A simple plan
If you’re looking for someone to blame for bike lanes, look in the mirror.
That’s in effect what the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is saying in a recently released document called the Massachusetts Bicycle Transportation Plan.
MassDOT has developed the Bike Plan “to be an actionable investment strategy to guide its decision-making and bicycle infrastructure investments, as well as support municipalities to improve bikeability.”
The plan lists an “action-oriented strategy” based on three key principles.
“First, reverse the decades-long practice of prioritizing automobile travel.”
The next time you’re stuck in an interminable traffic jam, try to be grateful for your decades of priority status. You are the reason we now need bike lanes.
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Tags: America, automobiles, bicycle, bike lanes, bikes, biking, cars, Climate Change, emissions, environment, Global Warming, greenhouse gas, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MassDOT, Opinion, planet, Politics, skydiving, soccer, solar, transportation, travel, United States, vehicles, wagonm Radio Flyer, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, windmills, yoga
That’s entertainment!
“How do you do it?” is a question I am frequently asked. “How do you sit through all those boring government meetings?”
I should probably answer that I selflessly attend these meetings in order to be your eyes and ears. I should say that I go to these meetings so that you don’t have to.
The truth is, I do it for the entertainment. It’s like live theater, or these days, soap opera, and not just because meetings are televised.
For sheer entertainment, the Town Council currently offers the best value. It can’t yet hold a candle to some of the cage matches that broke out at the old Board of Selectmen meetings back in the early 2000s, but give it time.
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Tags: agenda, Ann Santos, Common Street, control, Edward Dombroski, entertainment, government, Humor, Jonathan Chines, Julie Smith-Galvin, Mark Sardella, meetings, Mehreen Butt, Opinion, Paul DiNocco, Peter May, Politics, soap opera, Stephen P. Maio, theater, Town Council, town hall, Wakefield MA, warrants
By MARK SARDELLA
GLOUCESTER — Imagine Mel Brooks pressed into service to direct an Alfred Hitchcock movie. You might get something like Patrick Barlow’s witty stage adaptation of Hitchcock’s classic mystery thriller, The 39 Steps. The play version, currently in production at Gloucester Stage, is much more comedy than mystery. And as comedy, it’s very clever indeed.
Although the play includes every scene and most of the dialog from the 1935 film, the actors ham it up for comedic effect and comic/dramatic scenes are highlighted by Foley artist Malachi Rosen’s on-stage musical and theatrical sound effects.
Robert Walsh directs the production in which four actors play over 150 characters in the fast-paced story of Richard Hannay, a bored Londoner, whose attendance at a London Palladium show results in his getting swept up in a murder/espionage adventure with perilous implications for the entire UK.
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Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Amanda Collins, comedy, drama, Gabriel Kuttner, Gloucester Stage, Humor, Jason Grow, Lewis D. Wheeler, London, London Palladium, Malachi Rosen, Mark Sardella, mystery, Patrick Barlow, Paul Melendy, Robert Walsh., stage, The 39 Steps, theater, thriller
Native tongue
As has oft been stated, Wakefield is a welcoming town, for both visitors and new residents — especially new residents, whom we have a habit of electing to public office before they’ve even finished unpacking.
A couple times a year, Wakefield offers an orientation program for refugees from other communities. It’s called Wakefield 101, where newcomers to our town can talk with representatives from town departments, community groups and local businesses. They can mingle with other migrants and leave with a welcome bag filled with information, fun freebies and a special gift.
Sadly, these efforts have neglected perhaps the most important consideration in helping newcomers assimilate to our culture: learning the language. Some people live here for years and never master the local lexicon. I happen to be fluent in the native tongue, so I’m happy to fill that gap.
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Tags: Americal Civic Center, Bandstand, Board of Selectmen, elections, Forest Glade Cemetery, Frist Parish Congregational Church, Galvin Middle School, Humor, Lake Quannapowitt, Lakeside Cemetery, language, Mark Sardella, natives, North Ave., Old Burial Ground, Opinion, Politics, Rockery, The Common, The Hiker, tourist, town hall, townies, vote, Wakefield 101, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, West Side
The great indoors
When did we become such weather wimps?
Two recent local events that were once routinely held outdoors unless forced inside by a deluge, now automatically happen under the artificial lights of LED bulbs rather than the brilliant sunshine that Mother Nature provides for free.
I’m talking, of course, about the town’s Memorial Day exercises and Wakefield High School’s graduation.
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Tags: attendance, Boy Scouts, Field House, Galvin Middle School, Girl Scouts, graduation, heat, Humor, indoor, Jay Pinnette, Landrigan Field, marching band, Mark Sardella, Memorial Day, Opinion, outdoors, Parade, sunshine, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, weather, World War II Monument
Natural history
I made my feelings known on the topic of bike lanes a few weeks ago. I’m not a fan, but they’re coming, as just one part of a $15 million downtown infrastructure project.
Rightly or wrongly, I associate bike lanes with some other obnoxious trends, like the demonization of automobiles and fossil fuels.
The internal combustion engine is one of the greatest advancements to come out of human ingenuity. But our species is now supposed to feel immense guilt and spend billions of dollars doing penance for the grievous sin of being creative and inventive, for merely using the tremendous gifts bestowed on us by God or nature, depending on your perspective.
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Tags: automobiles, barber, bicycles, bike lanes, downtown, DPW, electricity, energy, Envision Wakefield, food, fossil fuels, God, hospitals, humans, Humor, information, internal combustion engine., invention, leeches, Love and Rockets, Mark Sardella, medicne, News, newspaper, Opinion, Politics, problem solving, Rick Stinson, science, social media, technology, Television, thinking, Town Council, Town Meeting, transportation, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, WCAT
Bad examples
Bad ideas seem to be finding their way to Wakefield with some regularity of late, which is why you should always be aware of what’s going on in nearby communities.
Forewarned is forearmed as they say, and in Massachusetts there’s never a shortage of “initiatives” to be forewarned about.
Let’s start with the least dubious (which isn’t saying much) idea and work our way down.
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, Columbus Day, FDR, holiday, Humor, Indian, Indiginous Peoples Day, League of Women Voters, LWV, Marblehead, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Native American, North Andover, Opinion, Politics, Somerville, Town Meeting, vaping, vote, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, white privilege
Envision bike lanes
I have some bad news and some worse news.
The bad news: Bike lanes are coming to Wakefield Square.
The worse news: There’s not a thing you can do about it.
Why, you ask?
The answer can be expressed in one word: money.
The town wants $15 million from the state for a Main Street infrastructure project. The state wants bike lanes. No bike lanes, no $15 million. It’s as simple as that.
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Tags: automobiles, bicycles, bike lanes, cars, design, downtown, Envision Wakefield, Humor, infrastructure, Main Street, Mark Sardella, millennials, money, Opinion, parking, Politics, roads, sidewalks., stakeholders, Town Meeting, traffic, VHB, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Square, WakefieldMA
Taxation without occupation
First, they came for your plastic bags. Now, they’re back for your property rights.
Article 26 on the April 29 Annual Town Meeting warrant proposes a new bylaw that would pertain to vacant storefronts. Under the proposed bylaw, property owners of first-floor storefronts that are vacant for more than 90 days would have to register with the Building Department. The property owner would then have four choices: 1) Fill the vacancy; 2) allow public art to be displayed in the space; 3) pay a $100 quarterly fee to the town; or 4) request a waiver from the Town Council.
Having injected itself into the retail marketplace with the plastic bag ban, town government has now set its sights on the commercial real estate market.
Like the plastic bag ban, this new measure has a “feel-good” component — unless you happen to be a commercial landlord being told what to do with a property that you own and pay taxes on. Then, not so much.
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Tags: Americans for the Arts, Art, building, business, bylaw, commercial property, fee, Humor, landlord, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Opinion, plastic bags, private property, profit, property tax, public art, real estate, rent, retail, store, storefront, taxes, Town Council, Town Meeting, vacancy, Wakefield Cultural Council, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Welcome to Wokefield
I know that you’re used to seeing this column on Thursday, so you may be wondering why you’re reading this on a Monday. The reason is, I have an important announcement concerning a personal new beginning. I thought it only appropriate that I announce it at the start of, not just a new week, but a new month.
The news is that at long last I have seen the light. I have renounced my past ways. I see now the injustices that my own privilege has served to perpetuate. I have been enlightened to the inherent value of diversity, equality and sustainability.
In short, I have joined the Woke Community.
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Tags: bike paths, Board of Selectmen, candlelight vigil, diversity, equality, farmers' market, female, gender, guns, heteronormative, landfill, male, Mark Sardella, parking, plastic bags, Reading, sculpture, solar panels, Stoneham, sustainability, The Hiker, Theo Allice Ruggles Kitson, Tonno, Town Council, trash, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Daily Item woke, Wakefield MA, Wokefield
Mark Sardella 