Wednesday, July 16, is the beginning of the 90th annual St. Mary of Carmen Society festival, known as Festa, in Nonantum. The festival celebrates the enduring Italian heritage of “The Lake” — as the neighborhood is called in the community, many of whose ancestors emigrated from the San Donato area in Italy.
This year, the five-day event has been the focus of unwanted notoriety and press because, without notice or warning, the City chose to paint double-yellow traffic lines in the center of Adams Street, where members of the St. Mary of Carmen Society (SMC) traditionally carry the statue of the Madonna on the festival’s concluding day. By tradition, SMC members have painted green-white-red Italian flag stripes on Adams and other streets along the procession route to mark the occasion.
Since the night of June 26, when Markings, Inc. (the company hired to paint the lines on Adams Street) appeared after 10PM to grind the pavement and paint the yellow lines, many people, including the local City Council members, have been asking, “Why?” and “Why now?”
Responding to an email from local business leader Fran Yerardi raising those questions, Newton Department of Public Works Commissioner Shawna Sullivan said that because Adams Street, between Washington Street and Watertown Street, is 33 feet wide and a traffic study conducted in October 2023 recorded an Average Daily Traffic of 6,002 vehicles per day, federal standards require the installation of double-yellow center-line markings on this roadway. She also said that this requirement is not optional; it is a federal mandate designed to ensure public safety through consistent traffic control practices, and that Massachusetts State requirements are in accordance with the federal requirements.
Commissioner Sullivan noted that Adams Street is one of the top five streets for traffic crashes in Newton and that “the 2024 Traffic Calming Report cites Adams Street as the #1 priority ranking based on a complete analysis of traffic volume, vehicle speeds compared to speed limits, crash occurrence and severity, crash rate and pedestrian data.” She said that the City would “allow the Festa volunteers to paint the green/white/red lines next to the yellow center lines on one side” of the double-yellow lines.
According to Commissioner Sullivan, the numbers DPW used to arrive at the 6,002 daily vehicle average on Adams Street (from Watertown Street to Washington Street) were collected via “a radar counter – a box attached to a utility that collects vehicle count data for bidirectional traffic” that recorded:
- Tuesday, 10/31/23 – 3,740
- Wednesday, 11/1/23 – 6,206
- Thursday, 11/2/23 – 6,196
- Friday, 11/3/23 – 2,608
No combination of these numbers, however, yields an average of 6,002. The two days with traffic over 6,000 were on November 1 and 2 — days on which there can be expected high traffic due to religious events at the Our Lady Help of Christians Church.
In response to a Fig City News request for an explanation of the much smaller car counts on Tuesday 10/31/23 and Friday, 11/3/23, Ned Codd, the Director of the Newton Transportation Department explained in an email:
“The Newton DPW Transportation Division conducts regular traffic counts with automated traffic recorders (ATRs), which use radar technology to detect and record vehicle speeds and volumes. The City owns several ATR units, and City staff deploy them during regular working hours. This saves the City significant costs in traffic counting vendors, and is a very cost-effective way of collecting traffic data. Because the ATRs are deployed during the work day, they necessarily capture partial day counts at either end of the counting period. For the purposes of recording average daily traffic (ADT) volume, it is customary to use 24-hour, 12 midnight-to-12-midnight periods, for Tuesday, Wednesday, and/or Thursday of a “typical” week (i.e. a week without a holiday, major weather event, etc.). Depending upon the purpose of the count, a single 24-hour period may be adequate; a 48-hour or 72-hour period (averaged to the 24-hour ADT) may also be used.”
Commissioner Sullivan also confirmed that the DPW did not ask Markings, Inc, if the lines could be painted after the festival ended on July 20.
All three Ward 1 Council members have expressed frustration with the decision to paint the double-yellow lines. John Oliver joined members of the SMC Society leadership at a meeting on July 11 with the Mayor, in which the Mayor maintained that safety was motivating her decision and there would be no change in the double-yellow lines.
Councilor Oliver told Fig City News that “all of this was completely unnecessary.” He and Ward 1 Councilor Maria Greenberg have asked Mayor Fuller and Commissioner Sullivan for a “re-do” of the traffic study, which the Councilors felt was “flawed.” They believe that Adams Street does not meet the MUTDC requirement for double-yellow lines according to the definition of “traveled way” because while the street is 33 feet wide, there is parking on both sides of the street thereby reducing the traveling width, so they asked for an explanation of the DPW’s determination that the street qualifies. Finally, they said that they want an explanation from the DPW about the 72 crash incidents on Adams Street, including data itemizing locations of the accidents and the causes.
In her newsletter dated July 14, Mayor Fuller offered numbers and explanations for the decision to paint the double-yellow lines, although she did not include the reason for the decision to paint them prior to the beginning of the festival. She concluded that section of her newsletter by saying:
“Let’s have both the reflective yellow safety pavement markings and lift up Nonantum’s Italian roots with green, white and red lines next to them. The Festa volunteers can repaint the Italian flag colored lines next to the City’s yellow ones before the start of Festa. (FYI: The yellow center lines were painted on the night of June 26. All long line painting all year long in the City of Newton is done overnight; that’s customary.) Let’s make Adams Street safer as we celebrate our Italian heritage.”
On Monday evening, July 14, approximately 70 people gathered in front of City Hall to make their case to a majority of members of the City Council to present a resolution to the Mayor on behalf of the community to rescind her decision. City Council President Marc Laredo – who is running for mayor – spoke (see video) and asked the group for their comments.
- Kevin Riffe, a lifetime Nonantum resident, was spokesperson for the group. He told the crowd, “Leaders don’t make decisions in a vacuum.” He noted that “90 years of tradition were being torn apart.”
- Jordan Lee Wagner, former Secretary of the Adam Street Shul, told the Councilors that Nonantum was the only neighborhood left in Newton. “People cherish their neighbors,” he said.
- Teresa Gentile Sauro, President of the Nonantum Neighborhood Association, noted that her grandfather was one of the founders of the annual festival, beginning in 1935. She told the Councilors that 3,000 people had signed an on-line petition to reinstate the center green-white-red stripe on Adams Street.
Mr. Laredo told Fig City News that “the evidence is flimsy,” regarding the rationale for the yellow lines. “The situation was completely avoidable,” he concluded.
The Society issued a statement on Tuesday, July 15 — the day before the festival — stating that “due to concerns with the permits for the festival, the Society has no plans to paint anything on Adams Street.”
The Society also issued a Public statement on the 90th Festival.
[UPDATE] All 24 City Councilors have signed onto a letter from the City Council to the Mayor seeking “a compromise in how the Italian colors could be included along the street.” The Council urges “a meeting as soon as possible between the two parties,” noting the importance of the upcoming Feast of the Saint Mary’s of Carmen Society in building community.
[UPDATE] At 2:23AM on Wednesday, July 16, Newton Police noted that approximately forty feet of the double-yellow line on Adams Street had been spray painted green, white, and red, and officers encountered a local resident tossing cans of spray paint into a bag. The fifty-four year old male resident of Nonantum told the arresting officers that he was “painting a tribute” on the street. He was charged with felony defacing of public property and was then released. No date has been set for his
appearance before a clerk magistrate for further action.
Ed. Note: We have updated this article to include a letter from the City Council to the Mayor and a police report of “defacing of public property” on Adams Street.
