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Today’s newsletter covers a big update on the Chestnut St project for next week, MBTA work reminders, what I’ve been working on since last Friday, and some City Council updates.
This week I went to Newton City Hall and turned in 75 signatures, more than the required 50, to qualify for the November 2021 ballot as a candidate for re-election. I am excited for the opportunity to continue serving the people of Ward 5 as your Councilor and am looking forward to getting to talk to more of you again as I continue to knock doors throughout the summer!
One quick note via Waban Area Council this week: The Waban Improvement Society will not be hosting a Waban Village Day in 2021. The scheduling logistics as events resume normality on a compressed schedule did not make it feasible.
On Saturday, I was honored to be part of Troop 209's Eagle Court of Honor ceremony for 7 new Eagles Scouts (4 from Ward 5), including two Scouts who are among the first young women in the country to earn the rank of Eagle since the Boy Scouts integrated. This gender integration, like the earlier LGBTQ integration, is something I’ve been seeking since I was in Scouts earning the Eagle rank myself. These young women can be incredibly proud to be trailblazers for the organization, and as Eagle Scouts they are now part of our lifelong network of connections and helping hands. They're going to do great things.
Major MBTA & Chestnut St project updates for the coming week
As a reminder, the Green Line Transformation Project Team will start working on the D Line today around the clock--weekdays, weeknights, and weekends--for a total of 18 days to accelerate the construction and ultimately reduce the duration of impacts to riders and neighbors.
The work will take place for 24 hours a day as follows:
From the end of regular train service on Friday, June 11 (tonight) to the beginning of regular train service on Monday, June 21
From the end of regular train service on Wednesday, June 23 to the beginning of regular train service in Saturday, July 3
The city is also scheduling a Cold-in-Place Recycling treatment on Chestnut St, expected to begin on June 17, 2021 and continue for approximately four weeks (but not every day during this time frame). Cold-in-Place Recycling – considered a somewhat less wasteful reclamation approach than traditional paving – means that the existing pavement will be ground up in place for reuse before new material will be installed. Throughout the process, parking restrictions will be in effect when the contractor is working, but trash and recycling will be pick-up as usual. Work and schedules are subject to change when weather and other conditions arise.
Door-knocking update
This week, I continued knocking doors in Ward 5 to hear from residents on how they are doing during the pandemic and what I can help them with in their neighborhoods. I got to about 115 doors and spoke to about 75 people this week.
Knocking doors in Precinct 2, mostly around Woodward St and Elliot St this time, I spoke to residents of all ages on issues like senior living, bike lanes, and walkability in Newton. As expected, road repair remains a top concern for people this year.
While Councilors always encourage you to report specific dangerous potholes to the Department of Public Works via the city’s online 311 system for a quick response, we all know that some stretches of road can get to be more hole than road, and sometimes I can help navigate the system when that happens.
On Brewster Road, as I noticed firsthand and many residents pointed out to me independently of each other this week, the road condition had deteriorated faster than the Department of Public Works had expected since last year, and I could see major potholes every few feet during my canvassing.
So, I reached out to the Department via email and their crew came out this week to mark and temporarily patch the street until it can be properly repaved, hopefully next year.
Each year, there is a citywide road maintenance plan updated with road levels of use and levels of damage, and the DPW is working as fast as possible to keep up with these needs, including using the new federal ARPA money to help.
One other advantage that I have in doing all my walking around side streets on foot is that I can actually let residents know relative to other roads how their own road is doing in terms of wear-and-tear. Sometimes I’ve just been to a road that is actually in much worse shape than yours!
Countryside Elementary School project update
The Programs & Services Committee joined the Public Facilities Committee on Wednesday to authorize the City of Newton to move forward with the “feasibility phase” for Countryside Elementary School.
The City plans to spend no more than $1,250,000 on a full-scale feasibility study (and likely design) for rebuilding the school, about 40 percent of which should be reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). The non-reimbursed portion is expected to be funded with American Rescue Plan Act federal funds via the "lost revenue makeup" provision. More information on the feasibility phase can be found in a letter from the Mayor on page 20 in the 6/9/21 Public Facilities Agenda.
The current feasibility phase will explore issues such as the programming needs for a new facility, geo-environmental and geotechnical aspects, archaeological/historical conditions, a site survey, traffic planning, and schematic design. There are also sensitive wetlands to consider in the planning of the facility.
Transitioning our energy
As readers of this newsletter might know, my top issue remains environmentalism and climate action. Like many of our neighboring communities, our municipal government is interested in accelerating the urgently-needed transition to a cleaner energy infrastructure to our private commercial and residential buildings, especially newly built or renovated ones.
The Public Facilities Committee this week continued its consideration of (and preparation of a public hearing on June 23 for) item #294-20, “Discussion to require or encourage the use of efficient electric technology: requesting a discussion with the Sustainability Team to consider creating an ordinance [and home rule petition to the state legislature] that may require and/or encourage the use of efficient electric technology for heating, cooling, hot water, cooking and other appliances in new and substantially renovated buildings.”
The Committee intends to “cast a wide net” to reach out to as many different interested constituencies as possible ahead of the public hearing process. They will not be voting on the draft ordinance on the same night as the public hearing, to ensure that they can incorporate refinements and revisions suggested from the public before a committee vote or a full City Council vote. If the Council approved a draft ordinance and home rule petition, these would then be referred to the state government for approval before it could take effect.
We hope to hear from you on June 23rd.
Docket review
Historic preservation in our community is a popular topic with many of my constituents, and unfortunately sometimes even our landmarked buildings have been improperly renovated. This week, I signed on as a co-sponsor of a Wards 5- and 8-led docket item for an ordinance requiring a report on building conditions prior to renovations on landmarked buildings. (While the issue is a problem everywhere in the city, there have been some high-profile incidents in those two wards recently. Our colleagues in Ward 6, working on some new potential landmarked homes, joined us.)
#220-21 Requesting an ordinance to require a report on building conditions prior to renovations on landmarked building(s) COUNCILORS CROSSLEY, DOWNS, HUMPHREY, LIPOF, KALIS, KELLEY, BOWMAN, DANBERG, NOEL AND RYAN requesting an ordinance requiring, that prior to ISD issuing a permit for renovations to a landmarked building or buildings within historic districts, that a petitioner must have adequately documented existing conditions of the building including its exterior architectural features, by a licensed architect or building professional to the satisfaction of the governing historic commission or district commission. The written order of conditions from the governing commission approving renovations to such a building or structure will be based upon and evaluated against adherence to these documents.