Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

On October 8, , Shelter Development publicly unveiled its new proposal to construct a 137-unit Brightview Senior Living facility on downtown properties currently owned by the Fraen Corporation. The facility would front on Crescent Street. Representatives of Shelter Development presented a general overview of the proposal at last night’s meeting of the Zoning Board of […]


For better or worse, automated trash collection started in Wakefield, MA on Sept. 29. And for better or worse, it’s here to stay – at least for as long as the current trash contract is in effect. I’m not interested in arguing the merits pro or con of automated trash collection. But I am fascinated […]


Both candidates running for the 32nd Middlesex District seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives want to keep casino gambling in Massachusetts, but incumbent Rep. Paul Brodeur and his Republican challenger John Lock disagreed on most other issues as they debated last week at Wakefield’s WCAT studios. The 32nd Middlesex District includes all of Melrose […]


Through October 18, 2014 The Umbrella’s current presentation of Angels in America Part 2 – Perestroika marks the culmination of Director Nancy Curran Willis’ second time around with Tony Kushner’s epic about the dawn of the AIDS epidemic. In 2008, Willis won an Elliot Norton Award (with co-director Jason Southerland) for Boston Theatre Works production […]


They’re BAAACK. Shelter Development, LLC whose proposal earlier this year to construct a Brightview Senior Living facility in conjunction with a parking garage in the downtown area stirred months of controversy before being defeated at the polls and at Town Meeting, has filed a new application for a 137 unit assisted living facility at approximately […]


What, me vote?

12Sep14

The 2014 Massachusetts State Primary Election was Tuesday, September 9 and if you are one of the 20 percent of registered voters who cast a ballot, congratulations. You are in an elite group. One week before the Primary, on Sept. 2, the Boston Globe surveyed 605 voters to see how many were paying attention. The […]


Is there a “generation gap” in Wakefield? That’s what I’m hearing, especially on Facebook where all the cool kids hang out. The term itself sounds so last century. It used to be applied to the cultural differences between the ‘60s kids and their parents. But now, word on the street is that there are issues […]


Summer is typically known as a slow period for news. The theory is that people are on vacation and therefore less likely to make news or to be paying attention when other people make news, so what’s the point of making news? Politicians know this. That’s why, despite a Sept. 9 primary and a Nov. […]


Amy Herzog’s funny, moving take on the human condition Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles, currently at the Gloucester Stage Company, deals with some deep matters, including life, death, aging, coming home and moving on. But far from weighing it down, these universal themes emerge as organically as the fruit of a community garden in Herzog’s Obie […]


Galvin demolition conjures ghosts of schools past Watching the big yellow CAT’s giant claw rip through the old Galvin Middle School last week, one couldn’t help but wonder – if those walls could talk, what would they say? (Besides “Get that damn machine away from me!”) They don’t build them like they used to. The […]