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…
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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 (*)…
During the school vacation week of April 15-21, a parent-led petition to restore proposed Newton Public School cuts received over 900 signatures from Newton residents. NPS leadership has been forced to propose an FY24 budget that includes elementary classrooms of up to 29 students and middle school teams of up…
The March 2023 IPCC Report says that we will cross 1.5°C within 10 years—resulting in climate-caused deaths of millions of people, extinction of many plant and animal species, and migration of millions of refugees. New England is heating up faster than the rest of the planet, so we can expect…
We have been following the city’s rezoning redesign efforts for the past few years with keen interest. On April 6, we presented at the Newton Highlands Area Council about 2 topics that we hear questions about regularly: Parking and The Fiscal Impact of New Developments on the City. We were…
For over 400 years, the Charles River has been altered, controlled, and dammed to bend to the will of industry and profit. The river we know today is not free — but instead, a river radically changed by the long history of human intervention. We dammed its waters to power…
According to the MassDEP, New England is facing a landfill crisis. We are running out of space in existing landfills, and very soon we will have to ship our trash to other regions (whose residents are poorer and need the revenue). Even though Newton incinerates its trash, there is still…
On March 22, the Newton City Council’s Programs and Services Committee will begin discussing a proposal that would ban the sale or distribution of more than one dozen plastic items and limiting the availability of many other items. Among other things, the ordinance would forbid the sale of plastic water…
The recently rekindled debate on the scope and possible impact of the proposed Village Center (VC) Zoning plan has seen a variety of reactions from citizens and neighborhood groups. In public meetings hosted by the Zoning and Planning Committee, representatives from these groups presented their concerns (without reference to any…
Let’s start with 4 values propositions on which I hope most agree: Unfortunately, it seems that some people either do not share the 4th value in this list or are readily willing to sacrifice it with the massive village centers upzoning proposal that the Zoning & Planning Committee (ZAP) is…