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.
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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’
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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
Mixed Signals
This has been driving me crazy for years, so I was pleased when a member of the Board of Selectmen raised it at a recent meeting.
It relates to the intersection of Salem and Lowell streets (at the Prime Gas Station) as well as the intersection of Salem and New Salem streets. Both of these intersections have a fork-like configuration. West-bound vehicles at both intersections can either bear left or proceed straight. Vehicles waiting to proceed onto Salem Street have a stop sign.
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Tags: blinker, cars, directional, drivers, driving, Mark Sardella, roads, signal, streets, traffic, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Sign of the Times
The passing of another era has been marked with the removal of another landmark from Wakefield‘s downtown.
On Sunday, the giant projecting “Santoro’s” illuminated sign was removed from above what was one of the early submarine sandwich franchises in the Wakefield area.
Why didn’t the preservationists step in and protect this historic landmark? Were they not aware that George Washington’s tree surgeon once stopped there for a large Italian (hold the hot peppers) on his way to salvage a cherry tree?
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Tags: downtown, Israel Horovitz, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Santoro's, signs, sub, submarine sandwich, The Savings Bank, Thomas Wolfe, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA
So…What?
The New Year is the time for lists: Lists of “Bests,” and “Worsts” for the year just gone by along with predictions for the coming year.
Among those of us who work with words, one of the popular year-end lists is Lake Superior State University‘s Annual List of Banished Words. It’s a compilation of “Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness.”
This year’s entries include annoying words and expressions like “skill set,” “foodie” and “takeaway.” To me, the most irritating words are those that are used as pretentious ways to say something simple.
My favorite from this year’s list is “curate” as a fancy word for “select.” “Curating” used to be an activity that was confined mainly to museums. But now anything can be curated. This morning, for example, I curated my underwear and socks before jumping in the shower. And incidentally, have you ever actually “jumped” in shower?
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Tags: academia, Curate, educator, foodie, Harvard, language, Mark Sardella, NPR, rubric, skill set, so, stakeholder, takewaway, teacher, trends, vocabulary, Wakefield Daily Item, words
She captained her high school soccer team, played women’s semi-pro football for the Boston Militia and now, at the age of 21, she’s one of Wakefield’s youngest entrepreneurs.
Danielle Resha, a 2011 graduate of Wakefield High School, is the sole owner and lead coach at CrossFit 128, a fitness facility that she opened last August at 581 Salem St. in Wakefield, MA.
“I’ve always been big into sports and fitness,” Resha says. She got into weight-lifting during her three years as a kicker, fullback and tailback with the Boston Militia, a women’s football team owned by Ernie Boch, Jr. While attending Suffolk University she decided to try out one of the CrossFit gyms in Boston. After she got certified as a coach, the gym hired her.
Continue reading ‘For Owner Danielle Resha, CrossFit 128 is Working Out’
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Tags: athletes, Boston Militia, business, cardio, coach, CrossFit 128, Daniell Resha, diet, exercise, fitness, Greg Glassman, gym, Mark Sardella, strength, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, workout
Winter Parking Woes
The newest storm brewing on the Wakefield Facebook discussion groups relates to the winter parking ban. The local ban prohibits overnight parking on the street from Dec. 1 to April 1 in order to facilitate snow plowing and ensure public safety.
The latest idea that social media pundits are convinced has never occurred to anyone at Town Hall is to do away with the winter-long parking ban and institute a ban that would only apply when there is an impending storm.
Oh, I’m sure that will work, given the astounding number of people who in this Information Age somehow manage to remain blissfully clueless when it comes to news of any kind, never mind news of incoming inclement weather.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 3 Comments
Tags: blizzard, cars, emergency, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, parking, roads, snow, storm, street, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, winter, winter parking ban
“It should not be just one day. We should be thinking about the service men and women every day,” State Rep. Donald Wong said at Wakefield’s 2014 Veterans Day ceremonies.
When Rep. Wong speaks at local Veterans Day or Memorial Day ceremonies, he always ends his remarks with some version of that same message about honoring veterans beyond just the designated holidays.
With its new Veterans Exhibit at the Wakefield History Museum in the old West Ward School building on Prospect Street, the Wakefield Historical Society is doing its part to help us remember the contributions of Wakefield veterans of all wars.
The exhibit, which will run through June 2015, opened last Sunday and features photographs, paintings, uniforms and artifacts dating back to Wakefield’s role in the Revolutionary War.
Continue reading ‘A Moving Veterans Exhibit at the Wakefield History Museum’
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Tags: Col. Edward J. Connelly, E.B. Willis, Henry Nasella, John Wall, Mark Sardella Wakefield Daily Item, Massachusetts, Nancy Bertrand, Rep. Donald Wong, Revolutionary War, veterans, Wakefield Historical Society, Wakefield History Museum, Wakefield MA, wars, West Ward School, World War I
Re-dedication of the Galvin Middle School in Wakefield, Massachusetts
It was a night to celebrate, and on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014 hundreds of Wakefield residents filled Veterans Memorial Auditorium to join with town officials, members of the Galvin family, students and school administrators past and present to rededicate the new John Rogers Galvin Middle School.
After he formally greeted dignitaries in attendance, the first name spoken by Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio, who served as master of ceremonies, was that of the late John Encarnacao.
“No one worked harder for this building from its conception to its completion than John Encarnacao, our chairman of the Permanent Building Committee,” Maio said. “Unfortunately, John cannot be with us here today due to his recent passing. But he was able to see the school open and that gave him great joy and pride.”
Maio then called for a moment of silence for John Encarnacao.
Continue reading ‘A Four-Star Celebration at the Galvin’
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Tags: Allida Kelleher, Chris Callanan, dedication, Galvin Middle School, General John R. Galvin, Joe Bertrand, John Encarnacao, Kathleen Galvin, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Mike Angelo, Pat Glynn, re-dedication, schools, Steve Maio, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
In for a Dollar
The mystery is over and the rumors were true.
It’s now official that Dollar Tree has signed a lease agreement and will be filling the long-vacant spot at 376-378 Main St. in downtown Wakefield formerly occupied by CVS.
We should welcome our new neighbor. Anything would have been better than nothing in that prime retail space, which has been empty for years, and Dollar Tree is better than a lot of the possible uses that could have gone in there.
Of course, there are those who will turn up their noses at Dollar Tree, preferring the look of some high-end boutique that they could patronize maybe once or twice a year and then wonder why the store couldn’t make it.
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Tags: Beverly MA, business, CVS, Dollar Tree, downtown, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, retail, store, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Mark Sardella 