Although meetings have become much more fluid since going hybrid last year, the Springfield City Council’s outing hit a snag on Monday. The body trudged through a permit for the Student Prince to close Fort Street during summers.
On Thursday, Ward 3 Chicopee City Councilor Delmarina López announced she would run for mayor. The first-termer, who became the Council’s first woman of color in 2021, would be challenging incumbent mayor John Vieau.
Challengers to Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno enjoyed some brisk fundraising as the race itself picks up speed. While May reports, which will be due in a few days, should show whether candidates can maintain this pace, the April numbers could alter some of the assumptions about the money race.
In what came as something of a surprise to some, Governor Maura Healey included $12.5 million for Western Mass rail work in her Fiscal Year 2024 budget. While not necessary for East-West rail between Boston and the 413, the money for work in Palmer and Pittsfield was a positive sign. Then the legislature began its budget process.
During a visit to the region earlier this year, Healey announced she would appoint a director of rural affairs within her executive office for economic development. On Monday, she named Spencer Senator Anne Gobi, whose sprawling district still includes a sliver of Hampshire County, to the position.
What are elections about? The smart political operative will tell you they are about the future.
That was not exactly on tap when Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno launched his reelection Wednesday at the Greek Cultural Center.
The Springfield City Council faced a light agenda this past Monday. Once more the Council held off on final passage of a historic district for the former Isolation Hospital. The body continues to meditate on the owner’s litigation threat. That limited the meeting to uncontentious items. Among them was a revote on the firefighters’ labor contract due to a drafting error.
Another ward seat on the Springfield City Council shall be subject to a contes. Kareem Kibodya, who has been a policy and advocacy staffer with the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, is set to challenge Ward 4 Councilor Malo Brown.
SPRINGFIELD—Tucked between passage of the House’s budget and the Senate’s introduction of its version was a briefing on Beacon Hill happenings from the legislative delegation for the commonwealth’s third city. Last Tuesday, Springfield’s five reps, one senator and staff for the other, took turns describing their priorities.
Taking far less time than another judge did on a similar motion last year, Hampden Superior Court Judge James Manitsas has already decided the fate of a claim that lawyers for Mayor Domenic Sarno and his former aide Darryl Moss did battle over on Tuesday. The court dismissed the claim that Sarno violated Moss’s First Amendment rights.
