Emily’s ebullient enthusiasm and energy coupled with her desire to keep Newton affordable instead of urbanizing Newtonville helped her win.
I was surprised that Allan Ciccone lost though.
This election cycle raises more questions than it answers in my opinion.
Sean
on November 6, 2013 at 9:12 am
The simplest way to make Newton affordable is to increase density. Housing prices are high in Newton because housing is scarce. Housing is scarce because the market for housing stock is artificially constrained by zoning. (Whether you are pro- or anti-restrictive zoning, there is no question that zoning operates to constrain the market.) If you loosen zoning, Newton is going to become more dense. Higher density is, almost by definition, urbanization.
Keeping Newton affordable and urbanizing are not in conflict, they are in almost perfect harmony.
Newton Mom
on November 6, 2013 at 10:46 am
Sean,
Is our infrastructure ready for urbanizing? The schools are bursting already (before Riverside and the land behind Mount Ida is developed). The roads are already conjested. Our infrastructure is not ready to handle urbanization in my humble opinion.
In my tiny neighborhood, we had 99% single family homes. Now every time one sells, there is a fifty fifty chance that it is torn down to make a two or three family town home. That is my little neighborhood. I moved in 15 years ago expecting a suburb near Boston, and not to have 3 couples where one couple used to live. Spread this across the city and we are in trouble with fire danger, lack of officers, lack of school space and soon building large scale buildings where there is no public transportation.
Lucia
on November 6, 2013 at 11:21 am
NewtonMom – Increased density seems to be happening whether we want it or not. Riverside, Chestnut Hill, the proposed Wells St. residences, Austin St…… IMHO the issue is managing increased density.
For example – K-8 instead of K-5 schools. Boston is changing to K-8 for social/academic benefits to students. Another benefit is REDUCED traffic – if you have a neighborhood school system. The shorter the distance between student and school, the less the traffic. Even if every parent drove. Estimates are 25% of morning traffic is parents driving kids to school. Right now kids are being driven across town daily either by their parents or in a school bus (Williams to Brown and South).
Another example – new school in Newton Lower Falls. Reduces traffic for the same reasons. And we could think out of the box – not every school needs to be identical. Sought after private and charter schools are in rented space in office parks, renovated Victorian homes (as Liz Cody frequently noted), and on college campuses where students can share college rec facilities.
fignewtonville
on November 6, 2013 at 11:27 am
I agree with Sean. Hard to say you are for “affordable” and be against more supply.
Sean
on November 6, 2013 at 12:00 pm
Newton Mom,
Do you read or watch Game of Thrones? Winter is coming!
There are a whole host of reasons why we can expect increased density/urbanization. As Lucia notes, it’s not a surprise or anything we can stop. The question is what we do about it. For at least ten years, every time a new development is proposed, folks cry: “School capacity! School capacity!” Each time, the development goes through. It’s time to understand that the fact of inadequate school capacity is not a shield against new development. We must do right by our kids and our future neighbors’ kids and increase school capacity to meet the inevitable demand.
Mark Marderosian
on November 6, 2013 at 12:03 pm
Totally veering off-topic:
Re: K – 8
When I lived in another community 23 years ago for one small year, this was THE single and largest reason I moved out and back to Newton. Their school was set up for K – 8 and the result was young children thrown in with older children. This was a large problem as psychologically, the young children weren’t ready for the mind “battering” that the older children subjected them to: Middle school kids are in the grips of adolescence and all that entails. The younger kids were exposed to discussions, behavior and overall, an edgier attitude than they were ready for. Day after day after day.
I joined that local PTO and the SC there couldn’t figure out why the past few years the behavior problems had so dramatically increased in the younger grades.
They determined grouping all in one building was a huge contributor.
But, too late. Separate all you want in the building, they still had to ride the bus together. The building had been built 7 years before and they were stuck with a huge systemic problem.
I saw what my 5th grader and his classmates, especially on the bus and playground, went through and refused to have my middle child, about to enter kindergarten, go through even one year of being ruined like that.
Fast forward 23 years, my youngest is now in high school, so this aspect is no longer my direct issue, but I urge all younger parents out there to seriously consider these aspects. I saw it work first-hand as a disaster.
Joshua Norman
on November 6, 2013 at 2:01 pm
fignewtonville and sean, it’s not Joshua Norman and the Newton Taxpayers Association that has been spouting the mantra of Newton is a built out city. We’re not the ones opposed to new growth.
It wasn’t the Newton Taxpayers Association that demanded building heights be restricted to 2.5 stories (5 stories since ~April) without a special permit.
It’s not the Newton Taxpayers Association that opposes accessory apartment reforms.
It’s not the Newton Taxpayers Association that is demanding increases to the minimum lot sizes.
It’s not the Newton Taxpayers Association that insists on retaining a $2.7M/year CPA Tax Surcharge which takes land out of development.
Newton Mom
on November 6, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Sean,
So my son is at Brown, and they added a half team this year. Fine, the school hired more teachers. Great. However the cafeteria wasn’t increased and its capacity to push kids through the lines has not increased. Longer lines.
We have added modulars but in reality modulars are add ons and one doesn’t necessarily feel included in the school day.
We have added buffer zones and some neighborhoods are attending THREE different elementary schools! We added more busses.
Some schools don’t have modulars and have slowly given up space (The Angier library is now 1/3 library, 1/3 ELL and 1/3 learning center, and the space is not designed for three classes to be meeting there. The volume is loud.)
Have we added fire houses to help with increased buildings?
Have we added public transportation?
Has the library grown? No. We closed the village libraries. We haven’t replaced a rug in the main library in many years. More people using the main library but we don’t maintain our buildings.
Have we added more lanes to widely used roads? Route 9 is about to under go a major change, with lose a lane on 128/95.
We haven’t necessarily made improvements. We just keep adding capacity.
So the new blood on the 2014 Board of Aldermen will come from two smart, savvy women in Wards 1 and 2.
Can’t wait to see what they will accomplish.
Lucia
on November 6, 2013 at 2:46 pm
Mark – This is what hopefully would be avoided by neighborhood schools – ‘Separate all you want in the building, they still had to ride the bus together.’ Neighborhood schools should equal less busing. You may be right about K-8, but it may just have been site specific.
Congratulations to Emily!
Congratulations to Emily!
Emily’s ebullient enthusiasm and energy coupled with her desire to keep Newton affordable instead of urbanizing Newtonville helped her win.
I was surprised that Allan Ciccone lost though.
This election cycle raises more questions than it answers in my opinion.
The simplest way to make Newton affordable is to increase density. Housing prices are high in Newton because housing is scarce. Housing is scarce because the market for housing stock is artificially constrained by zoning. (Whether you are pro- or anti-restrictive zoning, there is no question that zoning operates to constrain the market.) If you loosen zoning, Newton is going to become more dense. Higher density is, almost by definition, urbanization.
Keeping Newton affordable and urbanizing are not in conflict, they are in almost perfect harmony.
Sean,
Is our infrastructure ready for urbanizing? The schools are bursting already (before Riverside and the land behind Mount Ida is developed). The roads are already conjested. Our infrastructure is not ready to handle urbanization in my humble opinion.
In my tiny neighborhood, we had 99% single family homes. Now every time one sells, there is a fifty fifty chance that it is torn down to make a two or three family town home. That is my little neighborhood. I moved in 15 years ago expecting a suburb near Boston, and not to have 3 couples where one couple used to live. Spread this across the city and we are in trouble with fire danger, lack of officers, lack of school space and soon building large scale buildings where there is no public transportation.
NewtonMom – Increased density seems to be happening whether we want it or not. Riverside, Chestnut Hill, the proposed Wells St. residences, Austin St…… IMHO the issue is managing increased density.
For example – K-8 instead of K-5 schools. Boston is changing to K-8 for social/academic benefits to students. Another benefit is REDUCED traffic – if you have a neighborhood school system. The shorter the distance between student and school, the less the traffic. Even if every parent drove. Estimates are 25% of morning traffic is parents driving kids to school. Right now kids are being driven across town daily either by their parents or in a school bus (Williams to Brown and South).
Another example – new school in Newton Lower Falls. Reduces traffic for the same reasons. And we could think out of the box – not every school needs to be identical. Sought after private and charter schools are in rented space in office parks, renovated Victorian homes (as Liz Cody frequently noted), and on college campuses where students can share college rec facilities.
I agree with Sean. Hard to say you are for “affordable” and be against more supply.
Newton Mom,
Do you read or watch Game of Thrones? Winter is coming!
There are a whole host of reasons why we can expect increased density/urbanization. As Lucia notes, it’s not a surprise or anything we can stop. The question is what we do about it. For at least ten years, every time a new development is proposed, folks cry: “School capacity! School capacity!” Each time, the development goes through. It’s time to understand that the fact of inadequate school capacity is not a shield against new development. We must do right by our kids and our future neighbors’ kids and increase school capacity to meet the inevitable demand.
Totally veering off-topic:
Re: K – 8
When I lived in another community 23 years ago for one small year, this was THE single and largest reason I moved out and back to Newton. Their school was set up for K – 8 and the result was young children thrown in with older children. This was a large problem as psychologically, the young children weren’t ready for the mind “battering” that the older children subjected them to: Middle school kids are in the grips of adolescence and all that entails. The younger kids were exposed to discussions, behavior and overall, an edgier attitude than they were ready for. Day after day after day.
I joined that local PTO and the SC there couldn’t figure out why the past few years the behavior problems had so dramatically increased in the younger grades.
They determined grouping all in one building was a huge contributor.
But, too late. Separate all you want in the building, they still had to ride the bus together. The building had been built 7 years before and they were stuck with a huge systemic problem.
I saw what my 5th grader and his classmates, especially on the bus and playground, went through and refused to have my middle child, about to enter kindergarten, go through even one year of being ruined like that.
Fast forward 23 years, my youngest is now in high school, so this aspect is no longer my direct issue, but I urge all younger parents out there to seriously consider these aspects. I saw it work first-hand as a disaster.
fignewtonville and sean, it’s not Joshua Norman and the Newton Taxpayers Association that has been spouting the mantra of Newton is a built out city. We’re not the ones opposed to new growth.
It wasn’t the Newton Taxpayers Association that demanded building heights be restricted to 2.5 stories (5 stories since ~April) without a special permit.
It’s not the Newton Taxpayers Association that opposes accessory apartment reforms.
It’s not the Newton Taxpayers Association that is demanding increases to the minimum lot sizes.
It’s not the Newton Taxpayers Association that insists on retaining a $2.7M/year CPA Tax Surcharge which takes land out of development.
Sean,
So my son is at Brown, and they added a half team this year. Fine, the school hired more teachers. Great. However the cafeteria wasn’t increased and its capacity to push kids through the lines has not increased. Longer lines.
We have added modulars but in reality modulars are add ons and one doesn’t necessarily feel included in the school day.
We have added buffer zones and some neighborhoods are attending THREE different elementary schools! We added more busses.
Some schools don’t have modulars and have slowly given up space (The Angier library is now 1/3 library, 1/3 ELL and 1/3 learning center, and the space is not designed for three classes to be meeting there. The volume is loud.)
Have we added fire houses to help with increased buildings?
Have we added public transportation?
Has the library grown? No. We closed the village libraries. We haven’t replaced a rug in the main library in many years. More people using the main library but we don’t maintain our buildings.
Have we added more lanes to widely used roads? Route 9 is about to under go a major change, with lose a lane on 128/95.
We haven’t necessarily made improvements. We just keep adding capacity.
So the new blood on the 2014 Board of Aldermen will come from two smart, savvy women in Wards 1 and 2.
Can’t wait to see what they will accomplish.
Mark – This is what hopefully would be avoided by neighborhood schools – ‘Separate all you want in the building, they still had to ride the bus together.’ Neighborhood schools should equal less busing. You may be right about K-8, but it may just have been site specific.
Read more: http://village14.com/netwon-ma/2013/11/leary-norton-win-ward-races/#ixzz2jtdquGV7