Posts Tagged ‘Wakefield Daily Item’
The new one percent
You probably remember the term “one percent” or “one-percenter,” which became popularized during the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Theoretically, it referred to the richest one percent of the population, who are said to have most of the money, property, and power in society. In reality, it was used to demonize any productive individual who had the audacity to earn and accumulate any quantity of wealth. […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 8 Comments
Tags: 1 percent, 40A, automobiles, bicycle, Bicycle lane, bike, bike lanes, cars, Climate Change, commuting, cycle, cyclist, developers, driving, Erin Kokinda, housing, Humor, Julie Smith-Galvin, Lake Quannapowitt, MAPC, Mark Sardella, Marxism, Massachusetts, MBTA, one percent, one-percenter, Opinion, parking, pedestrian, Politics, Safe Streets Working Group, schools, spandex, SSWG, transit, transportation, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, walking, wealth, zoning
Circle game
So, this is how it ends. All we have to show for two and a half years of rancor and division in the community is a double circle with a “W” inside it. This will surely inspire fear in our Middlesex League opponents. Predictably, this decision was made literally in the middle of the summer, […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 3 Comments
Tags: 4th of July, educators, Gen. John Galvin, Humor, Independence Day Parade, Indian, July Fourth, logo, Mark Sardella, Native American, NATO, Opinion, Politics, School Committee, schools, soldier, students, teachers, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Public Schools, Wakefield Warrior Football, warrior, WHS, WMHS
Flag warriors
Next Tuesday, July 18, 2023 will be a big day in Wakefield – if things go as planned. But if past is prologue, that’s a big “if.” The School Committee says that it will vote that night on a new Wakefield Warrior logo. Since this is at least the fourth time that they’ve said this […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: American Flag, education, election, Facebook, Flag Day, football, Humor, Independence Day, Indian, July 4, lightning bolt, logo, Mark Sardella, messenger, Opinion, Parade, photo, Politics, School Committee, schools, strength, students, summer, survey, team, Town Council, valor, veterans, virility, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Warrior, warrior, WMHS, Youth Council
To be, or 40B
Let’s be clear. Something is going to be built at 119-135 Nahant St., the former location of Precision Honing. At this point, the only question is, ‘What?” Right now, it’s a blighted industrial site with a crumbling old factory building on it. Developer Jason Kearney’s new proposal to build a six-story, 120-unit, 40B affordable housing […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: 40B, affordable housing, apartment building, building development, comprehensive permit, construction, developers, equity, housing, Humor, legislature, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, MassHousing, Nahant Street, Opinion, Politics, Precision Honing, private property, suburbia, suburbs, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Zoning Board of Appeals, Zoning Bylaws
The price of apathy
Last Saturday’s Special Election, which saw 18 percent of the voters give 100 percent of Wakefield homeowners a hefty tax increase, brought back a hazy memory from about 40 years ago. As a member of the Board of Assessors in the 1980s, Paul Faler was a fierce advocate for residential taxpayers. As I recall it, […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 5 Comments
Tags: bike lanes, Blosoms at the Beebe, Board of Assessors, education, election, electorate, homeowners, Humor, Jonathan Chines, League of Women Voters, LWV, Mark Sardella, Mike Conley, Opinion, Paul Faler, People's Paradise, Phil Porter, Phyllis Hull, Politics, Proposition 2 1/2, Sam Benedetto, schools, solar panels, special election, TAW, taxes, taxpayers, Taxpayers Association of Wakefield, Town Council, townies, voters, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield natives, WMHS, Yes for WMHS
Schools of thought
Watching two school building projects unfold virtually side by side in time and space has provided a unique window into what happens when environmental and educational activism collide at the local level.
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Tags: activists, Amazon Rain Forest, Breakheart Reservation, Chelsea, civics, Conservation Commission, diversity, education, environment, equity, Everett, forest, Hemlock Rd., Humor, inclusion, Malden, Mark Sardella, MSBA, NEMT, Northeast Metro Tech, Opinion, Politics, privilege, Revere, schools, Shaun F. Beasley, social justice, trade school, vocational education, Voke, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Memorial High School, wildlife habitat, WMHS, woods
Meeting expectations
There were few surprises at last Saturday’s Special Town Meeting, other than the fact that the start was delayed 45 minutes to allow several hundred people to stroll in fashionably late. Who could have known that this much-anticipated and highly promoted Special Town Meeting would attract such a crowd? And you can hardly blame people […]
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Tags: Anthony Guardia, ballot, children, classroom, education, educators, homeowners, Humor, Mark Sardella, Open Town Meeting, Opinion, parents, Politics, punctuality, school, schools, senior citizens, social security, special election, Special Town Meeting, Steely Dan, students, taxes, teachers, vote voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, William Carroll
A very Special Town Meeting
In just over a week, Phase 1 of the campaign for a new Wakefield Memorial High School will be complete. On Saturday, Jan. 28, the Special Town Meeting will be called to order and hundreds of people will pack the high school field house to hear school administrators and other town officials drone on at […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 10 Comments
Tags: accreditation, Central Committee, Climate Change, cost, Critical Race Theory, CRT, curriculum, development, Dolbeare School, education, educators, Greenwood School, home values, housing, Mark Sardella, natural gas, NEASC, Opinion, Politics, School Committee, schools, special election, students, taxes, teachers, Town Meeting, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Memorial High School, Wakefield Warrior Logo, WHS, WMHS, Yes for WMHS
Here comes Santa Claus
I’ve taken to heart recent advice from readers that I should “do a little investigative journalism.” And since it’s my firm conviction that the public has a constitutional right to know what their local officials and others will be receiving in their stockings and under their trees on Christmas morning, my digging has uncovered Santa’s […]
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Tags: Amy McLeod, Beatles, Christmas, copyright, Donald Trump, Dr. Douglas Lyons, Fence Viewers, Humor, Jason Lewis, Jeff Kehoe, Jonathan Chines, MAGA, Mark Sardella, Mehreen Butt, News, Northeast Metro Tech, Ohio State University, Politics, Sam Stella, Santa Claus, Shaun F. Beasley, Smart Brevity, Taxman, Unitarian Universalist, Voke, voters, Wakefield Bowladrome, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield Police Department, Wakefield Public Schools, Wakefield Town Council, Warrior logo, Winter Solstice, WMHS
Mark Sardella 