Up-zoning Newton’s village centers will dramatically impact the future of our Garden City. Residents need visualizations of the up-zoning ZAP plans to ask the City Council to approve in May. The Planning & Development Department has not provided this basic information to the community, instead spending time and resources on…
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Getting significant additional funding to help restore the city’s loss of street trees is a major reason that I will vote “Yes” for Newton’s override on March 14. At the beginning of the 1980s, Newton had 39,000 street trees. After years of losing trees that were not replaced, the city…
People often wonder what areas in Newton should be considered as locations for transit-oriented development. To look at this question, I researched how people get to work now based on where they live. (The Census Bureau collects data on means of transportation to work broken down by census block groups.)…
I support the proposed three overrides as essential to maintaining Newton’s capital infrastructure. Newton is an exceptional city but if one scratches the surface, many problems become apparent. I’ve chaired the Property Board for the United Parish of Auburndale (UPA) during its recent major capital improvement campaign. My first job…
Peter Bruce recently raised a very important point about the need to carefully assess the success of city policies on transit-oriented development (TOD) in Newton, but he ultimately came up short in his primary analysis of Newtonville. Bruce noted that $300K of transit subsidies for the TRIO development has been…
I have been lucky to live in Newton for 18 years thus far and have enjoyed the many resources and attractions that the city has to offer! Different aspects of Newton have been important to me as I have lived here, including the schools and colleges, the library, the civic…
Last Monday I attended the Martin Luther King, Jr. event at Newton North High School. What a wonderful tribute to a man who worked tirelessly to make all of us aware of the plight of not only Black people but also the poor. If Dr. King had lived longer I…
I want to offer two comments related to the opinion piece by Peter Harrington, dated January 9, 2023. Mr. Harrington’s piece included graphics submitted to ZAP by Marc Hershman with his suggestion of what Waban would look like with the proposed village center zoning. There are numerous errors and distortions…
Wednesday, January 18th at 7:00 pm. Please join Newton climate action allies at the Public Facilities Committee Meeting. The agenda includes applications from National Grid for two gas pipeline replacement projects. Your attendance on Zoom or in person is important to show City Councilors there is public support for their…
I recently sent the letter below to Mayor Fuller and the City Council. I am hoping that others interested in these issues will speak out as well. Dear Mayor Fuller and Dear Council Members: The Dudley Road Estate is an opportunity for the City of Newton to practice what it…