If you thought 2025 brought a lot of troubling changes, you ain’t seen nothing yet! But as the old saying goes, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” So, for my first column of the New Year, here are some bold predictions for 2026.

The town can reconfigure all the intersections it wants, but the next driver that comes to a complete stop at a STOP sign will be the first.

Our reliable local Hamas chapter will place yet another anti-Israel article on the Town Meeting warrant.

Moderator Bill Carroll will call for a vote to “lay on the table” every Town Meeting article.

The radical chic ladies of “Wakefield and Friends Protest” will continue to display their hand-made (or is it “handmaid?”) artwork at Main and Water streets every Saturday morning. No one will have the heart to tell them it’s not 1930s Germany.

In recognition of America’s 250th birthday, the Wakefield Human Rights Commission will insist that local boards replace the Pledge of Allegiance with a land acknowledgement at the start of all meetings.

Whenever they can get away with it, State Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian and State Sen. Jason Lewis will continue to pretend Rep. Donald Wong doesn’t exist.

Speaking of Wong, the popular GOP state rep will easily brush way all challengers and cruise to another electoral victory in November.

The Christmas tradition of laying wreaths at the graves of veterans will continue at Forest Glade Cemetery, as will the tradition of local elected leaders being MIA for the ceremony. They will all, however, make sure they are seen at local Pride and Juneteenth events.

The Fence Viewers will be replaced by AI.

The Youth Council will lobby for lowering the voting age to 16, and local elected officials will bat their eyes and swoon.

Following the Town election in April, Jonathan Chines will be the next Town Council “chair,” unless the board decides to table the matter.

The School Department will continue to welcome increasing numbers of non-English-speaking students (known euphemistically as “multi-language-learners”) into local schools. The first English word they will pick up is, “like.”

Local residents will continue to rail against any and all new development as town officials wring their hands about the “housing shortage.”

A dive team will determine once and for all if Moby Dick still lies at the bottom of a pond in Edgewater Park. They won’t find the Great White Whale, but they will recover the souvenir mug I lost at Pleasure Island in 1968.

The town of Wakefield will announce that it is annexing the town of Saugus. The Wakefield School Committee will immediately cancel the Sachem logo.

Well, I must stop now, as my crystal ball is fogging up. (It’s either that or cataracts.)
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[This column originally appeared in the January 16, 2026 Wakefield Daily Item.]