Browse By

Category Archives: Springfield

Analysis: Seuss (and a City) at the Crossroads…

If a misinformed Cantabrigian librarian had not done enough to catapult Springfield into the national spotlight, surely the eye-rolling imbroglio at the Dr. Seuss museum has launched the city further into controversy.  Like clockwork, Mayor Domenic Sarno jumped feet first into the situation, prolonging the

Power to the People: Jafet Robles 1983-2017…

UPDATED 9/22/17 11:22PM: To issue a correction. Robles was born in Puerto Rico, not Springfield. In the hours after his death last week, Jafet Robles’s gaze was everywhere. Often rocking a cap and Neighbor 2 Neighbor (N2N) T-shirts and sweatshirts, the Springfield activist’s fierce eyes

Briefings: Valley Activist Heavyweight Jafet Robles Murdered…

The body found early Monday in a Chicopee park belonged to a prominent Springfield activist according to multiple sources close to the victim.  Jafet Robles, a Springfield resident, was the Western Massachusetts organizer for Neighbor 2 Neighbor (N2N), a community-building organization.  Public Works employees found

Analysis: Wall Street Considers Main Street in Springfield…

UPDATED 8/17/17 8:25PM: For a Correction. The top photo originally misidentified 1211 Avenue of the Americas. Not much links MGM Springfield’s construction site with 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York.  The former is feted as evidence of “momentum” in Springfield, like many a

Springfield Council chambers

Analysis: Two Open Council Seats…Who Will Be the Champions?…

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

Analysis: Fewer Incumbents Waving Their Banner All over the Place…

UPDATED 10:02PM: To add quotes published in The Republican. This is the first of two-part series on the impact of retirements on the 2017 Springfield at-large Council race. Capping off the longest continuous Council tenure in Springfield and giving this year’s at-large race yet another

Springfield

Take My Council, Please: Summertime & the Agenda’s Easy(ish)…

SPRINGFIELD—Its agenda was long and several items dragged, but the City Council’s mid-summer regular meeting largely featured uncontroversial items and housekeeping. Potentially big matters like an MGM request for more time to build its housing units prompted questions, but won acquiescence. Typically hum-drum matters hit

Springfield School Committee Resigned to More Change…

UPDATED 7/5/17 7:43PM: To include comment from School Committee member Denise Hurst. For the second time in less than a year, the Springfield School Committee is losing a member. Rosa Perez, who represents Wards 1 and 3 on the Committee, offered her resignation on June

Take My Council, Please: Running into Springfield on a Rail…

SPRINGFIELD—Ahead of its summer slowdown, the City Council ripped through a potpourri agenda featuring new ordinances, support for added rail service and derailment of a labor contract.  Earlier in the evening, the City Council had unanimously passed Mayor Domenic Sarno’s budget without any cuts. Similar