Our Ward 3 threads are spread out, so I guess we should have one last consolidated one. If you live in Ward 3 especially, tell us who you’re voting for. If you don’t live in Ward 3, you can still tell us who you’d like to win, and why.
Regardless of who wins, Fran Azzarto, Barbara Brousal-Glaser, Maria Manning and Jeanne Marrazzo have given us a choice, for which we should thank them. Also, the forums sponsored by the Ward 3 Republican City Committee, Democratic City Committee and LWV/NewTV have covered a lot of issues and complemented each other well. You can listen to the Democratic forum here, and watch the NewTV debate here.
Just heard that Secretary of State Bill Galvin thinks statewide turnout in this election could be under 20 percent. I hope we will do a lot better than that in Ward 3 at least. Whoever we elect will influence what Newton will look like and be like to live in, so remember to ask for that ballot for the Ward 3 race, which is separate from the state election ballot!
I watched all the debates (and big thank you to those who produced those debates and participated in the production). I can’t recall being still so undecided this close to an election. A big part of the reason is that all four of these individuals are very sincere in their desire to serve and all have really strong positions and pluses.
Anyone own a four-sided coin?
@Mark: Try here.
@Mark – I have a Dungeons & Dragons 4-sided die somewhere (thereby revealing yet more of my nerd background)
So Chris, please assign a side to each candidate and tell Mark how to vote. Our democracy depends upon it.
Remember, this one is not a primary — the winner gets a seat for two years. So make us proud Ward 3!
Actually I think it’s a year and a few months Hoss since the next election will be fall 2015 for a term that starts Jan. 2016.
But folks can still make us proud.
Thanks Greg and Chris for the offers to help but I arrived at the solution this afternoon: I visited one of the hidden bowling alleys in Newton and put the name of each candidate on four different pins. I then rolled the bowling ball. One pin was left standing and that’s who I’m voting for. Scientific and highly deliberate.
Well done @Mark. @Greg- I’ll keep the dice out when I find them. Might come in handy next year. I’ll give them to you if I’m conflicted from rolling for any reason.
As Ward 3 residents and business owners (Artitudes in West Newton Square), we support Barbara Brousal-Glaser for Alderman. Barbara has shown great interest and concern for the problems in our West Newton community. She will work tirelessly to resolve issues with safety and parking. We know she’ll help make the square more beautiful and a more welcoming center for our community. Barbara is extremely approachable and will welcome input and feedback from her constituents. For these reasons and many more, we wholeheartedly support Barbara Brousal-Glaser for Ward 3 Alderman.
Valerie Miller and Gregg DiBiaso
Okay, I gave everyone a head start while I went to hold a sign for Barbara Brousal-Glaser at Pierce School, and subjected myself to re-listening to that Arlington TV Governor’s Councilor debate, and now am listening to a fascinating Newton Historical Commission discussion and trying to write at the same time.
I will reiterate my support for Barbara for the reasons I stated on an earlier thread:
I’ve also been impressed by Barbara energy, organization, and thoroughness in researching issues.
I think Jeanne is way more smart than the Tab editorial gave her credit for in their editorial endorsing Maria, but right now I think real estate interests are already well represented on the Board of Alderman.
Similarly, while more financial expertise on the Board would be great, right now, I’m more interested in where the candidate wants to take the city. I was happy to hear Jeanne and Fran say, in the LWV/NewTV debate, that they want to see the former Parks & Rec property at Crescent preserved as open space. Not happy to hear Maria say she’d be willing to have housing there. This is a corner of the city being swamped by development on Auburn Street, very low on percent of open space according to the Comprehensive Plan, and the Comprehensive Plan advises creating more open space in areas of the city that need it, and doing it with land the city already owns. Maria wondered whether the Parks & Rec budget was adequate to maintain it, a concern I’ve heard before, but which I think is shortsighted. Let’s make the budget adequate. More housing units will cost more in services than they provide in taxes anyway, so let’s preserve the open space (and have a north side Community Garden finally).
Also, I was puzzled by this statement by Maria in the Democratic forum, in answering the affordable housing question:
Maria was at Zoning & Planning Thursday night for the moratorium discussion, and some of us were talking to her afterwards, so asked her about that comment. She is not, as I initially feared, under the impression that if we only counted better, we’d be at 10%. But she said Thursday night that she doesn’t think we can get to 10%. I know she’s not the only one, but I find that a little defeatist — I want someone who will light a fire under the Planning Department to get us a Housing Production Plan, or light a fire under our state legislators to change state law so we’re not under threat of one oversized 40B after another forever and ever.
I loved Fran’s passionate digression (in answering the Zervas question at the LWV/NewTV debate) urging people to go visit Oak Hill Park and see what’s happening there. But the issues he cares most about seem to be ones the School Committee can do something about, not the Board of Aldermen. (But good luck winning a School Committee race saying the school budget is too high.)
Jeanne has stated in debates and interviews that she opposes high density developments. Since she is concerned about the city’s budget and reducing spending, she sees the connection between these development proposals and the costs of increased education spending. She also has some creative ideas she mentioned about promoting smaller scale affordable housing options, some of which would involve renovating existing structures, or integrating new ones to be built in a scale similar to the neighborhood. Jeanne’s focus on improving Newton’s financial footing is very valuable to the city, and many in Ward 3.
I’m concerned with Ms. Manning’s Tab interview where she singled out parking availability as Newton’s signature amenity:
– See more at: http://m.newton.wickedlocal.com/article/20140826/News/140827625#sthash.jvAi74oN.dpuf