Chances are good if you’re reading this, you’re one of those people.

You have some idea of what’s going on in municipal government. You watch City Council meetings (heck, you might even watch School Committee meetings!). You have spent time, whether you wish it or not, thinking about sidewalk shoveling, pit bulls, out of state travel, and the cleanliness of the water the city puts in the Blackstone River.

You probably also have an opinion on all of these things.

Moreover, if you’ve spent this kind of time on it, there have been nights when you’ve asked yourself (or the nearest bystander), “Why didn’t somebody ask [fill in the blank here]?” You’ve told someone that if YOU had been on the Council (or Committee), why then you would have said [again, fill in the blank here].

Well, folks, here’s your shot.

In a matter of weeks, the City Council will vote on an election calendar for the city. They will set the date of the municipal elections–a primary for September and a final election for November–which will determine the rest of the dates in the calendar. Sometime this spring, anyone can go to the Election Commission at City Hall (2nd floor) and take out papers to collect signatures for nominating someone to office. It takes the signatures of 100 district votes (certified) to get someone on the ballot for a district office, and it takes the signatures of 300 city voters (certified) to get someone on the ballot for an at-large office (including School Committee).

That’s it, by the way. You don’t pay the city any money; there aren’t other barriers.

If you even have the slightest interest in doing this yourself, or of drafting a friend, then I would highly recommend the excellent workshop run by the League of Women Voters.

Wednesday March 23, 2011
6:00 PM  –  8:00 PM  How to Run for Public Office in Worcester
Contact: Debra Starr   508-770-0912   starrsrus@msn.com
Workshop for potential Worcester City Council and School Committee candidates

Think about it.

According to the Telegram, “there will be no trash collection in Worcester or West Boylston today.”

Not sure about West Boylston, but in Worcester, trash collection is still on.  (And the truck just went down our street!)

4rilla notes that the snowy sidewalks around the city-owned South Worcester Industrial Park are unshoveled. For 3 years now, Worcester’s been trying to give part of this site to PharmaSphere, who thus far hasn’t gotten their act together.

Worcester, MA Shovelgate Redux, by 4rilla on Flickr. Creative Commons Attribution, Noncommercial, Share Alike license.

Bill Randell, who’s been bird-dogging this thing like nobody else, notes that PharmaSphere’s parent company, Converted Organics, has a poor liquidity ratio compared to others in the “Fertilizers & Agricultural Chemicals” industry.

Investors.com:

Converted Organics (COIN) ranks lowest with Current Ratio of 0.53; Potash (POT) ranks next with Current Ratio of 0.90; and Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG) ranks next lowest with Current Ratio of 1.43.

Mike Piper’s Accounting Made Simple explains that “a company’s current ratio serves to provide an assessment of the company’s ability to pay off its current liabilities (liabilities due within a year or less) using its current assets (cash and assets likely to be converted to cash within a year or less).”

So COIN owes twice as much in the coming year as they have in assets.

If I understood any of this stuff I would try to figure out whether the owners of Converted Organics have made a profit or loss off of this thing in the last 3 years.

Telegram & Gazette: “Police add cybercrime investigator”

Police declined to name the investigator because he is being immersed in undercover online work. Officials said they did not want to jeopardize investigations.

Capt. Saucier said the investigator has a degree in hardware engineering and has taken more than 10 courses about cyberbullying, online fraud and other topics.

Posted mostly because of the word “cybercrime.”