This weeks' #WorcesterWednesday conversation with Mayor Petty dealt mainly with the Tax Rate that was set by the City Council on Tuesday (Tax Line 284 was passed by a 7-4 vote, meaning $17.00 for Residential & $35.16 for Business per $1,000 valuation).

We also touched on the retirement of longtime City Councilor, and former Mayor Konnie Lukes. Konnie was in public service for 40 years and on the City Council for 30.

After multiple Swastikas were found at Worcester State University last week, the BIRT (Bias Incident Response Team)at WSU has moved into action.

Maureen Stokes is the Assistant Vice President for Communications at WSU, and she joined us to talk about how the University is handling the incident and what type of things they are doing to help educate the community on racial and cultural sensitivity.

Listen to our conversation with Worcester Mayor Joe Petty every Wednesday morning at 7:00am on AM 830, WCRN in Massachusetts and live streaming anywhere at RadioWorcester.Com

Use #WorcesterWednesday to join the conversation. You can also Text or Call us live on air (6-10am weekdays) at 774-364-8255

The tax rate debate rages every year, should it be more favorable to the businesses or to the residents? Alex Guardiola, Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy for the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, explains why a more favorable business rate is beneficial to the growth of the City.

District 1 City Councilor Sean Rose wants to look into the idea of putting a cap on the number of retail tobacco permits in Worcester.

He says capping the number of permits would better enable the city to hold repeat offender establishments accountable, and it would give the City the ability to spread out the concentration of tobacco businesses, away from low-income communities.

Article here: https://www.telegram.com/news/20191208/worcester-councilor-wants-to-cap-tobacco-sales-permits

Ronny LeBlanc is the author of the book 'Monsterland', the host of 'The Monsterland Podcast', and now the star of Travel Channel's newest breakout series 'Expedition Bigfoot'. Ronny joined us to talk about his new primetime premier coming up this Sunday (Dec. 8th) at 10pm on Travel.

Learn More: www.travelchannel.com/shows/expedition-bigfoot

The Music of Baseball (12/05/19) - 'Santa's a Sox Fan' by Ben O'Connor

Listen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJRMD9brxd4

Worcester Mayor Joe Petty joins us every Wednesday morning at 7:00oam to talk about everything going on in the great City of Worcester.

Former WFD Lt. and Local 1009 VP Don Courtney joined Hank this morning to reflect on the 20th anniversary of the Worcester 6 and The Cold Storage Fire on December 3rd, 1999.

Hear the latest on the first real winter storm of the season with Worcester City Manager Ed Augustus. All you need to know in under 10 minutes.