Archive
by On Springfield | Nov 9, 2009 | On Springfield
I can’t say I’ve always understood the decisions made by the Springfield electorate. Electing Mike Albano to multiple terms, even over such superior candidates as Charlie Ryan (in 1995) and Paul Caron (in 2001)? Robotically returning the same batch of...
by On Springfield | Nov 11, 2009 | On Springfield
Ward representation was a long time coming in Springfield, and expectations for the changes the new system will bring to city government have been high. So, one week after Election Day, has ward rep lived up to the expectations?Not so much, is the verdict from the...
by On Springfield | Nov 16, 2009 | On Springfield
It’s hard not to see City Councilor Jose Tosado’s recent announcement that he’s sewn up enough support to become the Council’s next president as the start of perhaps a bigger campaign, for a higher seat. Tosado was the highest vote-getter in...
by On Springfield | Nov 17, 2009 | On Springfield
When Frankie Keough was sentenced in three years in federal prison in 2007 for stealing from Friends of the Homeless, the Springfield shelter he ran, the disgraced former city councilor offered an apology before the court that, in the words of Springfield Republican...
by On Springfield | Nov 24, 2009 | On Springfield
The Springfield Public Health Council will meet Wednesday evening to discuss a proposal to build a wood-burning power plant on Page Boulevard—and project opponents plan to show up to let the council members know that they don’t want it. The $150 million...
by On Springfield | Nov 30, 2009 | On Springfield
Springfield’s new basketball team, The Armor, is off to a good start: Last night, the team won its only pre-season game, against the Maine Red Claws, 86-78. But things really start to count on Friday, when the Armor opens its inaugural season with a 7 p.m. game...
by On Springfield | Dec 4, 2009 | On Springfield
Mike Dobbs, managing editor for the Reminder, has added his voice to the chorus of Springfield residents opposed to a wood-burning biomass plant proposed for Page Boulevard.The Mass Department of Environmental Protection will hold a public hearing on the project on...
by On Springfield | Dec 14, 2009 | On Springfield
“Antonette Pepe is a fireball, and she’s burning up about something,” John O’Brien said by way of introducing the kick-ass School Committee member on this morning’s Bax & O’Brien show. I’ll say: Pepe appeared on the show...
by On Springfield | Dec 16, 2009 | On Springfield
When I went on vacation 10 days, I left fairly confident that I wouldn’t miss much while I was gone. After all, I thought, in this post-election, pre-holiday lull, how hot a news week could Springfield have? Certainly, I assumed, nothing could top the bombshell...
by On Springfield | Dec 22, 2009 | On Springfield
Not long ago, I wrote on this blog about the controversial proposal by Palmer Renewable Energy to build a $150 million wood-burning plant on Page Boulevard—a plan that has prompted activists concerned about the potential public health and environmental effects...
by On Springfield | Dec 23, 2009 | On Springfield
With the state education commissioner looking to pull their charter, officials at the Robert M. Hughes Academy are apparently trying a last-ditch effort to save the school. As Jack Flynn reported in today’s Republican, the board at the charter school discussed...
by On Springfield | Dec 29, 2009 | On Springfield
Is it my imagination, or has the Springfield Republican had remarkably little to say about the fast-impending retirement of its publisher, Larry McDermott? The paper announced the 61-year-old McDermott’s retirement in the Dec. 15 issue, just a couple of weeks...
by On Springfield | Dec 31, 2009 | On Springfield
It’s an annual tradition: with the end of the calendar year approaching, city councilors in Springfield find themselves scrambling to approve the city’s new tax rate for the coming year, before a Dec. 31 deadline. Turns out, though, that deadline...
by On Springfield | Jan 4, 2010 | On Springfield
The City Council will have another go at the city’s new tax rate at a special meeting scheduled for tonight, at 5:15 p.m. in the City Council chambers. The meeting will include a public speak-out period (for those residents and business owners who will actually...
by On Springfield | Jan 5, 2010 | On Springfield
Springfield’s newest city councilors and School Committee members (and a few old ones) took their seats today, during inauguration ceremonies at City Hall. The official invitation from Mayor Domenic Sarno’s office noted today’s ceremony marked...
by On Springfield | Jan 7, 2010 | On Springfield
The newly seated Springfield City Council has elected as its president Jose Tosado, a veteran councilor who secured the necessary votes weeks ago. Tosado, in turn, has announced his committee assignments, with some interesting picks. Among the plum positions handed...
by On Springfield | Jan 8, 2010 | On Springfield
Two important meetings coming up in Springfield:On Jan. 8, the McKnight Neighborhood Council will host an open-forum meeting “on ending violence and crime in the City of Springfield.” Organizers say both Mayor Domenic Sarno and Police Commissioner William...
by On Springfield | Jan 12, 2010 | On Springfield
If you saw a group of men beating another man, you'd probably call the police.But what if the men doing the beating were police officers themselves? In Springfield, you might run and get your video camera. That's what one unnamed bystander did on to record a...
by On Springfield | Jan 18, 2010 | On Springfield
For a guy rumored to be gearing up for a mayoral run in 2011, Jose Tosado’s recent griping about the state of the City Council chambers seems remarkably ill advised.Peter Goonan reports in today’s Republican that Tosado, the council president, is upset...
by On Springfield | Jan 23, 2010 | On Springfield
1) The Case of the Cramped Councilors: How, oh how, can the Springfield City Council possibly squeeze its newly expanded 13 members into a chamber that previously sat just nine? It's a mystery that's loosened hundreds of thousands of dollars from a city budget...
by On Springfield | Jan 25, 2010 | On Springfield
After much drama and fuss, in the end, the city of Springfield will, indeed, exercise an option to mail out of tax bills late this quarter.As reported by Michael McAuliffe in the Republican, the City Council voted this week to take advantage of a recently passed state...
by On Springfield | Jan 30, 2010 | On Springfield
Valley Catholics dealing with the aftermath of the Springfield Diocese’s decision last year to close a number of local churches might find inspiration—or at least some kindred spirits—in an excellent piece by reporter Charlie Deitz that aired on...
by On Springfield | Feb 4, 2010 | On Springfield
The Springfield-based Alliance to Develop Power, or ADP, has released a statement from Alvina Williams Jackson, the mother of Melvin Jones III, the 28-year-old city man at the center of a recent case of alleged police brutality. In November, Jones had been in a car...
by On Springfield | Feb 5, 2010 | On Springfield
For those of us who love to see public figures scuffling, superblogger Tom Devine has a juicy bit about a brewing battle between U.S. Rep. Richie Neal and Jim Polito, the former Channel 40 investigative reporter who now hosts a talk radio show in Worcester.In truth,...
by On Springfield | Feb 6, 2010 | On Springfield
It is a sure sign that you’ve reached middle age when you no longer can identify pop-culture celebrities, and you’ve stopped trying. Who cares if you have no idea who the host of Saturday Night Live is (forget about the musical guest)? It’s not like...
by On Springfield | Feb 8, 2010 | On Springfield
With the Obama administration recently granting Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, to Haitians living illegally in the U.S., the Springfield Diocese is hosting a workshop for people interested in applying on Feb. 9. The workshop, organized by the diocese’s...
by On Springfield | Feb 10, 2010 | On Springfield
Mayor Domenic Sarno may have created a new police review board last week, but that doesn’t mean the City Council is done with the matter.Tonight, the Council will consider a proposal by Councilor Jimmy Ferrera to create a Civilian Police Oversight Commission,...
by On Springfield | Feb 15, 2010 | On Springfield
The Sarno administration’s decision not to apply recently adopted pro-worker ordinances to the new Putnam High construction project is not sitting well with local labor groups and their supporters, who are planning a protest at City Hall on Friday.Last August,...
by On Springfield | Feb 17, 2010 | On Springfield
The Sarno administration has headed off a potentially ugly confrontation with local labor groups by reversing course and deciding to abide by city ordinances that favor local workers on the new Putnam High School project. Last August, Mayor Domenic Sarno touted two...
by On Springfield | Feb 22, 2010 | On Springfield
Springfield social justice activists will hold a “Stand Out Against Police Brutality” on Thursday, Feb. 18, from 2 to 3 p.m. outside the city bus station at 1776 Main St. Participants will call for city officials to create an effective and accountable...
by On Springfield | Feb 25, 2010 | On Springfield
Want to know what happens to the $19.50 of city taxes you pay for every $1,000 your property is worth? (Make that $39.25 per $1,000 if you’re a business owner.) Over the next couple of weeks, Springfield city officials will begin the process of putting together...
by On Springfield | Feb 26, 2010 | On Springfield
This weekend is do-or-die time for Stop & Shop and its employees to hash out a new contract—or see its workers hit the picket line. Last weekend, the supermarket’s union employees (about 45,000 in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut)...
by On Springfield | Mar 1, 2010 | On Springfield
Tom Rooke was in the race early, announcing a year ago that he planned to run for Hampden County District Attorney regardless of whether incumbent Bill Bennett planned to stay in the race. But now Rooke has changed course, announcing that he’s decided to opt out...
by On Springfield | Mar 3, 2010 | On Springfield
The City Council tonight will take up a resolution that supports shifting the burden of dealing with hard-to-recycle trash from municipalities (and taxpayers) and to the manufacturers that make the products and packaging in the first place. The resolution calls for...
by On Springfield | Mar 5, 2010 | On Springfield
Labor and social justice folks from around the Valley will gather this weekend at Holyoke Community College for the annual Western Mass. Jobs With Justice conference.The conference begins on Sat., March 6, at noon with an hour of registration and...
by On Springfield | Mar 8, 2010 | On Springfield
“Green” is the buzzword in Springfield these days, as city leaders call for “green” jobs, support “green” policies, and scramble for “green,” well, green, in the form of grants for environmentally sound projects. Those...
by On Springfield | Mar 15, 2010 | On Springfield
The push is on for state lawmakers to pass the Paid Sick Days bill, which would guarantee Massachusetts workers at least seven days of sick leave per year (to be used for themselves, or to care for a family member). The bill was recently reported favorably out of the...
by On Springfield | Mar 17, 2010 | On Springfield
Students from Cathedral High School will hold a candlelight vigil outside their school at 8:30 tonight in memory of their classmate Conor Reynolds, the 17-year-old senior who was stabbed to death Saturday night outside a party at a St. James Avenue restaurant. Earlier...
by On Springfield | Mar 19, 2010 | On Springfield
An arrest has been made in the stabbing death of Conor Reynolds, the 17-year-old Cathedral High student who was killed outside a Springfield bar last weekend. According to a report on MassLive by Springfield Republican reporter Patrick Johnson, the SPD has arrested a...
by On Springfield | Mar 23, 2010 | On Springfield
At MassLive.com today is the kind of photo you hope to never see: a group of dark-suited teenagers carrying the coffin of their friend into his funeral mass. The friend was Conor Reynolds, the 17-year-old Springfield boy who was stabbed to death last weekend at a...
by On Springfield | Mar 24, 2010 | On Springfield
Like the phoenix rising from the ashes … here comes Chris Asselin again?No, it’s not an early April Fool’s gag—fresh off an 18-month stint in prison on federal corruption charges, the former Springfield state rep, dropped the bombshell...
by On Springfield | Mar 30, 2010 | On Springfield
Tapestry Health will mark the end of National Nutrition Month tomorrow (Thursday, March 25) with its 5th annual Community Kids Walk, organized by Tapestry’s Springfield North WIC program. The event begins with a group of Springfield preschoolers walking down...
by On Springfield | Apr 2, 2010 | On Springfield
When Carole O’Malley was 13 years old, her mother got sick, with what her father told her was mononucleosis. In fact, Betty O’Malley had cancer. But like many families of that time and place—it was the 1950s, in Springfield’s Hungry Hill...
by On Springfield | Apr 5, 2010 | On Springfield
Last week, in a post about former state Rep. Chris Asselin’s improbable efforts to reclaim the legislative seat he lost shortly before being convicted on corruption charges, I mentioned the trouble I was having getting Asselin’s successor, Sean Curran, to...
by On Springfield | Apr 8, 2010 | On Springfield
Just a few days after state Sen. Stephen Buoniconti announced his candidacy for Hampden County District Attorney came a rather uncomfortable story in the Boston Herald: on Saturday, the Herald’s Dave Wedge reported that the former prosecutor has taken $4,800 in...
by On Springfield | Apr 13, 2010 | On Springfield
City leaders looking for a positive spin on the new WNEC poll on quality of life in the city will have their work cut out for them. According to the poll, 54 percent of city residents consider Springfield a “poor” or “fair” place to live....
by On Springfield | Apr 16, 2010 | On Springfield
The Rev. James Scahill, pastor of East Longmeadow’s St. Michael’s parish, was chastised yesterday by Bishop Timothy McDonnell of the Springfield Diocese for the sermons he delivered at his church last weekend. In those sermons, Cahill suggested that Pope...
by On Springfield | Apr 19, 2010 | On Springfield
Mason Square residents eager to know just when, exactly, they’re finally going to get back their neighborhood library branch should be sure to attend next Wednesday’s meeting of the City Council’s Veterans, Administration and Human Services...
by On Springfield | Apr 21, 2010 | On Springfield
Last week, Springfield Intruder blogger Bill Dusty wrote (in his side gig at MassLive.com) about a perennial thorn in the side of his South End neighborhood: a long-neglected house at 58-60 Adams St., where crummy tenants and a disengaged landlord created a major...
by On Springfield | Apr 26, 2010 | On Springfield
Springfield native Mark Oppenheimer reads from his new memoir, Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate, at South Hadley’s Odyssey Bookshop tonight at 7 p.m. Wisenheimer tells the story of the angst Oppenheimer experienced as a hyper-articulate kid whose...
by On Springfield | Apr 28, 2010 | On Springfield
Just in case anyone somehow missed this, Urban League President Henry Thomas is not feeling any particular urgency to vacate 765 State St., the home of the once and future Mason Square branch library. “We’re not under the pressure of the clock with regard...
by On Springfield | Apr 30, 2010 | On Springfield
Eager to know just what is going on with the city’s taking of 765 State St. to restore full library services to the Mason Square community? That’s the sole item on the agenda of this evening’s joint meeting of the City Council’s Veterans,...
by On Springfield | May 3, 2010 | On Springfield
Every year as it prepares to vote on the municipal budget, the Springfield City Council holds a long series of hearings to pore over the spending plan put together by the mayor and his financial staff. But this year, the Council will take a different tact—one...
by On Springfield | May 5, 2010 | On Springfield
Will you spend any of the coming warm spring and summer days at Springfield’s riverfront? In recent years, plenty of effort has gone into making that potentially prime, but long neglected, piece of downtown real estate into an inviting place, including efforts...
by On Springfield | May 7, 2010 | On Springfield
When I first began covering Springfield in the mid 1990s, I quickly began learning the city’s landmarks, both formal (the Campanile, Forest Park, the old graveyards that my friend Tom Devine introduced me to) and informal (Mom & Rico’s, Gus &...
by On Springfield | May 12, 2010 | On Springfield
Looking for something exciting to do with your Saturday afternoons? For the next three weeks, at least, the Springfield City Council has got you covered: starting tomorrow (May 8), the Council will hold a series of marathon meetings to discuss the municipal budget for...
by On Springfield | May 17, 2010 | On Springfield
It may sound counterintuitive: fighting violence through a sport that is, by its very nature, violent.But there’s a long tradition of organized boxing as a way to help kids—especially kids considered “at risk”—develop characteristics like...
by On Springfield | May 19, 2010 | On Springfield
Is the Springfield Urban League finally getting ready to vacate the building at 765 State St., more than eight months after the City Council took the building by eminent domain? According to the most recent update from the City Hall Law Department, the Urban League...
by On Springfield | May 21, 2010 | On Springfield
For more than nine months, City Councilor Tim Rooke has waged a campaign against the decision— made last year by the Finance Control Board, and supported by the Sarno administration—to move the School Department headquarters to 1550 Main St., the site of...
by On Springfield | May 24, 2010 | On Springfield
It appears safe to say that City Councilor Tim Rooke has not been intimidated into silence by the recent harsh words leveled at him by Mayor Domenic Sarno.Earlier this week, Sarno issued a press release chastising Rooke for his ongoing criticism of the plan to move...
