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Michaelann Land
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Michaelann Land is the political and personal blog of a longtime community activist in Springfield Massachusetts. It tracks homelessness, poverty and environmental news in Western Mass and elsewhere, with random bursts of poetry and humor.
Recent Posts Tagged With '01108'
New Springfield City Council to be seated next Monday at noon
With a bit of pomp and circumstance, Springfield's new city councilors will begin their jobs on Monday, January 4, at noon. I do think it's worthwhile for Springfield residents to attend this organizational meeting. Let's let our new city councilors...
Massachusetts regulators limit churches\' ability to shelter homeless
Couldn't they have timed this for Christmas Day? On December 1, new regulations by the Massachusetts boards of Building Regulations and Fire Prevention Regulations decreed that houses of worship could not shelter the homeless for more than seven co...
The Joy of Baystate
I have a very dear friend who's been at Baystate Medical Center since the week before Christmas after taking a tumble down some stairs. He has some underlying health conditions and since entering Baystate he's been in a downward spiral. ...
New England\'s (possibly) oldest elm soon to be no more
This morning's Boston Globe tells the story of Herbie, an approximately 235 year old tree in Yarmouth, Maine, which is finally succumbing to Dutch elm disease and will be removed by the town on January 18. The tree has had the disease for more...
Cleaner air will save $50 billion in health care costs!
There's always lot of penny wise, pound foolish thinking in government. A local example: Springfield City Council approved a construction and demolition-burning biomass plant because of the 60 jobs and unknown amount of new tax revenue. ...
Apple tree with bittersweet
Atom ...
"Biomass" incinerators: where we stand right now in Springfield and Western Mass
I've been flat out the last three weeks organizing against the proposed "biomass" incinerator being planned for Springfield by Palmer Renewable Energy with not even any time to blog. Fortunately, other bloggers have stepped up and covered rece...
Seven reasons to oppose a toxic incinerator in Springfield.
Palmer Renewable Energy’s proposal to build an electricity-generating biomass plant in Springfield, Massachusetts is moving very quickly, now—the developers need two more permits and then they get the green light. I myself refuse to call PREâ€...
Former shelter director Keough arrested - some people just don\'t learn
Can't let this sad, funny and infuriating event pass without comment: on Friday, Frank Keough, former director of the Worthington St. Shelter, was arrested in Rhode Island after attempting to steal his former furniture from his former house! S...
Veterans Day: may they all come home (and always HAVE a home)
I saw some of Springfield's Veterans Day parade today as marchers kicked off from State and Federal Streets. Only a few blocks away, at Worthington St. shelter, I knew that more than a quarter of the homeless men and women "living there" are veter...
Don\'t let Massachusetts\' homeless die on the streets
Springfield's Worthington St.Shelter broke ground last week for a new resource center, a rehab of the existing shelter, and 32 efficiency apartments. It's been a very long time coming, and completion may still be affected by funding shor...
Greenfield residents sold down the river-- or should I say sewage line?
"If you wouldn't want to drink it, why would you want to breathe it?" That very reasonable question by a Greenfield resident to the Greenfield Appointment and Ordinance Committee at a public hearing last Monday summed up the concerns of the 100...
Enough! End this stupid war!
This is not quite the post I was going to write for Bloggers Unite's BlogBlast For Peace ~ Dona Nobis Pacem, which is today. I was going to start by writing about the "Withdrawal from Iraq" widget at the top right corner of my blog and how jus...
Some quick thoughts on Springfield\'s new city council
The bad news: The power of at-large incumbency continues to rule. All four incumbents were re-elected; newcomer Thomas Ashe won a seat (and came in third of the five in number of votes) Almost 2,500 votes separatied the lowest ranking incumben...
Today\'s election in Springfield
I haven't posted much about today's election for mayor, city council and school committee, but I've certainly been watching. The all at-large system of election has gone the way of the dodo bird, and today, we'll be electing by ward as well as...
"Begging" online-- what\'s left after more homeless cuts?
Driving through the South End yesterday, I noticed that the can recycling center on Main St. is closed. How far away do people with shopping carts have to go now to redeem their bottles? It's funny that no matter how poor the avera...
Those damn rich people...
Those damn rich people were in town today, giving a round of cheers to Bay State Medical Center for hiring a union-busting law firm and to Health New England for its membership in America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the lobbying group tr...
Anti-biomass work has taken over my life
I was looking at the stats for how many posts I've written recently and it's not what I would like. Seems like I'm spending so much of my time recently talking on the phone, at meetings and writing/answering emails about biomass that by the evening,...
Mystery tire tracks, bureaucracy, pizza and outreach
I spent almost all of today on the telephone, but tonight I got to hang out with flesh and blood people and talk about community outreach.The City of Springfield's 311 Call Center has been promoted as a helpmeet to the city's residents, but I have no...
STUPID Public Works! Burning rubber or what?
I'm tired, but I've just got to write this.When I headed off to a meeting this morning, I noticed tire marks on the street where I live that looked like someone had been burning rubber. "Stupid people," I thought, although I couldn't remember hearin...
What role for police in keeping the peace?
Last night I was driving back from a Jobs with Justice meeting in Northampton, coming down Rt. 91, and going about 60 miles an hour in a 65 mile an hour zone. I noticed a car travelling quite close behind me for nearly a mile. Finally the car pulle...
How high is 275 feet? (PRE's smokestack)
Took me a bit of time, but the following picture of a Giant Sequoia tree is exactly the same height as the smokestack of Palmer Renewable Energy's proposed biomass plant, to be sited on Cadwell Dr. in Springfield, MA. Look closely-- that speck near ...
Springfield biomass plant opponents have a website
People who want more information on the proposed Palmer Renewable Energy (PRE) biomass plant now have a resource: Say No to Springfield Construction and Demolition Debris Incineration. Blogging I can do, but website creation is beyond me, so thanks ...
Stop Biomass petitions ready to go!
One thing I've learned about winning a campaign is that usually, there is no single strategy for winning; multiple strategies are needed.My city, Springfield, Massachusetts, is being threatened with a reduction in air quality by the proposed construc...
Living to organize, organizing to live
I've said this blog is not my journal yet the last two days-- last two weeks, really-- have been a more challenging blend of the personal and the political than I usually have to balance, and I'm going to write about some of that here. Maybe I would...
26 and a half hours without electricity: who will pay the price?
The sun is out, the power is on, and the twenty-six and a half hours without electricity that we Springfield, Massachusetts residents endured until 6 pm. yesterday seem almost unreal. Of course, I still have to go through my refrigerator and throw o...
Here they are! Springfield's candidates for mayor, city council and school committee
The Springfield Election Office has just finished certifying candidates' nomination papers are the results are in! We've got some business as usual and a few surprises.First, Domenic Sarno and Bud Williams will be the only candidates for mayor. Jef...
I support Amaad Rivera for City Council, Ward Six
After living in Springfield's Ward Four for thirty years, I was really looking forward to the day when I could vote for a councilor who was elected from and responsible to the Ward Four residents-- as well as all the other residents of the city. Bu...
Just two of the painful and bizarre incidents in Springfield this week
When will homeless people get a break? When will children stop being afraid of the police?This morning the Springfield Republican reported that Bill Miller, Executive Director of the Friends of the Homeless Shelter on Worthington St., has had a sexu...
Politician versus Statesman
My first political memory is both vague and vivid: when Adlai Stevenson lost the presidential election to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, my mom cried-- and I, of course, being five years old and completely in sync with my mother's emotions, cried also. ...
