Current Editorials - Marblehead Current

05 Apr

EDITORIAL: Getting on the same page

The Current Editorial Board0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion, Views & Reviews

Presuming the articles on this year’s Town Meeting warrant are taken in order, the final proposal to be taken up, Article 54, would require the town to create “standard operating procedures manuals” for four elected boards and commissions — the Select Board, Board of Health, Harbors & Waters Board and Recreation & Parks Commission. On paper, the subject may sound dry. But we would encourage voters to resist the urge to flee for the exits. Article 54 is a revised version of a proposal that…

29 Mar

EDITORIAL: New path for old fire station

The Current Editorial Board0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion, Views & Reviews

By mid-April, Marblehead Finance Committee members are expected to have reviewed and analyzed all the 2023 warrant articles with financial implications and devised their recommendations for Town Meeting. But there will be little mystery with Article 40, which requests an override of Proposition 2 1/2 to restore the Franklin Street fire station, which needs $2.3 million in exterior and restoration work, according to a conditions assessment funded through a Massachusetts Historic Preservation Grant and published in February. The article’s main proponent, Marblehead Fire Chief Jason…

22 Mar

EDITORIAL: Woodward, Bernstein and ChatGPT

The Current Editorial Board0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion

Will we see a day in the near future where a newspaper story regularly carries the byline of a chatbot rather than a human journalist? Count us among the skeptics that the kind of reporting that has brought down presidents or just the local coverage of papers like the Current about goings-on at municipal board meetings is ever going to be replaced by artificial intelligence. The dangers of generative human-like text tools like ChatGPT have been flagged in this paper and others as applied to…

15 Mar

EDITORIAL: Clinician adds to proud history of care

The Current Editorial Board0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion

The crises with mental health and substance abuse in America are well documented. For too many years, there was not enough attention focused on the scale of what is now seen as a twofold epidemic. Seeking professional help and admitting to mental health struggles would often lead to stigmatizing the very people needing help. Complicating the need for more access to professional care, we had to confront the COVID pandemic of the past three years. Fortunately, the tide is turning, and more attention is being…

01 Mar

EDITORIAL: Sour taste lingers

The Current Editorial Board0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion, Viewpoints

At quick glance, one could see that no one seems 100% satisfied with the compromise that had been expected to allow the tennis courts at the Veterans School reopened for pickleball last week as a sign that the Recreation & Parks Commission did its job. However, look closer, and you can see the opposite is true. To review, the group Marblehead Pickleball raised about $65,000 to help convert four tennis courts at Vets into six dedicated pickleball courts. Then, this fall, it partnered with Rec…

15 Feb

EDITORIAL: Taxation with representation

The Current Editorial Board0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion

When Marbleheaders attend Town Meeting this spring, among the decisions they are likely to face is whether to place on the ballot a question to raise their own and their neighbors’ property taxes. The 2023 Town Meeting warrant will be published later this month. A permanent override for school costs was defeated in June 2022, and the town hasn’t approved a general property tax override since 2005. We won’t use this space to comment now on the merits of past or upcoming overrides. Rather, it…

08 Feb

EDITORIAL: Passing the Marblehead Town Meeting gavel

The Current Editorial Board0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion, Viewpoints

Jack Attridge is our new town moderator, and what a year to start a new job. For the first time in almost 20 years, voters will likely be asked to pass a general override to enable the town to maintain its current level of services. We are living in challenging times right now with various strong and vocal disagreements on so many issues. It is not unreasonable to believe that this current climate may permeate our Town Meeting when controversial articles are being debated. It…

01 Feb

EDITORIAL: Planning Board’s zoning proposal embodies good governance

The Current Editorial Board0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion

Kudos to the Planning Board for approving a zoning proposal that could help Marblehead chip away at its long-standing affordable housing needs should Town Meeting adopt it in May. And Marblehead, a community where 77 percent of its housing stock is single-family homes, is desperately short of affordable housing, according to the 2020 Marblehead Housing Production Plan. Of the 8,135 households in Marblehead, 2,404 — or 29 percent — are classified as low-income. Two-thirds are cost burden, meaning they spend 30 percent of their income…

25 Jan

EDITORIAL: Super hirings underscore caliber of administrators

The Current Editorial Board0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion

We wish Marblehead High School Principal Dan Bauer and Assistant Superintendent Nan Murphy well as they step up to the corner offices in Danvers and Dedham, respectively. They are well-deserved promotions for both. And no, the sky isn't falling on Marblehead schools. Bauer was the right person for the job here when he was hired in 2016. The High School needed a lot of TLC, and he was the one uniquely qualified to offer it. His hale and hearty persona was welcomed in the high…

18 Jan

EDITORIAL: The last word

The Current Editorial Board0 CommentsCurrent Editorials, Opinion

“Garbage.” That was one reader’s assessment of our story exploring the legality of duck hunting on Crowninshield (Brown’s) Island, which was published in our Jan. 11 edition. Specifically, the reader charged the Current of “condoning illegal activity.” He then — helpfully — pointed us to Section 5C of Chapter 131 of the Massachusetts General Laws, which makes it a crime to “to intentionally... block, follow, impede or otherwise harass another who is engaged in the lawful taking of fish or wildlife." In other words, the…