Pretty good summary. I moved here in my late twenties as well under similar circumstances. We have found things to like here and will likely be here for a while. The outdoor spaces nearby are great. The restaurants are fine, unremarkable but there's something for everyone and a few hidden gems. Still, there's a lot we don't like, and counter the post above, we're not from a yuppie white suburb. We came from a city in a different part of the country and it's been extremely disappointing to see how much worse the urban infrastructure (sidewalks, bike paths/lanes, street design, etc.) is in Worcester.

What's most frustrating to us it that this city is not walkable, and the infrastructure and the drivers themselves are extremely hostile to pedestrians, cyclists, and anybody who's not using a private motor vehicle (such as trying to get around in a wheelchair or even waiting for a bus).

People park on sidewalks all the time. Lots of streets don't have sidewalks and many of those that exist are in ankle-breaking condition. We now live in one of the 'nice' west side neighborhoods, but even there, pushing our stroller around the block is a total adventure because many of the sidewalks are in execrable shape. Our kid would get shaken baby syndrome from all the cracks and tree roots if we used the sidewalks in some spots - again, this is the 'nice' part of town, and they're even worse in poorer neighborhoods. We end up using the street for walking most of the time, resulting in arrogant entitled drivers in their F-250s buzzing an inch away from us and our baby at 40+ mph on a residential street. It makes my blood boil but the police and city government don't seem to care at all. When it snows (not this winter evidently), it gets even worse because many people don't bother to clear their sidewalks, and even when they do, the plows push the snow back onto the sidewalks making it impossible to use them. Again, the city doesn't care. No matter how many times I report residents and businesses for uncleared sidewalks, they keep not doing anything about it. We have concluded that the city just doesn't care about you unless you're in a car, which really sucks. And I'm an able bodied person in my mid-thirties. I can scarcely imagine how hard it must be to get around for folks with limited mobility.

This city has so much potential but in our view, it's failing to live up to it because it doesn't meet these basic livability standards. Even if you don't personally bike/walk much, the lack of infrastructure for these activities makes city life worse because it prevents local neighborhood business nodes from flourishing. There's a spot about a half mile from us with a coffee shop, barbecue joint, bakery, and bodega all right next to each other. But we can't walk there safely with the stroller, so we don't use those businesses much. The bakery's about to close, in fact - and while I don't know the specific reasons, it's pretty evident that they'd have done better financially if more of the relatively affluent folks who live nearby could enjoy a safe and pleasant walk down for a pastry on a weekend morning. But the city makes that kind of thing impossible for many.