Posts Tagged ‘Massachusetts’
A simple plan
If you’re looking for someone to blame for bike lanes, look in the mirror. That’s in effect what the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is saying in a recently released document called the Massachusetts Bicycle Transportation Plan. MassDOT has developed the Bike Plan “to be an actionable investment strategy to guide its decision-making and bicycle […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 5 Comments
Tags: America, automobiles, bicycle, bike lanes, bikes, biking, cars, Climate Change, emissions, environment, Global Warming, greenhouse gas, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MassDOT, Opinion, planet, Politics, skydiving, soccer, solar, transportation, travel, United States, vehicles, wagonm Radio Flyer, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, windmills, yoga
Bad examples
Bad ideas seem to be finding their way to Wakefield with some regularity of late, which is why you should always be aware of what’s going on in nearby communities. Forewarned is forearmed as they say, and in Massachusetts there’s never a shortage of “initiatives” to be forewarned about. Let’s start with the least dubious […]
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, Columbus Day, FDR, holiday, Humor, Indian, Indiginous Peoples Day, League of Women Voters, LWV, Marblehead, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Native American, North Andover, Opinion, Politics, Somerville, Town Meeting, vaping, vote, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, white privilege
Fine for parking
It was heartening to see the Wakefield Town Council take an action recently that will benefit those who drive automobiles, because the trend across the Commonwealth and the nation in recent years has been to treat motorists as the scum of the earth.
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Tags: automobiles, bike lanes, Boston, Burrage Yale, business district, Cambridge, cars, downtown, drivers, Ed Dombroski, Green New Deal, Harvard Square, Humor, infrastructure, Jame Hartshorne, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, motorists, Opinion, parking, pedestrians, Politics, public meeting, social media, Town Council, upgrade, VHB, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Weeding out NIMBYism
Well, well, well. It seems that as the date approaches for the first recreational marijuana shops to open, more and more communities in Massachusetts are getting cold feet – including towns that voted overwhelmingly to legalize the bud. That includes Brookline, where they voted 17,803-11,066 to legalize recreational marijuana statewide. But now, in a community […]
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Tags: accidents, ageism, Brookline MA, bud, car crashes, Colorado, Concord MA, election, hemp, herb, Humor, insurance, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, legalization, loitering, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, medicine, Nevada, NIMBY, Opinion, Oregon, plastic bags, Politics, pot, prohibition, schools, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Washington, weed
Lost at the Fair
I try to make it to the Topsfield Fair once every 20 years. So, I checked my internal calendar and it turns out this was the year! Despite my infrequent visits, I like the idea of country fairs. They are authentic relics of traditional America. You can go there and get a taste of what […]
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Tags: agricultural fairs, America, animals, Bible, Columbus Day, corn, country fair, cows, flag, food pizza, God, Humor, jokes, livestock, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, parking, pigs, poultry, pumpkin, rabbits, rain, sausage, sheep, Topsfield Fair, Topsfield MA, United States, Wakefield Daily Item
Street view
Monday was like Christmas in August for me. Did the town rescind the plastic bag ban? Did the Town Council go back to being the Board of Selectmen? Sadly, the answer to both of those questions is “no.” But something almost as good happened. The 2018 edition of my favorite book was released. I’m not […]
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Tags: 1936, 2018, Board of Assessors, Board of Registrars, Board of Selectmen, books, Christmas, directory, female, genders, Humor, inclusivity, male, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, Politics, residents, Street List, Town Council, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, World War II Memorial
Meeting expectations
I’m starting a petition to ban petitions. Actually, I would never do that. First of all, I’m much too lazy and second, it would involve talking to people, which I try to avoid whenever possible. Saying that I want to start a petition against petitions is an attempt at irony. Not intended to be ironic […]
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Tags: agendas, Board of Selectmen, branding, digital, downtown, Favermann Design, government meetings, Humor, kiosk, Mark Favermann, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Open Meeting Law, Opinion, Politics, Town Council, transparency, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Main Streets, wayfinding, WCAT
Slouching towards Amherst
There was a time, not so very long ago, when Wakefield residents of sound mind would hear about towns like Concord banning plastic water bottles, roll their eyes and think, “There but for the grace of God…” Then Wakefield Town Meeting banned plastic bags. And as long as they had the troops mustered, the forces […]
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Tags: activists, Amherst, Board of Selectmen, Bob Dylan, Brookline, Concord, election, inclusion, Massachusetts, Peoples Republic, plastic bags, plastic bottles, Town Council, Town Meeting, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, welcoming
Opioid fix
I wanted to know what could be done about the opioid epidemic, so I decided to seek out some public policy experts. Unfortunately, Wakefield High School was closed yesterday. Meanwhile, the Board of Selectmen in Wakefield, MA is doing something. They have decided that the town will join hundreds of municipalities nationwide in filing lawsuits […]
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, Boston, Boston Globe, cartels, catels, Colombia, depotation, Dominican, drug trafficking, drugs, fentanyl, heroin, hydrocodone, illegal aliens, immigration, Lawrence MA, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Mexico, New England, opioids, overdose, oxycodone, painkillers, Percocet, pharmacy, Poston Police Department, pot, prescription, sanctuary cities, trafficking, Vicodin, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, weed
Mark Sardella 