WHAT NEWTON DID DURING YOUR SUMMER VACATION
By Chrissie Long and Leslie Friday
Newton TAB, MA
GateHouse News Service
Sept 5 2007
Newton – You may have been off this summer. But the city certainly
wasn’t.
Through the summer heat, construction crews began work preparing for
a new Newton North. They’ve taken down Dickinson Stadium and strung
a green fence around the property.
Taxpayers also received tough news about the project’s estimated cost
– $13 million higher than the mayor’s target. Meanwhile, the school
administration has been busy preparing for parking problems and field
issues, as construction work swallows all the athletic fields and
340 onsite spaces.
While Newton’s firefighters entered their fifth consecutive year
without a contract, battle lines were drawn for this fall’s municipal
elections, with several challengers vowing to put pressure on the
administration to address the stalemate.
And although voters won’t weigh in on the race for mayor until 2009,
one potential challenger to Mayor David Cohen has already emerged.
So that you don’t have to go looking through the now-yellow tinted
TABs that lie on your doorstep, here’s more about these and a few
other stories you may have missed:
Crews break ground at Newton North Just as machines began digging
away at Dickinson Stadium, the price tag for a new Newton North High
School jumped by $13 million.
Contractors now expect the building to cost $154 million – a leap from
the $141 million Mayor David Cohen told voters was his target price.
During a Newton North Design Review Committee meeting last November,
Cohen said, "The area of $141 million is a very important target in
terms of the city’s ability to pay for the project."
Cohen has yet to adjust a finance plan to meet the higher cost.
The construction has pushed North’s athletic teams and parking into
neighboring communities, causing some concern among abutting residents.
The construction has displaced 340 onsite parking spots and, as a
result, only 10 percent of upperclassmen will be granted a space
this year. The Newton North Liaison Committee has helped formulate
a detailed parking plan to prepare for the additional cars.
But neighbors are concerned about more than just cars.
A subcommittee to the liaison group has formulated a no-smoking policy
they hope aldermen will agree on this fall. The policy would create
a 900-foot no-smoking zone around the school, effectively eliminating
Smokers’ Alley. Originally intended to prevent construction crews from
smoking close to the school, the policy is also meant to discourage
smoking among students.
In other news, the asbestos found at the North site in the spring,
which was scheduled to be removed over the summer, is still there.
The substance, which officials say does not present a danger to the
community because it cannot become airborne, is now slated for removal
this month.
Newton considers relationship with No Place for Hate Newton Corner
resident David Boyajian ignited a nationwide debate when he wrote a
letter to the TAB’s sister paper this summer.
His letter to the Watertown TAB & Press called into question
the actions of the tolerance promoting Anti-Defamation League. The
national director of the ADL, Abraham Foxman, refused to recognize the
Armenian massacre by the Turks in the early 20th century as genocide
and lobbied against genocide-recognizing legislation in Congress.
Boyajian brought this to the attention of Watertown officials, who
represent an Armenian-American heavy constituency.
The letter prompted officials in that city to withdraw from the
Anti-Defamation League’s No Place for Hate program. And, the head
of the local ADL branch Andrew Tarsy was later fired for ultimately
agreeing with Watertown’s position.
Cohen also wrote a letter to Foxman, and the Newton Human Rights
Commission decided to postpone a decision about Newton’s relationship
with the ADL.
Tarsy has since been restored and Foxman has revisited his definition
of genocide.
But it is unclear whether that will satisfy members of Newton’s Human
Rights Commission.
The HRC will meet Tuesday, Sept. 11,at 7:30 p.m. at the City Hallto
discuss the city’s affiliation with the program.
School building news In an effort to address the poor condition of many
of the city’s schools, the School Committee has requested state funding
for 17 of the elementary and middle schools. Newton has submitted
more requests than any city or town, aside from Worcester’s 36.
But the state’s School Building Authority wrote back asking the city
to narrow this list to just one priority school. The School Committee
said that was not possible and instead identified the three schools
in most need of repair: Angier, Cabot and Zervas.
In other news, the city of Newton has settled a legal suit over the
completion of the Newton South building. Vertex Engineering Services
will complete the remaining punch list items for $700,000 and Newton
will save $545,290. According to the contract, all punch list items
were expected to be completed before students return this week.
Political happenings Only sixaldermanic races will be contested
this year and just one of the eight seats on the School Committee is
being challenged.
The alderman races include two open seats, after two aldermen decided
not to seek re-election this fall: Ward 1 Alderman at-Large Ben
Weisbuch and Ward 8 at-Large Alderman Richard Lipof. Weisbuch said
he is considering returning to school, and Lipof would like to spend
more time with his family.
In the only preliminary election, Al Cecchinelli, Allan Ciccone,
James Schpeiser and Janet Sterman will challenge incumbent Carleton
Merrill in a citywide race for Ward 1 at large on Sept. 18.
Former Elections Commissioner Peter Karg – a late entry to the Ward
8 race – collected signatures to run but decided to withdraw in
mid-August, saying he did not have enough time to build a campaign
before the preliminary elections. Karg was fired last fall after the
election department’s miscount in a petition regarding the Newton
North site plan.
The other Ward 8 at-large incumbent, Mitch Fischman, will compete
against John Freedman, Myra Tattenbaum and Tom Sheff in that citywide
race.
Greer Tan Swiston is running for a Ward 3 at-large seat, currently
held by incumbents Leslie Burg and Ted Hess-Mahan.
Newton Taxpayers Association President Jeff Seideman is competing for
one of the two Ward 7 at-large seats, currently held by incumbents
Sydra Schniper and Verne Vance.
Voters citywide can have a say in all of the above contests. In
addition, voters in Ward 3 can chose between Anatol Zukerman and
incumbent Anthony Salvucci, and Bill Brandel is competing for the
seat currently held by incumbent Christine Samuelson.
The fall election will also include a citywide rematch from two years
ago over one seat on the School Committee: Geoff Epstein against
incumbent Gail Glick.
School Committee member Anne Larner’s seat will be open this fall
due to term limits. Newcomer Kurt Kusiak is running for that seat
unopposed.
‘Nos’ plague Newton Fire Department July 1 marked the firefighters’
fifth anniversary of working without a new contract. The state’s
Joint Labor Management Committee is ushering the city and union
through the mediation and, if necessary, arbitration process.
One month earlier, union members voiced their frustration over a
number of issues through a resounding no-confidence vote for Chief
Joseph LaCroix, with 121 of 131 local Union 863 members casting their
ballots. The move came after news reached the public of dilapidated
fire stations, insufficient equipment and several firefighter
injuries, including the tragic accident involving Engine 13 that
injured Lt. Richard Geary.
The negative vote did not dent Mayor David Cohen’s support for the
chief, who said he had the "utmost respect and confidence" in the
veteran firefighter.
LaCroix is still on the job, despite the firefighters’ vote.
Setti Warren considers mayoral run More than 2 1/2 years before the
next mayoral election, Newtonville resident Setti Warren said he is
considering a run.
Warren, who is currently Senator John Kerry’s deputy director, has
been talking with several people about a possible campaign, but won’t
make a final decision until after this fall’s municipal election.
"I am really flattered by the encouragement I’ve received from a
number of people about the possibility of running for mayor, and I
am considering it," he told the TAB in late June.
Warren’s foray into politics began early as he served as class
president at Newton North High School and watched his father serve as
the leading adviser to Michael Dukakis’ presidential campaign in 1988.
Warren served in the Clinton White House and was appointed in 2002
to the regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
for New England, before joining Kerry in 2003.
Locally, Warren was a founding member of the Community Preservation
Committee and served on Newton’s Foundation for Racial, Ethnic and
Religious Harmony.
Zoning change may affect Chestnut Hill Square project Several members
of the Board of Aldermen convened over the summer to reassess how
they wanted to see the city develop in light of new behemoth projects,
such as the Chestnut Hill Square complex proposed along Route 9.
The Square, a 240,000-foot project that combines retail space with
226 housing units, could potentially fill the city’s coffers with
$2.8 million-$3 million in property taxes each year.
However, neighbors and city officials are concerned that traffic and
skyscraper-like developments would ruin the Garden City flavor.
To prevent such a scenario, aldermen made suggestions on how to
revise the city’s existing special permit process in dense business
zones. Some of those suggestions include: having the project located
on at least 10 acres, dedicating at least 20 percent of the area to
open space and allowing each project to be a maximum of eight to 14
stories high.
These and many other additions were made to the document, but have
yet to be voted on by members of the Zoning and Planning Committee
and members of the full board.
The committee will hold a public hearing on Sept. 24 for neighbors
and residents to view the changes and voice their opinions.