For most students at Newton North High School, Monday would prove as ordinary a day as ever. But for the seniors, it meant freedom, recognition, and celebration. The Class of 2023 graduated on that day, and the seniors were received by a football field of adoring friends and relatives. For…
Posts published in June 2023
Around 8:20AM on Sunday, residents noticed a young black bear wandering the streets and yards of the neighborhood behind Zervas Elementary School, adjacent to Cold Spring Park. Newton Police came to monitor the bear’s location. A resident’s doorbell camera recorded the bear and two NPD cruisers tailing it.
Rajeev Parlikar (Ward 1) expresses displeasure with quality of NPS Special Education The June 12 School Committee meeting contained a busy agenda, including discussion regarding school lunches, the future of Ward and Underwood elementary schools, a presentation from the Special Education Parent Advisory Council, and a review of the 2022-2023…
On June 26, the Newton City Council’s Zoning & Planning Committee will hold a public hearing public hearing on proposed new village-center zoning. In anticipation, some residents have expressed the fear that by allowing multifamily housing to be built by right in and near village centers, the new zoning will encourage…
The great economist John Maynard Keynes wrote: “The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any…
Thank you to Councilor Marc Laredo for his recent questions to the City Council, as reported in Fig City News, regarding the zoning proposal. His thoughtful and thought-provoking questions raise many of the issues that the City has so far failed to address, despite similar feedback. He not only raises the…
Adding density, as legislated in the MBTA Communities Act and proposed by Newton, would transform the built environment in our village centers from New England village feel to Urban/City. It is unnecessary and does not address housing affordability. The Urban Institute has concluded that up-zoning does not lead to greater affordability.…
Newton’s municipal election season is underway, with more candidates taking out nomination papers to run for City Council and School Committee. There are now several contested races for seats on the City Council and School Committee. The Newton School Committee, which has had three unclaimed seats for several weeks, now…
The Lion’s Roar — Newton South High School’s award-winning newspaper — has its June issue out, Volume 40-2, The Programmed Brain, with these lead articles: And here is the Lion’s Roar Graduation Issue.
Newton’s plans for an new artificial turf field at Albemarle and to replace artificial turf fields at the high schools are incompatible with its “green” reputation. Surprisingly, in spite of expert testimony and scientific evidence that artificial turf causes health and environmental harm, Newton is proposing to spend $6,872,000 (*)…