Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker has some harsh things to say about Newton Mayor Setti Warren’s handling to the Engine 6 project in Waban. Read the whole thing, but here’s two excepts…
Setti Warren, the mayor of Newton, is a diehard defender of deliberative public process, the need to work things through carefully. That’s usually a good thing, but not when it’s used to kill something as important as housing for the homeless, a cause he claims to support.
and this
I’d have slightly more respect for Warren, whom I’ve known and liked for years, if he just admitted that he doesn’t think Engine 6 is worth the political headache it threatens to become. Instead, he has opted to call for more “process” — more meetings, more discussion, more information, more blah blah blah.
This is, of course, a time-honored strategy for killing ideas you don’t like. As Warren is well aware, the developers have entered into a purchase-and-sale agreement that expires on Aug. 12. Several months of discussions could well sink the project.
BTW, anybody who still thinks Setti Warren isn’t really committed to serving a full second term as mayor this should be Exhibit A in his favor. No matter how you feel about the way the mayor handled Engine 6, this decision certainly hurts his stature among Democrats any statewide run right now.
Greg,
That just means he made a bad decision. He is known to do that. It was a bad decision to consider running for the senate 3 years ago, it was a bad decision to change the traffic at Cypress, etc.
Tom, I disagree that the Cypress traffic change was a bad decision. I happen to like the way traffic now flows. Rights of way are more clearly (and logically) defined. That said, the process of communication during the construction phase probably could have been handled better.
@Max– I don’t think you’re going to like it too much after traffic picks up in the fall. In my opinion, the City has made a total mess of Newton Centre.
Folks: How about if we keep the conversation here on the Globe column, Mayor Warren and Engine 6? I will start a new thread on Newton Center.
Greg,
I am surprised to see you “slamming” the Boston Globe’s reporting. This is just the type of inflammatory news that sells advertising, which was condoned at the TAB under your leadership, right?
@Janet: Huh? Where/how did I “slam” it? I did say that Walker had some “harsh things” to say, but I consider that an accurate description, nothing more. I suspect Walker would agree with my description.
Also, as noted in the headline and thread, Adrian Walker is a columnist (and a good one at that). He was expressing his opinion, which is his job, which is different from “reporting” and/or “news.”
A Key sentence in the article “I asked Warren when the next public meeting is scheduled. Nothing is scheduled. Never mind the question of when all these discussions will conclude; he can’t even say when they are going to start.”
Of course Warren has nothing scheduled. I am glad the Boston Globe is keeping the pressure on this issue.
When the reporter from Globe West called me it was clear that the story about Engine 6 was being pitched as a politically expedient decision by the Mayor. I came to that conclusion because she called me several times to ask the same question, i.e., whether I thought the Mayor’s decision was political.
Last night, I was invited to meet with some Waban residents who are among the group of 70 supporters (and growing) who have been organizing support for Engine 6 and writing letters to the Mayor, to the Globe and Newton TAB. A lot of them voted for him in the last election. The Mayor has met with a few of them, and I am told that he is under the misapprehension that the developer of Engine 6 has orchestrated all of this. After meeting with these folks, and with some of the members of the Union Church in Waban who also support this project, I can tell you that is simply not the case. The Mayor has apparently become so insulated and isolated that he simply cannot believe anyone could honestly disagree with his decision. I hope Adrian Walker’s column will disabuse him of that notion.
I am also still sincerely hopeful that the Mayor will reconsider his decision to cut the process short before August 12, which is the date Hospice of the Good Shepherd agreed to close the sale of Engine 6 to Metro West. Otherwise, three very good non-profit organizations will suffer: Hospice of the Good Shepherd, Metro West Collaborative Development, and Pine Street Inn.
Correction: I meant to say I met with the minister of the Union Church of Waban.
Ted- the globe called twice, yet there was no mention of your response. Did they leave it out or did they not get a quote from you? That much restraint would be quite unnatural for you!
Out of curiosity, of the 70 supporters you met with, how many live in Waban, or less than a mile from the site? And in these meetings you’ve had, has there been any discussion on the best use of these CDBG funds or is it taken for granted that the Affordable Housing funds should go towards the Pine street inn project?
@Terry: Alderman Hess-Mahan was referring to this news story in the Globe, not the Walker column.
Sorry, Terry Malloy, I do not converse with fictional characters who refuse to come clean about their role in the events they post about anonymously on blogs. If you doubt it, ask your buddy Charlie Brown.
I’m goofy:).
Ted is going to milk this one issue for all he can, as if that indicates that he’d be a better mayor than Setti. So, I guess I’ll milk the issue of his irresponsibly trying to bring a Gitmo detainee to Newton through a bill he tried to pass for all I can. This, however, does indicate that he’d be a danger to us as a mayor.
THM – have the group of supporters considered fundraising to move this project forward?
My memory indicates that the GITMO incident in Newton was fostered by Alderman Stephen Linsky, not Ted Hess-Mahan. Wasn’t this the case?
Janet.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/news/x1689214151/Newton-aldermen-kill-proposal-to-welcome-Guantanamo-detainee
Note the intense reaction to the proposal.
And, Janet, you want him as your mayor. Wow.
Ted-
Charley Brown? Huh? What the heck? Drink some water and get in an air conditioned room, the heat is eroding your usual good humor. Is this about another thread? I’m quite bewildered by this tact. Don’t want to answer questions? And you’re running for mayor? And alderman? Cancel my yard sign(s)!
@Terry: I believe Charlie Brown is a reference to a name a former one-term alderman (who shall remain nameless but had some resemblance to CB and also had the football yanked away by voters when he got a little too confident) used to comment anonymously on TAB Blog for a while. Obscure? Yep.
Tom Sheff,
let me continue the list of Setti Warren’s “bad decisions” that you started:
1. Supported the Newton North High School design but then said he never did.
2. Promised to develop smart growth but never did.
3. Promised to support the Firefighters Triangle project but then killed it.
4. Promised to run a Newton Centre design competition but never did.
5. Promised transparency in government but made deals with unions behind closed doors.
6. Promised to stay with Newton but ran for Senator and then withdrew.
7. Promised to change the City Charter but never did.
8. Promised to support affordable housing but killed the Station 6 project.
9. Promised to retain Newton’s middle class but increased taxes.
10. Promised to improve traffic but screwed up Cypress Street.
11. Promised to reconstruct Needham Street but only repaved it.
I can expand this list but don’t want to bore you.
Hi Anatol,
Some of these aren’t working for me, so you need to replace them ie #8, I don’t consider engine 6 to be a typical affordable housing project. #7 charter, he really has very little say in this one, #5, Unions…he made a pretty good deal, although I hear he backended a lot of the benefits…still better than the past. #3 I introduced you to him while he said he supported you’re plan, then months later I heard him support the neighbors. #1 was NNHS design competition, was before his time. So to get back to 10 (according to my numbers) you owe us 4 more “bad decisions” that he made. actually, a lot of these aren’t bad decisions, since he has been on both sides on many of these issues.
THM as a bar member is required to follow ABA rules of conduct in all matters including as a candidate in office. So where he says: “I am told that [the Mayor] is under the misapprehension that the developer of Engine 6 has orchestrated all of this”, I take that assertion to be in his good faith judgement to be true. The mayor is pointing fingers about being set up? Why?
All, I disagree with Adrian Walker’s assessment of the Engine 6 situation.
I agree with THM that construction project costs are a concern
And I agree with Tom, Mike Striar and Anatol that the Cypress Street project was a mistake.