Ask City Council to Amend U.S. Constitution

March 24, 2012

Photo by pepsobert In January 2010 the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission that Congress cannot prohibit corporations from spending money on elections. To the lay reader this ruling means corporations are to be treated as natural persons under the First Amendment and they may spend money to [...]

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What If the NHL Came to Newburyport

March 21, 2012

I am not writing about hockey. What if the entire city of Newburyport, or just a small section, was designated a National Historic Landmark District? What if we dropped the idea of creating a local historic district and worked toward receiving federal recognition instead — which could lead to numerous perks such as establishing a [...]

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Non-Binding Resolution for a LHD?

March 18, 2012

Chapter 40C, Section 3 of the Massachusetts General Laws is explicit that the city council is charged with establishing historic districts. But there is nothing preventing the city council (or any group of citizens, for that matter) from placing on a ballot a non-binding resolution. Signs are sprouting across the city with messages that to [...]

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Visit My Blog to Read Council Agendas

March 11, 2012

Historically every time I received a city council agenda, I uploaded it to a third-party site and embedded it into a new blog post. I know that many people in the city look forward to reading the agenda before each meeting. But it’s a time-consuming process for me. So, I’m changing the process. You can [...]

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Newburyport City Council Agenda for Feb 27

February 25, 2012

It all goes down Monday at 7:30 p.m. Newburyport City Council Agenda: Feb 27, 2012

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LHD and Me

February 20, 2012

There is a proposal to create a local historic district in Newburyport. If approved by a super-majority of city council (8 of 11 councilors), the proposal will become law and the second LHD will be ordained. The first LHD was ordained in October 2007 and protects Fruit Street. Look at chapter 16 in our code [...]

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