I may be the only one who feels this way, but I’m starting to actually get excited about the upcoming presidential campaign, especially on the Democratic side.
“Upcoming” may be the wrong word, because I’m pretty sure this primary began about five seconds after “The Donald” took the oath of office in 2017. And it’s not just the insane number of candidates running as much as some of the stuff they are promising to do if elected.
Free college tuition? No problem. Forgiveness of student loan debt? Done. How about reparations for various “marginalized groups,” or, my new favorite talking point, $1,000 a month from the government — all of which will be paid for by new taxes on everyone’s favorite target, the uber-wealthy.
What’s not to be excited about? Who doesn’t love free stuff, especially when it comes from the government?
Of course, there’s an outside chance that none of these ideas will ever see the light of day, and are only being advanced by candidates looking to separate themselves from the pack.
The problem there is the candidate who does emerge is going to then have to run on these ideas, and if they manage to get past Trump, will have to find a way to implement them, which is where the trouble lies.
American voters get kind of persnickety when they are promised something and don’t get it. And the kind of pandering we are seeing only serves to set the next Democratic standard-bearer up for failure almost a year before the nominating convention — while giving their incumbent opponent more Twitter bait than he’ll know what to do with between now and next November.
Sometimes a politician says something that makes you wince.
Such was the case at the most recently regular Greenfield City Council meeting, when At-Large Councilor Isaac Mass made the comment that he “didn’t care” if Baystate Franklin Medical Center nurses had to go find other jobs once the hospital closes its “East Spoke” wing and moves those services to Baystate’s proposed new psychiatric facility in Holyoke.
As is so often the case in situations like this, context is key. Mass’s comments about the nurses were in direct response to Council President Karen Renaud’s public disclosure at the start of the debate detailing her professional connection to the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents the nurses at the Franklin.
Mass also made it clear that his larger concern was for the quality of care provided by Baystate, which may or may not be positively impacted by the closure. The council is hoping to get answers to those questions directly from Baystate officials, who have been invited to a future meeting to discuss the matter further.
The people who despise Mass will no doubt be quick to seize on his comments, which even he admits were inartful at best. But anyone interested in seeing what really happened should watch the meeting at the GCTV YouTube page and judge for yourself.
Hopefully, those Baystate guys will accept the invitation to come in to discuss an issue which could very much impact the lives of some of the most vulnerable among us.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine downtown Greenfield without the Garden Theater.
Outside of Poet Seat Tower, there may be no landmark which screams “Greenfield” more than the Garden, which faces a possible state-mandated closure next month due to accessibility issues related to a non-working wheelchair lift.
There’s no doubt that George Gohl and Bill Gobelle are good guys who give back to the community, and we should continue to support their business. But I would be remiss in not pointing out that this lift problem is not a new issue. In fact, the city’s Disability Law Commission has been working for close to eight years to try and get this problem addressed, and now the state has had to intervene, hence the 90-deadline and the potential $1,000 a day fine for non-compliance.
I find it hard to believe there isn’t a financial institution or a well-heeled, civic-minded fat cat who can come in and help these guys fix this problem. Barring that, it looks like it’s going to be up to us to see as many movies and buy as much popcorn, candy and soda as possible in an effort to support these two fine businessmen in their efforts to keep this important community treasure open for future generations to enjoy.
Chris Collins is a Greenfield native and a former staff reporter for the Recorder. He can be reached at sourcechris.collins@gmail.com.