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Today’s COVID-19 Update from Massachusetts
Effective noon tomorrow (3/24) in Massachusetts by order of Governor Baker: "all businesses and organizations that do not provide 'COVID-19 Essential Services' [are ordered] to close their physical workplaces and facilities to workers, customers and the public" for 2 weeks. Delivery restaurants, like grocery stores, are one of the industries being kept open by this order as part of the supply chain for food resources. Full details of exempt industries are listed here.
Additionally: "Gatherings of more than 10 people are prohibited throughout the Commonwealth. Gatherings subject to this Order include, without limitation, community, civic, public, leisure, faith-based, or sporting events, concerts, conferences, fundraisers, parades, fairs, festivals, weddings, funerals, and any similar event or activity that brings together more than 10 persons in any confined or outdoor space." Details/exemptions here.
Please continue to get regular and more frequent updates from Mayor Fuller, from the City’s Department of Health, from the Governor and state health officials, and from the US Centers for Disease Control.
Recap of PS&T and Full City Council Meetings 3/16
Last Monday, we held two virtual meetings that I participated in. First, there was a Public Safety & Transportation Committee meeting that I sat in on for a presentation to councilors (that I had organized) from a representative of the ACLU of Massachusetts on the subject of “facial recognition” technology and their efforts to “press pause” on the use of the tech. You can read more about this in my newsletter review of docket item #74-20. Committee chair Jake Auchincloss (Ward 2 at Large) did a straw poll of committee members to see if there was interest in pursuing a “pause” ordinance and there seemed to be plenty of interest so stay tuned for more in the future.
Second, we held a meeting of the full City Council, where there were a number of debated items, although all of them passed. Besides the new retail marijuana store approved on Washington St, there was one worth mentioning in particular to you all to explain what the vote was about and why I voted with the majority to pass it: A temporary moratorium on City Councilors applying to landmark certain Newton buildings: The current landmarking ordinance is in the process of being revised because it is no longer fully functional, with the external elimination of an appeals body. This is not conducive to a good process and not fair to property owners who can suddenly be left in a bind without straightforward recourse. My view is that it is reasonable to press pause until June on most landmarking during the current review phase to ensure that the nomination procedures are not being abused for objectives other than genuine historic preservation. I believe we will have a revised permanent process enacted into law later this year. It is important to note that Demolition Delay orders already last much longer than this landmarking moratorium will be in place, so buildings should be protected in the meantime anyway, but no buildings will get trapped unfairly in a pre-reformed landmarking designation. Also, I got a lot of emails about the historic Davis Tavern in West Newton and it should be noted that the building owners have stated publicly that they do not object to making it a landmark.
Recap of Programs & Services Meeting 3/18
The agenda for this virtual meeting included a $250,000 appropriation for pandemic emergency funds, accepting NSHS Booster Club funds for athletics lights, and a discussion regarding Senior Services outreach (we had to postpone this to a meeting in the near-future due to evolving schedules of relevant city staff responding to the current public health crisis), among other (minor) things like commission appointment hearings.
We also had a difficult conversation in committee with our CFO about what's likely to happen to the upcoming budget draft now that many of our local revenue projections are falling off a cliff as restaurant tax revenues go to near zero and interest rates drop. "We [the city government] do not want to be the ones furthering financial distress in our community" CFO Lemieux told us, emphasizing that our fiscal policies over the coming months will be aimed at trying not to cut city jobs/projects (when possible) or increase revenue burdens on struggling residents.
I expect these conversations will also be had in the Finance Committee meetings tonight and over the coming weeks and months.
Recap of Upper Falls Area Council Meeting 3/19
Sadly, there will not be a Soup Social this year for obvious reasons, but fortunately, the Area Council was able to get credits toward next year’s social on some of their rentals made before the pandemic cancelations began. The Area Council this month met virtually and appointed a community member to fill the vacant seat. Then my colleagues Councilors Crossley & Downs went over the upcoming Northland Construction Liaison Committee & Resident Parking Program. (Please email the two of them directly to find out more about these if you have questions. Since I was not on the Council when the Northland project orders were written, I have less information readily available at my fingertips on this.)
Scheduled Finance Committee Meeting for 7 PM Tonight
Virtual Finance Committee meeting at 7 PM tonight. Please watch the NewTV stream instead of joining the Zoom meeting unless you will be speaking on an agenda item. There are 11 items to be taken up tonight:
- Accepting clean energy grant to promote "Heat Smart" program
- Accepting MassDOT grant to launch shuttle from Wells Ave & UMass Amherst Mt Ida to the Green Line
- Accepting a grant on Elder Affairs
- Authorizing $7m for FY21 water main projects
- Requesting CPA funds for the Newton Housing Authority to acquire the CAN-DO Housing portfolio
- $60k for Police HQ HVAC
- $500k for new Horace Mann improvements; $650k related reimbursement
- $250k for the pandemic
- Accepting NSHS Booster Club donations for athletic lights
- $62k workers comp settlement
Fundraisers for Newton Food Pantry and Newton Covid-19 Relief Fund
Newton Food Pantry is working hard to keep families here from going hungry in this crisis. Even before this pandemic, people tend to underestimate suburban poverty, especially in “wealthy” suburbs. In terms of pre-crisis statistics, 11% of Newton schoolchildren live in poverty; 1 in 8 households make do with less than $25,000 yearly income. http://newtonfoodpantry.org/donate/ (They also need volunteer help if you are able & willing. The link has info on that too.)
As announced recently by Mayor Fuller in partnership with United Way Mass Bay, "Newton’s COVID-19 Care Fund will help families and individuals who have been financially impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic." https://unitedwaymassbay.org/covid-19/newton-covid-19-care-fund/
In my capacity as a radio host and private individual, rather than as a City Councilor, I conducted a virtual fundraiser on Saturday night for the food pantry, using the “Twitch” interactive live-streaming platform that is popular among Gen Z & millennials and often used for charitable fundraising. I’ll probably be doing more of them this coming week. The unique “hook” for the younger audiences on this platform is that the presenters can either be on camera themselves talking and answering questions or they can play video games on screen sort of like a virtual “fun run” or charity walk where you do in-game challenges to raise charity money from fans/supporters instead of raising money from your co-workers, family members, and neighbors to walk/run 5 kilometers (for example). Since we can do those real-world fundraisers anymore due to the pandemic, I figured I would give it a shot with this virtual fundraising style, which the kids are into. It went pretty well and people were able to ask me questions about the crisis. Again, this was not any kind of official campaign/political event, as I was just doing it in my own individual capacity with some friends who don't live in Newton, but it seemed to go well, and people enjoyed it.
One final note
In light of the pandemic situation and the state of the economy, I will not be actively fundraising on my 29th birthday this Friday, as originally planned. But if you find these updates to constituents to be helpful and you are still in a position to donate right now, you can certainly do so here and it would be very welcome. One of the most common complaints residents have with local elected officials is that they only hear from them around election time, but one of the biggest reasons for this is that it’s quite expensive to communicate with even the limited number of constituents at the ward level. (There are recurring monthly or yearly costs for maintaining email lists and web hosting, but sending out even just a small postcard to the entire ward with a minimal update generally costs over $2,000 in most cases.) Thanks for reading!