Sign up to receive Ward and political newsletters by email here.
Hello again Ward 5: I’m playing a bit of catch-up this week with three newsletters in one because I was unusually busy with matters related to the March 3rd election for the past few weeks, so I will try to keep it to the important updates.
Coming Up (partial calendar, subject to change depending on public health situation):
Finance Committee tonight (Monday, 7 PM): Key items include 1) discussing funding a paid LGBTQ Liaison like most peer communities nearby to help both LGBTQ residents and parents of LGBTQ children; 2) a reform proposed by the Mayor to the sidewalk obstruction ordinance to add enforcement & penalties (which was already voted out of Public Facilities Committee 5-0)
[CANCELED] Beacon St Bike Lanes Community Meeting at the Newton Free Library (Thursday, 6 PM): See details later in the newsletter
[CANCELED] Waban Area Council Monthly Meeting (Thursday, 7:30 PM) at Waban Library Center
[CANCELED] St Patricks Newton Political Roast (Friday, 8:30 AM, Dunn Gaherins)
[CANCELED] Newton Democrats US Senate Delegate Selection Caucus (Sunday, doors open 3 PM, NSHS): Democrats 16 years or older, including same-day registration/pre-registration, can run for or vote in favor of state delegates supporting their preferred Senate candidate. (I have endorsed Ed Markey for re-election and will run in Ward 5’s caucus.)
Next Monday the 16th: 6 PM ACLU Presentation to City Council’s Public Safety & Transportation Committee on Face Surveillance Technology (info here - this is my docket item)
Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) Update:
We are, like every other community, experiencing a rapidly evolving situation with the viral pandemic that is crossing the globe at the moment. (For reference, this newsletter was drafted the evening of March 8 2020, in case anything changes later which supersedes it.) Other than simply regularly washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water to reduce transmission even if you are asymptomatic, and coughing into your elbow to reduce aerosolized spread, it will be important for you as a resident to do several things: 1) Stay up to date on official announcements from our city government, 2) Be reasonably prepared, 3) Check regularly on your family and neighbors who live alone.
Mayor Ruthanne Fuller notes that, "The Newton Health and Human Services Department has developed an FAQ section on the COVID-19 webpage on the City of Newton website. It includes questions and answers about travel, what to do if you think you may have symptoms, and other Newton specific information. We plan to update this resource as we hear more from you about what information you need." http://newtonma.gov/covid19 She also emphasizes that, "With so many possible information sources and so much reporting on COVID-19, it can be difficult to discern what is accurate...We urge residents to use reliable sources. Specifically, we direct you to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):" https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
As many of you know, I’m an Eagle Scout, and the Scout Motto is “Be prepared.” One of the required badges is Emergency Preparedness, which I remember earning not too long after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina when it was a relatively new badge, but they had good reminders for preparing for any general kind of problem, so that you and your family are not caught off guard. My suggestion, speaking in my personal capacity and NOT as an official statement from anyone in city government, is that you should consider making and checking off a list of what essential supplies (including but not limited to food – don’t forget a can-opener!) that you might need in the home, and in sufficient quantities for all members of your household, to be able to ride out 2-3 weeks in your home without outside help. This is probably useful to have on hand in general, not just during the present situation, and you might want to make sure you have water and flashlights/batteries if you are assembly a more general preparation kit (since we don’t have reason to expect power or water problems from this particular level of pandemic.) If the United States starts experiencing large-scale quarantines like we are seeing in China, Italy, and so on, you will be glad to have stocked up in time. That being said, please do not purchase excessive supplies because we need to make sure there is enough to go around for everyone. And as always, don’t panic. Greater levels of calm cooperation with one another will lead to better outcomes for all of us.
Speaking of better outcomes -- research on emergency situations, especially the kind where you can’t leave the house for an extended period of time, would suggest that mortality rates are significantly lower among our vulnerable populations if people are checking in regularly on friends, family, and neighbors. If you know anyone in Newton who lives alone, please make a plan to give them a call or contact them some other way, every day or two, whether or not we end up experiencing a quarantine. If they experience a health incident while alone, the sooner we know there is a problem and can get help to them, the better off they will be. We can get through this together, but only if we do our part to keep each other safe as a community. And I want to underscore that doing our part to keep each other safe means zero tolerance for any racist or nationalist incidents related to this public health emergency. This is a global health pandemic that does not discriminate by nationality or race. We have unfortunately already had some racist incidents here in Newton as a result of ignorance and bigotry. I urge you to speak out against anything you might overhear that falls in this category. It is worth remembering that the so-called “Spanish Flu” pandemic of 1918-1920 only bears that name because Spain, as a non-combatant nation during the final year of World War One, was one of the few countries being transparent about the course of the disease instead of deploying wartime censorship to hide it. Countries that are being transparent about the challenges they are facing from coronavirus-2019 are helping all of us, not threatening us. Keeping their citizens safe in our community is how we keep all of us safe. We want everyone to feel safe and comfortable reporting symptoms and potential contact to authorities.
Green Line Track & Signal Work Resumes
Spring has sprung, more or less, and that means it is time for all of us once again to put up with some short-term inconveniences for the very important project to upgrade the Green Line tracks, signals, and stations on the D Line through Newton so that the MBTA can in a few years begin running more frequent trains and much longer trains regularly (among other benefits). The project is now 37% complete, according to the MBTA. Here’s the upcoming plan:
Newton Centre – track and signal replacement on weeknights and weekends throughout March and April
Reservoir – track replacement and signal infrastructure work on weeknights and weekends throughout March
Chestnut Hill – track and signal work anticipated to begin in April
Full updates at https://www.mbta.com/projects/green-line-d-track-and-signal-replacement
PARTIAL RECAP of THE PAST FEW WEEKS (Feb 19-Mar 5)
Note: I’m leaving out a lot that happened in order to keep this a manageable length!
Upper Falls Updates
2/20 Press conference with Gov. Baker: The state awarded a grant to the City of Newton to help with design and engineering for a couple projects involving the Greenway and Pettee Square that are tied to the now-approved Northland Needham St development project. The grants themselves do not pay for these adjacent improvement projects, just the design work. The projects themselves will be paid for by the Northland Development Corporation as part of the negotiated agreement reached by the previous City Council in 2019.
Upper Falls Area Council Meeting February - 3 key things
My notes are here
Appointing a 9th Area Councilor: There is still one vacancy and people have until March 15th to apply. There has been public notice.
Christina-Oak-Needham St Realigned Intersection Lights Update:UFAC sent a letter to MassDOT and received a reply. Answer was brief & stated DOT could not add a left-turn lane for Oak St onto Needham St because of both space and the amount of time a left-turn light would add. City Councilor Downs (not present at the meeting) had said she plans to follow up further because she was also not completely persuaded by the explanation in the Mass DOT letter.
The Newton Upper Falls Area Council is now accepting nominations for the Sixth Ken Newcomb Upper Falls Book Award! The Book Award shall be awarded to a high school junior from Newton Upper Falls (home address within 02464 ZIP code) who in the judgment of the members of the Newton Upper Falls Area Council best combines the following:
Contributions to the Newton Upper Falls community
Good character
Good academic performance
The Book Award recipient will receive the following at a ceremony in June:
A copy of The Makers of the Mold, Ken Newcomb’s history of Newton Upper Falls
A $50 bookstore gift certificate
Nominations should include a short essay explaining why you or they should win the Book Award (50 words minimum). We would also like to see a short essay from the nominee on the topic: "What Upper Falls Means to Me." Nominations can be sent to any member of the Area Council. Deadline: May 15, 2020
February Office Hours Recap / Looking Ahead
I am currently not expecting I will be doing office hours this month due to the unfolding public health situation, but fortunately I was able to squeeze in joint office hours in February with two of my colleagues in two of the villages of Ward 5.
Thanks to the 10 people who came to the joint office hours in Waban and Newton Highlands that I held with my colleagues Councilor Downs and Councilor Noel. It was great to hear your thoughts on the city and answer some of your questions. People brought questions about Chestnut St Water Main work, the Northland referendum, and many other topics!
2/26 Programs & Services Meeting
Confirmation hearing with the Mayor’s appointee for Director of Parks, Recreation & Culture (the newly renamed department), Nicole Banks - Council President Susan Albright emphasized the urgent safety need to repair the Cold Spring Park trails. Councilor Ryan (Ward 8) emphasized the need to make sure LGBTQ+ youth are safe at city recreation sites & parks. Councilor Greenberg (Ward 1) emphasized the need to make ADA compliance accessibility upgrades to our parks, which was also going to be my emphasis!
A discussion with the School Dept (and School Committee) about the role of school fees in Newton and whether the pluses outweigh the minuses.
If you’re interested in either topic, I highly recommend checking the report notes for that meeting to see all the questions we asked on both these items and the answers we received.
NewCAL/Senior Center Update
I was not able to attend the most recent community meeting on the new Senior Center concepts and site selection, due to a schedule conflict, but the sites under consideration have been narrowed to either the current Senior Center property in Newtonville or the triangle parking lot in Newton Centre.
Beacon St Planning Preview
Your ward 5 & 6 councilors met this past week with city planners and traffic engineers to discuss re-striping Beacon St for bike lanes on both sides all the way from Washington St in Waban to Centre St in Newton Centre (with a couple short exception stretches). This is still in the early stages and there will be a community meeting this Thursday (3/12, 6 PM) at the Newton Free Library (assuming no cancelation for public health reasons) and likely further hearings. We want to make sure this works for everyone safely and accounts for specific factors and varied conditions in each segment of Beacon St, and we were going over the maps almost block by block for the whole distance. Please feel free however to start sending in ideas/suggestions or things you want the city to be aware of about specific segments when designing these bike lanes.
3/4 Programs & Services Meeting
You can read my full live notes here. But probably the most pertinent to Ward 5 parents: The City Council is moving forward a request from the superintendent for authorization to submit a Statement of Interest (SOI) to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for consideration of funding for a renovation/addition (or more properly, likely a full rebuild) of Countryside Elementary School, which has at long last risen to the top of our city’s priority list, as I assured many of you last year on the doors that it would soon be! I think those modular classroom units have been there literally my entire life, if I recall correctly which year they were added.
There's a minimum of a 5-6 year timeframe on projects of this scale from start (study & design) to finish (opening the new doors after construction ends), so this new school with added capacity would be opening around the same time as the newly approved Northland project would be completed too. Also as a reminder the newly approved Northland Needham St project comes with $1.5 million in free funds from the corporation to the city toward the new (or renovated) Countryside Elementary School.
One of the challenges with reimagining the Countryside site is that part of it is a wetland and part of it falls within a 200 foot buffer zone around a wetland.
Newton Dems March Resolutions to City Council
The Newton Democratic City Committee, at the request of me, Councilor Holly Ryan (Ward 8), and the Newton High School Democrats, adopted two resolutions at the March 2020 meeting:
1) "The Newton Democratic City Committee urges the Newton City Council to adopt a municipal election voting age minimum of 16."
2) "The Newton Democratic City Committee urges the Newton City Council to strengthen and expand union rights and protections for both public and private employees in the City of Newton."