Fixing elections
When any person or group tells you that they want to “reform” the way we conduct elections to make voting more “fair” and increase voter “participation,” your BS detector should go off.
Because when it comes to elections, one thing and only one thing matters: winning. When proposals are advanced to change how elections are run, the first question you should ask is, “Which group, party or candidates will benefit from these changes?”
People who say they care about voter turnout and making it easier to vote are lying. This may come as a shock to you, but people are willing to lie to win elections.
Another red flag is the label “nonpartisan.” When any group seeking to tinker with our elections goes out of its way to tell you that it’s “nonpartisan,” find a shovel, fast.
These basic principles came in handy as I read a study released last month called, MassForward: Advancing Democratic Innovation and Electoral Reform in Massachusetts.
Continue reading ‘Fixing elections’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Bob Dylan, Climate Change, Democrats, diversity, election reform, elections, ethnicity, gender, high school, Humor, ideas, journalism, legislature, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MassForward, MassINC, newspapers, nonpartisan, NPR, Opinion, partisan, PBS, policy, Politics, press, problematic, race, ranked-choice voting, Republicans, study, taxes, Tisch College, Tufts University, voter fraud, voter registration, voters, voting
Charging forward
If you thought the local plastic bag ban passed by the town a couple of years ago was bad, take heart. It’s about to get a lot worse.
The Massachusetts Legislature is considering a measure that would ban plastic bags statewide. The State Senate is now debating the legislation before it moves on to the House.
Senate President Karen Spilka announced the bill this week. Apparently, they weren’t able to find a 14-year-old girl to cry on cue about the sea turtles, so Spilka was pressed into action.
Continue reading ‘Charging forward’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Nature & Wildlife, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: ban, business, carbon tax, charging station, CVS, electric vehicles, electricity, environmentalists, EV, Farmland, flaring, food, fossil fuels, Humor, Karen Spilka, legislature, litter, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MGLD, natural gas, Opinion, plastic, plastic bags, Politics, power, sea turtles, Senate, straws, Wakefield Daily Item, WakefieldMA, Walgreens
Neutral zone violation
If one thing is certain in this crazy, mixed up, gender neutralized world in which we find ourselves, it’s that you can’t win.
Literally.
The Wakefield High School Field Hockey Team learned that the hard way last week. The local girls got bounced from the playoffs by a Wayland team — that included boys. Would you care to guess the gender of the players who scored the Wayland goals to defeat Wakefield’s girls? Here’s a hint: Their names were Zeke and Aiden.
Continue reading ‘Neutral zone violation’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Board of Selectmen, boys, chairman, chairperson, co-ed, coed, Ed Dombroski, female, field hockey, gender neutral, girls, Humor, Julie Scott, male, Mark Sardella, men, Opinion, Politics, sports Warriors, Town Council, Tri-Board, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wayland High School, Wayland MA, women
Teachable moment
“Demands on classroom teachers are now laughable,” Wakefield Education Association president Will Karvouniaris told the meeting of the “Tri-Board” last week.
If any members of the Town Council, the School Committee or Finance Committee were amused, they didn’t show it. The town’s three top boards were meeting in joint session at the Galvin Auditorium last Thursday to talk about budgeting and fiscal matters.
The teachers union saw it as an opportunity to lecture town leaders on the working conditions that Wakefield teachers are forced to endure on a daily basis. Sporting blue “WEA” T-shirts and holding up signs reading “FUND OUR FUTURE,” several dozen union members were in attendance to support their leader.
Continue reading ‘Teachable moment’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: budget, children, class size, Finance Committee, finances, fiscal, History, Humor, Mark Sardella, mythology, newspaper, Opinion, Politics, quid pro quo, School Committee, schools, teachers, Town Council, Tri-Board, union, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Education Association, Wakefield MA, WEA, William Karvouniaris
Weekend Warrior
As we head into the long Indigenous Peoples Day weekend, let us take a moment from our apple picking, leaf-peeping and farmers market excursions to reflect upon the true meaning of the holiday: to show how much more virtuous and woke we are than those who still call it Columbus Day.
Continue reading ‘Weekend Warrior’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Berkeley, Board of Selectmen, CA, Christopher Columbus, Columbus Day, Europeans, farmers' market, FDR, First Peoples, football, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, History, holiday, Human Rights Commission, Humor, inclusive, Indians, Indigenous Peoples Day, Italian-Americans, Landrigan Field, Mark Sardella, men, Native Americans, Opinion, Politics, progressives, Roman Empire, Town Council, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Warrior
Zoning out
So, now they want Zoning Board of Appeals meetings to be televised. The suggestion was made recently at a televised Town Council meeting. Misery loves company, I suppose.
There’s nothing TV viewers would rather watch than deliberations over dimensional variances and nonconforming uses — unless you count the Watching Paint Dry Channel.
To help promote interest, I’ve taken the liberty of writing the following TV listing:
Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. The Appeals Zone. Tune in tonight for the thrilling conclusion of the case of John Smith’s deck. Will he be granted the variance he needs to construct the deck in his backyard? Or will he be dealt another ‘setback’ by the ZBA?
And why stop with the ZBA? Let’s televise meetings of all boards and committees. We could start with the 19 local committees concerned with climate and environmental issues. We’ll call it, “Envision Wakefield Television.”
Thursday, 7:00 p.m. Conservation Commission: SVE. Will a Determination of Applicability be issued? Is an Abbreviated Notice of Resource Area Delineation in the cards? Tune in tonight at 7.
Continue reading ‘Zoning out’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Television, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: cable TV, city, Climate Change, Community Television, Conservation Commission, developer, development, environmental issues, Envision, Greenwood Station, Humor, Mark Sardella, meetings, nonconforming use, opinion. politics, overdevelopment, public access, Special Permit, Television, Town Council zoning, variance, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Station, WCAT, ZBA, Zoning Board of Appeals
The sounds of silence
READING — When brilliant, Radcliffe College-educated Henrietta Leavitt (played by Grace Sumner) receives a letter at her Wisconsin home inviting her to come and work for Edward Charles Pickering, director of the prestigious Harvard College Observatory, she is thrilled by the prospect of doing important astronomical research.
Continue reading ‘The sounds of silence’
Filed under: Art, Columns & Essays, History, Opinion, Politics, Reviews, theater, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: astronomy, community theater, Demetra Tseckares, drama, earth, feminism, Grace Sumner, Harvard College Observatory, heavens, Henrietta Leavitt, History, Humor, Lauren Gunderson, Mark Sardella, Nancy Curran Willis, Nancy Finn, Nick T. Miller, planets, play, Quannapowitt Players, Rachel Furgiuele, Radcliffe College, review, science, Silent Sky, sky, stage, stars, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item, womens sufferage
Pride of the Yankees
I was vaguely aware that John J. Round had been a town official way back at the beginning of the 20th century. But, like most people, I had no inkling about his more significant contributions to the town.
I had no idea, for example, that he had purchased entire tracts of land in the areas of Crystal Lake, Greenwood and the Junction, planted thousands of trees on those parcels at his own expense and then donated it all to the town. The early development of the park that now bears his name was also done largely at his own expense.
JJ Round Park was originally dedicated on Aug. 30, 1953. At the re-dedication of the park two weeks ago, John J. Round’s great-grandson, John J. Round IV, read the keynote speech delivered by then-State Rep. Gardner Campbell at the 1953 dedication. Continue reading ‘Pride of the Yankees’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Family, Feature stories, History, Opinion, Politics, Profiles, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: altruism, Anglo-Saxons, Arthur G. Walton, Bandstand, Cornelius Sweetser, Crystal Lake, Cyrus Wakefield, Galvin Middle School, Gardner Campbell, Greenwood, JJ Round Park, John J. Round, Lucius Beebe, Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Mark Sardella, money, old white men, philanthropy, Pilgrims, Protestant, Sweetser Lecture Series, trees, Wakefield Common, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Town Hall, Walton Field, Yankees
All the rage
Well, our long, hot summer is finally over.
OK, it wasn’t that long. Summer around here never is.
But if you don’t think it was hot, tell that to the woman who had a cup of hot coffee thrown at her while sitting in the Dunkin’ Donuts in the Junction one morning last July.
As she was sitting there alone with her laptop and a book, a hot-headed 70-year-old man started to berate her and question why she was there. When she had the audacity to defend her right to have a cup of coffee and mind her own business, the aging tough guy threw the large hot coffee he had just purchased in her face.
Continue reading ‘All the rage’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: anger, caffeine, cars, coffee, coffee shop, decaf, driving, Dunkin' Donuts, football, heat, Humor, Mark Sardella, Opinion, rage, road rage, stop sign, summer, tailgating, Toxic Masculinity, traffic, truck, Wakefield Daily Item
Just the facts
When is a fact not a fact? And how much does the pure, empirical truth matter? Those are the questions at the heart of the current Gloucester Stage offering, The Lifespan of a Fact. They are questions that have long concerned writers and readers (and not just since Nov. 8, 2016, contrary to partisan political interpretations).
Gloucester Stage is the first theater in the country to produce the highly acclaimed The Lifespan of a Fact since last year’s successful Broadway run, which featured Danielle Radcliffe, Cherry Jones and Bobby Cannevale. Under the direction of veteran stage, film and television director Sam Weisman, Gloucester Stage presents the regional premier of this ultimate clash between truth and fiction.
Continue reading ‘Just the facts’
Filed under: Columns & Essays | Leave a Comment
Mark Sardella 