Archive for the ‘Columns & Essays’ Category
Breaking the Ice
Sometimes the hardest part of being a newspaper columnist is figuring out what to write about. Once a topic presents itself, I seldom have a problem producing the requisite number of publishable words before deadline. But as John Dewey said, “There is all the difference in the world between having something to say and having […]
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Wakefield needs a hug. The town is struggling financially and its self-esteem may be shot, but help is on the way. The board of selectmen gave preliminary approval last week to a group that wants to stage a “farmers’ market” on Saturday mornings at Hall Park on North Ave starting next summer. I just hope […]
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Tags: Daily Item, farmers' market, fruit, selectmen, vegetables, Wakefield, Wakefield Climate Action Project, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts, Woodstock
My Lawn is Greener Than Yours
I recently reduced my carbon footprint. Did I buy a Prius? No. I could never afford the sticker price. Did I inflate my tires to the proper pressure? The answer is a flat no. Did I install a clothesline in my back yard? Sure – strung between my two windmills. Did I buy a bunch […]
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Tags: Al Gore, carbon credit, carbon footprint, Climate Change, compact fluorescent, Daily Item, energy conservation, Global Warming, lawn mower, lawn mowers, polar bears, Prius, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, windmills
Arsenic and Old Lake
For the town of Wakefield, Massachusetts, news that the dredging of Lake Quannapowitt’s Hartshorne Cove has been completed is certainly welcome. The recent cleanup was ordered following the discovery in 1999 that arsenic, lead and petroleum contaminants had seeped into the sand, mud, peat and gravel on the Lake’s bottom in the area behind the […]
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Tags: arsenic, coal gas, DEP, EPA, Hartshorne Cove, lake, lake cleanup, Lake Quannapowitt, lakes, Massachusetts, pollution, Quannapowitt, Veteran's Field, Wakefield, Wakefield MA
Information Pleas?
In the wake of the May 27 Referendum Election that reversed the higher-than-recommended School Department budget passed by Annual Town Meeting, we’ve been hearing that there is a lack of information available to the residents of Wakefield, Massachusetts. The most recent of those assertions came at a June 17 public input forum of the Town […]
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Tags: cable TV. Cable television, Carmen Urbonas, Daily Item, election, elections, information, Item, Laurie Hunt, local cable, Mark Sardella, municipal budget, municipal budgets, Override Mom, Override Moms, Prop 2 1/2, Proposition 2 1/2, public access television, referendum, school, school budget, School Committee, schools, Town Meeting, vote, voters, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts, Wakefield Resident Information Group, Wakefield School Committee, Wakefield Town Meeting, WCAT, WRIG
For those who had clamored since before April’s Annual Town Meeting for a three-way meeting of the Selectmen, Finance Committee and School Committee to look at the town’s finances, the first public meeting of the Tri-Board on June 11 must have been something of a disappointment. The residents of the town of Wakefield, Massachusetts who […]
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Tags: Alfred Palmerino, balanced budget, Betsy Sheeran, budget, Carmen Urbonas, Finance Committee, School Committee, selectmen, Town Meeting, Tri-Board, Wakefield, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts, Wakefield Resident Information Group, Wakefield School Committee, WRIG
Just Say ‘No’ on May 27
Vote NO on Wakefield, MA school budget In next Tuesday’s referendum election on the $27.4 million School Department budget, the only vote that make sense is a “No” vote. This conclusion has nothing to do with the value of education, the needs of the Wakefield School Department or the sincerity of the School Committee. It […]
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Tags: budget, Daily Item, education, election, municipal budget, override, overrides, Prop 2 1/2, Proposition 2 1/2, referendum, school budget, school budgets, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield Massachusetts. Wakefield MA, Wakefield School Committee, Wakefield School Department, Wakefield Schools
Mark Sardella 