Roundtable Debates Mental Health Response Lawsuit, Potholes, and $25M Sewer Borrowing Plan

“The Department of Justice report that came out a December ago clearly said that the Worcester Police Department responds with excessive and unreasonable force to behavioral health problems and does not deescalate in many of the times where deescalation would be the most appropriate way and not the use of force.”
— Randy Feldman

By-Hank Stolz

Photo-Radio Worcester

Worcester, MA-The Radio Roundtable began with an analysis of a lawsuit filed by nonprofits against the city regarding police being the primary responders to mental health emergencies.

Randy Feldman argued the lawsuit was part of a broader national effort to change how society responds to mental health crises “The Department of Justice report that came out a December ago clearly said that the Worcester Police Department responds with excessive and unreasonable force to behavioral health problems and does not deescalate in many of the times where deescalation would be the most appropriate way and not the use of force.” George Russell expressed skepticism, suggesting such lawsuits were often a lucrative business for national law firms and pointed out that the city already had social workers who collaborate with the police, emphasizing the danger of sending social workers to volatile situations alone. Matt Wally was surprised by the lawsuit, noted it was brought by national, not local, nonprofits, and believed the city was already making efforts to address the issue.

The discussion then shifted to the persistent problem of potholes. George Russell contended that a primary cause of potholes was utility companies not properly repairing trenches after digging up streets and that the city’s public works department needed to hold them accountable. He also stressed that the city’s repair system was reactive, requiring citizens to report potholes via the 311 app. Matt Wally framed the pothole problem as a non-controversial, operational issue that should be low-hanging fruit for the city to fix, questioning if there was a procedural disagreement between the city administration and the Department of Public Works. Randy Feldman asserted that fixing the potholes was fundamentally a matter of resource allocation, suggesting funds could be reallocated from other city-funded initiatives like Discover Worcester.

The third major topic was the city’s decision to borrow over $25 million to help pay a $35 million sewer judgment to the town of Holden, with Matt Wally saying, “Yeah. I think you got to pull the bandaid off. I think this is the right approach… It’s time to do this.”