The Simple Art of Voting
Every time there’s a low-turnout local election or Town Meeting (or both, as we recently had in Wakefield) talk inevitably turns to ways to improve voter turnout and participation. On the surface, it seems like a noble idea.
“How can we make voting easier?” people wonder, as if voting were a task akin to climbing Mt. Everest. All kinds of ideas are proposed. Allow online voting, some say. Others advocate “early voting.” Instead of one Election Day, people could vote any time that’s convenient for them over a period of a month.
Our recent annual Town Meeting drew 320 voters, which seems like a lot by recent standards. But the number was greatly inflated by those who came only to vote for the school budget increase and then quietly slipped out once that passed. By the time the meeting was winding down at 10 p.m., the usual 180 or so regulars were left doing the grunt work.
I’m now convinced that there’s nothing wrong with that.
Continue reading ‘The Simple Art of Voting’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: apathy, elections, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Politics, Town Meeting, vote, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Size Matters
Does size matter?
Yes, it does. But if you’re a member of the Wakefield Zoning Board of Appeals, there’s a limit to the number of hours you want to spend talking about it.
Size is the biggest issue for many opponents of the Brightview Senior Living facility that Shelter Development is proposing to build on Crescent Street. They think that the 130-unit combined assisted-living, independent-living and memory care facility is just too big for the site.
Continue reading ‘Size Matters’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Assisted Living, Brightview Senior Living, Charles Tarbell, David Hatfield, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Shelter Development, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, ZBA, Zoning Board of Appeals
The Big Ask
Wakefield School Department officials have acknowledged that their requested 11.4 percent budget increase for FY 2016 is “a big ask.”
The largest piece of that increase is $1,176,875 (3.8 percent) for “contractual salary obligations.” Another $658,174 (2.1 percent) is for SPED tuitions and $628,218 (2 percent) goes to fund salaries related to the newly instituted full-day kindergarten. An additional $378,956 (1.2 percent) is slated for other new positions. A combination of amounts for items like curriculum, technology, transportation and utilities make up the remaining 2 percent of the requested budget increase.
In return, what Finance Committee chairman Gerard Leeman and other FinCom members wanted was a comparatively small “ask.” They wanted a commitment – or at least an affirmative statement – from someone in the School Department leadership that they would hold budget increases to 4 percent for each of the next three years.
Evidently, that was too much to ask, because School officials couldn’t quite bring themselves to utter those words.
Continue reading ‘The Big Ask’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Big Ask, budget, Christopher Callanan, Daniel Sherman, Dr. Stephen Zrike, Edward Dombroski, Finance Committee, Gerard Leeman, Mark Sardella, school, School Committee, schools, Wakefield Daily Item, William Boodry
The high road to hell
There will very likely be a ballot question in 2016 seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts. We know this because the activists who in 2012 successfully perpetrated the “medical” marijuana scam are the same people who are now working on the 2016 ballot question to make pot available for recreational use.
So much for their deep concern for the sick.
You’d have to be very naïve to believe that medical marijuana was anything but a foot in the door toward full legalization.
Thankfully, to date not a single medical marijuana “dispensary” has opened in Massachusetts. We can only hope that the recreational pot business meets with a similar level of success.
Continue reading ‘The high road to hell’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 30 Comments
Tags: addiction, alcohol, Colorado, drugs, high, legalization, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, medical marijuana, opiates, pot, recreational marijuana, Wakefield Daily Item, weed
Winter Parking Ban Revisited
Wakefield, MA eliminates winter ban on overnight on-street parking
Last December, I wrote about a storm brewing on Wakefield social media related to the winter parking ban. The ban, which has been in effect so long no one can remember when it started, prohibits overnight parking on the street from Dec. 1 to April 1 in order to facilitate snow plowing and ensure public safety.
It appears that the Board of Selectmen heard the calls to do away with the winter-long parking ban. On March 23, 2015 the Selectmen voted 5-1 to abolish the ban after one of the worst winters in living memory and despite the strong objections of Public Works Director Richard Stinson.
Continue reading ‘Winter Parking Ban Revisited’
Filed under: Columns & Essays | 1 Comment
Tags: Betsy Sheeran, DPW, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, parking, plowing, Public Works, Richard Stinson, snow, snowplow, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, winter, winter parking ban
Wednesday, March 25 at 7:30 pm at the Savings Bank Theater – Wakefield, MA
Those who attend Wednesday’s opening lecture of the 2015 Sweetser Lecture Series at The Savings Bank Theater are in for a treat.
Speaker Casey Sherman is not just an author and journalist. He is a born storyteller, entertainer and showman who can hold an audience spellbound with true stories about the Boston Strangler, the Boston mob, the Marathon bombings and one of the most daring naval rescues of all time.
Continue reading ‘Author Casey Sherman promises suspenseful Sweester Lecture’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Profiles, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Albert DeSalvo, author, books, Boston Strangler, Boston Strong, Casey Sherman, crime, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, speaker, Sweetser Lecture, The Finest Hours, The Savings Bank Theater, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, writer
Wakefield (MA) Police Chief Rick Smith was at Monday night’s meeting of the Board of Selectmen for the presentation of his department’s budget. But in light of what he called “a tough year for law enforcement,” Smith also took the opportunity to correct some misconceptions regarding police work in general and to highlight some positives about Wakefield’s Police Department.
Contrary to the impression one might get from following the news, violent crime in the United States is down, according to Smith.
“America in 2015 is a far safer place than America in 1985,” Smith said. “In fact, violent crime in the United States is at the lowest number since 1978.”
Smith said that there was a key reason for this reduction in crime, not only nationwide but right here in Wakefield.
Continue reading ‘Chief Rick Smith: Police are guardians of society’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Feature stories, News, Profiles, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Chief Rick Smith, COPS, crime, law enforcement, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, police, violence, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Police Department
Alicia Reddin is the new VSO for Wakefield & Saugus, MA
“When I really feel strongly about something, I don’t give up,” says Wakefield’s new Veterans Services Officer Alicia Reddin.
That’s good news for veterans in the district that includes Reddin’s territory of Wakefield and Saugus. Reddin is replacing former VSO Andrew Biggio who has moved on to join the MBTA Police.
Herself a U.S. Navy veteran, Reddin operated heavy equipment with the Navy SeaBees, using bulldozers and cranes to build roads and work the quarries in places as far away as Guam.
How she enlisted in the Navy is further evidence of her decisiveness and determination.
After she graduated from high school at age 17, Reddin didn’t feel that she was academically ready for college. So she walked into a recruiter’s office in Malden Square on a Friday afternoon before Memorial Day.
“I left for boot camp the next day,” she recalls. “It was a great decision. I was glad I kind of dove in head first.”
Continue reading ‘Local veterans have a strong new ally’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Feature stories, News, Profiles, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Alicia Reddin, Civil War Monmument, Lesley University, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Melrose, military, Saugus MA, SeaBees, Somerville, Uunited States Navy, veterans, Veterans Sevices Officer, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Not the Time
Normally, I give topics like Global Warming and Climate Change a good leaving alone. It’s a slippery slope that can quickly trigger an avalanche of supercilious lectures from the Reality-Based Community.
But in my reality I have eight feet of snow in my front yard and if the AccuWeather Boston forecast holds true, we’ll finish 
February with 26 of 28 days below normal temperatures, most of them well below normal.
So I’m a little cold right now and a little tired from shoveling. (I don’t own one of those carbon-spewing snow blowers.) And when I’m cold and tired, I’m cranky.
In general, Climate Change and Global Warming tend to poll very low in terms of issues that Americans are most concerned about. That’s especially true when icicles stretch the height of three story buildings and two-foot thick ice dams are causing water to gush into people’s dining rooms and kitchens.
So right about now, a little Global Warming doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to a lot of people.
Continue reading ‘Not the Time’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Nature & Wildlife, Opinion, Photography, Politics | 3 Comments
Tags: Climate Change, divestment, electric rates, electricity, fossil fuels, Global Warming, ice, Mark Sardella, Porter Fox, power, snow, solar, Wakefield Daily Item, wind, winter
After the town’s traffic consultant, John Kennedy, outlined his findings and recommendations with respect to the 130-unit Brightview Senior Living facility proposed on Crescent Street, Wakefield MA, Board of Appeals member Chip Tarbell had one question.
“Based on traffic and parking,” Tarbell asked, “if all of your comments and concerns are answered, would there be any reason you would recommend not building the project?”
“No, there is not,” Kennedy replied.
Kennedy is the International President of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). Founded in 1930, ITE is an international educational and scientific association of transportation professionals. ITE is also a standards development organization designated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT). Kennedy is also a senior principal at engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. (VHB), where he played a key role in keeping traffic moving throughout Boston’s Big Dig project.
Continue reading ‘Consultant: Brightview’s traffic & parking impact will be minimal’
Filed under: Feature stories, News, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Assisted Living, Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, Brian McGrail, Brightview Senior Living, independent living, Institute of Transportation Engineers, ITE, John Kennedy, Lt. Steven Skory, Mark Sardella, parking, Shelter Development, TAC, traffic, Traffic Advisory Committee, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., VHB, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Mark Sardella 