Agree or disagree with him, anyone who has been waiting for Mayor Warren to articulate his vision of Newton’s future as it relates to development, will no doubt read his column in this week’s TAB with great interest.
In addition to affirming his commitment to moving forward on Austin Street, Warren acknowledges his commitment to making data-driven decisions through the Dukakis Center study, zoning reform, senior housing, affordable housing, workforce housing, housing for Newton’s next generation, the innovation economy and master planning.
I’m sure some folks will say he didn’t go far enough. Others will say he’s set us on a collision course to become the next Brookline. And that’s exactly why we have a comments section here. So dive in.
It seems to me that the Mayor’s commentary was designed to diffuse political criticism of his decision to inoculate Newton from 40B through the 1.5% rule. That was the biggest/boldest move he’s made since taking office. For the first time since he’s been mayor, Setti Warren put his own political future at considerable risk to do the right thing for Newton.
He stopped developers from exploiting 40B with giant apartment buildings, and saved our schools from a massive, uncontrolled influx of new students. My opinion of the Mayor has taken a significant uptick, and I consider his decision to fight back against these developers heroic.
Mike, I think you’re giving Setti a little too much credit.
As Mayor of Newton, Setti Warren’s responsibility is to the citizens of Newton, not politically connected developers like Scott Oran and the Engler Family. The City of Newton had a duty and obligation to pursue any and all means at its disposal to stop the pillage and plunder of our community by these projects.
Furthermore it was the efforts of those opposed to the 40B monstrosity on Rowe Street who were responsible for raising the 1.5% as an issue in the first place. Why didn’t the City of Newton bother to raise the issue during David Cohen’s administration, or under Warren’s first term?
@Josh: The city’s answer to your question can be found in today’s Globe story…
I’m curious to know what Newtonians mean when they warn that Newton is in danger of “becoming the next Brookline.” I’ve seen it a few times on this blog.
I have not lived here long enough to understand this. I have relatives in Brookline. Some of my best friends are Brookliners. Doesn’t seem like a bad place to me.
I don’t think this is like when I lived in the SF Bay Area where the warning was “becoming like LA” or Austin, TX where it was “becoming like Houston”. Those were concerns about sprawl, traffic, and loss of open space.
(Sorry for the thread-jack, but surprisingly the original post wasn’t drawing a lot of comments. And I suspect but am not certain that Greg was using the “become the next Brookline” phrase tongue-in-cheek).