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 Appeals.
Shelter Development and Brightview Senior Living are sister companies.
Shelter is seeking Special Permits to allow it to build on properties that encompass 338 Main St., as well as 11, 15, 17, 19, and 21 Crescent St., all of which are currently owned by the Fraen Corporation, and 25 Crescent St. Fraen has expressed its preference to sell all its properties together to one buyer.
A previous proposal to build a 140-unit Brightview facility in conjunction with a public parking garage was approved by a Special Town Meeting last February but later defeated in a Special Election and defeated again in attempt to revisit it at Annual Town Meeting last May.
Continue reading ‘Brightview proposes 137-unit downtown assisted living facility’
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Tags: Assisted Living, Brian Falvey, Brian McGrail, Brightview Senior Living, Eric Anderson, Jason Plourde, John Ogren, Mark Sardella, Michael Glynn, Politics, Shelter Development, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Candidates vying for 9th Essex District seat in Massachusetts House
Clear differences emerged as incumbent Rep. Donald Wong, a Saugus Republican, debated Democratic challenger Christopher Finn, also of Saugus, last week at Wakefield’s WCAT studios. Wong and Finn are running for the Massachusetts House of Representatives 9th Essex District seat, which includes all of Saugus and Precincts 1, 2 and 7 in Wakefield.
Continue reading ‘Wong & Finn air differences in debate’
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Tags: Bottle Bill, Chris Finn, debate, Don Wong, EBT, election, gas tax, House of Representatives, Lynn, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Ninth District, Saugus, state representative, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, WCAT
Trashing Automated Collection
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 by the number of people for whom the new system apparently came as a complete surprise.
Some are on social media trashing the new system and calling for a return to the old system.
Facebook pundits are even asserting that the town implemented the automated trash collection unilaterally without the citizens having a chance to weigh in or vote on it. Others are suggesting that the details were kept quiet and people didn’t know what they were voting on when they approved Article 13, which included automated trash collection, at Annual Town Meeting last May.
That, if you’ll pardon the expression, is rubbish. Those people obviously didn’t attend Town Meeting.
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Tags: automated trash collection, Bill Carroll, DPW, Facebook, Mark Sardella, social media, Steve Maio, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
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 and Wakefield precincts 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Continue reading ‘State Rep rivals Brodeur & Lock debate’
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Tags: casinos, Democrat, EBT, election, gambling, gas tax, House of Representatives, indexing, John Lock, legislature, marijana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Melrose, opiate addiction, Paul Brodeur, Politics, Republican, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item
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 of Angels in America, Parts 1 and 2.
Having seen Part 1 last spring and now Part 2 at the Umbrella in Concord, I can understand why Willis waited six years before undertaking this daunting and demanding show again.
But theater-going audiences will be grateful that she did. And you don’t need to have seen Part 1 to enjoy Part 2, although there is a condensed five minute video of Part 1 to bring you up to speed.
Angels in America is a snapshot of a time in American history. It’s 1985, President Ronald Reagan has just been re-elected and the deadly AIDS epidemic is reaching its height. If Part 1 was about the destruction of lives and relationships, Part 2 is about the attempt to rebuild a shattered world into something new.
Continue reading ‘‘Angels in America Part 2 – Perestroika’ at the Umbrella in Concord, MA’
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Tags: AIDS, Angels in America, Concord MA, Damon Singletary, David Berti, Emerson Community Arts Center, Ethel Rosenberg, James Barton, Jennifer Shea, Kendall Hodder, Liz Robbins, Mark Sardella, Nancy Curran Willis, New York City, Perestroika, Peyton Pugmire, Roy Cohn, Sharon Mason, Tony Kushner
Directs motion picture adaptation of his play “My Old Lady”
Add yet another to the list of titles used to describe Wakefield, Massachusetts native Israel Horovitz: movie director. His film, My Old Lady, a major motion picture starring Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas, opened last week and is now playing at theaters around the area including Hollywood Hits in Danvers.
Horovitz, who graduated from Wakefield High School in 1956, is best known as a playwright with more than 70 plays to his credit, many of which have been translated and performed worldwide. My Old Lady is based on one of his plays, and Horovitz wrote the adapted screenplay in addition to directing the movie.
Continue reading ‘Israel Horovitz debuts as a feature film director’
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Tags: France, Gloucester Stage Company, Hollywood Hits, Israel Horovitz, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Mark Sardella, motion picture, movie, My Old Lady, Oliver Horovitz, Paris, play, Rachael Horovitz, theater, theatre, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA
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 the same location.
The application was filed with the Building Department on Tuesday, September 9 by Shelter Development, LLC of Baltimore Md. Shelter Development and Brightview Senior Living are both companies that are owned and operated by the Shelter Group, a privately held real estate development and property management company specializing in multifamily and senior living communities.
Continue reading ‘New Brightview Senior Living proposal filed’
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Tags: Assisted Living, Brian McGrail, Brightview Senior Living, development, Fraen Corporation, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Shelter Development, Shelter Group, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Zrike & Maio take the plunge
On June 20, School Superintendent Dr. Stephen Zrike and Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio issued a challenge to the public school students of Wakefield, Massachusetts. If the kids collectively read 10,000 books over the summer, Zrike and Maio pledged to plunge into Lake Quannapowitt. Zrike made the additional promise to shave his head.
Continue reading ‘Zrike & Maio take the plunge’
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Tags: books, Brian Dickey, Courtney Sullivan, Dr. Stephen Zrike, Dylan Melanson, Julia Derendahl, Lake Quannapowitt, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Nicole Galli, Reading, Stephen P. Maio, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Public Schools
What, me vote?
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 results were not good.
Continue reading ‘What, me vote?’
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Tags: absentee ballot, apathy, Boston Globe, early voting, election reform, elections, low-information voter, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Politics, primary election, Same Day registration, summer, turnout, Voter ID, Wakefield Daily Item
It’s slightly off the beaten path of Main Street, which may explain why despite over a year in operation, Thai restaurant Phuket remains one of downtown Wakefield’s best kept secrets.
But new owner and chef Maeo Crawford hopes to change that and bring the Princess Street eatery the attention it deserves for its great food, bright atmosphere and friendly, attentive service.
Once you know where it is, Phuket is easy to find. It’s located at 21 Princess St. (corner of Princess and Union streets) in Wakefield, MA, directly across from the Public Safety Building. It also has something most downtown restaurants lack – off-street parking. Phuket’s entrance faces the municipal parking lot between Princess and Centre streets.
Continue reading ‘Phuket offers a unique twist on Thai cuisine’
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Tags: Asian, cooking, food, Maeo Crawford, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Phu-ket, Phuket, Thai, Thai restaurant, Thailand, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Mark Sardella 