Posts Tagged ‘Town Meeting’
Bag the ban
It was only a matter of time. A small group of our fellow citizens has decided that they know better than the rest of us and want to dictate how we can carry our shopping purchases out of a store. Ten citizens have signed a petition to place an article on the May 1 Annual […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Nature & Wildlife, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 4 Comments
Tags: bags, ban, business, bylaw, capitalism, choice, Farmland, free market, lightbulbs, litter, marijuana, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, oceans, petition, plastic bags, recycling, single-use, stores, sustainability, thin-film shoppomh bags, Thomas Edison, Town Meeting, trash, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, wildlife
After the Big Bump
When the Wakefield School Department came out this week and requested a 4.84 percent increase in its FY 2018 budget, they turned a few people into prophets. In 2015, Annual Town Meeting approved a “one-time” 11.4 percent increase in the School Department budget. The Big Bump was supposed to “right size” the School Department by […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: budget, drama, education, funding, Galvin Middle School, marching band, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, music, Opinion, Politics, School Committee, schools, students sports, theater, Town Meeting, user fees, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Public Schools
Now’s Your Chance!
We’ve arrived at the Put Up or Shut Up Season. Monday, Jan. 4 was the first day that you could pull nomination papers to run in the April 26 Town Election. For those who for the past year have been have been telling anyone who would listen that you could do a better job running […]
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, campaign, City Hall, Conservation Commission, election, Facebook, government, Mark Sardella, nomination papers, Planning Board, Politics, public hearing, public office, School Committee, social media, town, town hall, Town Meeting, Town Planner, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Fantasy League
The irony of the moment was not lost on acting Planning Board chairman Bill Spaulding. “I do find it interesting that you’re questioning the parking – the amount of it,” Spaulding told Bronwyn Della-Volpe at hearing last week on Town Meeting Article 12, which was aimed at revitalizing the downtown with more mixed-use, residential-above-retail development. […]
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Tags: Brightview Senior Living, Bronwyn Della-Volpe, commuter rail, downtown, housing, Main Street, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Melrose MA, mixed-use development, parking, Pat Bruno, Paul Reavis, Planning Board, residential, retail, Town Meeting, Wakefield Civic League, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, William Spaulding, zoning
In Wakefield, Massachusetts After 10 long months of public hearings, dozens of letters to the editor, lawsuits and even protests in Wakefield Square, the Zoning Board of Appeals on July 29 approved three Special Permits that will allow Shelter Development to construct a 130-unit Brightview Senior Living facility on Crescent Street in Wakefield, MA. The […]
Filed under: News, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Ami Wall, architecture, Assisted Living, Brian McGrail, Brightview Senior Living, Charles Tarbell, David Hatfield, Eric Anderson, Fraen Corporation, John Kennedy, John Ogren, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Michael Pierce, parking, Shelter Development, Special Permit, Town Meeting, traffic, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, ZBA, zoning, Zoning Board of Appeals
The Simple Art of Voting
Every time there’s a low-turnout local election or Town Meeting (or both, as we recently had in Wakefield) talk inevitably turns to ways to improve voter turnout and participation. On the surface, it seems like a noble idea. “How can we make voting easier?” people wonder, as if voting were a task akin to climbing […]
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Tags: apathy, elections, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Politics, Town Meeting, vote, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Trashing Automated Collection
For better or worse, automated trash collection started in Wakefield, MA on Sept. 29. And for better or worse, it’s here to stay – at least for as long as the current trash contract is in effect. I’m not interested in arguing the merits pro or con of automated trash collection. But I am fascinated […]
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Tags: automated trash collection, Bill Carroll, DPW, Facebook, Mark Sardella, social media, Steve Maio, Town Meeting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Mark Sardella 