Posts Tagged ‘taxes’
Fixing elections
When any person or group tells you that they want to “reform” the way we conduct elections to make voting more “fair” and increase voter “participation,” your BS detector should go off. Because when it comes to elections, one thing and only one thing matters: winning. When proposals are advanced to change how elections are […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Bob Dylan, Climate Change, Democrats, diversity, election reform, elections, ethnicity, gender, high school, Humor, ideas, journalism, legislature, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MassForward, MassINC, newspapers, nonpartisan, NPR, Opinion, partisan, PBS, policy, Politics, press, problematic, race, ranked-choice voting, Republicans, study, taxes, Tisch College, Tufts University, voter fraud, voter registration, voters, voting
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 […]
Filed under: Art, Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
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
Town Meeting highs and lows
Let me be the first to say it. Hot enough for you? I know, it’s barely 70 degrees, but after the February weather we had earlier this week, today feels like Death Valley. It doesn’t get reliably warm around here until the summer solstice. Then it’s summer until about the Fourth of July, and it’s […]
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Tags: attendance, Bill Carroll, democracy, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Open Town Meeting, Opinion, Politics, Reading MA, Representative Town Meeting, solstice, Special interest, summer, sun, taxes, Town Moderator, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Where’s the Money?
Now that July 19 is behind us, can we finally admit that all the hand-wringing over the Special Election had nothing to do with it costing the town $10,000 and everything to do with politics and the person who filed for the Special Election? After Phyllis Hull collected the 200 signatures needed to force the […]
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Tags: Ally Houghton, Betsy Sheeran, Board of Selectmen, campaign, candidates, Chris Callanan, Dan Benjamin, election, Galvin Middle School, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Mehreen Butt, money, Nate Gayman, Phyllis Hull, Politics, schools, special election, taxes, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA
Special effects
If you are one of those who thought last week’s election meant that you could finally count Phyllis Hull out, a) You don’t know Phyllis Hull very well and, b) you might want to cork the Champagne, at least for now. Hull was defeated in her bid to be re-elected to the Board of Selectmen […]
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, campaign, candidate, debt exclusion, dissent, election, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, money, Opinion, override, Phyllis Hull, politicians, Politics, Proposition 2 1/2, special election, taxes, taxpayers, veterans, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, World War II
By now you’ve received the red booklet, Massachusetts Information for Voters: 2014 Ballot Questions, published by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth. This handy booklet provides you with all the information on the four ballot questions that you could possibly need when you go to vote on Nov. 4. All the information, that is, […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: 2014, Ballot Questions, bottle deposit, business, casinos, earned sick time, election, employers, gambling, gas, gasoline tax, juice, legislature, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, recycling, taxes, Voter's Guide, Wakefield Daily Item, water
The Massachusetts Tech Tax is going to be repealed, and that’s a good thing. But now that repeal appears certain, all this “let bygones be bygones” stuff is just a little nauseating. Massachusetts is Democratic state – I assume we can all agree on that much. A state’s political leanings tend to be reflected within […]
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Tags: Brad Jones, Bruce Tarr, High Tech, Karen Spilka, Katherine Clark, legislature, MA, Mark Sardella, Mass., Massachusetts, repeal, Software Services Tax, taxes, tech tax, technology, technology tax, Wakefield Daily Item
Keep Neighborhood Polling Places
Largely ignored in all the excitement over the margin of victory in the June 9 Special Election was the fact that the decision to build a new Galvin Middle School was made by a minority of the town’s voters. Less than one-third of those eligible weighed in with a vote. If you count only the […]
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Tags: Daily Item, election, elections, Galvin, Galvin Middle School, Galvinize, Galvinize Wakefield, Mark Sardella, polling places, Proposition 2 1/2, school, schools, tax, taxes, vote, voters, votes, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Massachusetts
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 […]
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
Mark Sardella 