SPRINGFIELD—The growing ambition of the City Council beached itself onto the body’s widening political gulf, amid procedural and substantive disagreements on civil liberties and a public works project. While the Council ultimately voted to kill an order that could frustrate the X intersection project, it
SPRINGFIELD—If sparks were flying at the first City Council meeting of the year, they had manners. Equipped with three new members after last year’s elections, the Council moved ahead on a now-moratorium on facial recognition software. The body also formally requested the help of the
At the beginning, 2019 felt like it had all the fixings of a great year for the City of Homes. The Council was resurgent. The East-West rail study was (finally) moving. The region’s congressman ascended to one of Congress’s top posts. MGM was entering its
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
UPDATED 11/7/19 11:45AM: To reflect a correction. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Alex Morse was on the ballot this year. He was not and is in the middle of a four-year term. SPRINGFIELD—A collective whoosh swept through the Pioneer Valley as candidates
It is an odd time for the city of Springfield. There is yet another mayoral election of debatable competitiveness at a time when so much is amiss with our city. The Council race, already troublingly low-key, has been polluted by disqualifying behavior. At the same
UPDATED 5/20/19 10:08AM: To clarify that the scholarship is for Springfield residents. Friends and family of the late Dave Vigneault, a former state representative and mentor to pols and activists, have laid out plans to carry on his legacy. On Friday, they announced a scholarship
SPRINGFIELD—There are several truisms in city elections that have lived on and endured for years. One of them is that persistence can pay off. As the field of Council candidates solidifies, it has become clear 2019 will not play against type. Once again, several unsuccessful
A pair of retirements in two Lower Valley cities announced Friday mark transition for their respective councils. The now-open positions in Holyoke and Springfield are both ward seats. and the outcome of neither’s election is likely to alter any balances of power. Rather, the significance
Springfield has a unique opportunity with so many open seats, all at-large, in this year’s election. It represents a paradigm shift away from the pre-ward representation Council. With nearly all of the (incorrect) institutional memory about the Council’s weakness fading, there is a real possibility