Neal 'Neil' McNamara
@Neal_McNamara
Followers
1,697
Following
1,983
Media
583
Statuses
4,174
News editor/writer for Patch in Massachusetts. Based in Worcester. Focus on the quasar in the mist. Email: neal.mcnamara @patch .com.
Worcester, MA
Joined January 2013
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Bielsa
• 137924 Tweets
stevie nicks
• 72894 Tweets
harry styles
• 70133 Tweets
الاهلي
• 64341 Tweets
Brunson
• 53012 Tweets
#SmackDown
• 51023 Tweets
Alec Baldwin
• 42593 Tweets
Caitlin Clark
• 30110 Tweets
Knicks
• 29508 Tweets
フェルナンデス
• 23980 Tweets
FanDuel
• 23622 Tweets
#ウルトラマンアーク
• 16995 Tweets
FERNANDES
• 15145 Tweets
Reed Sheppard
• 11263 Tweets
ハロルド
• 11220 Tweets
三連休初日
• 10384 Tweets
I worked at KIRO briefly in 2014. One morning I mistakenly spilled coffee in the office kitchen. Dori talked mocked me on his show and tried to put my photo on his website to shame me (???) Just a mean, shit person to so many people for so long.
38
47
449
Truly one of the most tortured headlines ever, especially given the lead paragraph
8
39
133
Fellas, is it an assault on democracy to allow apartments to maybe, theoretically get built in your town?
23
15
108
Fulfilled a goal of biking from Worcester to Pawtucket. RI has done an incredible job with the bike path along the Blackstone with great dam views. Also got to visit the world’a greatest bar: Walker’s Pub in Blackstone
4
4
104
In 2018, two Seattle police officers helped WA 3% members forcibly remove me from a rally I was covering because I wouldn’t let them look through my backpack
While clearing City Hall Plaza, police took custody of a heavy wooden barrier with bolts protruding on the outside.
191
19
69
3
26
90
It’s my last day in Seattle after about a decade. My first apt on Capitol Hill was $450. One block from the light rail station, wasn’t even a pit yet. Almost all the people I knew then have left. I only saw a syringe in the wild once. I really like Olympia and Spokane too.
8
0
83
Worcester is repaving Mill St. and will add bike lanes, angering a few neighbors. A city council candidate opposed to the plan has posted photos of the project he appears to have taken while driving, illegal under the MA hands-free law, and highlighting the need for safer roads.
4
6
83
I'm stunned at how this exchange the Seattle mayor's spokesman went so terribly wrong.
17
23
71
The city released two text messages showing a Worcester police union leader was texting a city councilor about taking items off the agenda related to bodycams, but there's soooo much history here
6
22
73
The Worcester City Council voted for a local law regulating crisis pregnancy centers in 2022. But texts show the city attorney avoided working on the measure with advice from the MA state attorney general's office.
8
21
73
Hi 410 followers: Tell me your favorite horror movie and I'll use it in an article I'm writing about ... people's fav horror movies
38
8
56
Welcomed my daughter Josie into the world this week, she came home today and is "the pride of the neighborhood."
@PatHozen
did all the work.
19
0
59
1) Safe Seattle mad at The Stranger for quoting Spek. 2) Safe Seattle posts 2017 Spek screenshot of Trump threat (lite) 3) Safe Seattle ppl call for Secret Service intervention. 4) Secret Service intervenes. 5) Safe Seattle denies involvement.
2
15
56
The Worcester Planning Board just OK'd a 90-unit hotel-to-housing conversion, the first of its kind in the city. Lots of neighborhood opposition (not NIMBYs, they said). A similar Pine Street Inn project in Dorchester is facing much stiffer opposition.
3
5
53
For the first time, Worcester has a transportation department. The commissioner says it's time to build streets for all types of users, not just drivers.
3
10
53
The shady COVID test site in Worcester has been shut down by the state effective immediately.
3
13
51
Absolutely a must read because it finally grants the victim her due, but also because of the wider political context (of 1997, of today)
1
8
52
Can't stop thinking about this thing - from a reporting standpoint, viscerally, on what this says about what kind of place Seattle actually is
8
10
51
I got 337 pages of complaints/code violations about properties owned by a couple whose Gage Street building in Worcester burned in May, killing 4 people. One former tenant said he used to think jumping out a window would be the only way to escape a fire.
13
11
51
Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr./Sebadoh/Folk Implosion is playing a show in my yard in Worcester. Tickets just went on sale:
9
7
47
"What country are they from?" was one of the first questions shouted at a hectic meeting Tuesday in Worcester about a plan to open six shelter rooms at a church in the Greendale neighborhood.
11
9
43
Per-vote spending for each winning Seattle Council candidate (w/Aug. 6 totals + ind $)
#waelex
Solomon $52.50
Lewis $48.82
Orion $42.96
Tavel $38.34
Sawant $37.86
Scott $26.91
Pugel $22.61
Pedersen $22.15
Morales $16.64
Juarez $11.71
Herbold $10.80
Sattler $7.34
3
16
41
News helicopters have been hovering over my neighborhood for like 7 hours. The most wasteful, noise polluting, braindead way to cover a news story like this. Why is a reporter on the street not sufficient?
4
2
40
Just became the first person ever* to hike the entire** 15-mile East West Trail in Worcester. Story soon.
5
2
37
Some of the world's biggest companies employ the most workers in Washington getting SNAP benefits. Here's the story, with an eye toward gig workers
1
22
37
My stepmom retired from the
@AP
photo desk yesterday after 32 years! I don't know anyone else who has worked for one company for so long and with as much dedication
2
3
36
Just went to take a look at the crosswalk where Candice Asare-Yeboah got hit. In just 10 minutes I saw: a UPS truck pull up and partially block the view onto the street, plus plenty of speeding cars, including 2 DPW truck and a school bus that crossed the center line
3
5
36
Patch is hiring in the Seattle area for an editor role. The company is growing and we pay a living wage. Contact me with questions/inquiries: neal.mcnamara
@patch
.com
1
14
36
Worcester hired an independent investigator in 2019 to look into a road rage allegation against then-chief Steven Sargent. Former city manager Ed Augustus rejected the findings, according to city documents.
0
14
35
Worcester is debating whether to start using a new crime forecasting software called ShotSpotter Connect. Emails show police had already signed an agreement to adopt it weeks before the issue was made public.
1
18
34
The Globe should have a Worcester (and Springfield) bureau to avoid glazed coverage like this. Nothing like factually wrong, but so many bits and pieces paints the wrong picture.
3
5
33
The Nativity School in Worcester is preparing for the possibility it will be stripped of its affiliation with the Catholic church over its flying of Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ flags
3
5
31
Filed a few records requests probing how Ed Augustus got the job as the state's housing chief. The gov's office only turned over his resume and declined to answer specific questions, including about other candidates who may have been in the running.
2
5
32
At the end of today’s workday I’m going on 12 weeks of paternity leave until Feb. 5. Rusk never sleeps!
5
0
31
Dug deeper into MassDOT data today (with their help) and made a map of Mill Street crashes in redesigned zone. Still below average compared to similar periods dating back to 2014.
1
10
31
Boston police declined to release bodycam footage under a records request saying the video (recorded outdoors on a public street) was "compiled out of the public view" - literally untrue. A small example why bodycams don't by themselves increase transparency. Appeal decision:
3
11
31
Saucier was a deputy chief last summer when he interviewed for the job. Now as interim chief, he's in charge of the department budget.
8
11
29
Worcester City Council votes in favor of asking the city attorney to explore regulations on crisis pregnancy centers. Vote:
Nguyen Y
Haxhiaj Y
King Y
Russell Y
Petty Y
Rose Y
Rivera N
Bergman N
Colorio N
Toomey N
Mero-Carlson N
1
4
29
All you need to know about this thing (the TV thing) is that they suggest putting all addicts on a prison island
5
15
29
Worcester's new transportation department has released its first set of big safety changes for Grove, Stafford and Burncoat streets - and they are major changes, including bike lanes, road diets, flashing beacons: read more here:
1
5
28
Moved into a new home today. There’s a tiny little mystery door in a closet
5
0
28
I've covered small-town races in places like Indiana, Michigan, Connecticut, but this D2 thing is the most small-town weird campaign miasma I can remember
3
7
27
And this is probably the last long story I'll write for Patch in Seattle — moving next week to cover central Massachusetts Patch sites.
11
0
26
Every election in Massachusetts is a reminder there’s no one place to get results. The state doesn’t do it, and local results are usually split between towns (like the 1st Worcester race) that report totals at wildly different times. It’s crazy to me every time.
Hey help me out are any of the news outlets doing live results reporting for the first worcester district state sen race? Seeing only statewide and suffolk county races
5
0
13
3
4
25
The atmosphere at Tech Pizza is unbeatable. The Bart Simpsons, death of Superman arch poster, no Apple Pay, low prices, the heaviest pizzeria carpet you’ve ever seen.
3
0
25
Why do city leaders think sports megaprojects are THE answer? No mention here of where the 100 mill will come fro, which is either a reporting error or a big red flag
Holyoke officials hope $100M sports complex puts city on map as ‘sports capital’ of NE
0
0
1
2
3
25
No candidate in Worcester has taken 54% in a primary race in decades. Closest was D2 Mero-Carlson in 2017 (53%)
Even better: Districtwide,
@Etel_Haxhiaj
took FIFTY-FOUR PERCENT* OF THE VOTE in a FOUR WAY RACE!!
3
7
44
0
4
26
The new
@peopleforbikes
cities ranking is out, and yeah Worcester is near the bottom in Mass., New England and on planet Earth. Nowhere to go but up!
1
6
24
Father’s Day ride on Mill Street was great. Josie still getting used to the concept of bicycling, just like some people are still getting used to the concept of parking legally
1
1
25
You can't turn a profit fixing homelessness, so no one in this country will ever do anything about it.
0
2
24
Got soaked over the weekend riding the new Mill Street bike lanes, just as an effort to delete them is beginning in city council.
2
2
24
If you see someone riding a big yellow bike in Worcester, they're helping build the city's transportation future.
0
6
25
A story I wrote about how to identify poison ivy is outperforming by 10:1 in pageviews another story I spent several months working on and lost many nights' sleep over. So let's keep it going:
3
1
24
I’m at a protest along train tracks in Harvard, MA. Activists have erected a scaffold to stop a coal train heading to a plant in Bow, NH. Train is a few miles away, but they know activists are here
1
14
19
"We're not building a city for the 1950s," D5 Councilor-elect Etel Haxhiaj said at last night's ZBA meeting.
1
0
24
Some talk at city council tonight about "more" crashes on Mill Street after new striping. Not according to MassDOT crash data for the street Jan. 1 - March 12:
2024, 9 crashes
2023, 24 crashes
2022, 16 crashes
2021, 11 crashes
New Mill Street design funded! Just in time: there are two orders on today's council agenda about Mill Street, both not pro on the recent re-striping.
1
1
6
2
7
24
Actually, I also got this excellent Charles Mudede exchange with an evasive Durkan flack
1
3
23
At least a dozen people were cleared from a camp along the Blackstone River in Worcester last week. The sweep pleases property owners and passersby, but leaves the homeless residents more vulnerable, one outreach worker said.
0
7
23
Key question asked by an evicted person here: why doesn’t Worcester just open a sanctioned camp instead of endlessly pushing campers around?
Another camp demolition, this time at "The Mountain," illustrates the city's ineffective and cruel homelessness policy
2
9
23
1
4
22
The SNAP work requirement is corporate welfare. Requiring people to work 28 hours a week to get SNAP means just a whole lot more people working part-time, hungry, tired, not going anywhere
1
7
21
Do yourself a favor and watch this video of a grown man wearing a "Let the voters decide" sweatshirt do little spins on an office chair before rolling it out the door into the fucking park lot
3
5
19
So weird. The state of RI has asked the feds to help punish Providence for building a new bike lane along the (really great) downtown waterfront. The bike lane apparently violates some 1999 agreement. Why would the state do that to people
Federal attorneys have now become involved with the ongoing conflict over the South Water Street bike lane project, which narrows the street to one lane for cars while expanding a bike path to two lanes.
3
2
3
2
4
22
I saw a sign this weekend at a McDonald's in Eastern WA advertising $12.50/hour to start. I made that not too long ago at a Seattle-area paper. Many local reporters you rely on are struggling to survive and deserve so much more.
1
1
22
This person is one of the two quoted sources in the Worcester daily newspaper's story on sex-ed curriculum today for anyone looking for broader context
2
8
22
Waiting a long time for Seattle to fill your public records request? You're not alone.
4
15
21
To think the city manager can or should fulfill a promise to prohibit shelters in residential neighborhoods is odd. Hotel Grace operated for years in a residential neighborhood. SMOC is in a neighborhood. Homeless people are also, you know, residents.
2
0
21
Rhode Island is kicking our ass on this one. More people need to do this ride if we want a path connecting Worcester to Woonsocket, where it's mostly built all the way to Providence.
5
1
21
Won a public records appeal this week dating to February over a single email only for them to hand over:
2
1
21
My wife stacked two old dog beds to save space, creating one very plush bed. Now both dogs spend most of their time, day and night, menacing each other to gain control of it. Neither one can enjoy the bed for very long because of the constant struggle. Two old beds.
1
0
21
Looks like Worcester has adopted the Community Preservation Act with all precincts reporting. The CPA was up by a wider 10-point margin earlier in the night
2
2
21
On Aug. 10, the MA Secretary of the Commonwealth ruled that
@TweetWorcester
had improperly withheld public records when they redacted the names of police crowd-control weapons in a request I made. They (wrongly) used an exemption for records about building/HVAC blueprints.
2
9
21
But the thriftiest campaign award goes to the library levy committee: $2.86 per vote (79,722 so far)
1
1
21
A tiny house village for the homeless was supposed to have opened in Worcester in 2023. It didn't, partly due to the dissolution of a nonprofit development corporation that's been working on the east side since 1987.
1
9
19
Seattle police (and potentially the King County Sheriff's Office) will soon be able to quickly hack iPhones with a new tool called GrayKey. The tool will not be reviewed under the Seattle surveillance ordinance.
5
23
20
Per this doc, the money Worcester police wants to use on a drone is an earmark in the FY2022 state budget. The line item says the $100K should be used for an explosives K9 and "de-escalation equipment" - no specific language on drones.
Many of you have asked for the report on the Unmanned Aircraft System, ahead of the Public Safety Committee meeting at 5:30 pm. This will also be included in the April 26th City Council agenda. I cannot attach a pdf, so, you get it in google doc.
0
7
10
2
2
19
A Worcester councilor who owns rental property and advises MA’s biggest landlords group filed a conflict of interest statement while opposing an eviction moratorium. The document was never disclosed publicly, an apparently common practice among councilors.
1
5
19
For all the Worcester trash bag policy heads out there: supermarkets in Northampton sell city bags out on a rack like any other product. What’s stopping our stores from doing this? $20 body wash and racks of beer are out on the floor, but Worcester bags are always hidden!
1
0
19
Going to be an interesting year in Worcester (city) politics if this is Chandler's retirement. She's been in the state Senate since 2001.
2
3
18
Here's a pic of the $3.4M home of Starbucks exec who said Seattle cares more about "illegally parked RVs" than kids and families. For whatever reason, it's the only one in his Kirkland neighborhood blurred out on Google Maps.
1
5
15
Confused? This came about after 4 people died in a fire in a deteriorating triple decker, and a roof collapse at another apartment left dozens homeless.
In this week's Worcesteria,
@ocvictor
writes about a city rental registration program that has lots of people confused.
0
4
5
3
3
19
After 14 months, a records request I filed with Durkan's office closed today. Didn't get much out of it, except confirming they selectively hand out press releases. This one announcing O'Toole's resignation, as I far as I can tell went to one outlet (at 6 a.m. day of)
2
1
18
Rainbow over Shrewsbury Street after rain squall 🌈
0
0
18
A Worcester principal says she made a judgement error inviting an ex-official accused of sex abuse to read to elementary school students - the abuse claim is well known in Worcester, but the victim stepped forward in October for the first time
0
3
18
Not for nothing, Durkan got a donation on April 30 from M-PAC, a PAC that Amazon donates to pretty heavily
2
3
17
The 21 schools in the Worcester Diocese will start the year with an updated student handbook deeming students must "conduct themselves at school in a manner consistent with their biological sex."
20
9
18
The King County Council has delayed a vote on Tim Burgess' appointment to the T-Mobile Park board. Council chair cites new information about Burgess' ties to a new political action committee that's looking to influence (city) Council elections
0
6
18
Started weeping while reading this because I tried for so long to work in tech for the cool-sounding perks, the possibility of a salary over $30K, etc. ... and then when I got there I found out how abnormally bad and demoralizing it all is.
2
7
18
Yeah the like 100 Afghan refugees randomly forced to live in Worcester shouldn’t get a say in what goes on here, says a guy with a $29 Kohl’s button down
0
0
18
Took a look at # of mayors office records requests open/closed in 2018 compared to 2017. One thing that jumps out is 14 filed in 2018 are still open *today.* That includes two of my requests, one which is almost 1 year old.
0
8
18
I’ve spent a good amount of time in the woods, but never saw beaver activity. I thought this only happened in cartoons
0
0
18
Glad to see the local daily finally get around to covering this story!
Worcester transfers Police Department investigations commander following T&G report
@BPetrishenTG
@WorcesterPD
#Worcester
0
4
4
2
3
17
Even the city's biggest paper has had to really fucking sue Worcester over records. All this to say: put more effort into local affairs than the stuff on TV. You're much more likely to get kneecapped by your own city hall.
1
2
17