Today’s Globe West has very good news for West Newton Square. We’re next on the list for village center beautification. Ah, the virtues of being the worst! (I’ve been told that an assessment of the condition of the village centers judged West Newton to be in the worst shape.)
I was happy to see the article specifically mentions trees, and ours in the square have been in dire shape for a long time. There are empty spaces where trees used to be, notably the now-bare stretch in front of the police station. There are dead trees. Dying trees. Trees that are still trying (a linden with almost no leaves, but next year’s buds are alive). Some still-healthy lindens that would benefit from pruning. Tree grates buried in mulch.
The absence of trees is most notable on the north side of Washington Street, the sunny side where you would most like some shade if, for example, you were sitting on that slightly crumbling, not-too-comfortable looking concrete bench in front of the police station.
I don’t know how extensive the improvements will be, in scope and geographically, but given the state of the sidewalks, I hope it will be possible to do more than just replant the existing, but empty (or soon to be empty) tree wells. Bigger tree wells would help with long-term survival, as would some type of semi-permeable surface in 
between that would get more water to the roots. (The bricks that are now falling apart might have been intended to do that, but for some people they can become a tripping hazard.)
Whenever the last big overhaul happened, the designer for some reason planted large-maturing trees (mainly linden, also some ash) in pairs too close together. Not only would you get more useful shade from better spacing, it’s better for the trees to have more room, both for roots and canopy. Witness what happened in front of the Armory. One linden in a pair went down in one of the storms, leaving the remaining linden suddenly exposed and with not many
branches on one side, and within a year or two it had lost a major limb in another storm and had to be cut down.
As noted in the Globe article, improvements will go beyond the visual, and include traffic light timing and parking, which could probably be its own thread or two! Ever watched traffic coming from Chestnut Street into the square at rush hour trying to make a left turn onto Washington Street at the end of their light?
Who cares about beautification? West Newton Square is hopping – that’s what really counts.
West Newton IS hopping. Retiming the lights so that traffic flows better is long overdue. While replacing the shade trees and fixing the sidewalks would be welcome improvements, I do have some concerns. But I do have a concern about planting new tress.
When the Land Use Committee reviewed Lumiere’s special permit application to expand the restaurant and add seating, one of the things we asked for as mitigation was to replace the missing shade trees on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. At that time, we were told that there were underground utilities in the way. West Newton has also had problems with unfixed leaks from gas lines that have kill off a number of street trees.
It is also worth noting that the City previously used federal funds to build the existing sidewalks in the first place, but the utility companies came in and ripped them up. Public utility companies are not required to replace the brick so we ended up with asphalt patches that are unsightly and uneven. There is no guarantee they won’t do it again.
If capitalism works as the specs say it works, a business investor would gladly pay for tree and brick replacement to enhance the facade area. Why not grease the rails and give them a deep discount on tree and brick maintenance, etc. The system is broke as described.
Ted has a good point about the gas leaks. We probably shouldn’t be planting anywhere without testing first.
I just checked the 2009-2010 Gas Leak Tree Survey. It only lists 3 leaks in West Newton Square affecting trees: 1205 Washington St affecting a 13″ linden, 1220 Washington St affecting 5″ and 4″ ash, and 1279 affecting a 13″ zelkova. I happened to be photographing the ash yesterday for Twitter (photo added to bottom of post above) and thought I smelled gas, so that leak’s still there. And there’s always a gas smell on the traffic island by Sweet Tomatoes despite the recurrent National Grid repair.
But the report is now three years old. There could be new leaks since, and even then it only included leaks affecting trees or where trees had been removed in the three previous years.
If you’re an individual planting on or near your berm, it’s probably more cost effective to just take a chance and plant a tree if it doesn’t cost too much. But for Newton Tree Conservancy where we’re planting 5o at a time in clusters, and asking people to commit to watering for two years, etc., it’s been worthwhile to get all our planting spots checked in 3 or 4 hours.
When the city plants trees, which hasn’t really happened since the Gas Leak Survey was done, National Grid has said they will test for leaks, as part of “working with” the city to keep us from joining the lawsuit. Color me skeptical; it seems a bit like asking students to grade their own term papers, and they have yet to actually do any, but we’ll see. There are city trees due to be planted in Upper Falls this fall from a payment to the Tree Preservation Fund by the Buddhist temple that removed trees. So that will be a chance to see how it works.
Hoss, that’s a big “if.” If businesses are as busy as they can be already, maybe, given the shortage of parking, they may not feel the need. Then there’s the “free rider” problem. If some businesses pay for improvements and others don’t, the ones that don’t could still benefit from a better looking square. If capitalism worked on everything, we wouldn’t need health care & health insurance reform.
This reminds me – a few years ago news broke that stores/restaurants/apartments were going to go up in the vacant lot next to Mango Thai on Elm and Border, but nothing has happened since. Does anyone know anything about that?
Now will they learn the lessons from the Newton Centre fiasco or not?
Kristine, I’d been wondering the same thing myself. See the new post.
Making visual community improvements (or promises of improvements) after a property tax override, betterments being made with your tax dollars that were previously ignored comes off as phony and quite untrustworthy for someone trying to get re-elected as Mayor.
OK-so its 2016 where is the beautification? Still waiting!!! What’s with TOBY’s Garage or should I say Toby’s Junk Yard? (Just as you enter the square!). And what’s with WASHINGTON Street? It’s like riding a horse and buggy to go from West Newton to Newton Corner. So many potholes. Such a disgrace!
See: http://village14.com/newton-ma/2016/06/west-newton-square-enhancement-project-for-2017/
The plans and process here seem to be encouraging. Of course, Tody’s is private property and so is outside of the scope of this project. IMHO about the only way to get Tody’s to relocate would be for a developer to make them an offer for their land.