The wrong track
The idea that if you create more housing near public transportation the masses will give up their cars and flock to the infinitely superior public transit system is an unquestioned article of faith amongst our collectivist cognoscenti.
Do these “folks” know any actual Americans?
Continue reading ‘The wrong track’
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Thickly settled
If there’s one thing the public has made abundantly clear of late, it’s that they hate overdevelopment and especially all the new multifamily housing being built around town.
The discussion of overdevelopment dominates conversation in the public square, the local coffee shops and on social media. It’s a far greater concern than potholes or a few trees being cut down to build a new school.
The Zoning Board of appeals has gotten the message. Last week they took advantage of a “Safe Harbor” provision in state law to try and halt a 100-unit 40B proposal on Nahant Street.
But now, a new state Zoning Act will require MBTA communities (like Wakefield) to create at least one zoning district near public transit in which multi-family housing is allowed as of right. “As of right” means that a developer won’t have to bother obtaining a Special Permit, variance, zoning amendment, waiver, or other zoning approval from the town. He can just go ahead and build.
Continue reading ‘Thickly settled’
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Happy real Columbus Day!
Today, October 12, is traditional Columbus Day. It was 531 years ago today that the Genoese explorer became the first European to set foot in the Western Hemisphere.
No big deal, according to those who want to cancel Christopher Columbus because he violated “norms” that the world wouldn’t discover for another half millennium. The cancelers are sure that, if only they had been around in 1492, they would have known better. No, they wouldn’t have. And they wouldn’t have sailed across the ocean in wooden ships and discovered the New World either.
But more than five centuries later, they’re still trying to discredit that accomplishment because Christopher Columbus lived before the Age of Enlightenment and his attitudes and behaviors comported with those of his 15th century contemporaries. How dare he not share our 21st century values!
But the real reason that Columbus is reviled is because his discovery set in motion events that eventually resulted in the United States of America. To some, that is the most unforgivable sin of all.
That’s what all this anti-Columbus stuff is really about. It’s not about celebrating Indigenous Peoples, Native Americans, First Peoples or whatever term is in vogue this week. It’s about delegitimizing the United States.
The history of human beings on planet earth is the history of exploration and conquest. It hasn’t always been pretty. But only one country is ever held to account for it.
I love Columbus Day because it reminds me of a bygone era before little children were taught that they live on stolen land and are descended from genocidal oppressors. Must do wonders for their social emotional wellness.
The myth that the North American continent was a peaceful paradise populated by native tribes living in harmony before the Europeans arrived is just that – a myth. Warfare between Indian tribes was a way of life in North America long before Columbus arrived. So was human sacrifice and slavery.
“Not all Indians lived in a continual state of intertribal war,” wrote historian Samuel Eliot Morison in his Oxford History of the American People, “but war was part of the social pattern. Any Indian group that tried to shift its dominant values from war to peace was doomed to extinction by another.”
That is not to absolve Europeans and their American descendants of all transgressions against Native Americans. But the idea that Europeans introduced brutality to the New World is as much a fairy tale as any fanciful story about the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.
Columbus was from Genoa, in northern Italy. Columbus Day means a lot to Italian-Americans, who, not so very long ago were actually seen as a disadvantaged group that faced real discrimination.
For that reason, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the first federal observance of Columbus Day in 1937 to recognize the contributions of Italian-Americans and to assure them of their rightful place in American history.
“We are celebrating today the exploit of a bold and adventurous Italian,” FDR said, “who with the aid of Spain opened up a new world where freedom, tolerance and respect for human dignity provided a refuge for the oppressed of the Old World.”
Eighty-six years ago, even progressive icons like FDR believed that. Today, those words would be grounds for impeachment.
Legislation to create Columbus Day as an official federal holiday was signed by President Lyndon Johnson on June 28, 1968, to be observed on the second Monday in October beginning in 1971.
But in short order, the revisionist historians began the slow, gradual process that will result in the eventual erasure of Christopher Columbus from all of history. Last year, the Wakefield Public Schools official Calendar changed the holiday to “Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day.” I’m shocked that they gave Columbus top billing.
But old Christopher won’t have to share the spotlight for long. In due course, his name will be removed altogether.
Baby steps.
Like Rome, America wasn’t built in a day. Dismantling her will take time as well. Sadly, that process is well underway.
—
[This column originally appeared in the October 12, 2023 Wakefiekd Daily Item.]
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Idle thoughts
For sheer entertainment value, last week’s Wakefield Town Council meeting had it all: pathos, bathos, drama and farce.
And they say there’s nothing good on TV anymore.
Let’s dive right in with the most contentious issue of the evening.
Chairman Jonathan Chines 
had ordered eight “NO IDLING” signs to be put up on Main Street along the Lake to prevent anyone from enjoying the idyllic scene while sitting in their car with the engine running. More than a few citizens, including several Town Councilors, couldn’t help but notice the curious timing. The signs went up right after those same Town Councilors had pushed back against a plan, supported by the Chairman, to eliminate all parking along the Lake in favor of bike lanes.
Chairman Chines admitted that he acted in the context of the recent discussion of a proposed bike and pedestrian path along the Lake. He had the “NO IDLING” signs put up, he said, because Lake Quannapowitt is an ecologically sensitive area.
Is the senior citizen couple sitting in their Buick with the heat on while enjoying a cup of Honey Dew coffee and the Lake view really a major source of pollution when there’s a six-lane interstate highway a stone’s throw away?
In any case, it turned out that the Chairman didn’t have the legal authority to unilaterally dictate the installation of any signs.
The “NO IDLING” signs have since come down because there are a few members of the Town Council who still think that consistency, transparency and process matter, not to mention a little thing called democracy. Remember, it was Chairman Chines who recently decided to keep several flag requests that he didn’t like off the Town Council’s agenda.
Another topic at last week’s meeting also concerned the Lake. The Town Council heard about plans to place a man-made, floating vegetated island in the middle of Beebe Cove. The fantasy island idea came about as a grant proposal under the Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s “Climate Resilience Program.” The presentation at the meeting included some of the most amazing word salads in the history of climate alarmism.
The MAPC grant program is intended to “fund actionable interventions that facilitate long-term innovation changes that advance climate equity, regional coordination, and social cohesion.”
If you don’t know what “climate equity” is, I believe it’s something like “environmental justice.” I hope that clears things up.
Another goal of the program is “to provide an educational space to increase public dialogue and engagement while simultaneously creating a visually impactful art installation that is free and accessible to all members of the public.”
And with the “NO IDLING” signs gone, cars will now be able to park along the Lake, engines idling, as their occupants admire this floating monument to climate equity.
Another agenda item on last week’s Town Council agenda was the plan to construct a new restroom facility at Veterans Field. The new loo by the Lake will need a name, and of course your Town Council is right on top of the naming issue as well. At the very same meeting, the Council passed a new Asset Naming Policy to govern the future naming of town-owned buildings and other “assets.”
I would like to submit a modest proposal that we forgo naming the overall bathroom structure and instead name each of the two restrooms that the building will house.
In the spirit of equity and inclusion, I propose naming one restroom “Men” and the other “Women,” in memory of the genders, with commemorative plaques displayed on each of the doors.
I believe my suggestion fulfills the first priority under the new Asset Naming Policy, which states: “Priority should be given to names carrying geographic, historical or cultural significance to the Town as a whole or to the area in which the public asset is located.”
I don’t think anyone would deny that men and women have played historically and culturally significant roles in the town of Wakefield. As to the geographic area, men’s and women’s softball teams have long competed on Veterans Field. What better way to memorialize the contributions of all men and women than to name these new restrooms in their honor.
I look forward to the public hearing on my proposal.
—
[This column originally appeared in the September 21, 2023 Wakefield Daily Item .]
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Voke truthers
Can we get a few things straight once and for all regarding the new Northeast Metro Tech building project?
First, the site that the school would be built on is not protected land, despite what the “Save the Forest” activists would like you to think. Nor is it part of Breakheart Reservation, although you could easily get that impression listening to the activists. And they are perfectly happy to let you believe that.
In truth, the 13-acre, wooded hilltop site across from the current NEMT campus is property that is owned by the school. Its environmental significance does not rise to that of the Amazon Rain Forest as the activists would have you believe.
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Braking bad
Now that the intersection of Salem and Pleasant streets is a 4-way stop, stand by for indignant complaints from drivers who have never come to a complete stop at a STOP sign in their entire lives. If those drivers are looking for someone to blame for this new arrangement, I suggest that they tilt their rear-view mirrors slightly down and to the left.
The new 4-way stop would not be necessary if one driver had ever come to a full stop at the Pleasant Street STOP signs. But the next time that happens will be the very first time.
I don’t like the new 4-way stop. It will cause traffic to back up on Salem Street and it is going to personally inconvenience me at least twice a day. But I agree with the decision to implement it because drivers refuse to follow basic traffic rules.
Even now, I don’t expect to see anyone to come to a complete stop at Salem and Pleasant streets. But the frequent accidents at this intersection will likely be less serious now, as cars slowly roll through the STOP signs from all four directions.
There’s nothing worse than a reformed scofflaw like me. About 10 years ago, I was pulled over and ticketed for rolling through a STOP sign in another town. Ever since, I’ve made a point of noticing how many drivers in front of me come to a full stop at STOP signs.
Answer: zero and counting. In my entire life behind the wheel, I could probably count on one hand the number of drivers I’ve seen come to a complete stop at a STOP sign.
Ever since my own violation a decade ago and the resulting ticket, fine and years of insurance surcharges, I have made it a practice to come to a full stop at all STOP signs. As you can imagine, this has not endeared me to the motorists behind me, who often have had to slam on their brakes to avoid a rear-end collision because I actually stopped. This is often accompanied by a blast of a horn and a finger gesture because apparently, I’m the bad guy.
Even worse than drivers ignoring STOP signs are the ones who have the right of way (no STOP sign) but stop anyway. For some reason, this had been an especially frequent occurrence at Salem and Pleasant streets.
Just last week (before the change), I turned right from Main Street onto Salem Street and continued up the hill behind a white Mercedes E 300. When we got to the top of the hill at Pleasant Street, Mr. Mercedes stopped for no reason whatsoever and proceeded to wave cars through the STOP signs on Pleasant Street.
Being the helpful type, I gave a 10-second toot of my horn to remind him that there was no STOP sign, and we had the right of way.
I suppose Mr. Mercedes thought he was being kind to the drivers waiting on Pleasant Street by waving them through the STOP signs. But what about all the drivers behind him on Salem Street? We were forced to stop and wait for no reason so this bonehead could feel good about himself.
But that’s not even the worst part.
As we continued down Salem Street, you can probably guess what happened when Mr. Mercedes reached the STOP sign at Vernon Street. That’s right – he blew right through it like it wasn’t even there. His brake lights didn’t even come on.
If you want to know why there is now a 4-way stop at Salem and Pleasant streets, I offer Mr. Mercedes as Exhibit A.
—
[This column originally appeared in the August 10, 2023 Wakefield Daily Item.]
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The new one percent
You probably remember the term “one percent” or “one-percenter,” which became popularized during the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Theoretically, it referred to the richest one percent of the population, who are said to have most of the money, property, and power in society. In reality, it was used to demonize any productive individual who had the audacity to earn and accumulate any quantity of wealth.
As an economic term, it has largely disappeared, except in Marxist enclaves and public schools.
But now a new “one percent” has emerged, and their presence is being felt right here in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
Continue reading ‘The new one percent’
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Circle game
So, this is how it ends.
All we have to show for two and a half years of rancor and division in the community is a double circle with a “W” inside it. This will surely inspire fear in our Middlesex League opponents.
Predictably, this decision was made literally in the middle of the summer, when even fewer people than usual are paying attention to what their local officials are up to.
But it was done very democratically, don’t you know.
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Flag warriors
Next Tuesday, July 18, 2023 will be a big day in Wakefield – if things go as planned. But if past is prologue, that’s a big “if.”
The School Committee says that it will vote that night on a new Wakefield Warrior logo. Since this is at least the fourth time that they’ve said this in the two and a half years since they cancelled the traditional logo, I’ll believe it when I see it.
At their June 27 meeting, the School Committee was presented with yet two more new “final” logo options, after the two previous “lightning bolt” finalists, which members gushed over at their June 6 meeting, were quietly removed from consideration. The lightning bolt designs were gone in a flash after student survey on the last day of school rejected them in favor of a new option added to the mix at the last minute: a simple circle with a “W” inside it.
It was nothing short of a miracle that they were able to conduct this student survey on the final day of school. In June 2022, the School Committee announced that it was putting off a decision on three entirely different logo “finalists” until the fall “due to the legitimate challenge in designing, reviewing, implementing and collecting survey data at the very end of the school year.”
But that was then. This is now.
In 2023, not only were they able to conduct a survey on the last day of school, but they have subsequently done a summer vacation student survey after yet another new logo finalist miraculously surfaced since the previous survey!
If you’re confused, you’re not alone. And we’ve barely scratched the surface of this endlessly convoluted “process.”
Given all the student surveys that have been conducted, you might get the impression that it was the high school students who wanted to get rid of the traditional Warrior logo in the first place. But the students were never asked that question on any survey.
If you attended last week’s Independence Day Parade, you know why.
The state champion Wakefield Warrior football team rode on a flatbed truck waving flags featuring two versions of the traditional Warrior logo: the side-facing one and the front-facing Indian warrior.
Could it be that the students, just like the voters in the 2021 Town Election, wanted to keep the traditional Warrior logo?
When I very innocently posted on Facebook my parade photo of the football players waving their Warrior logo flags, it quickly generated hundreds of “Likes” and positive comments.
The usual Fellowship of the Miserable also weighed in, lecturing that “30 football players don’t represent all 800 students at Wakefield High School.”
That’s funny, because ever since the Youth Council voted 7-1 to recommend getting rid of the traditional Warrior logo in November 2020, we’ve been told repeatedly that those kids represent the entire WHS student body, even though the Youth Council has zero connection to Wakefield Public Schools. Its members are appointed by the Town Council. At the time that the Youth Council recommended getting rid of the old Warrior logo, its chairman was a St. John’s Prep student.
Of course, the anti-logo forces didn’t dare directly criticize the high school football players for waving the Warrior flag. So instead, they attacked the messenger.
It mirrored the other recent flag controversy in town.
In May, the local Veterans Board formally requested that on Flag Day only the American flag be flown on town-owned flagpoles. Considering all the sacrifices that our veterans have made, it was a tiny ask and would have cost the town nothing to grant the request.
But by a vote of 4-2, your Town Council said “No” to the veterans.
I wrote a news story on the decision and later wrote a column supporting the veterans’ position.
Naturally, the flag-haters didn’t dare go after the veterans who made the request, so again, they bravely attacked the messenger.
Which is fine with me. Just another day in paradise.
But it raises an interesting question. What qualities do veterans, football players and the old Warrior logo all represent that give rise to such enmity?
How about strength, virility and valor? Those used to be considered admirable traits, but not in our present emasculated society.
Still, the image of those football players proudly waving the Warrior flag in the parade offers a glimmer of hope for the future.
Apparently not everyone in our local educational collectives is fully on board with the program.
Not yet, anyway.
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[This column originally appeared in the July 13, 2023 Wakefield Daily Item.]
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Flagging allegiance
What happens when a community deserts its wounded warriors in favor of social justice warriors?
The town of Wakefield, Massachusetts is in the process of finding out.
On May 16, the Veterans Advisory Board (VAB) voted 7-0 to request that the town honor Flag Day “by flying only the American flag” from public flagpoles on June 14.
By a vote of 4-2 on June 12, the Town Council said, “Thanks but no thanks,” to our veterans. The Town Council had already left the veterans hanging for three weeks before finally voting to hang them out to dry.
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Mark Sardella 