Marblehead Current Editorial Board

This is the best time of the year to be here, right? The week we invite friends so we can show off Marblehead at its finest. The Festival of Arts, the Harbor Illumination, the concerts at Crocker Park and the fireworks are Marblehead's annual rites of summer. This year, the celebration carries an extra charge. The Festival turns 60 and the country turns 250 the same week, a fitting double celebration. Marblehead rightly stands proud of its place in the Revolution. The Marbleheaders of Glover's…

Board of Health member Tom McMahon is not wrong when he said of the town’s new trash collection program on Facebook recently, “We’re here now and need to move forward.” However, McMahon is too dismissive about the value of what he called “Monday morning quarterbacking.” Usually, when municipal government action is greeted with outcry — as the invasion of the oversized barrels has been — there are lessons to be learned. There also may be quick fixes that can ameliorate a situation, even if everyone’s…

The last time Marblehead passed a general override of Proposition 2 1/2, gas was $2 a gallon, “The Office” and “Grey's Anatomy” were new to TV, Carrie Underwood had just won “American Idol,” and Tom Brady had only three Super Bowl rings. Someone born that year (2005) is now old enough to vote on June 9 — and likely old enough to buy a drink after. In the two decades since, the town has managed — cutting positions, drawing down reserves, deferring maintenance and hoping…

"That nation which respects and honors its dead, shall ever be respected and honored itself.” — Brevet Lt. Col. Edmund B. Whitman, 1868. English journalist, novelist and poet G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him but because he loves what is behind him.” In other words, the true soldier is devoted to his country, his family and to protecting the values that are cherished and held dear.  As it has for over 150 years,…

Last week, a staff member at the Town Clerk's Office told the Current there would be no in-person early voting for the June 9 election — the vote that will ask Marblehead homeowners to decide on a three-tiered Proposition 2 1/2 tax override that could reach $15 million. The apparent decision came without consulting the Board of Registrars. It's worth noting that last year's referendum, solely on the MBTA Communities Law question, included early voting. Yet this year, with a major override and a full…

What a difference a year makes, right? One night instead of three. Three-plus hours, not 10 or more, of mostly civil discourse. Virtually all articles and amendments passed handily, including Article 29, leading to June’s Prop 2 1/2 override vote (more on that later). All that plus another impressive turnout, along with an end — perhaps — to Marblehead’s noncompliance with the MBTA Communities Act. Voters have approved new zoning districts that allow for, but do not guarantee, construction of multifamily housing along Broughton Road…

The winter holidays may be known as the “most wonderful time of the year” (thank you, Andy Williams), but for local news outlets, Town Meeting and election season is perhaps the most important stretch on the calendar. It is a time when voters are demanding reliable information to help them make informed decisions. But thanks to social media and individual agendas (some more benign than others), it can be hard to separate the news from the noise. Town meeting has been called the “purest form…