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Category Archives: Springfield

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Briefings: A Day of Departures…

UPDATED 7:47PM: For clarity and accuracy. Two significant, but very different departures hit Springfield today. New North Citizens Council Director Michael Denney, 63, died of a heart attack, according to the Republican.  Among the city’s preeminent neighborhood groups, the NNCC also doubled as one of

He Who Would Be Council President…

UPDATED 12/5/12 2:47PM: For clarification of John Lysak’s political affiliation and grammar. Campaigns for the City Council Presidency in Springfield are quite unlike many of the city’s big political fights.  While several important issues go by unnoticed at 36 Court Street, where there is a

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Take My Council, Please: What Lies Beneath?…

SPRINGFIELD—A quiet quick meeting for the Springfield City Council dispensed with numerous housekeeping measures.  However some items sent to committee portend either broader conflicts or a healthy helping of grandstanding. Still recuperating from injuries sustained in August, Ward 3 Councilor Melvin Edwards was absent from

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Sarno’s Communications Director Resigns…

UPDATED: 9:20 PM: To reflect details obtained from the Republican. UPDATED 9:40 PM: To show comments from Councilors. UPDATED 12/4/12 1:22PM: With Tweet from WMassP&I’s twitter account and new reporting. SPRINGFIELD—After five years of a relative calm among the mayor’s inner circle of advisers and

Rating the City’s Values…

SPRINGFIELD—On Thursday night, the annual ritual of setting the city‘s property tax rates made its last road stop in East Forest Park.  Members of the City Council’s tax-setting subcommittee and Board of Assessors Chair Richard Allen presented the city’s tax rates for the next year

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Not Quite Florida, But Unbecoming of Democracy?…

UPDATED 11/21/2012  For Clarity From seven hour lines in Miami-Dade County to false or misleading information on billboards in Pennsylvania to endless counting in Arizona, Election Day 2012 was nothing to be proud of. Voters across the country faced myriad challenges, a reality that runs

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Take My Council, Please: With Firm Resolve…

UDPATED 10/18/12 2:22pm During a relatively quiet meeting at the Springfield City Council, two things were clear.  The Council remains skeptical of the mayor’s budgeting tactics and everybody loves the Student Prince.  Beyond that, much of the evening was focused on a couple of tax

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Take My Council, Please: Twilight Zoning…

UPDATED 9/28: Additional reporting included. The subject matter is complex, esoteric and to some, probably dull. However, Tuesday night the revision of the city’s zoning ordinance packed seats and elicited cheers and jeers from meeting attendees as residents demanded, sometimes bluntly, that Councilors act on

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Take My Council, Please: Moneyed Interests…

In its first full regular meeting since July (August’s meeting was technically for permitting), the Springfield City Council confronted built-up financial matters and committee reports.  Indeed, the Council dispatched the hefty agenda more quickly than it has shorter ones filled more greater banality.  Part of

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Previewing the Council’s Fall…

Aside from a few special meetings and a one scheduled meeting in July and August each, the Springfield City Council took the bulk of the summer off. Certainly, one issue, casinos, kept the City Council busy as it tussled with the mayor for control of