I want you to know that I don't think you're a bad person, even if we have strong differences in some values.
See you around.
Honey didn’t get me anywhere either guys. Vinegar gets things moving.