Since Springfield’s fiscal crisis began a decade ago, the ebbs and flows of financial distress have rocked few departments as much as the Fire Department. A critical department, it was often given short shrift by the Control Board, and continues to enjoy less public political
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
Politicians of all stripes came out Wednesday for Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe’s Annual Clambake. The event was held at the Elks Lodge on Tiffany Street in Springfield, a change from its normal location at Six Flags in Agawam. Although according to attendees, it was
**This post has been edited for accuracy. ** When the Springfield City Council voted 7-4 to approve a higher than requested trash fee in exchange for reopening neighborhood library branches, it was clear the side the crowd was on. A sustained applause greeted Councilors who took
For weeks now, tension has been building among city councilors over the mayor’s budget. Even before Mayor Domenic Sarno presented his budget two weeks ago, many councilors were almost livid over the process. Consequently, when the budget faced its annual scrutiny Wednesday evening, it was
This post has been updated to reflect confirmation from the Department of Revenue on the Hotel Tax. With tension high following last week’s release of the mayor’s budget, on Monday the Springfield City Council staked out its own position on the proposed financial plan and
The following Post refers to the 6/17/12 Council Meeting postponed from its originally scheduled date on 6/10/12 due to the death of Ofc. Kevin Ambrose on that day. We apologize for the delay in its posting. Less than twenty-four hours before Mayor Domenic Sarno released
As Domenic Sarno rolled out his budget for the 2013 fiscal year on Tuesday, most of the observers in the crowd, largely just reporters and department heads, knew or had known for some time it would be bloody. On paper, the layoffs were limited to
First, a note to our readers. We apologize for failing to post on the last two city council meetings. On balance, there was not much lost in our failure, however, we still regret our failure. There is at least one issue that merited some further
Six months ago, as Springfield voted in the shadow of a year of bizarre weather that almost certainly affected the election, a potentially subtler electoral coup emerged besides Domenic Sarno’s landslide victory. Even as the weather had scrambled the predictions of the city’s punditocracy and