Archive for the ‘Columns & Essays’ Category
Subject matter experts
When you attend a lot of municipal meetings, you come to learn that each board has its own pet buzzwords and phrases. But one phrase favored across the board by local government bodies is the term “subject matter experts.” Town boards and committees rely on these subject matter experts to inform and validate their actions […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: automobiles, Bicycle lane, bicycles, bike, bikes, cars, Climate Change, cyclists, drivers, election, Fire Chief, Mark Sardella, Mehreen Butt, Michaek Sullivan, motor vehicles, North Avenue, Opinion, Police Chief, Politics, road, Safe Streets Wakefield, safety, Steven Skory, street, subject matter experts, Town Council, Town Councilors, travel lanes, voters, Wakefield Daily Item
Normalizing Inauguration Day
Monday, January 20 is Inauguration Day, and while many of you will be celebrating, please try to have some consideration for those who are mourning the Death of Democracy.
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 8 Comments
Tags: America, Canada, Capitol, D.C., democracy, Donald Trump, elections, Germany, Greenland, Harry S. Truman, History, Humor, inaguration, John F. Kennedy, joke, Mark Sardella, Opinion, Politics, President, Television, TV, United States, unity, Wakefield Daily Item, Washington, White House
Reality bites
Cycling and farmers markets go together like avocado and toast. Wakefield’s Farmers Market even offers a bike valet service for the convenience of its cycling customers during the market season. And now, Wakefield‘s first true bike lane begins right next to the Farmers Market location at Hall Park. A match made in heaven, right? Perhaps […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: advocacy, ambulance, AnnMarie Gallivan, automobiles, avocado toast, bicycle, bicycle lanes, bicycles, bike, bike lane, bikes, cars, commuter rail, COVID, cycling, cyclists, farmers' market, Humor, Jonathan Chines, Mark Sardella, motorists, North Avenue, Opinion, Politics, road, safety, street, Town Council, train, vehicles, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Lean and green
It’s both humbling and gratifying when one’s advice is taken to heart, even if it’s for the wrong reasons and after the horse has left the barn. In this space last June, I wrote: “One of the Environmental Sustainability Committee’s Guiding Principles is, ‘Reduce, reuse, recycle and compost.’” I added, “They could start by reducing […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 4 Comments
Tags: advice, climate, compost, drill, education, electric vehicle, environmental, green business, Green Space, Humor, Mark Sardella, net-zero, Open Meeting Law, Opinion, policy, Politics, recycling, reduce, reuse, Scot McCauley, subcommittees, sustainability, Town Council, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Much of the attention at Saturday morning’s Town Meeting will be focused on Article 4, the town’s latest plan to comply with the state’s so-called MBTA Communities Act, mandating by-right multifamily zoning in all Massachusetts communities served by the MBTA. Also sure to spark some discussion is a plan to put solar panels on the […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: anti-Semitism, antisemitism, Article 8, BDS, Fight Hate, Gaza. Middle East, Israel, Mark Sardella, MBTA Cmmunities Act, Oct. 7, October 7, Opinion, Palestine, Politics, solar panels, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield Massachusetts, WHRC
Idle thoughts
From the front lines of the War on Gas-powered cars This week, the Town Council decided that Wakefield should comply with a virtually unknown, 15-year-old state regulation requiring “No Idling” signs to be displayed on school grounds. The issue came up after Councilor Bob Vincent did one of his signature deep dives into the legal […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: automobiles, bike lanes, cars, DEP, drivers, Fight Hate, fossil fuels, gasoline, Humor, idling, laws, Lt. Joseph Anderson, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MassDEP, motorists, No Idling, Opinion, parking, Politics, Robert Vincent, schools, signs, Stop signs, Thomas Mullen, Town Council, Traffic Advisory Committee, trucks, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Public Schools
Happy Columbus Day!
This may shock some of you, but within living memory the discovery of America was regarded as a good thing. Now, instead of learning about an adventurous explorer who discovered a whole New World, school children are taught that they live on stolen land and are descended from genocidal colonizers. And we wonder why kids […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: America, Christopher Columbus, colonizers, Columbus Day, education, exploration, explorer, First Peoples, Franklin D. Roosevelt, History, holiday, human sacrifice, Humor, Indians, Indigenous peoples, Italian-Americans, land acknowledgement, Mark Sardella, Native Americans, New World, North America, Opinion, Politics, Samuel Eliot Morison, schools, slavery, tribes, United States, Wakefield Daily Item, war
Greens gone wild
Things got a little hot for representatives of Wakefield’s Environmental Sustainability Committee at last week’s Town Council meeting. But for once, they couldn’t blame climate change. The leading ladies of the ESC must have been a bit dumbfounded by the criticism leveled at them. After all, they’re the good guys (or gals) who are “doing […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Nature & Wildlife, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 10 Comments
Tags: climate, Climate Change, Climate Leader Communities, conservation, cost, Edward Dombroski, energy, environment, Environmental Sustainability Committee, environmentalism, ESC, Global Warming, Humor, Julie Smith-Galvin, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Melissa Eusden, Michael McLane, mission statement, Opinion, planet, policy, Politics, recycling, Specialized Building Code, Tiana Veldwisch, Town Council, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
A simple plan
Ignorance of the law is no excuse, the old saying goes. And willful ignorance of the law combined with arrogance is inexcusable. Exhibit A: the recent ruling by the Attorney General’s Office that the Wakefield Planning Board violated the Open Meeting Law. The Planners convinced themselves that the superiority of their MBTA Multifamily Zoning compliance […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 3 Comments
Tags: activists, agenda, Attorney General, board, Climate Change, committee, commuter rail, housing, Humor, James Hogan, magical thinking, Mark Sardella, Masschusetts, Matthew Lowry, MBTA, MGL Chapter 40A, multifamily housing, open government, Open Meeting Law, Opinion, Politics, public transit, public transportation, secret, Theo Noell, Town Meeting, train, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Planning Board, walkable communities, zoning
Mark Sardella 