On March 29, the Newton Public School District released a proposed school budget that includes removing strings and orchestra from the elementary schools. We support a strong music program that includes strings and orchestra in Newton’s elementary schools. The lifelong and transferable skills that playing a musical instrument cultivates in…
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Understanding our Differences has a 45-year history of providing unique, hands–on disability awareness programs to 3rd–5th graders. By exposing young children to what it’s like for a person to live with a disability, UOD creates the beginnings of compassion that lasts a lifetime. As a person with a disability, I…
I urge the Newton School Committee to reinstate Understanding Our Differences (UOD) in its budget. For very few dollars, this program has an outsized impact on the culture of our community, teaching students (and parent volunteers) to see each individual person in their entirety. I cannot overstate the beneficial impact…
In Mayor Fuller’s March 24 Newsletter, the headline item was the residential and business water meter replacement program. In it, Mayor Fuller stated, “The lifespan of the water meters in our homes and businesses is about 10 years.” This struck me as absurd. An industrial component such as a water meter should have…
Last week, Damien Croteaux-Chonka’s letter cited Minneapolis as an example of a place where rents have gone down from building many more units and as a model for creating affordable housing elsewhere. Lacking direct evidence, he cites an article by Christian Britschgi, in the libertarian magazine Reason, who pays homage…
As recent retirees, we moved to West Newton less than a year ago, after raising two children in a high performing school district in Connecticut. I have been following the news coverage and social media discussions of ImproveNPS’s petition. Petitioners’ assumptions and false choices are striking. The first false choice…
I had a long-standing problem with an extremely bright light shining at my house which appeared to be coming from a new building across the river in Watertown. My daughter suggested I contact Ward 1 Councilor Maria Scibelli Greenberg. Although Maria is not my ward councilor my daughter suggested that…
Walk any street, sidewalk or park and you will find littered plastic waste, including bottles, packaging and even floss sticks. Plastic is truly everywhere, even in our bodies, in the fish we eat and in the stomachs of marine mammals. It is poisoning seabirds, the marine environment and ourselves. The…
Margaret Ward recently asked the question: where did the cost of housing go down as a result of building more units? The answer is Minneapolis. In short, Minneapolis eliminated minimum parking requirements for new residential developments, which facilitated the increased construction of smaller apartment buildings, such as duplexes and triplexes.…
As I write this, Newton’s citizens are voting on three override questions. I have no idea how that will play out. What I do know is that there is a fundamental decision that must be made in Newton. Specifically, who should carry the burden of the cost of increased services…