A TAB editorial today offers thanks for many things today about Newton (including “even Village14 for providing competition and keeping us in game shape”)
What are you thankful for about our community?
by Greg Reibman | Nov 26, 2013 | Newton | 35 comments
A TAB editorial today offers thanks for many things today about Newton (including “even Village14 for providing competition and keeping us in game shape”)
What are you thankful for about our community?
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Men's Crib November 3, 2023 8:51 am
Greg Reibman — Not to take the thread off track, but are you incurring any personal costs for this blog that us FOBs (Friends of Blog) can assist with? Maybe a Paypal donation link? Just a thought…
@Hoss: If that’s your way of saying you are also “even” thankful for Village 14, then it’s not that off track.
Village 14 is, as you know, an all volunteer effort. On occasion some of the bloggers here have toyed with changing the model so perhaps we could pay someone to provide occasional reporting. But for now, we’re set. Thanks for asking.
@Hoss – what a thoughtful offer. Happy Thanksgiving to you.
I am thankful for an incredible group of people, almost all from Newton, who are supporting me and my family with meals and errands and visits and all sorts during a time which would have been very much more difficult otherwise. Thank you all so very much.
I’m thankful for villages, and Village Days, and Halloween store window painting (LOVE it!), and people who have passionate opinions (whether or not I agree with them), and neighborhood stores where they know and care about their customers.
I’m thankful for our elected officials. This January three new people who didn’t have an opponent will be sworn into office. Others will take their oaths of office for a second or third time without ever having faced a single challenger. Clearly, it is not easy to find people who have the time, energy and/or passion to campaign for and then hold office in Newton. Even though I can be critical of decisions that our elected officials make, I’m extremely grateful that they are willing to make those decisions.
Right now I am thankful for POWER! While eating breakfast our POWER went out and I am to make 4 pies and get ready for Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow! Yes, thankful for power. Thankful for my health, my family’s health, my friends,, my family, access to health care, great teachers, great policeman and firefighters. Thankful for many things.
Ok, I’ll play along with the mushy thankful stuff…. I’m grateful for the honesty and professionalism of Newton government. Many that write in this blog seem to be lifelong residents here. Compared to similarly sized municipalities anywhere, the quality and ethics of Newton is far superior.
Gail Spector — The depth of our elected officials is really deep. We just have way too many positions to fill and the result is the appearance of lack of participation (competition).
I’m thankful for the engaged and active citizens of Newton. It seems that nearly everyone in Newton is involved with some sort of voluntary civic activity – everything from PTO’s, to political campaigns, to Newton Serves, to coaching sports, to Friends of …, Boy/Girl Scouts and on and on and on.
@Jerry,
I sometimes think that way too, tip I see how few “engaged and active” citizens actually get around to voting. zSeems inconsistent.
Happy Thanksgiving, all.
I’m thankful to see that candidates who aren’t supported by the NDCC Old Guard Political Machine were able to get elected this year.
Dan Fahey expressed concern about how few engaged and active citizens get around to voting.
Hoss expressed concern about the appearance of the lack of competition and participation in Newton electoral affairs.
In 2003, my predecessors at the Newton Taxpayers Association ran a slate of candidates against the NDCC Old Guard.
Almost from the beginning, the Newton TAB sought to marginalize and demonize these people through the use of horribly biased editorials and “news stories”.
Every two years, there are elections for eight School Committee seats and 24 Alderman seats. 2013 was the first year that I can remember in which reform-oriented candidates who weren’t backed by the NDCC Old Guard were able to win. The only candidates backed by the NDCC Old Guard that won an alderman or school committee seat in a contested election this year was Deb Crossley (which was a given) and Alison Leary. Furthermore, they weren’t able to field a candidate to run to fill the Ward 3 AAL seat held by Greer Tan Swiston though they tried hard to get Gerry C and Robin Clemens on the ballot.
We all know why The Old Guard and its allies fight to maintain its control over Newton’s Board of Alderman and the School Committee. There’s a lot of money involved in the city and school budgets, and it certainly can’t be trusted to people who might ask hard questions.
@Josh: Your memory has never been very good. Geoff Epstein, Steve Siegel, Bill Brandel and Greer Tan Swiston all defeated candidates backed by the so-called “old guard.” Matt Hills was not that group’s first choice either. Neither was a fellow named Setti Warren.
I also have to take exception with this..
Disagree with people if you like but it’s outrageous to even hint that the men and woman who serve on our boards — and their supporters — are personally profiting from electing their chosen candidates/policies.
Joshua – I find it very sad that you don’t seem to be able to post a simple note about what you’re thankful for without slamming people.
Greg, I’ll respond to this post first and your previous post later
http://village14.com/netwon-ma/2013/11/what-are-you-thankful-for-about-newton/#comment-40107
Greg, I find that the majority of the people who are running Newton’s government as well as their supporters seem to be motivated more from arrogance and hubris as opposed to seeking personal profit. They are committed to their philosophy of more taxes, more borrowing and more spending. This group has dominated Newton’s government for the last 20 years and in that time, they have saddled Newton with over $1 Billion in unfunded, interest bearing debt and liabilities.
mgwa, I’m thankful that I’m an independent thinker and a reform-oriented lifelong resident of Newton.
I’m thankful to live in a city that takes care of its natural beauty. We have people devoted to maintaining our trees, caring for plantings in public spaces, small and large, and who volunteer their time as a service to all of us whose thumbs are not green. Thanks to the many people who share their knowledge and expertise to make Newton a beautiful place to live.
Greg, I never understood how Bill Brandel was considered a reformer? Was it because he was the darling of the Newton TAB blogosphere when he was an alderman?
He co-sponsored the 2008 Brangiolo debt exclusion override
He supported Setti Warren for Mayor instead of Bill Heck
He supported Reenie Murphy against Margaret Albright for Ward 2 SC
He opposed the naming rights proposal in 2012, which would have brought in $2.1 Million annually then accused me of advocating opposition to revenue because I led the opposition to the 2013 override.
If I was to evaluate Bill Brandel’s body of work, I can conclude that he’s basically another hypocritical tax-borrow-and-spend left-wing Democrat. And that’s fine by me. But I refuse to buy the argument that he’s some kind of independent reformer. His enthusiastic support for more taxes and refusal to consider alternative revenue sources to fund programs and projects is why I will disagree with anyone who tries to sell him as an independent reformer.
Matt Hills was backed by Brooke Lipsitt, Neil Siverston, Susan Albright and Marc Laredo while Sue Flicop was backed by Gerry C, Susie Heyman, Ellen Gibson and Marcia Tabenken. That’s why I wished that they could have both lost. What litmus test did Ellen Gibson and Marcia Tabenken use to support Sue Flicop over Matt Hills.
Matt Hills had impeccable credentials for that crowd:
He supported the 2002 override
He supported the 2008 override
His support for the 2013 override rivaled that of Setti Warren
He was part of the original Blue Ribbon Commission that pushed for higher salaries for unionized bureaucrats
He was the Treasurer of Newton North Now
He endorsed Andrea Steenstrup over Margaret Albright
He endorsed Ellen Gibson and Ruth Goldman
He was endorsed by Marc Laredo and Brooke Lipsitt
He willingness to excuse the poor building project management by the schools
http://www.newtv.org/video/common-ground/Ted-Hess-Mahan-and-Matt-Hills/
If this is your idea of independent reform, no wonder why Newton has been on a $1 BILLION Borrowing Binge since Teddy Mann died.
While Geoff Epstein was better than Gail Glick, Steve Siegel was better than Sue Rosenbaum and Greer Swiston was better than Leslie Burg, Geoff and Greer are retiring this year and the jury is still out on Steve Siegel in my opinion.
Geoff, Steve and Greer were better than their opponents, unfortunately, they were the exception. The Old Guard backed Greg Schwartz against Charlie Shapiro, Margie Ross Decter against Tom Mountain, Alison Leary against Allan Ciccone Senior, Carlton Merrill against Janet Sterman twice, Ben Weisbuch against Al Cecchinelli, David Kalis against Tom Sheff, Ruthanne Fuller and Sydra Schnipper against Jeff Seideman, Claire against Andrew Gottlieb, Claire against Olivia Mathews, Susan Albright against Harry Sanders and Susan Albright against Allan Ciccone Senior.
If you compare the people that were rooting for Ruth with those supporting Setti, I can see why Bill Heck ran for mayor as a write-in candidate even after losing in the preliminary. Setti had Rob Gifford and Dori Zaleznik while Steve Grossman and Marc Laredo backed Ruth. I can safely conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that this is anything but reform from reformers.
Ha ha! You gotta be one miserable prick to need to turn a feel good intended blog into your own personal bitch fest. Clown.
Kim, why are you giving me grief for responding to Dan, Hoss, mgwa and Greg’s posts?
I think if anything, that shows you are the clown.
Kim- Don’t feed into it. We’ve met on a number of occasions and had really interesting conversations and I’d love to hear what you value about Newton.
Joshua – if the only thing you are grateful for about Newton is yourself, I feel very sorry for yourself.
Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgivikkah.
I’m thankful for many things about Newton, particularly the wonderful community in my little corner of West Newton/Auburndale. I’m grateful for Village 14 (and that other Newton blog) for providing a forum for folks to discuss the issues and events of the city with other folks from all walks of life all across Newton – an opportunity we wouldn’t have IRL. And I appreciate that both blogs allow people to participate using blog handles to protect their privacy.
I’m thankful that in Newton, Massachusetts, United States of America, we have the freedom to share with one another our thoughts, dreams, aspirations, as well as our fears, hurts and disappointments on this and other blogs. Even tinhorns have their say, as annoying as that may be to so many.
I’m thankful that I just learned the meaning of “mononymic”. I’m thankful that, in the grand tradition of Thanksgiving, I can get into meandering conversations and discussions with a big crowd of people who I’ve come to know – some of whom crack me up, some of whom are insightful, some who can drive me crazy, some who don’t talk much but are always interesting, some who just love stirring the pot, some who are fountains of information, and some who are just plain good company
Happy Thanksgiving Village14. I hope you all have a wonderful day with your families and loved ones.
Joanne’s cooking the Thanksgiving dinner downstairs and there won’t be a better spread anywhere in Newton than what she puts out. I think my gratitude also spiked when I read all the comments about where people were when JFK was assassinated. It dawned on me then that almost all of my Newton friends are many, many years younger than me. In several instances, they were born several decades before I was. I’m grateful just to be alive, relatively healthy and living in Newton at my age.
I’ll be the one putting the Thanksgiving dinner together this year (Emily has injured her hand), so I am prospectively thankful that I will not have burned said dinner – or indeed the house.
More seriously, I echo the thanks for being a part of a community that cares as much as it does and is willing to debate critical issues in open forums like this. I am also thankful for the many opportunities to make a difference in the
City, and for all those who raise their hands to take those challenges on.
I could go on and on about the things that make me thankful that I live in Newton. I’ll sum it up by saying that I’m grateful to live in a such a safe, spirited and engaged community filled with passionate and intelligent residents.
I am thankful for Google! I am also thankful for the new IRL friends I have made in this community over the last year (some who I have been introduced to via social media!) and the dear old friends who are tried and true.
For me, the list of things to be thankful for is endless. Debby and our kids, extended family, friends, and community always top the list.
Newton is without question one of the finest places in America. Imagine this: While we love to argue (“strongly debate”) levels of excellence, there are those who struggle for food, shelter, safety…there are those whose homes got washed away by weather, and those who through no fault of their own can only dream of living in a place like Newton. You don’t have to look very far to find them, either.
Thankful? You bet I’m thankful. Even when times are “tough” around here, our tough is nothing compared to most people’s view of tough. Tough doesn’t mean bad traffic or Whole Foods running out of the right type of Cheese to go with the special holiday cracker.
I’m not suggesting we dwell on negatives, I’ m just suggesting we keep in mind how truly fortunate we in Newton are to have so many things for which we can all be thankful.
I think most of us do, which is perhaps why so many participants (and readers) of this blog choose to give back in our own ways.
Gotta run now. I smell turkey and brisket. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone 🙂
(~I am also thankful for all of the village idiots~)
Jane, I always look forward to your posts particularly about education. 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Looking through random mail, I just discovered that Brookline Bank is having a sweepstakes in which you get to enter if you have you “passport” stamped by at least 4 Newton Highlands merchants. I am thankful for them supporting our local stores in such an active way.
I am thankful that the city workers finally picked up the leaves on my local streets. One resident at the dead end of my street was so annoyed by the long wait that he paid a company to blow all the leaves from in front of his house but still on street. Instead of bagging them the workers with their big blowing machines spread them helter, skelter on the adjacent MDC river walkway. So now when I walk down to the Charles River walkway I see piles of leaves 2 feet deep at the bottoms of the trees. When I suggested to the home owner he should not blow the leaves on to state property he started yelling that the city hadn’t cleaned up his street. It isn’t always fun to live in Newton when some people think in ways like this.
I’m just thankful we are not yet Brookline nor Pyongyang.