NEWBURYPORT – The town’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) closed the public hearing last week on the proposed Plaza Landing building that will replace the vacant Kmart store with 212 new apartments. The five-member board, which has little wiggle room to deny approval under state rules, will now grapple with several questions, such as: Is the proposed building too tall at 55 feet, compared to the old Kmart at 40 feet? Is it the right architectural design for Newburyport? Will it be safe for the increased volume of...

REGIONAL – The Newburyport Black History Initiative (NBHI), in celebrating the great liberator, William Lloyd Garrison last week, honored an unsung local heroine who persuaded the school committee in the late 1950s that Black-faced minstrel shows created false stereotypes of black residents. “This is also a story of an ordinary person’s public bravery and action at the local level to make some change in a complicated world,” city’s senior planner Geordie Vining said of Helen M. Hunt, who died in 1991 at age 80. A...

GREATER NEWBURYPORT – For more than 30 years, the Lions Club has served hundreds of seniors Thanksgiving Dinner, providing plates piled high and more food to take home. Serenaded by Eloise Kirkpatrick, about 200 seniors gathered this year, while a dozen volunteers wrapped up dinners for at least 300 others who could not come to the Newburyport Senior Center. “It’s good not to be alone today,” one woman said to fellow senior at her table. The Lions invited seniors from Amesbury, Byfield, Ipswich, Salisbury as well...

NEWBURYPORT – As walkers and joggers make their way along the Clipper City Rail Trail, the walkway divides into two paths just north of Washington Street. Both paths are wide, but are divided by a long iron beam that if you are blind or have low vision could be a hazard. But as of this week, the blind and low vision or just those not paying attention to where they are walking have a guide that alerts them to the split in the path as it crosses above Merrimac Street. The beloved Clipper City Rail Trail can now...

NEWBURYPORT – Anyone who has ever built a deck or porch can relate to the dilemma the city finds itself in trying to rebuild its popular boardwalk for the next quarter century. The boardwalk along the Merrimack River waterfront has deteriorated in recent years with rotting and warping boards and substructure stringers plus broken fasteners, screws and nails that create tripping hazards for those trying to enjoy a walk along the river. Built originally in the 1970s and rebuilt in 2001, the city chose to use...

NEWBURYPORT – The town’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) closed the public hearing last week on the proposed Plaza Landing building that will replace the vacant Kmart store with 212 new apartments. The five-member board, which has little wiggle room to deny approval under state rules, will now grapple with several questions, such as: Is the proposed building too tall at 55 feet, compared to the old Kmart at 40 feet? Is it the right architectural design for Newburyport? Will it be safe for the increased volume of...

REGIONAL – The Newburyport Black History Initiative (NBHI), in celebrating the great liberator, William Lloyd Garrison last week, honored an unsung local heroine who persuaded the school committee in the late 1950s that Black-faced minstrel shows created false stereotypes of black residents. “This is also a story of an ordinary person’s public bravery and action at the local level to make some change in a complicated world,” city’s senior planner Geordie Vining said of Helen M. Hunt, who died in 1991 at age 80. A...