Newton has faced a variety of contentious local civic issues in the past few years – and is about to face another. The Mayor has proposed a tax override ballot measure with the vote scheduled for March 14, 2023. The debate about the override has begun, and if history provides any guide, it will only grow more rancorous and fervent as voting day approaches.
Before we become fully embroiled in the politics of the override, we have a brief opportunity to step back and think about the things we value about our community and redouble our efforts to bring their benefits to everyone. In a time when we have lost contact with each other during the years of the pandemic, a discussion of our aspirations and the things we value is a great way to reconnect and remind ourselves of Newton’s goodness and humanity. Setting goals that address three important elements of our civic fabric – schools, parks, and streets – can help guide us through the difficult process of debating issues, establishing priorities, and agreeing on ways to pay for them.
Schools: Every child and every family should have access to a healthy, accessible public school that meets or exceeds today’s educational standards.
Our great public school system has been the pride of Newton for many years. Generations of residents have benefited from the education provided by our schools. Great schools don’t just help individual students; they bring together young people from all backgrounds and walks of life like no other civic institution. These benefits come to every Newton family, for free.
By a variety of metrics, Newton may no longer rank among the very best school districts in Massachusetts.There is ongoing community debate about the system’s direction and how it should best deliver on its motto, “Excellence and Equity”. These debates about our kids’ education are rightly impassioned and include many different viewpoints and priorities.
The poor physical state of our school buildings is not the subject of debate. Decades of neglect and lack of maintenance have left our public school buildings in dire shape. To its credit, Newton has recognized this problem and has started the long and costly process to address it. We’ve already built several excellent new schools, and the reconstruction of Countryside and Franklin elementary schools will come before the voters soon. While taxpayers may grow weary of these expenses, the unfortunate fact is that there is more to come. All of our older schools have their own set of major deficiencies that need addressing. They are not the places of learning that our kids, our families deserve.
Our schools cannot be excellent without excellent school buildings. They must be healthy and inspiring environments for students and staff. Their designs must meet the needs of today’s learning, while anticipating tomorrow’s. And they must be universally accessible to all, including people with mobility or other challenges. Accessibility challenges are common in our school buildings. Ward Elementary School, for example, has only a couple of classrooms accessible by a person using a wheelchair, whether it is a student with a permanent or temporary limitation, a parent attending a teacher conference, or a teacher working in the school. Thirty-three years after the Americans with Disabilities Act made accessibility a civil right for all Americans, our schools still fall short of this standard.
We must commit ourselves to right this situation, however we choose to fund it. Our schools should welcome all, exclude none, and bring our young people together with both excellence and equity. The longer we delay the process of providing healthy, accessible, excellent schools to all our families, the longer that inequities of access and opportunity will persist across our neighborhoods and villages.
Parks: Everyone should have access to quality recreation facilities and open spaces.
Our parks and recreational facilities – including playgrounds, pools, sporting fields, dog parks, and wooded trails – contribute to our physical, mental, and emotional health. Like our schools, they are the crossroads of our community, bringing us together without social barriers. They offer the same opportunities to a resident who can afford a private gym or a family that’s just getting by. We have some great recreational facilities in Newton, but we haven’t invested enough in their maintenance and upkeep. We can create so many more beautiful, fun, and special places and spaces for the benefit of all, from the youngest to the oldest of us. While we are at it, we must also make our parks and playgrounds accessible so that everyone has a chance to participate and enjoy them.
Streets: Our neighborhood streets should be safe enough for kids to bike and play.
Many adult residents of Newton remember days of exploring their childhood neighborhoods by bike or on foot, front-yard games, walking to school, and exploring villages with friends.
In contrast, residents today are rightly concerned about the dangers of our neighborhood streets due to speeding or inattentive drivers. Recent police reports have included pedestrians and bicyclists hit by motor vehicles, cars ending up in Cheesecake Brook, and vehicles crashing into front yards. These incidents lead us to fear walking or biking to our neighborhood school or playground, visiting neighbors, or playing in our own yards. These concerns rob young people of the freedom of movement and independence that their parents and grandparents enjoyed.
People across the city are passionate about this issue and are restless for improvements. Unfortunately, there are many crosswalks, streets, and intersections that need attention.
While the city is working to address our worst safety hotspots, the need far outstrips our currently available resources to address it.
What we can do now, as a community, is establish what we want our neighborhoods to be. Everyone should feel safe walking on our sidewalks or crossing the street. Drivers should be attentive enough, and drive slowly enough, to react to the presence of a playing child or a bicyclist. We should set expectations of caution, mutual respect, and empathy for everyone on our neighborhood streets. Families should teach their kids to be responsible road users. Finally, our sidewalks should be accessible to all, whether by wheelchair or walker or stroller. Our roads should connect us, not divide us.
As we engage in ongoing debates about civic priorities, it is easy to get caught up in the things that divide us or about which we disagree. Newton’s schools, parks, and streets, on the other hand, have contributed to the rich local identity of our neighborhoods for generations and continue to make our lives better. A commitment to bringing their benefit to everyone is a commitment to our neighbors, our city, and our future.
