Nobody asked me, but …
If you’ve ever wondered what America would look like without an EPA, an FDA and a federal Department of Education, you may be about to find out.
Speaking of the new administration, my bet is White House Spokesman Sean Spicer doesn’t make it to Memorial Day, which would be the first Washington-related SNL casualty in quite some time.
Closer to home, I’m not sure what the best strategy is to get Montague voters to vote “no” on a nonbinding referendum to keep the Indian as the Turners Falls High School mascot, but I’m pretty sure booing and hissing the Montague selectmen on live TV isn’t the way to do it.
And speaking of that question, I’m not sure if the board’s decision to put it on the ballot won’t end up sealing the Indian’s fate, given the Gill-Montague School Committee’s apparent lack of interest in hearing what all of the town’s residents have to say, outside of the few who have shown up at the various forums on the matter.
On another matter entirely, $11.5 million for a new Montague Highway Garage? Good luck selling that one.
Heading across the river, I know that this past week’s vandalism of a series of Greenfield ice sculptures is just a bunch of broken ice to some people, but to those of us who grew up here, it’s more evidence of how this town has changed over the years, not necessarily for the better.
The only good thing to come out of that otherwise ugly bit of destruction is that it may strengthen Town Councilor Wanda Muzyka Pyfrom’s argument in favor of installing surveillance cameras near the Town Common, although the ice sculpture in that area was among those left untouched.
Speaking of the council, was anyone shocked that Penny Ricketts was removed as chair of the Economic Development and Planning Committee after she refused to support Brickett Allis’ re-election as council president? Yeah, me neither.
Another surprise was the appointment of Precinct 8 Councilor Ashli Stempel as Ways and Means chair, especially since she never asked for the job — but is certainly capable of doing it.
One final Greenfield thought — as annoying as it was to watch people chew over the same development argument we have had for going on 25 years, I was impressed by the number of people who turned out for the recent vote on the French King Overlay District, many of them new faces who spoke glowingly about how much they love the town. Whether March will bring a zoning compromise any of those guys will be able to live with is very much an open question.
Drifting down Routes 5 and 10 a bit, the town of Deerfield may have Donald Trump to thank, in part, for finally landing a full-time town administrator. Wendy Foxmyn has spent the last few years working for the feds and as an interim administrative “relief arm” in various towns, but was moved to take more of a full-time community-building role after the events of the past year. Motivation aside, Deerfield is lucky to have her, especially with all it has on its plate these days.
Turning to State House politics for a moment, it looks like Deval Patrick’s former budget chief Jay Gonzalez is employing the “Walter Mondale” strategy in his early bid to unseat Gov. Charlie Baker by admitting that Massachusetts could benefit by raising taxes. What’s next? A position paper on the benefits of legislative raises?
And speaking of those raises, I know the Legislature is still taking some heat for overriding Baker’s veto of that $18 million bump, and though it’s not likely to threaten their jobs in two years, it does make it harder for guys like Stan Rosenberg and Bob DeLeo to “cry poor” as they have been almost since the current governor took office. It’s also going to make it that much tougher to say “no” when people come looking for funding for certain pet projects that fall below that magic $18 million number.
Finally, it’s going to be awfully weird to walk into The Recorder newsroom and not see Mark Durant sitting there. As we know by now, Durant capped off a three-decade career in the sports department this past week, but he and I go back much further than that. Our moms were friends back in the day, so we were often getting thrown together, and we always found a way to have fun, usually around the game of hockey. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Durant over the past few years as a sports correspondent, and I’ll miss his humor, and his penchant for often sending me to some of the worst high school football mismatches in recent memory.
Good luck with the Vegas gig, bro. Don’t be a stranger.
Chris Collins, who worked in local radio in a number of capacities, has observed political life in Franklin County for years. He is a Greenfield native.