**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
With its capacity to capture headlines and late night news teasers, crime remains one of the troubles for which Springfield get plenty of attention. Although the news can make the city appear to be a river of blood set against the din of incessant gunfire,
Every now and then the Springfield City Council assembles and does little more than ministerial duties dressed up as discretionary acts. For example, the city cannot accept a grant or money outside of its own tax base or consistent with a general state law unless
(WMassP&I) Under normal circumstances, Monday’s meeting of the Springfield City Council would have been a quick one. There were few controversial items and councilors seemed in agreement about the diciest issues before them. Rather, since the council had not met since January, a huge amount