SPRINGFIELD—For well over a decade, city councilors have grappled with how to structure the Police Department leadership. The Control Board’s abolition of the Police Commission in 2005 was among its most controversial moves. But it took several reform attempts and the Gregg Bigda imbroglio to
SPRINGFIELD—Eight days after beginning his second term as Council President, Ward 8 Councilor Orlando Ramos made clear 2018 would be different. Some councilors were uprooted from longtime committee assignments and whole committees were dissolved and their duties reassigned. The list of assignments was released quietly
Not 24 hours after the polls closed Tuesday, Springfield City Council President Orlando Ramos declared he had the votes to remain Council President for another year. It was a swift, but not unanticipated announcement. By now it has become habit for Springfield council presidents to
This post is the third of several profiles of Springfield at-large School Committee candidates. Springfield is no stranger to political comebacks. Candidates for office up and down the ballot have returned to office after defeats, both honorable and humiliating. While those comebacks happen, timing is
UPDATED 9/21/17 11:28AM: To include a quote from Ryan. SPRINGFIELD—Amid anemic turnout, voters in the 413’s largest city narrowed its unusually large at-large fields for City Council and School Committee. Incumbents seeking reelection romped in their races, leaving most of the action among who those
This is the second of two-part series on the impact of retirements on the 2017 Springfield at-large Council race. SPRINGFIELD—Only hours before the deadline to pull papers, word hit the City of Homes that not one, but two open at-large City Council seats in this
More than a hundred years later, Springfield City Hall remains a solid piece of construction. Even as maintenance of the larger Municipal Group to which it belongs has waxed and waned, the strong stone construction remains a tribute to the city’s brighter past. However, 36 Court
UPDATED 10:26AM: For grammar & clarity. Touching off a fresh battle in a politically fraught issue, the Springfield City Council voted to strengthen the city’s employee residency ordinance Monday night. As expected, if surprisingly quickly, Mayor Domenic Sarno vetoed the measure the next day and sent
WESTFIELD—Election Day across the Pioneer Valley had its share of surprises and disappointment. Yet, despite some cursory similarities among six Hampden County cities that held elections, very little wisdom can be confidently drawn from this local cycle with one exception. While the Whip City featured spirited
SPRINGFIELD—Facing almost no resistance in either votes or oratory, the City Council voted Monday night, in effect, to continue its role in the battle against the proposed biomass power plant on Page Boulevard. Former City Councilor and City Solicitor Patrick Markey made an offer to