Posts Tagged ‘Wakefield Daily Item’

Total Recall

06May10

Massachusetts town solves voter apathy problem Outraged that only 145 voters showed up at Wakefield‘s Annual Town Meeting session to vote on the town’s $67 million FY’11 operating budget, a group of local citizens has filed a petition to recall Wakefield’s remaining 16,301 registered voters.


Last week, I attended my first Boston Red Sox opening day, a game against the World Champion New York Yankees. My father, Steve Sardella, was born 89 years ago this week in Wakefield, Massachusetts. These two seemingly unrelated facts are linked in my mind because my father was a huge Yankee fan, despite having lived […]


Last year’s highly successful merger of the Wakefield and Melrose Health Departments has prompted officials in the two contiguous communities to explore other ways that they might cooperate for mutual public benefit. There has even been talk of consolidating the Wakefield and Melrose police and fire dispatch systems as another way to save both communities […]


The Shape of Things at QP challenges our concepts of truth, art & love Art and love: we tend to demand truth and honesty in both. But are such expectations fair or even realistic? And if love and art have the power to change lives, at what price? Those are just a few of the […]


“In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes,” may well be the most famous quote of the 20th Century. First uttered by Andy Warhol in 1968, it has taken on various forms. We refer to someone’s “fifteen minutes of fame,” or note that another’s “15 minutes are up.” But Warhol’s remark proved to […]


I’ve been thinking about World War II a lot lately. I guess it’s a combination of things. Certainly the ongoing effort to raise the funds to replace the crumbling World War II Monument in my hometown of Wakefield, Massachusetts has served as a consistent reminder. The new granite memorial will be built on the same […]


Election Ennui

18Dec09

Congratulations to the voters of Wakefield, Massachusetts. One in four of you came out to vote in the recent special primary election to choose Teddy Kennedy’s successor in the US Senate. Wakefield’s 26 percent participation was nearly double the statewide turnout of 14 percent. Somewhere, the Founding Fathers must be beaming with pride. In the […]


Leigh Barrett stars More than a century and a half after its original publication, the emotional power of Charles Dickens’ holiday fable, “A Christmas Carol,” remains undiminished, and the current stage adaptation at Stoneham Theatre is a testament to the classic tale’s influence and staying power. The current incarnation of Stoneham Theatre opened its doors […]


Taxing Times

26Nov09

Wakefield, Massachusetts votes itself a new tax The 2009 Regular Town Meeting proved to be a taxing one – and not just for those who hung in for the entire three and a half hours. Town Meeting backed two new local taxes: one that will bring the tax on a restaurant meal in Wakefield to […]


Next Wednesday, Nov. 11, Wakefield, Massachusetts observes Veterans Day with ceremonies beginning at 11 a.m. in the Galvin Middle School Auditorium. While Memorial Day each spring focuses on honoring deceased veterans, Veterans Day is intended to honor and thank all US military personnel who served in all wars, particularly living veterans and those currently serving […]