State money allocated to Springfield via Chapter 90 is nothing new to the City Council. Every year, the body formally accepts the disbursement. In recent years, city officials have paired it with bonding to maximize road repairs. The annual allocation has also been flat.
Despite the big figures involved, the Springfield City Council scampered through its regular February meeting uneventfully. But with looming costs for current and future retirees, the meeting was a sobering reminder of Springfield’s future fiscal challenges.
Whether a gentle laying on of hands or a less voluntary conversion, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is now a believer.
At a press event at Union Station in Springfield and alongside US Representative Richard Neal, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker endorsed a plan to establish a rail authority to oversee the implementation of East-West rail service.
The Trans-Commonwealth Railroad is a series on the challenges and efforts to connect the length of Massachusetts by rail. Despite officials in 413 mashing the accelerator as if on a clear stretch of Pike, East-West rail entered 2021 with only muted optimism. Governor Charlie Baker,
UPDATED 2/13/20 8:33AM: To identify one of the speakers based on another media report. SPRINGFIELD—On Wednesday night, supporters of added rail service between Western and Eastern Massachusetts packed a room at the UMass Center in downtown for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation first public hearing
UPDATED 9:53AM 12/20/19: To note Sarno’s veto of the order on the X intersection. UPDATED 8:39PM 12/18/19: To clarify Councilor Ryan’s comments about the X project and to include comment from MassDOT. SPRINGFIELD—In the final meeting of the year, City Councilors saw off their retiring
SPRINGFIELD—It is a ritual that comes every couple of snow seasons. Following a hefty blanketing of snow, the plowing is inadequate, residents complain, councilors hold a hearing and Public Works pleads extenuating circumstances. With 36 hours of snow amounting to about 13 inches last week,
SPRINGFIELD—Once again, the City Council logged some mileage to get through the agenda. This past Monday, it was worth it. More than a dozen items were approvals of recommendations from the Community Preservation Committee (CPC), the panel that develops spending plans under the state Community
NEWTON—The same highway and rail line that divide Boston also splits Newton. In the capital city, the corridor separates neighborhoods from each other. Here, it pierces several of this city’s villages. Frothing traffic spills out into veins of streets, branching outward from the Turnpike. The Worcester Line tracks and dismal stations along I-90 provide little relief.
SPRINGFIELD—Compared to recent meetings, Monday’s City Council meeting was mellower than most. More throat-clearing than the advance of policy, it set the stage for a few issues like a plastic bag ban and tighter state health code standards. However, neither had the effect of law