The price of apathy
Last Saturday’s Special Election, which saw 18 percent of the voters give 100 percent of Wakefield homeowners a hefty tax increase, brought back a hazy memory from about 40 years ago.
As a member of the Board of Assessors in the 1980s, Paul Faler was a fierce advocate for residential taxpayers. As I recall it, Paul narrowly lost re-election one year, and the next year he ran again in an attempt to return to the Board.
At a Wakefield League of Women Voters candidates’ night, he was asked, if he lost a second time, would he run again the following year as the taxpayers’ voice. Paul smiled at the question.
“At some point,” he said, “people have to save themselves.”
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Tags: bike lanes, Blosoms at the Beebe, Board of Assessors, education, election, electorate, homeowners, Humor, Jonathan Chines, League of Women Voters, LWV, Mark Sardella, Mike Conley, Opinion, Paul Faler, People's Paradise, Phil Porter, Phyllis Hull, Politics, Proposition 2 1/2, Sam Benedetto, schools, solar panels, special election, TAW, taxes, taxpayers, Taxpayers Association of Wakefield, Town Council, townies, voters, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield natives, WMHS, Yes for WMHS
‘Yes for WMHS’ raised $12,877
[From the Thursday, March 9, 2023 Wakefield Daily Item]
WAKEFIELD — The “Yes for WMHS” campaign raised over $12,000 to fund its advocacy for the new Wakefield Memorial High School building project, although nearly one-quarter of the total amount raised came from one individual.
In campaign finance reports filed with the Town Clerk, the Committee reported raising $7,657 between July 15, 2022 and Dec. 31, 2022. A subsequent filing on March 3 reported another $5,220 raised between Jan. 1, 2023 and Feb. 23, 2023, for a total of $12,877.
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Tags: campaign, campaign finance, contributions, donations, education, election, expenditures, fundraising, high school, March 11, money, Politics, schools, vote, Wakefield High School. Wakefield MA, Yes for WMHS
Schools of thought
Watching two school building projects unfold virtually side by side in time and space has provided a unique window into what happens when environmental and educational activism collide at the local level.
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Tags: activists, Amazon Rain Forest, Breakheart Reservation, Chelsea, civics, Conservation Commission, diversity, education, environment, equity, Everett, forest, Hemlock Rd., Humor, inclusion, Malden, Mark Sardella, MSBA, NEMT, Northeast Metro Tech, Opinion, Politics, privilege, Revere, schools, Shaun F. Beasley, social justice, trade school, vocational education, Voke, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Memorial High School, wildlife habitat, WMHS, woods
All aboard the Equity Express!
The plan to get you out of your single-family home and private vehicle is proceeding apace as we forge ahead toward our collective future.
The latest phase in this great leap forward has been promulgated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which is in the process of forcing it on local cities and towns with MBTA service, like Wakefield.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 8 Comments
Tags: apartments, automobiles, bicycle, bike, Board of Appeals, building, bus, by right, Cabot Cabot & Forbes, Cambridge, carbon, carpooling, cars, Climate Change, commuter rail, construction, cycling, developers, DHCD, emissions, energy, equity, Erin Kokinda, Fabians, home prices, home values, housing, housing prices, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MBTA, Mike Kenneally, MTA, multi-family housing, Opinion, pedestrian, Politics, private property, railroad, ride-sharing, roads, social justice, suburbs, TDM, train, train station, trains, transit, transportation, Transportation Demand Management, Wakefield Daily ItemNew York, Wakefield MA, Watertown, zoning
Meeting expectations
There were few surprises at last Saturday’s Special Town Meeting, other than the fact that the start was delayed 45 minutes to allow several hundred people to stroll in fashionably late.
Who could have known that this much-anticipated and highly promoted Special Town Meeting would attract such a crowd? And you can hardly blame people for not knowing about the check-in process when they’ve never been to a Town Meeting before.
You mean we can’t just sashay in and sit down?
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Tags: Anthony Guardia, ballot, children, classroom, education, educators, homeowners, Humor, Mark Sardella, Open Town Meeting, Opinion, parents, Politics, punctuality, school, schools, senior citizens, social security, special election, Special Town Meeting, Steely Dan, students, taxes, teachers, vote voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, William Carroll
A very Special Town Meeting
In just over a week, Phase 1 of the campaign for a new Wakefield Memorial High School will be complete.
On Saturday, Jan. 28, the Special Town Meeting will be called to order and hundreds of people will pack the high school field house to hear school administrators and other town officials drone on at length about the dire need for a new high school.
Most of those present will have never attended a Town Meeting before and likely never will again. They will be there at the behest of the local education lobby, which has put out an urgent call for warm bodies to come out and vote “Yes for WMHS” on Jan. 28.
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Tags: accreditation, Central Committee, Climate Change, cost, Critical Race Theory, CRT, curriculum, development, Dolbeare School, education, educators, Greenwood School, home values, housing, Mark Sardella, natural gas, NEASC, Opinion, Politics, School Committee, schools, special election, students, taxes, teachers, Town Meeting, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Memorial High School, Wakefield Warrior Logo, WHS, WMHS, Yes for WMHS
Here comes Santa Claus
I’ve taken to heart recent advice from readers that I should “do a little investigative journalism.” And since it’s my firm conviction that the public has a constitutional right to know what their local officials and others will be receiving in their stockings and under their trees on Christmas morning, my digging has uncovered Santa’s secret list.
Due to inflation, Santa’s list is shorter than usual this year, which will come as a relief to those who didn’t make the list.
To Sam Stella: a bright red MAGA hat.
To Jonathan Chines: the Beatles’ Taxman on vinyl.
To the 2022 Wakefield Warrior football team: a trip to Superbowl LVII on Feb. 12.
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Tags: Amy McLeod, Beatles, Christmas, copyright, Donald Trump, Dr. Douglas Lyons, Fence Viewers, Humor, Jason Lewis, Jeff Kehoe, Jonathan Chines, MAGA, Mark Sardella, Mehreen Butt, News, Northeast Metro Tech, Ohio State University, Politics, Sam Stella, Santa Claus, Shaun F. Beasley, Smart Brevity, Taxman, Unitarian Universalist, Voke, voters, Wakefield Bowladrome, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield Police Department, Wakefield Public Schools, Wakefield Town Council, Warrior logo, Winter Solstice, WMHS
The art of the sham
Well, at least now we have confirmation that, when it comes to replacing the old Wakefield Warrior logo, what we knew all along was in fact true.
The logo that was plagiarized from Ohio State University, which the School Department tried to quietly roll out in 2019, is the one that they wanted all along to replace the original Wakefield Warrior logo and they never had any intention of considering any other option.
So, the entire three-year process leading up to this point was a sham and a total waste of everyone’s time and effort.
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Tags: Art, Art Department, attorneys, Dr. Doug Lyons, high school logo, law, lawyers, logo, Mark Sardella, Native Americans, Ohio State University, Opinion, OSU, plagiarism, policy, Politics, School Committee, School Superintendent, schools, students, teachers, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Memorial High School, Wakefield Public Schools, Wakefield Warrior Logo, WHS, WMHS
Election central
For the past few years, we’ve been subjected to endless lectures informing us that voting is incredibly difficult and we must do everything in our power to make it easier for voters to participate in elections.
Anything less would be VOTER SUPPRESSION!
We’ve been told that democracy shouldn’t place even the slightest burden on the voter, for whom casting a ballot must not require any effort whatsoever.
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Tags: ballot, centralized voting, democracy, disabled, drivers license, early volting, Election Day, elections, Galvin Middle School, high school, illegal aliens, mail-in ballot, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, News, Opinion, parking, Politics, polling place, polls, precinct, professional development, schools, senior citizens, teachers, vote, voter suppression, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefielld MA
School choice
Most of us know at least one person who grew up in Wakefield, attended Wakefield Public Schools and then had to reluctantly leave his hometown as it became increasingly unaffordable.
Well, living in Wakefield is about to get even more expensive, if the current plans for a new high school go through.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: 1960, Andy Bray, ballot committee, building, building project, cost, Dolbeare School, economy, Galvin Middle School, inflation, Ken Duval, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Michael Scollo, Opinion, Politics, Robert Bradley, senior citizens, taxes, Television, Town Election, Town Meeting, TV, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Public Schools, WMHS, Woodville School, working families, Yes for WMHS
Mark Sardella 