Posts Tagged ‘business’
A revolting development
A Boston University study recently found that municipal zoning boards, planning boards and redevelopment boards are dominated by white male homeowners. Wait. Men are more interested in construction, development and zoning than women are? What’s the next bombshell revelation – male drivers won’t ask for directions? Fight the urban planning patriarchy! Speaking of zoning and […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: American Mutual, Board of Appeals, building, business, Comverse Technologies, construction, development Cabot Cabot & Forbes, elitism, Facebook, Humor, Lake Quannapowitt, Malden MA, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, Politics, public hearings, public transit, smart growth, social media, Town Meeting, urban planning, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, ZBA, zoning, Zoning Board, Zoning Bylaws
2020, we hardly knew ye
We couldn’t wait to kick 2020 to the curb, and indeed it was a rotten year in many respects. The pandemic brought illness and worse to the old and vulnerable. For the rest of us, it was a year of prohibitions: on going out to eat, on walking around the Lake, on attending church, on […]
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Tags: 2020, business, court, COVID coronavirus, DPW, Fire Department, flags, Humor, lockdowns, Mark Sardella, Memorial Day, News, Opinion, pandemic, plastic, police, Politics, prohibition, social media, straws, Town Meeting, Veterans' Day, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield MA, Warrior logo, Winship Mansion, wreaths, Youth Council, Zoom
The longest year
Time flies when you’re having fun, which explains why 2020 has been the longest year since the asteroid traveling at 40,000 mph crashed into the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago, wiping out nearly 80 percent of life on earth and disappointing thousands of spring breakers. Kind of puts 2020 in perspective, doesn’t it?
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: asteroid, business, coronavirus, COVID-19, defund, facemask, Festival Italia, fun, Holiday Stroll, holidays, Humor, hybrid, jobs, July Fourth, Mark Sardella, Mask Police, masks, Massachusetts, mute button, Opinion, pandemic, plague, police, Politics, Saint Nick, Santa Claus, School Committee, schools, supermarkets, Town Council, unmute, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, work, Yucatan, Zoom
Cruel choices
The choice, apparently, is a binary one. You can have economic devastation or death. You can have your livelihood or your life. There are no other options, so take your pick. That’s the way it’s being framed by amateur epidemiologists on social media, who can always find some “study” on the internet to justify expanding […]
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Tags: business, CDC, Climate Change, coronavirus, COVID-19, death wish, economy, epidemiologists, fear, Humor, lockdown, Mark Sardella, martial law, Opinion, optimism, pandemic, Politics, restrictions, science, shutdown, silver lining, suicide pact, sunlight, Wakeield Daily Item
Many ways to care
Let me see if I understand. Either you want everybody to live under lockdown indefinitely (if you call that living) or you care more about Wall Street and corporate profits than human life. Have I got that about right? If you express any concern about the economy, it’s not because you hope small business owners, […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 3 Comments
Tags: alcoholism, business, coronavirus, corporations, COVID-19, depression, drug addiction, economics, economy, employment, health, jobs, lockdown, Mark Sardella, money, Opinion, Politics, recession, revenue, small businesses, suicide, unemployment, virus, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, workers
Condo Condescension
Since it’s the New Year and a new decade, it seems like a good time for your periodic reminder that Wakefield is not in fact turning into “Condoville” or “Malden” or any of the other haughty labels that the snobs on social media like to toss around. What’s wrong with condos? Or for that matter, […]
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Tags: apartments, buildings, business, condominiums, condos, development, downtown, factories, factories of Appeals, Greewood, housing, industrial, Malden, Mark Sardella, Master Plan, mixed-use, New Year, Opinion, Politics, revitalization, Tonno, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Station, West Side, Zoning Board, Zoning Bylaw
Charging forward
If you thought the local plastic bag ban passed by the town a couple of years ago was bad, take heart. It’s about to get a lot worse. The Massachusetts Legislature is considering a measure that would ban plastic bags statewide. The State Senate is now debating the legislation before it moves on to the […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Nature & Wildlife, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: ban, business, carbon tax, charging station, CVS, electric vehicles, electricity, environmentalists, EV, Farmland, flaring, food, fossil fuels, Humor, Karen Spilka, legislature, litter, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MGLD, natural gas, Opinion, plastic, plastic bags, Politics, power, sea turtles, Senate, straws, Wakefield Daily Item, WakefieldMA, Walgreens
Taxation without occupation
First, they came for your plastic bags. Now, they’re back for your property rights. Article 26 on the April 29 Annual Town Meeting warrant proposes a new bylaw that would pertain to vacant storefronts. Under the proposed bylaw, property owners of first-floor storefronts that are vacant for more than 90 days would have to register […]
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Tags: Americans for the Arts, Art, building, business, bylaw, commercial property, fee, Humor, landlord, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Opinion, plastic bags, private property, profit, property tax, public art, real estate, rent, retail, store, storefront, taxes, Town Council, Town Meeting, vacancy, Wakefield Cultural Council, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Pretty Vacant
“Isn’t it a shame about all the empty storefronts downtown?” “Which ones are empty?” “Well, I haven’t been downtown lately. Nobody goes there anymore because there’s too much traffic and not enough parking.” “Oh.” There’s one myth almost as persistent as the one that Wakefield has become so overdeveloped that there’s no room for an […]
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Tags: Boys & Girls Club, business, economy, hippies, John Devlin, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Molise, myth, Nonnos, Piece O Pizza, Procol Harem, Sixties, social media, storefronts, stores, Tommy James & the Shondells, vacancy, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Yogi Berra
A ban for all seasons
Anyone at Town Meeting on that night last May could see that it was going to be close. Personally, I thought the plastic bag ban was going to fail narrowly if put to a YES/NO vote. But before it came to that, a third option miraculously surfaced! “Let’s refer it back to the selectmen for […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays | 1 Comment
Tags: business, customers, Edward Dombroski, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, merchants, Opinion, plastic bag ban, plastic bags, Politics, selectmen, shopping, store, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Mark Sardella 