Denis Goodwin asked that question on a different thread this week. What do you think? Why? And what are you personally willing to do to make sure it things turn out for the best?
Will Newton be a better place to live in 5-10 years?
by Greg Reibman | Dec 16, 2014 | Newton | 19 comments
NO !
Human interventions on natural geographic environments are imagable recordings of the motives for a peoples choice in selecting their place.and doing their thing. After all the social and political machinations have had their say, we are left with an environmental result. Will all the mc mansions, 40b housing projects, traffic snarls and denuded landscapes make for a better place?
Not in the estimation of this Architect !
Honestly, the answer is written into the question itself. Newton will be as good a place to live or better if and only if the community and its leaders work together to face the challenges and opportunities in front of us, establish a vision for the City, and then work to execute on that vision.
There’s little to be gained in speculating on what we think it will be, only in working towards what we want it to be!
Chris,
” Little to be gained in speculation on what we think it will be “, .. ??
The primary issue in the solution to any problem is first to define what the problem is ! ( I know, old school – MIT -thinking ).
But to chase what we think “we want it to be “, is to put the cart before the horse and will result in more of the same s^%^ we are faced with every day.
@Bill
“The primary issue in the solution to any problem is first to define what the problem is ! ( I know, old school – MIT -thinking )”
See also (my language) “..face the challenges and opportunities in front of us…”
Step 1 – Identify and describe the problem (which involves data analysis and stakeholder input)
Step 2 – Define the desired outcome
Step 3 – Identify gaps
Step 4 – Develop and implement plan to address gaps
Yup – MIT and too many years of being in a Big-4 consultancy.
(only in my case it was a few State universities. I married an MIT’er)
I understand that Denis’ comment was made in response to a very genuine concern about losing our neighborhoods to tear downs and I share that concern. I also agree with Chris’ saying it’s up to us, and Ted’s saying that it all really depends on how the planning/zoning process goes.
But here’s a few things I’m optimistic about 5-10 years from now…
We will have fixed/improved/replaced several of our elementary schools that were in most dire need of attention.
Now that the state has finally unveiled design plans for Needham Street, and is about to begin our portion of the Add A Lane project, we will finally have an improved and revitalized Needham St. and the surrounding area.
Properly done, Newtonville could benefit from a tremendous revitalization, with more customers and foot traffic in our stores and more housing for people who want to live close to transit and a wonderful village center.
Newton Centre could also enjoy a revitalization, in part driven by redevelopment of the former Health Dept. building into something that brings customers and foot traffic to our merchants.
We will live in a city with more bike lanes and again, being optimistic, the Upper Falls Greenway.
New innovative companies will continue to thrive in the old factory buildings along Chapel and Bridge Streets in Nonantum, bringing new jobs here and new customers.
We will work to find a way to meet our 10 percent affordable housing requirement, not just because we want to stop being held hostage to these projects but because we should and can be the type of community that welcomes and embraces residents of all income levels.
And that’s just a start!
I think the answer to this question will depend largely upon how the master planning and zoning reform process that the Mayor recently announced goes. We will need more than just a platoon of folks with Brass Rats to make it work. Complete openness, transparency, community engagement and a collaborative relationship with the Board of Aldermen and neighborhood area councils are essential parts of the success of any process like this, as the Austin Street process shows.
I grew up here and have lived in Newton for about 52 years. The city of villages has held up pretty well over that time, and I’m fairly optimistic about our future. The two biggest changes I have seen are an increase in traffic and a decline in the quality of public school education. I don’t see either of those trends changing in the foreseeable future.
This community has tremendous resources, both financial and intellectual. Consequently we’re in a lot better shape than other Massachusetts cities our size. For those and other reasons I am convinced we are uniquely positioned to have the best public school system in the entire country. So while I don’t dismiss the importance of zoning and Charter reforms on our future, I think we should be more focused on innovative improvements to the education system.
At the top of this thread, Greg asks what we are “personally willing to do” in order to assure a better future for Newton. For my part, I will continue to advocate for our students, because I want them to receive the extraordinarily high quality of education I was afforded here many years ago.
My wife and I moved out of Newton a few months ago, and I can’t think of that many people around my age who are looking at Newton as a viable option. It’s a wonderful town to live in, but I think the question is worded a little wrong – will Newton be an affordable place to live in 5-10 years? Yes, the schools are wonderful, and yes, the streets are safe, but at the end of the day, are the schools good enough to warrant buying a million dollar home? Is the ‘safest city’ in America really that much safer than the second, third, or even tenth ‘safest city’? Newton is offering amazing services, but at a really high cost that seems to only be climbing – my parents still live in Newton, and they’re seriously considering moving because they don’t think they can retire and still afford to live in Newton.
Just my own personal experiences, but I’ve heard them repeated by high school friends and their parents. It’s unnerving to think that with each year the number of people who are financially qualified to live in Newton shrinks more and more.
Doesn’t it depend on how one defines “better”? It’s kind of an ambiguous word.
Mike Striar for Mayor
What Jane said.
Newton was a wonderful place to live 30 years ago, it’s still a wonderful in which to live and i have little doubt it will be true in 10 years also.
Life is all about trade offs. When I first got married in the late 60s I moved here from Watertown. And loved living here. 3 years later when i wanted to buy a home, Newton was beyond my reach. So we bought in Natick .A worse commute for us but we could afford the home. 16 years later, we could afford Newton and have been here since.
I didn’t resent that I couldn’t afford Newton in ’71. It made sense that we hadn’t yet built the equity to buy in at that point.
My story is not unusual; that’s life.
We wanted to live in an attractive city, had to earn our way in, and plan to stay here, unless life intervenes in ways we can’t predict. But if i did have to move, having been a homeowner in Newton has positioned us well.
What Jane said and Amy agreed to. Different people have different definitions of what constitutes “better place to live.”
Jane, Amy and Emily: With all due respect, sounds like a cop out to me. This is a blog thread not a legal brief.
Give us your definition and then let it rip!
How is it a cop-out? It’s just an acknowledgment that there is no one answer. Some people would like Newton to be more like Brookline for example – more density. Others wouldn’t.
What Emily said. It verges on narcissistic to assume that my definition of “better” is better, or even worthy of discussion, than another person’s definition.
We know certainly facts and that’s about it:
It’s a less affordable city. It’s been unaffordable for most middle income people for several decades yet more affordable than a number of nearby comparable communities.
It’s a more linguistically and culturally diverse city.
More empty nesters choose to leave the city once their kids leave the school system than in previous generations.
With an improved economy, developers are seeking opportunities to build, rebuild, etc. residential and commercial properties.
The location is a huge attraction.
When we became unhappy living in Newton 7 years ago due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, we searched throughout the metro-Boston area, NH, and Maine for a new place to settle. Ultimately, we realized that Newton was home for us and we wanted to be and feel at home. The process of searching elsewhere for a place to live helped us clarify what was important to us and what we valued in a community. We’ve never regretted the decision.
I wish there was a “like” button option on V14 for Jane’s last two comments.
Remember when we all rolled our eyes when Clinton said ‘it depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is?