In Springfield on September 11, there was a rally to protest fee increases at the West Street Village mobile home community. “It went well,” Rose Webster-Smith told the Valley Post. She works for a group that has a web site at www.SpringfieldNoOneLeaves.org. About 15 people were at the rally.
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In Brattleboro on October 24 at 5 p.m., there will be a farmworker rights rally outside the Hannaford supermarket. The organizers have a web site at https://migrantjustice.net.
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On September 3 in Springfield, PVTA bus drivers voted 125 to 68 to approve a new union contract. Thirty-two workers did not vote. The national union posted on its Facebook page a link to an August 30 WWLP report. The local union has a web site at https://atulocal448.com. The vote total is from a later WWLP report.
In the Springfield area, bus drivers voted 181 to two on August 22 to give their elected union leaders permission to call a strike. Forty-two drivers did not vote. The strike would start September 1. Issues are wages and bus schedules that are impossible for drivers to keep up with, leading to angry passengers. The workers have a web site at https://atulocal448.com. They drive PVTA buses but they work for a government sub-contractor.
In a victory for environmental protesters, a proposed battery facility near Greenfield will not be built. On August 6 the battery corporation made the announcement. The facility would have been in Wendell, Massachusetts. Wendell borders Montague, which borders Greenfield.
On April 20, 2024 bicyclists joined the Solar Rollers River Ride near
Greenfield from the Great Falls Discovery Center to Unity Park.
Kayakers and canoeists arrived at the Riverview Picnic area for a
rally. Walkers joined a march. There was music and there were speakers
About 30 people were at a rally in Springfield on July 29. The goal was to get the state to provide good quality homes for homeless people. “The rally went well,” a spokesperson for one of the groups that organized the rally told the Valley Post. The group has a web site at:
www.SpringfieldNoOneLeaves.org
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When N.L. Dennis was singing in a recording studio with Toots and the Maytals, Bob Marley stopped by to listen. Marley praised Dennis's delivery. Today, Dennis lives in his native Jamaica and joins hundreds of Jamaicans who come to Vermont every summer in search of better paying work. Most of them work on vegetable farms and at apple orchards. Dennis works as a reggae musician.
On July 28 at 11 a.m., Dennis and the Thunderballs will play a free concert at the Putney, Vermont farmers' market. Putney is near Brattleboro. Donations are appreciated by the band.
On July 17, some of the 134 people who were arrested in Amherst on May 7 for protesting UMass's support of Israel's war on Gaza had a court date. The protest was peaceful. The UMass professors' union president said he supports the protesters. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author Colson Whitehead responded to the arrests by canceling his planned speech at the UMass graduation ceremony, which was on May 18. Whitehead also won a MacArthur fellowship (the annual award is now $800,000) and the National Book Award. The protesters have a web page at:
In a victory for education and workers' rights, protesters in Northampton got some of what they wanted July 2 when the city council voted to approve the mayor's revised school budget, Rachel Maiore told the Valley Post. She is a member of the city council and former director of the Valley Women's March, which brought thousands of people into the streets of Northampton the day Trump became president, and every year of his presidency. Photos of the 2019 march are at:
https://valleypost.org/2019/01/19/photos-northampton-womens-march
A land trust has saved 200 acres of farmland in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Deerfield borders Greenfield. The USA is losing 6,000 acres of open space to development every DAY. In a June 16 email to the Valley Post, a spokesperson for Franklin Land Trust confirmed the deal.
In a victory for education and workers' rights, protesters in Northampton got some of what they wanted when the mayor announced more school funding on June 5. As of June 7, the city council had not yet posted on its web site the minutes of its June 6 meeting. The council was to have voted on the mayor's plan at the meeting.
About 100 people rallied against proposed budget cuts at Northampton public schools, Scott McLennan told the Valley Post. He works for the teachers' union. The union has a web site at www.MassTeacher.org. The rally was on May 17.
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