Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Join us at noon on Tuesday, April 23 for our live chat here on Patch with Selectman Andrea Peraner-Sweet
The 2012 Westford town election is only a week away, and today we welcome one of the candidates: Selectman Andrea Peraner-Sweet. Join us here on Patch at noon on Tuesday and ask her your questions! We've offered the opportunity to all the candidates and had a live chat with Scott Hazelton earlier this month. We also have a live chat scheduled with Selectman Bob Jefferies tomorrow at noon, again, right here on Westford Patch. .
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Board of Selectmen candidate Jim Jarvie suspended most of his campaign related activities shortly after the Boston Marathon tragedy, but will return to the campaign trail on Monday.
Jim Jarvie was in the hospital battling an eye infection during the tragedy in Boston earlier this week, but once healed, he decided that there were some things more important than campaigning for Westford's Board of Selectmen. "When those events began to unfold, they were horrific. From my perspective, there has to be a sensitivity to that," he said. "It's more important for folks to spend time when their family, it was sensational, it was almost out of a movie. I think we just needed to hit the pause button." Jarvie has told Patch that between his decision to suspend his campaign and now, his campaign has not made any phone calls to voters asking for support, coordinated sign holding visibilities, knocking on doors, or Facebook updates…
Monday, April 15, 2013
Board of Selectmen challenger Jim Jarvie believes he can bring fresh perspectives to a board he sees as going in the wrong direction.
This spring, Westford has found itself in the first contested Board of Selectmen’s election since 2008, and one of the challengers for the two open seats on the board hopes to define his campaign in one word: Change. Although Jim Jarvie has experience on the town’s Energy Committee, he sees himself as a newcomer compared to incumbents Andrea Peraner-Sweet and Bob Jefferies, something he believes that the board needs. “I think folks have just had it with the direction and the vision from my opponents, and right now they’re looking for change,” says Jarvie. “I’ve told folks repeatedly, when you go into the polls, ask yourself if Westford is in a better place than it was three years ago, and if you can say no, it’s time to vote for change.” …
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Westford voted for Scott Brown and owns more hybrid cars than the state average.
Westford is green and red: That’s what we found when we compared data from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles to the vote in the 2012 U.S. Senate race. You can see the results in the map above: Large circles suggest towns with more hybrid ownership per capita, and the red/blue color suggests which way those towns voted last year. In Westford, 25.3 of every 1,000 vehicles is a hybrid, compared to the state average of 18. Patch’s research suggests the state has a good number of what might be called “green Republican” communities. More than 40 percent of the communities where Republican Scott Brown carried the vote have an above average numbers of hybrids. The data is a nice rebuttal to the national trends of hybrid/GOP separation…
A look back at what happened over the past week in the U.S. Senate race.
Just a little more than two weeks until the primary election to see which Democrat and Republican will go head to head to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by John Kerry’s appointment to Secretary of State. Monday night, U.S. Congressmen Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston) and Edward Markey (D-Malden) met in their second debate which contained few fireworks. The debate, held at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and sponsored by the college and the Boston Herald, lasted about 45 minutes and touched a wide variety of issues on which the two Democrats mostly agreed. On Wednesday night, it was the Republicans’ turn as they went face to face in the WBZ-TV studios moderated by the station’s Jon Keller. Former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan…
Friday, April 12, 2013
While the four candidates for the two Board of Selectmen seats shared many views in common, they also sought to clarify their specific ideas in other areas for still undecided voters.
Those still undecided in Westford's rapidly approaching town election got a little help on Thursday night. All four candidates for the Board of Selectmen's two seats gathered at the J.V. Fletcher Library to face the voters in a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and broadcast live on Westford Community Access Television. As expected, there were marked differences when it came to two of the most talked about issues during the lead up to Town Meeting: Fiscal Year '15 and the Article 30 debate. On the latter issue, all four candidates agreed that Article 30 turned out to be a mistake, with incumbents Bob Jefferies and Andrea Peraner-Sweet saying that the article ultimately got away from its original intent, while challengers Scott …
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Candidates for U.S. Senate Democratic nomination squared off in Lowell Monday.
U.S. Congressmen Stephen Lynch and Edward Markey met in their second debate Monday ahead of the Democratic U.S. Senate special primary in a contest that contained few fireworks outside of an exchange on health care. The debate, held at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and sponsored by the college and the Boston Herald, lasted about 45 minutes and touched a wide variety of issues on which the two Democrats mostly agreed. An early question was asked about the candidates' positions on the Affordable Care Act. Markey (D-Malden) voted in favor of the bill that passed in 2010 while Lynch (D-South Boston) was one of few Democrats who opposed it. Markey said voting for the bill was the "proudest vote of my Congressional career." He said …
Monday, April 8, 2013
In case you missed the chat with Westford Board of Selectmen candidate Scott Hazelton, here are the highlights.
And you can check out the full transcript here. *-Total of both polls divided by two Fiscal Year 2015 Hazelton noted that significant deficits are common at this point and that the recovering economy will provide new revenue and that net metering and more investigation of the town's health insurance plan can provide further savings. Overall Philosophy Hazelton doesn't see himself as running on a "ticket" with fellow challenger Jim Jarvie. He also defined himself as a "compassionate conservative." Thoughts on a Prop 2 1/2 Override He sees it as a last resort and it's too early to talk about it now, saying it would only would be appropriate when the lack of one would diminish town services, and that the best way to avoid one is …
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Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) dropped a bombshell on Thursday night when he told reporters following a speech in Nashua that he wouldn't rule out a run for Senate in New Hampshire. "I'm not going to rule out anything right now," he said. Brown, who represented Massachusetts in the Senate from 2009 to 2012, owns a vacation home in Rye, N.H., so it's not that far fetched. His announcement drew an immediate response from Democrats, who flooded the Twitterverse with comments and jokes about the former Massachusetts Senator's prospects should he choose to take on incumbent Jeanne Shaheen in 2014. What do you think? Should Scott Brown run for Senate in New Hampshire in 2014? Or should he stay in Massachusetts? Tell us in our comments …
Sunday, April 7, 2013
The Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate meet in their second debate.
The combatants for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. Senate special election will square off Monday night in Lowell for their second debate leading up to the April 30 primary. Congressmen Edward Markey (D-Malden) and Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston) will participate in the debate being held at 7:30 p.m. at Durgin Hall on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The debate is being sponsored by UMass Lowell’s Center for Public Opinion and the Boston Herald. Questions for the debate will be posed by UMass Lowell students while the moderator will be reporter Jaclyn Cashman, according to the university. Markey and Lynch previously met for their first debate March 27 at the Channel 5 studios in Needham. The two candidates agreed…
Steven Sadowski
10:49 am on Thursday, April 25, 2013
...The 3rd reason is because it creates a bubble economy respective to a town's real estate assessments and this has some good and negative effects depending upon where you live. If a town has a great school system, your property is valuable, however, your taxes may be high. So, empty nesters and retirees, can't leave fast enough having already used the good schools to get their kids into … more ›