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Happy Friday and happy Spring, Ward 5! My 2019 campaign assistant Irina is back starting today and helping me to write these newsletters to keep up with the pace of key updates, especially as infrastructure projects resume with the improved weather.
Additionally, this week’s newsletter includes information about the recent local vigil for the victims of the Atlanta shootings, updates regarding the new senior center, a resolution supporting Newton’s Fair Housing Committee, and updates from the Area Councils and the MBTA.
Road work next week on Needham St & Chestnut St
The Department of Public Works emailed your Ward 5 Councilors today to give us two important updates on major road work next week, following up on previous alerts I have mentioned in earlier newsletters.
State work on Needham St next week will include:
continued test pits on Needham St
work at the Oak/Christina intersection, progressing to Tower Road
Chestnut St work next week (3/29 onward):
Chestnut St from Route 9 to Tamworth Rd will be closed for sidewalk excavation on both sides and detours will be in place around Quinobequin Rd
One consistent side of the sidewalk in the section of Chestnut St being worked on will be compacted & accessible by the end of each work day allowing for safe pedestrian travel.
As I hit send on this newsletter, the city is discussing how best to detour trucks to avoid a repeat of last year’s incident where a truck hit low-hanging wires on this section of the detour. I hope that is resolved before work begins on Monday.
Chinese American Association of Newton vigil
The Chinese American Association of Newton held a very well-attended vigil on Sunday, March 20 at City Hall to honor and remember the victims of the horrific killings in Atlanta, GA last week.
These last few weeks have brought increased attention to an important and unsettling issue in our country - the legacy of anti-Asian hate and rising hate crimes against Asian-Americans. This is a longstanding bigotry within US history, as many speakers at the event pointed out. But that hostility has spiked again during the pandemic, due to the virus first being detected in China – a fact which both major candidates for US President cynically exploited last year. I believe that the bipartisan xenophobia, jingoism, and warmongering against Asian countries coming from the very top of American politics (especially over the past year) is having a severely damaging and tragic effect on broader public opinion. It's time to stop inventing enemies.
The City of Newton remains committed to creating a community that is welcoming for everyone regardless of ethnicity, national origin, or documentation status. I will continue to advocate on the City Council for specific attention to our Chinese-American Ward 5 residents, as I did during the preparation for the 2020 US Census and the emergency rental assistance program.
New senior center cost estimates
The City Council’s Programs & Services Committee (on which I serve) met jointly with Public Facilities on March 17 for another presentation about NewCAL (the new senior center) planning.
As expected from earlier meetings, the presentation showed that the option to significantly renovate and add on to the existing senior center would cost more than a total rebuild on the same site, by more than $2 million, according to the new estimates.
The estimated cost of a renovation and add-on is $18.6 million, while the total rebuild cost estimation is $16.1 million - a difference of $2.5 million. A more detailed breakdown of the estimate can be found in the Committee’s agenda on page 20.
Docket review
On Monday, the Zoning & Planning Committee met and discussed item #96-21: a resolution to honor the Fair Housing Committee by recognizing the critical role they play in helping Newton become a more diverse, inclusive and just community. A few important points from Councilor Bowman’s resolution are summarized here:
Newton Fair Housing Committee (NFHC) was established as a citizen advisory board to the city in 2008 by former Mayor David Cohen. It was created to to promote and support the city’s efforts to be a diverse and welcoming community with fair housing choices and opportunities for all, free from discrimination. Since Newton is a community that receives funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Planning, it is required to create a five-year action plan to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing.
Some of the actions the committee is currently undertaking to further this goal include education programs on Fair Housing for realtors, house owners and agencies, city staff and the general public, reviewing major residential development proposals to determine whether they meet regulatory fair housing requirements, and evaluating of the use of local preference option in affordable housing lotteries to determine their impact on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing.
Inclusive communities with access to housing are crucial to our region and nation’s prosperity in the 21st century. Unfortunately, discrimination in housing – from renting and lending to the production of new housing itself – continues to affect people for reasons of: the color of their skin, if they have children, how they worship, where they were born, if they have a disability, their gender, who they love, or their gender identity and expression. This housing discrimination has a long-term effect on the wealth, health and education opportunities for these people and their families.
It is important that we recognize and support the Committe’s work to end housing discrimination and to Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. We on the City Council who back this resolution especially support the many resident members of the committee who volunteer their time and expertise to such a worthwhile goal.
Area Council updates
The Newton Highlands Area Council and the Upper Falls Area Council each met virtually this month to do some tentative planning for upcoming community events this year, depending on the course of the pandemic recovery:
The tentative date for Newton Highlands Village Day is Sunday, September 12.
The tentative date for Upper Falls Village Day is Sunday, October 3. There will not be a soup social this spring, but it may be rescheduled in the winter later this year.
The Waban Area Council met virtually on March 11. For comparison, a decision (by the Waban Improvement Society) has not yet been reached regarding Waban Village day this year. The WAC discussed two key items this month: The financial hardships facing NewTV and possible reforms to the demolition delay ordinance.
NewTV, our city’s local public access cable network, depends on public “right of way” (ROW) fees to cable providers. In the streaming and cord-cutting era, this ROW fee revenue has been reduced and is financially impacting the network. Since 2015, NewTV has lost about $347,000 annually due to these reduced revenues, causing the city to lose revenues as well. Over the past 7 years, the number of cable subscribers in Newton has declined 23%. (The City Council is considering a resolution as well to the state legislature on a pending bill to reform and replace public access fee revenues.)
As for the demolition delay topic, I will save that for a future newsletter and further Council committee meetings on the subject.
Future MBTA accessibility projects
In an email on March 19, the MBTA announced their intention of making accessibility improvements at four stations on the Green Line D Branch—Waban, Eliot, Chestnut Hill, and Beaconsfield. Designs will be completed next spring.
Below are the construction and design features included in the project:
(Slightly) raised 225-foot platforms for easier boarding
Widened and resurfaced platforms
Improved wayfinding and lighting, new benches, and call box for information and emergencies
Redesigned accessible pathways with at least two accessible exits
Accessible parking spaces next to accessible pathways
More information about the project can be accessed at an upcoming virtual presentation by the MBTA on April 29.