Friday, May 18, 2012
Send letters to the editor and Lynnfield-related opinion pieces to william.laforme@patch.com.
The following is an opinion piece from State Senator Katherine Clark: Last week I co-hosted a legislative briefing on the importance of early childhood education with Arthur Rolnick of the University of Minnesota’s Human Capital Research Collaborative and a former economist at the Federal Reserve. Professor Rolnick’s research makes the economic case for early childhood education through new data and a comprehensive 40-year study. Professor Rolnick and his colleagues have quantified the returns on investment in early education: boosting labor productivity, increasing tax revenue, and reducing by up to 50% costs associated with special education services and crime. Their essential argument is that if children show up to Kindergarten ready…
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
From time to time, Lynnfield Patch will ask readers to weigh in via an online poll about local matters.
In general, Lynnfield is a town that enjoys a high quality of life - in good measure because of a strong community spirit, general demographics, and a great school system. But that said, every place has local issues to address - and some of them seem to stay around for decades when it comes to small towns. So with that, here's a list of some of the quality of life issues that readers of Lynnfield Patch have commented on or otherwise shown interest in over time. The question is this - if you yourself could with a simple wave of the hand improve just one thing about Lynnfield, what would it be? Also - not every answer fits neatly into a poll question. So if you've got another observation or issue to raise, feel free to share it below in the …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Send letters to the editor and Lynnfield-related opinion pieces to william.laforme@patch.com.
To the editor; On behalf of the entire community at Lynnfield High School we would like to thank the Lynnfield Police and Fire Departments, as well as members of our own drama club, for a tremendous job staging a mock crash at the high school last Friday. The care and realism with which the drill was enacted helped send a strong message to our students about the consequences of careless or impaired driving. We are fortunate in Lynnfield to have public safety officials willing to go the extra mile to help our students be safe. Thanks also to the Conway Brodeur Funeral Home whose presence gave an even greater degree of realism. Thomas Jefferson, Superintendent of Schools Robert Cleary, Principal Lynnfield High School Kevin Cyr, Assistant …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Send letters to the editor and Lynnfield-related opinion pieces to william.laforme@patch.com.
- GOVERNMENT
-
Tuesday, May 8
The following is an opinion piece from State Senator Katherine Clark: Last week the Massachusetts Senate passed the Valor Act, new legislation that will expand benefits and increase access to a range of services for veterans, active-duty military members and their families. The bill was sponsored by Senator Mike Rush (D, West Roxbury), a lieutenant in the United States Navy, who returned in December from a 10-month deployment to Iraq as an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve. As a community, we share a responsibility to honor the tremendous sacrifice and courageous service of our veterans, our servicemen and women, and their families. And, as a Member of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, one of my most solemn …
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Town meeting is a treasured New England tradition and a pure form of democracy. That said, do you think it still works in the year 2012?
Each spring, hundreds of town residents show up at the Middle School to vote on the town budget and whatever warrant articles there may be. Town meeting is one of the oldest of New England traditions, and a classic example of democracy in action. That said, town meeting also has its detractors who cite the low turnout and arcane procedures that characterize the event. This year, enough people showed up at town meeting, and the whole thing was done by 10 p.m. That said, do you think in general that town meeting is still an effective form of local government? Vote in the poll or leave a comment in the box below!
Send Lynnfield-related opinion pieces and letters to the editor to william.laforme@patch.com.
The following is an opinion piece from State Senator Katherine Clark: As families and businesses across the state filed their tax returns in April, the Commonwealth was completing an important tax review of its own. Last year, as part of the state’s budget process, the legislature established a Tax Expenditure Commission. The Commission was charged with studying the state’s tax expenditures – the various exemptions, deductions, and credits in the Massachusetts tax code – and recommending ways to measure their effectiveness. Tax expenditures are designed to encourage certain public policy outcomes, such as creating jobs, hiring veterans, or cleaning environmentally hazardous sites. They are also used to spur economic development and job …
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Monday at town meeting, one warrant article will ask voters whether the town should use $100,000 in existing funds to begin early engineering and consulting work on a recreational and athletic fields complex. Where do you stand?
This spring's town meeting doesn't necessarily have the same level of drama that came up around this time last year, when officials were working to close a budget gap and avoid layoffs in the process. This year however, residents are still being asked to attend town meeting to weigh in one several important topics - and one of the most high-profile is the proposed fields complex. Article #24 would spend $100,000 in existing town funds to fund early engineering and consulting work for various sports and passive recreational resources on an open parcel of land off Main Street near the Middleton border. Supporters of the plan maintain that is Lynnfield's best and perhaps only chance to resolve its longstanding need for additional sports and …
Friday, April 20, 2012
Send letters to the editor and Lynnfield-related opinion pieces to william.laforme@patch.com.
As a small business owner serving the Lynnfield community, protecting the environment where we live and work is important to me. That's why 7ate9 Bakery took Corporate Accountability International's “Think Outside the Bottle” pledge to be a bottled water free establishment. Bottled water’s environmental impact is significant when one considers that we all have a low-impact alternative: the tap. Ounce for ounce, it takes nearly 2,000 times the energy to produce and distribute bottled water than it does for tap water. Even industry studies admit the tap has a smaller energy footprint than bottled water. Bottled water corporations have long tried to convince us that the only safe water comes in a bottle. But the truth is that public water is…
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Send letters to the editor and Lynnfield-related opinion pieces to william.laforme@patch.com.
- OPINION
-
Wednesday, April 18
Despite many decades of progress, women still earn less than men in the United States. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2010 women’s earnings were 81 percent of men’s. Massachusetts mirrors the national trend. These data also show that women continue to make impressive gains in educational attainment. Among women aged 25 to 64 who are in the labor force, the proportion with a college degree has more than tripled in the past 40 years – from 11 percent in 1970 to 36 percent in 2010. And women’s participation in the labor force has risen significantly in that time period as well, among married and single women and particularly for mothers. The labor force participation rate for mothers with …
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Send Lynnfield opinion pieces and letters to the editor to william.laforme@patch.com.
- OPINION
-
Wednesday, April 11
The following is an opinion piece from State Senator Katherine Clark: Last week the State Senate acted to address the high cost of electricity in Massachusetts. The Senate unanimously passed energy legislation that supports job creation, economic recovery and innovation by encouraging the growth of our renewable energy sector. By creating more competition for energy contracts, this bill will bring down prices and lead us further down the path to a cleaner, more diverse and sustainable energy supply. The average electric rate in Massachusetts is 14.24 cents per kilowatt hour, which ranks as seventh highest in the U.S. and well above the national average of 10 cents. These rates are a major cost driver for businesses and families. Our …
Ellen
11:42 pm on Saturday, May 19, 2012
Crack down on dog fouling in public! more ›