The unofficial election results are in, and a new City Council has been elected. On Tuesday, Newton voters sent a strong message, ousting three incumbents and welcoming in new Councilors with concerns about the future of Newton’s villages.
Newcomers Rena Getz, Alan Lobovits, and Stephen Farrell defeated incumbents Deb Crossley, Alicia Bowman, and Holly Ryan, respectively. In addition, three additional new Ward Councilors were elected: David Micley, Randall Block, and Martha Bixby.
The winners, with the exception of Bixby, have been vocal about their concerns with the zoning-reform efforts of the current City Council. Bixby won by a 24-vote margin over Lisa Gordon.
Nine City Councilors who ran unopposed have called for a pause on adopting the Village Center Overlay District (VCOD) and passing only what is required under the MBTA Communities Law. Five of those nine (Oliver, Lucas, Wright, Gentile, Laredo ) ran At-Large and each received more than 1,000 more votes than their same-Ward At-Large colleagues who support the village center zoning proposal:
- In Ward 1, John Oliver received 1,766 more votes than his Ward 1 colleague, Alison Leary (Oliver,: 9,198; Leary: 7,432)
- In Ward 2, Tarik Lucas, the highest vote getter of the evening, received 9,409 votes — 1,199 more votes than Council President Susan Albright, who received 8, 210.
- In Ward 3, Pam Wright received 8,488 votes — 1,021 more votes than Andrea Kelley, who received 7,467.
- In Ward 4, Lenny Gentile received 8,947 votes — 1,686 more votes than Josh Krintzman, who received 7,261.
- In Ward 7, Marc Laredo received 8,819 votes — 1,326 more votes than Finance Chair Becky Grossman, who received 7,493.
This was not the case in Ward 8, race where the At-Large votes were nearly identical. David Kalis (7,455 votes) slightly edged out Vice President Rick Lipof ( 7,438 votes) by 17 votes.
In the Ward 1 Councilor race, incumbent Maria Scibelli Greenberg won with 893 votes, defeating a write-in candidate, Nonantum business owner Benny Arpino, who received 246 votes. Arpino was a vocal opponent of the village center zoning proposal as proposed for Nonantum before most of the Nonantum village center was taken out of VCOD version 3.0 (see Fig City News article).
When asked about the results of the election, Ward 8 Councilor-elect Stephen Farrell said, “Newton won big tonight. It is very exciting to think about possibilities in the City.”
Ward 2 At-Large Councilor Tarik Lucas said, “Voters of Newton sent a strong message and that message was civility and common sense.”
Incumbent Bowman issued this statement. Incumbents Crossley and Ryan were not available for comment. However, Ryan posted on her Facebook page, “Although I came up short in today’s Ward 8 Councilor election results, I wanted to thank you for the honor of serving you in this office these past four years and to thank my volunteers and supporters who worked so hard to help me this year.” She mentioned that this is a “painful blow” to the Trans community, as she is one of a very small number of transgender elected officials in the country. She added, “I wish Councilor-elect Stephen Farrell good luck on the difficult work he will be undertaking in these next two years.”
Although voters elected new Councilors for the next term, this current City Council still has the December 31, 2023 deadline to comply with the MBTA Communities Law, and the proposed VCOD 3.1 is currently under consideration by the Council.
On November 29, the new Councilors will join their re-elected colleagues in a caucus to elect the next City Council President.
Ed. Note: We revised this article upon the receipt of Councilor Bowman’s statement. We also revised the date of the caucus, which is scheduled for November 29.
