In an op-ed in today’s TAB, the League of Women Voters of Newton is asking Mayor Setti Warren to “reconsider [his] decision by reinstating the Engine 6 proposal and permitting the process to proceed with an extended period for public comment.”
Here’s one excerpt..
While it is not required, an early community meeting is usually held before any low-income housing project is approved by the Planning and Development Board. A community meeting in May where residents could have expressed concerns and asked questions would have led to changes and improvements in the proposal before the official 30-day public comment period. Without this meeting, many Waban residents felt blindsided by elements of the project. While opposition to the proposal was vocalized loudly and quickly, those in support of the Engine 6 proposal needed more time to adequately prepare their statements.
OK. I’ll go first.
I’m not going to comment on whether I think the Engine 6 project should go through as proposed or not. I don’t know. I didn’t attend the meeting, I haven’t read the proposal. I don’t live in Waban although I know people who do.
I suspect that there is more to this story than is obvious, simply because that is usually the case. But what seems pretty clear is that Mayor Warren – who usually excels at communications — blew it on this one. He may have had the best reasons in the world for putting the emergency brakes on this project but, as mayor, it is his responsibility to tell his constituents what those reasons were. Unless I’ve missed something, he still has not done so. In his explanations in the TAB, he explained why the project needed more vetting, not why it should be halted without further discussion.
Wow Gail, I knew eventually we would agree on an issue:).
Uh oh. Maybe I should rethink this…
:-)
I think the administration’s communications and due diligence process for the project needed improvement (or at least in hindsight).
However, based on what I’ve heard so far about the project, I would not support the engine six proposal.
The good news about it is that it has helped me in forming a position on economic growth for the Newton Taxpayers Association. As Newton is a highly settled, largely residential community that has seen its population peak at 92,384 in 1960, I can see that it will not grow as fast as Hingham, Shrewsbury or other emerging cities and towns in Massachusetts because it is a mature, highly settled market.
I don’t go as far as some people who say Newton is “built-out” and I say this for the following reasons:
It wasn’t the Newton Taxpayers Association that insisted on keeping Newton buildings to 2.5 stories unless you had a special permit for the longest time (5 stories as of 2013)
It’s not the Newton Taxpayers Association that insists on spending federally funded tax dollars on the Engine 6 project
It’s not the Newton Taxpayers Association that pushed for the $2.7M/year Community Preservation Tax Surcharge to take land out of development
Even in a mature city like Newton, there remains opportunities for prudent commercial growth and I expect to see our EDC pursue those opportunities. I liked that Darryl Settles expressed interest in getting Newton to embrace biotechnology firms.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/news/x1576133449/Newtons-Economic-Development-Commission-chairman-wants-more-village-nightlife