One major trouble in Holyoke these days is the water and sewer departments’ effect upon the budget. In comparison to Springfield, where the unitary Water & Sewer Commission essentially operates off-budget, the costs and revenues of Holyoke’s systems for delivering potable water and removing water directly
HOLYOKE—The next six weeks of the mayoral campaign here will feature incumbent Alex Morse and homecare mogul Francis “Fran” O’Connell took the top two spots in Tuesday’s preliminary. The result mirrored—depending on perspective—the results from 2013, but the data is more nuanced than that with
UPDATED 4:10PM: For clarity and grammar and to reflect a correction. An earlier version of this post said O’Connell had not spent money on rent. He is, in fact, paying Pic’s Pub rent. Campaign finance reports detailing spending and fundraising in Holyoke’s mayoral preliminary became
UPDATED 9/4/15 11:09 PM: For grammar & clarity. HOLYOKE—The early 1990’s were a period of labor unrest at the Holyoke Visiting Nurse Association. Relations between management and workers, then-represented by Local 285, Service Employees International Union, iced over and devolved to strike threats and eventually
UPDATED 7/31/15 10:42: For clarity and grammar. Elections in the Paper City are rarely dull affairs, but a healthy mix of nominal retirements and fresh pushes by the city’s dominant political camps may yield a potentially heated cycle. Pile on the likelihood of some binding
HOLYOKE—With a banner blaring “a new direction” behind him, Francis “Fran” O’Connell offered a nostalgic appeal to a crowd of supporters and cited his business experience to undergird his case to elect him Holyoke’s chief executive. Although he touched on other issues in his remarks and
UPDATED 6/10/15 11:06AM: To include reaction from Kevin Jourdain. There is still time on the clock, but as it stands the race to succeed Holyoke Ward 6 Councilor Todd McGee now is down to one candidate. This evening Mark Riffenburg, a political organizer and former deputy
UPDATED 5/31/15 1:24AM: For grammary and clarity. HOLYOKE—Beginning his campaign for a third term in a room filled with supporters at the Delaney House, Mayor Alex Morse called on residents to keep up the momentum he and his partisans say have brought change and coaxed this famously old-school
UPDATED 1/12/15 1:20AM: For grammar & clarity. Since Senator Edward Kennedy’s death in 2009, Massachusetts has endured a near endless election cycle that at last ended last November. While countless cities like Holyoke and Springfield will hold municipal elections this year, young candidate running in
Two events struck the City of Holyoke like earthquakes this week. Though of entirely different natures—one political, one, quite literally structural—they could ripple through the city’s politics. Their only common trait is one man: City Council President Kevin Jourdain. On Tuesday, Jourdain announced, to nearly everybody’s surprise,