How would you allocate nearly $20 million in Community Preservation Act funds in Newton over the next 5 years? That’s the topic on the agenda on March 27, from 7:30-9 pm at the Waban Library Center, 1608 Beacon Street. There will be a presentation, discussion and refreshments.
Of course, there’s no reason to wait until the 27th. Share your ideas here on the Village 14 blog.
Reminder: CPA dollars can only be spent on affordable housing, historic resources or open space & recreation land. (Here’s list of past CPA projects in Newton.)
I would expand CPA to allow for rehab of current parks/recreation and rehab a playground in each village. I would also use it to install new “historic” lighting and sidewalks in our village centers.
I’d also use some of it to encourage affordable housing near the village centers.
I would want affordable housing get it’s share. Until we reach 10% of affordable housing we are at the whim of 40B developers. Lets get rid of that threat asap.
I would definitely focus some $ on elementary school playgrounds.
It’s my understanding that individual PTOs need to fundraise for their playgrounds. At Burr, we’ve been fortunate to have tremendously dedicated parent volunteers keep an eagle eye on our aging equipment and make sure that we have invested along the way in maintenance to prolong the lifespan of our structure, but we know we’re going to have to replace it in the upcoming 5-7 years or so. With a pricetag of about $100K, it’s hard to know how we’re going to be able to raise funds for this, along with the fundraising we need to do for *technology*. Then there’s always the funds we need to raise for more “traditional” PTO pursuits such as Creative Arts and Sciences. (If I sound a little shrill, it’s because I just came off of squeaking across the finish line as the co-chair of our annual Gift for Burr campaign and we’re trying to figure out how to get back in the saddle for next fall with these huge expenditures looming on the horizon.)
Anyways, playgrounds are a community-wide resource–think of the non-school aged itty-bitties who use them, the grandkids in the neighborhood, etc. It adds value to a neighborhood in general–sure they’re heavily used by school kids during school hours, but the after-hours use by the community is substantial as well.
With the exception of Newton Centre and a few others, I’ve been consistently disappointed by the state of our playgrounds. Especially the tot lots. It also would be terrific to have a water playground in Newton for the summer months.
For a great community, we’ve got some holes to fill.