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Hello Ward 5! Stay cool this weekend. This week’s newsletter is brief, with an alert about Parks, Recreation, & Culture project-planning and an update on the Council’s official vote earlier this week on strict regulation of the firearms industry in Newton.
Looking for something to check out for free around your neighborhood this weekend? Newton Community Pride has been setting up art installations around the city in their new “Newton Out Doors” art initiative. The project includes 25 upcycled wooden doors that have been decorated by local and regional artists placed around the village centers, and is meant to encourage enjoyment of art and promote city walkability. Come see the installations in Ward 5 at the Waban Community Library or at the Upper Falls Greenway, among other great locations!
Door-knocking update
This week, I knocked on my first 100 doors this year in Ward 5 to hear people’s top local issues or find out if there’s anything in the neighborhood I can help out with. As I continue door knocking throughout the summer, I hope to hear from all of you about your top issues. As always, you can email me at any time if you haven’t had a chance yet to see me in person.
And, If you are interested in supporting my re-election campaign, you can sign up here.
Parks, Recreation, & Culture long-term planning
Currently, the Parks, Recreation, & Culture Department is putting together a 5-10 year master plan for fields and playgrounds around Newton in need of renovation. This plan will include some initial requests starting in July of this year for Community Preservation Act funding for the first couple years of projects.
If you have specific parks, fields, playgrounds, or other public recreational facilities that you want to advocate for, please don’t hesitate to let me know by email. I will likely be prioritizing sites located either in Ward 5 or in other wards but used heavily by Ward 5 residents/students.
Specifically, I am presently looking closely at the Braceland playground, athletic fields, and dog park complex in Newton Upper Falls, which is very long overdue for an overhaul. Today I submitted a recommendation to the Parks & Rec Commission and our Parks Commissioner to make this a high priority after consulting with folks in Newton Upper Falls and other frequent users of the site.
Final outcome on gun zoning regulations
The City Council finally passed a regulatory proposal regarding zoning and special permit regulations on the firearms industry by a vote of 23-1 during a special meeting on Wednesday night. (This will prevent the opening of the store nearing completion on Washington St in Newtonville.)
During the meeting, three minor amendments were added to clarify the special permit process and access for minors, while two amendments proposing to add excessive buffering restrictions to the proposed zoning map were rejected. A third amendment was voted down because it could have overstepped the constitutional and state rights of duly licensed and accompanied minors. (If it turns out later that this interpretation was incorrect, it can be fixed easily.)
Some proposed amendments were also withdrawn, such as an amendment to ban firing ranges in the city.
The main item for the night created a zoning map of a few small potential locations for firearms uses in business districts with appropriate buffering around sensitive uses and created a Special Permit approval process with standard criteria (including a public health rule) and industry-specific requirements. Approval of a proposed firearms business would require a two-thirds majority by the City Council to find that all of these criteria were met.
Mayor Fuller signed the new regulations from the Council on Thursday.
Some Councilors still want to take up consideration of a total ban. I’ve previously explained why I do not think this is strategically a good idea in newsletters published last week and on May 14. But I am quite confident that we are extremely unlikely to have a gun store open in Newton given the new regulatory framework passed this week.