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Happy Friday, everyone. Don’t forget to get your seasonal flu shot. This week’s newsletter covers candidate debates and my endorsements of other campaigns, Countryside Elementary School redesign, a recap of Indigenous Peoples Day, an update on proposed reforms to the senior tax workoff program, some questions floating around about private parking, and more.
On Saturday morning (tomorrow), the Friends of Hemlock Gorge will be holding a Fall Cleanup Day to keep the park clean and beautiful for all. Stop by (with gloves) bright and early at Hamilton Place and fill a bag with trash! Afterward the group will provide lunch at the Stone Building.
Campaign updates & my endorsements
Today I’m finishing up my second trip around Ward 5, knocking nearly 1,200 doors and having spoken to over 500 voters in person again this year.
Earlier this month I recorded a 3 minute message on NewTV about why I'm seeking re-election to the Newton City Council on November 2 this year. https://vimeo.com/628193250
The League of Women Voters Newton and NewTV also recently held a nonpartisan 45-minute Zoom debate for the Ward 5 Councilor race between me and my opponent. You can watch it here (opening statements begin at the 4 minute 30 second mark; closing statements at 41:30):
https://vimeo.com/632183805
I think at this point the differences speak for themselves, but I will also be debating my opponent again tomorrow in the Joint Area Councils Debate.
I have a few lawn signs left, but I’m nearly out. If you want one, sign up here.
Many voters ask me which candidates I’m supporting this year and how I make those determinations. For me, it’s pretty simple: Who do I believe I can work most effectively with when I’m doing my job as City Councilor? If I think I wouldn’t have a particularly productive working relationship with a candidate or incumbent, especially after having worked with them previously, then I’m unlikely to give them my support. So, here’s who I’m supporting in the contested races...
Citywide (all Newton voters can support these candidates): City Councilors and Council candidates Alison Leary, Andrea Kelley, Meryl Kessler, Deb Crossley, Andreae Downs, Vicki Danberg, and Alicia Bowman, as well as School Committee member Kathy Shields and candidate Shawn Fitzgibbons.
I’m also supporting my Ward Councilor colleagues Maria Scibelli Greenberg of Ward 1 and Brenda Noel of Ward 6, but Ward 5 residents can’t vote in those races because they’re not citywide.
And although I know people keep asking me who I’m supporting for Mayor, I decided earlier this year that I would remain neutral in that race, especially because so many of my own supporters are passionately divided on that question.
Recap of Indigenous Peoples Day
Newton held its first Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations and festivities earlier this week at Albemarle Field and it was a huge success. There were ceremonies representing various indigenous nations of the Americas, there was storytelling and dancing and cross-cultural activities, and best of all there were all kinds of wonderful foods from indigenous vendors. This was an incredible opportunity to reconnect Newton with its Native roots and to add a fresh dimension to a community already committed to multicultural education. I hope we will repeat it with similar success – and even bigger attendance – a year from now. You won’t want to miss it.
Countryside Elementary School Update
Many Ward 5 residents have children at (or soon to be attending) Countryside Elementary School, which is long overdue for reconstruction. The City of Newton will be holding a Project Community Meeting on developing the New Countryside plan at 6 PM on Wednesday 10/27 (Pre-Register on Zoom) to get input from residents as we progress into the design phases.
Senior tax workoff reform advances
I’ve been proud to co-sponsor a small but important senior tax reform effort at the City Council’s Committees on Programs & Services and Finance this term, and we’re close to approving it. Both committees have now voted unanimously to recommend the changes described below.
This program, authorized and regulated by the state, allows the City of Newton to cancel out a small portion of the property taxes of low-income seniors if they (or a designee in their place) volunteers a certain amount of hours to help the City with certain little tasks. (For example, volunteering at the Library.) The state program limits the total amount of taxes that can be canceled by this system and limits the individual amount per person, and the state also requires that the program be calculated on a minimum wage basis and not replace any employee’s job, but the City determines the maximum income for eligibility.
As it turns out, Newton had never raised the maximum income since the program’s inception nearly two decades ago, which meant some seniors were being denied the ability to participate in the volunteer tax workoff program. At the same time, Newton was budgeting each year for the maximum amount of tax relief in the program, while not actually hitting that target because of insufficient participation.
Our proposal raises the maximum income limit by $10,000 for each category of eligible senior or senior household. This is a substantial increase that could help keep existing participants in the program and allow new people to join it, but it won’t increase the annual budgetary demand, since this was already planned for each fiscal year. The increase is not quite as much as the rate of inflation over the period of the program, but we want to see first how many new participants join and then if need be we can adjust it upward again.
One point I want to emphasize is that we understand this is an example of a small “low-hanging fruit” policy change that won’t have a huge impact for most Newton seniors, but we do think it’s an easy step to take this term, which will be helpful for the people it does benefit. Next term, I’m hoping we will explore a range of more wide-ranging programs, such as aiding fixed-income, low-income seniors with home maintenance costs and other tax relief. But those are pretty likely to require more resources than this reform, which was essentially almost “free” for the city.
Driveway parking and the “silly season” of political cycles
There’s an old expression in politics that as we approach an election we arrive in “silly season” as political campaigns get desperate to pick up a few more votes, and it seems that we are already there now. Some of you might have received an email within the past week filled with misinformation claiming that the City Council is trying to ban people from parking in their own driveways. I think you all probably already know this is a very silly claim, but Councilors Andreae Downs and Deb Crossley released a quick explanation of the problem with this misinformation:
Let’s see if we can clear up these muddy zoning waters.
1. Any changes to any zoning in Newton are only applied to new construction, not existing.
2. Even in new construction, Council works with homeowners on work-arounds if their project can’t meet our zoning codes via the special permit process
3. This [claim about driveway bans] conflates several proposals that are under discussion—including removing a requirement to have parking on-site (i.e. parking optional, not required) and a proposal to prevent new driveways in the front yard.
4. Front yard parking isn’t what folks in our neighborhoods are calling for. Most think it’s pretty ugly.
5. Our current zoning requires that every new home/unit have at least two parking spaces on site that are not within the setbacks. These can be garage or surface spots. There’s no ban – and none contemplated – on additional spaces in the setbacks.
6. Council has had NO discussions about prohibiting back yard parking. We have had setback or screening requirements since 1953.
Long story short: if you already have a driveway, you can still park there, even if it’s in the front yard. And the city will not and cannot make you tear out your existing driveway.
I hope that helps address any questions about the obviously ludicrous “driveway ban” email!
Sadly, we’re probably in for a lot more nonsense and silliness in the remaining few weeks until the November 2 election. Already we’ve seen another letter about zoning redesign re-circulating (as if it’s brand new) talking about a point of contention that came up well over a year ago and was effectively eliminated from consideration by the Council. I’ve gotten angry calls and emails from people who mistakenly believe this is still a pending idea, even though it was never seriously contemplated or debated!
I also heard that a new “dark money” Political Action Committee from outside Newton plans to run attack ads against certain candidates, likely including me. I’ll just have to trust the good judgment of Ward 5 voters not to be taken in by these tactics.