One Issue Wonders
Every time a special interest group manages to pack Town Meeting to ram their pet measure through, local government geeks find themselves wondering if there will be some long-term residual benefit, some lasting silver lining to this cynical exercise.
Surely, they imagine, out of this great mass of people here to vote on their one and only issue, a few dozen – or maybe even a hundred – will find themselves so taken with this grass roots form of democracy that they will become regular attendees and participants at Town Meeting.
Hope springs eternal, as they say.
A recent example occurred on Monday, May 14, in Wakefield, Massachusaetts. “Galvinize Wakefield,” the group pushing a debt exclusion for the purpose of building a new Middle School, packed Town Meeting with over 1,330 supporters.
Alas, by the following Monday, May 21, the Galvinizers’ passion for the purest form of democracy had apparently waned, as the vast majority of them stayed home, leaving the usual 166 regulars to deal with the remainder of the Town Meeting warrant. They want you to care deeply about their single issue. But when it comes to the other articles of business on the Town Meeting warrant, they really can’t be bothered.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: ballot, ballot question, debt exclusion, election, Galvin Middle School, Galvinize, Galvinize Wakefield, June 9, Mark Sardella, new Galvin Middle School, property tax, Proposition 2 1/2, rebuild, school, school building project, school construction, schools, taxes, Town Meeting, vote, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
With a cast of 15, the Quannapowitt Players‘ “The Diary of Anne Frank” captures the terror, tension and tenderness experienced by two Jewish families being hidden from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II, as told by Anne Frank in her diary of her family’s two years in hiding.
The production is directed by former Wakefield resident and 1965 Wakefield High School graduate Nancy Curran Willis.
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Filed under: Art, Columns & Essays, Feature stories, History, Reviews, theater, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Anne Frank, Becky Klein, community theater, Daily Item, Diary of Anne Frank, drama, Nancy Curran Willis, play, QP, Quannapowitt Players, Quannapowitt Playhouse, Reading, Reading MA, Reading Massachusetts, stage, theater, theatre, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts
Galvinizers’ Night Out
Pro-debt exclusion crowd dominates Wakefield, MA Annual Town Meeting
The Monday, May 14 Galvin Gala was scheduled to begin at 7:30, but if you arrived later than 7 p.m., you may have found yourself parking, as I did, in Victory Village down off Richardson Street.
Packing the Galvin Auditorium and the cafeteria, the crowd of 1,400-plus, some sporting their “Galvinize Wakefield” pins, formed exactly the kind of village that Hillary Clinton said it would take. They were there to make sure Article 5 passed Town Meeting, sending a debt exclusion question to a June 9 ballot on whether the Town of Wakefield should build a brand new new $74 million middle school.
Sensing that there were a lot of Town Meeting newbies in the house, Town Moderator Bill Carroll attempted to instill some sense of decorum from the start, reminding people that they had to be seated and quiet.
“We don’t talk during Town Meeting like a lot of you are now,” Carroll admonished after gaveling Town Meeting open. “You will not cheer and you will not clap,” Carroll warned. “This is not a pep rally.”
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Tags: Bill Carroll, Daily Item, debt exclusion, Galvin, Galvin Middle School, Galvinize Wakefield, Mark Sardella, property tax, Proposition 2 1/2, school, schools, taxes, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
Preaching to the Choir
Judging from the comments of those who spoke, 99 percent of the hundred or so people who showed up for the April 30 public forum on the the Galvin Middle School were supporters of the project before they walked in the door.
Given the composition of the audience, the project manager, architect and Wakefield town officials must have felt like they were preaching to the choir as they made their case for the construction of a new, state-of-the-art Galvin Middle School. The choir, however, is not the audience that needs to be convinced.
The closest thing to a dissenting voice was Roland Cote. He raised a valid point, one for which there may be no good answer.
“There are hundreds of people in this town who can’t afford this,” Cote said, “who won’t gain anything from it.”
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Dunkin' Donuts, Galvin Middle School, Galvinize Wakefield, Mark Sardella, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts
Old, but still in the game
Sixty may be the new decrepit, but on April 20 Fenway Park will celebrate its 100th birthday, proving that not everything old has a date with the wrecking ball. Last Friday, I attended the Red Sox home opener at the undersized and antiquated ballpark. April 20 may be the official centennial celebration, but last Friday’s Opening Day fanfare provided a preview.
Per Opening Day tradition, members of each team were introduced during the pre-game ceremonies. One of the more touching moments came when Red Sox legend Johnny Pesky was introduced. At age 92, Pesky is just eight years younger than the ball park where he played with the likes of Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr and Dom DiMaggio.
Pesky made his Red Sox debut 70 years ago this week. He played for Boston until 1952, but like so many players of his generation, Pesky lost three of his prime years to military service during World War II. Some think that but for those three lost years, the lifetime .307 hitter would have had a shot at the Hall of Fame.
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Tags: baseball, Bobby Doerr, Boston Red Sox, Carlos Pena, Daily Item, Dom DiMaggio, Dwight Evans, Fenway Park, Johnny Pesky, Mark Sardella, Minnesota Twins, Peter Gammons, Spring Training, Tampa Bay Rays, Ted Williams, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item
Signs of the Times
It happened two weekends ago.
Seemingly, if not literally, overnight, political yard signs sprung up like crocuses all over the town of Wakefield. Along main roads and side streets and especially on the coveted corner lots, each sign installation proclaimed a resident’s allegiance to a candidate or candidates in the April 24 Town Election.
Some people don’t like political lawn signs, and some communities place restrictions on their use. But lawn signs can be an easy, inexpensive and effective form of advertising. Plus, they stick out like a sore thumb, so what’s not to like?
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Tags: ballot, Brian Falvey, candidate, candidates, Daily Item, election. elections, Galvin Middle School, Greg Liakos, Paul DiNocco, Phillip Renzullo, Phyllis Hull, political signs, Politics, Town Meeting, vote, voters, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
Perils of Microcelebrity
As blogs, Facebook, Twitter and photo sharing sites like Flickr have exponentially increased the ranks of would-be “citizen journalists,” they have also increased the chances each of us has for moments of microcelebrity.
Writer Clive Thompson coined the term “microcelebrity” a few years back to describe the way that DIY (Do It Yourself) media has increased each individual’s chances of “being extremely well known not to millions but to a small group — a thousand people, or maybe only a few dozen. As DIY media reach ever deeper into our lives,” Thompson noted, “it’s happening to more and more of us.”
It’s happened to me a few times, mostly through by Flickr photo site. My latest encounter with microcelebrity was last week when Los Angeles Times writer Rene Lynch emailed to ask if she could use my photo of the statue in front of St. Patrick Church in Stoneham to illustrate a story she was writing for St. Patrick’s Day. Then, on March 17, my photo of the St. Patrick statue appeared, with credit, on the Los Angeles Times web site atop Lynch’s story, Happy St. Patrick’s Day: Six little-known facts about St. Patrick.
In early 2010, I got an email from an editor at Boston Magazine. They wanted to use a photo I had taken of then Senator-elect Scott Brown at a rally at the Kowloon in Saugus. I agreed, not knowing which photo they would use of the dozen or so photos I had posted online. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the upscale glossy selected the least flattering of the photos to depict the new Republican senator. Continue reading ‘Perils of Microcelebrity’
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Tags: blog, blogs, Boston Magazine, Clive Thompson, Daily Item, Facebook, flickr, Guardian, Kowloon, Los Angeles Times, McWanks, Rene Lynch, Scott Brown, social media, St. Patrick, Twitter, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item
In the spring of 1942, as World War II was being fought on two fronts, local soldiers and sailors serving overseas were much on the mind of their hometown. The Wakefield Daily Item ran a regular feature, “With Our Boys in the Service,” complete with photos and updates.
Meanwhile back in Wakefield, Factory Field, where many of the same boys fighting overseas attended carnivals and played pickup football games as kids, was about to turn into a defense housing development known as “Victory Village.”
Seventy years ago this month, Gilbert & Varker Corporation of Boston came to Wakefield to pitch to the Board of Selectmen the idea of a new development of 39 duplex houses on the site of Factory Field. Victory Village would encompass an area just west of Wakefield Avenue, between Richardson and Water streets. Within six months, homes would be advertised for sale or rent on new streets called Hamilton Road and Jefferson Road.
Continue reading ‘As War Raged, Victory Village Was Born’
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Feature stories, History, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Daily Item, development, Factory Field, FederalHousing Authority, FHA, Gilbert & Varker, Mark Sardella, Second World War, Victory Village, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts, World War 2, World War II
Snow Deal
One day last fall as I headed out for a morning walk, my neighbor stopped me as I strode past his house.
“See this?” Ron asked, pointing to the contraption sitting in front of his garage. “It’s a snow blower.”
Yes, I know,” I replied, suddenly feeling like I had walked into a Leslie Nielsen movie.
Ron explained that another of our neighbors owned the infernal machine, but it needed a complete engine overhaul to the tune of $300.
I remembered at that moment that I had broken my snow shovel toward the end of last winter. I made a mental note to buy a new one.
The owner of the snow blower, Ron continued, was proposing sharing the cost of the repairs among five or six neighbors. In exchange, all of the investors could use the snow blower over the course of the winter to clear their driveways and walks. Ron would store the machine in his locked garage and give us all the keypad code.
Five neighbors had already agreed, Ron said, and if I joined in, each one would only have to pay $50 instead of $60.
“I’ll think about it,” I told Ron, and continued on my walk.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Nature & Wildlife, Opinion | Leave a Comment
Tags: blizzard, Daily Item, Galvin, Leslie Nielsen, Mark Sardella, neighbor, neighbors, Old Man Winter, school, snow, snow blower, snow shovel, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, weather, winter
How to Galvinize Wakefield
The campaign to sell the town of Wakefield a new Galvin Middle School is already gathering steam and is likely to continue unabated through the May Annual Town Meeting and beyond.
It’s going to be a hard sell. With a $74,740,254, price tag, building a brand new, state-of-the-art middle school is going to require the town to pass a debt exclusion under Proposition 2½. That will mean a $175 bump on the average homeowner’s annual property tax bill.
But not to worry. I can offer some tried and true, surefire strategies for “educating” taxpayers and convincing even the stingiest among them to fork over more dough. Unlike building a new school, my advice is free – and I trust you’ll find it worth every penny.
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Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Annual Town Meeting, ballot, building, building project, buildings, campaign, classroom, classrooms, construction, Daily Item, debt exclusion, debt exclusions, election, Gallvin Middle School Wakefield MA, Galvin, Galvin Middle School, Galvin Middle School Wakefield, Galvin Middle School Wakefield Mass, Galvinization, Galvinize, Galvinize Wakefield, home, Massachusetts School Building Authority, MSBA, override, overrides, plan, plans, project, Proposition 2 1/2, referendum, renovate, renovation, school, school building, school building project, schools, site, student, students, teacher, teachers, town, Town Meeting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
