What I most love about the Tour de Newton as an event is that it’s a great fun, unifying event for the whole city with widespread participation by both riders and volunteers. Today the ride itself went off with barely a hitch. But in Newton nothing is ever too far from local politics, especially in an election year.
This afternoon, after the event was all over, I heard an earful from all sorts of people on both sides of the Austin Street project. Supporters of the Austin Street project put up different signs up at a number of Tour de Newton stops that said things like “The Friends of Austin Street support projects that provide open space for community activities”. Apparently some of the signs were put up before the village greeters arrived. At the Waban stop, an Austin St supporter showed up with a sign after the village greeters were already on the job. Within minutes a shouting match broke out between Austin St supporters and opponents about whether or not the sign could legally be put on the library lawn (city property). Tempers flared with lots of yelling all around and eventually the supporter withdrew the sign and went off to make phone calls to confirm that it was legal (it turns out it is).
Meanwhile, a number of candidates and office holders helped out today as village greeters. I told all of them that they were welcome to introduce themselves as candidates but otherwise don’t speak about politics or the election, just give the introduction to the village. After the event I also heard a complaint about candidates introducing themselves by name and wearing campaign badges.
Personally, I think there’s nothing wrong with the candidates introducing themselves to the riders so long as they otherwise completely steer clear of any political talk. As the guy who recruits the greeters, I admit to having a vested interest in all the candidates wanting to be Village Greeters. What do you think?
As for the Austin St sign flare-up, my preference would be for the Tour de Newton to not have political signs involved. The event is all about being a unifying citywide fun event that brings neighbors together and learning about and visiting corners of Newton they may never have been to. That being said, whether I like it or not, apparently everyone has a right to hang a political sign on city property – or at least that’s what I’ve been told today. That seems surprising. If true, why doesn’t every piece of city property end up plastered with signs every election?
The placement of the aforementioned signs appear to be in violation of the City of Newton Zoning Ordinances – specifically Section 30-20 Signs and other advertising devices, part (g) Regulation of signs in open space/recreation and public use districts.
@ jerry,
” I admit To having a vested interest in all the candidates wanting to be village greeters. ”
If this is to be a political event I guess I would have to ask just what is you ‘vested interest’ ?
Which of ” all the candidates” are you referring to ? Every single candidate? For alderman ? For CC ?
Or is this just so trivial that we can ignore it?
@blueprintbill – I’ve already said what my vested interest is – recruiting dozens of volunteers to put on a fun event.
“If this is to be a political event” – I said above exactly the opposite – that it shouldn’t be a political event.
“which of all the candidates are you referring to” – um, all the candidates. When it comes to recruiting volunteers, I’m an equal opportunity nudge, no one’s safe from pestering.
“or is this just so trivial that we can ignore it” – Yes!
I feel it is a very fine line to walk with current elected folks and those running helping be the village greeters. I am hoping we can clarify that relationship in the future since, while no outright campaigning happened, I felt a little weird about it…
As a supporter of a mixed use development happening in the Austin Street lot, I was certainly disappointed to learn there were issues with the pro-con folks that caused strife, it does not help either side and we usually end up shouting past each other (I am guilty of that too!).
The ride was still lots of fun this year and despite a drizzly start the turnout was great!
@john-on-central – the issue with the signs is something entirely different. As for the Greeters my experience is that ALL of the candidate/elected folks have been great contributors and in three,years I haven’t heard of one of them overstepping the bounds,we lay out for them. What makes them a particular asset for this event is that as a group, regardless of politics, party affiliation, or their views on any issue, the folks,who run for public office are usually very knowledgeable about the city, personable and willing to volunteer for a four hour stint for an event that they appreciate. Sometimes I think we all tend to discard and dismiss any efforts by “politicians” as suspect. In my experience, even when I completely disagree with their politics, I view nearly every one of them as some of the most engaged, active and committed citizens in the city.
If you think we should keep those folks from participating in non-political events like this, we’ll need to find or cultivate a new large Cadre of very active volunteers. For me as an organizer I see a continuum. Most of the non-elected officials who volunteer for the Tour de Newton (i.e. most of them) are involved in PTOs, neighborhood groups, civic organiztions, churches, etc. What they share with the elected folks and candidates is that they’re very involved citizens – and that’s,a good thing …. especially when you need to find a few dozen volunteers for an entire Sunday morning and early afternoon.
I always enjoy the candidates and politicians serving as greeters, formally or otherwise. It’s a great chance as a citizen to meet these folks in the flesh, and for them to meet a large number of us without moving
I have heard no unsolicited stump speeches. In fact, several dutifully delivered (or assisted) the village history to the groups, thus taking the greeter job seriously over any direct electoral benefit.
I will admit, however, that in Oak Hill I challenged Alderman Lipof on the existence of Thompsonville (of which I still have doubts), and he gave a very convincing defense. But I initiated that conversation, promising to check his version with Jerry’s once we arrived at the Bowen school.
As for the signs, I am not sure what control the event an organizers might have over that, but generally agree that we would rather not have them associated with our event. As per the legality, a skim of 30-20 (http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/44026) probably leaves some loophole that I don’t yet see, but if the Friends of Austin St had secured a permit they probably were within rights. If they hadn’t, I’m not sure – and this is regardless of where I might stand on the issue – or my observation the the “Enemies of Austin St” were caught with their printing press down.
(please note tongue firmly in cheek for about 65% of this comment)
@Jerry. Congratulations on a great race. You did everything exactly right and your comments here are right on target.
Elected officials and candidates should continue to be the official greeters at each stop. I can’t imagine any smart politician trying to talk issues with cyclists or babbling on about their 12 point position paper. The smart candidate will simply smile at the riders, commend them for their stamina and endurance, and hand them a snack or a soft drink. The extremely smart one will also warmly pat or hug the dog of any owner that shows up for the race and make it a point to tell that owner that his/her dog is absolutely the best and most beautiful pooch that has ever walked the streets of Newton.
Jerry, I hope you will continue to ask elected officials, candidates and other community activists to be village greeters and team leaders. Speaking for myself, I considered my role to be as an ambassador for the Tour de Newton and West Newton, where I live, and not as a political candidate. Despite the fact that we are in a race for the same seat, Julia Malakie and I worked together as the West Newton village greeters this year, along with everyone who works at Harris Cyclery in West Newton, to make this a community building event. (I left the photography to Julia, who is a professional.) As I told everyone who came to West Newton, “have fun, be safe, and remember, this is not a race.” That’s the way I think it should be. I hope everyone else who participated in the Tour de Newton yesterday had as good a time as I had.
I enjoyed meeting candidate and incumbent greeters on the ride. What I’d really love would be for candidates/electeds who are able, to lead or just ride with a group. It would be a chance to get to know them better, and experience for themselves the good, the bad & the ugly of biking Newton streets.
I was not able to make the Tour, but have always heard that the greeters from all walks of life have been most helpful and heard from others that once again, it was a great event.
Most importantly, I’m happy for the organizers of the event that the rain held off to make for a great biking day.
An additional thought: could the organizers fundraise or find donors to make available e-bikes, trikes, or pedal cars (rhoadescar.com) to increase participation by people of all abilities?
As usual, Jerry “forgot” to acknowledge the heart and soul of the event – himself!
@Jerry: Municipal elections are an every other year occurrence in Newton so no need rush the decision on any potential policy change. In fact, it will be fun to be greeted by Hillary and The Donald next year then you can decide after that.
I did speak to the Donald this year. He,wouldn’t be a greeter unless we changed the name Waban to Trumpsville. I never heard back from Hillary but I understand she’s been having troubles with her home email server lately.
Did you counter by offering him Thompsonville? Would be an easy change and he might be interested if he heard it came with a conspiracy theory?
LOL! These signs remind me of the campaign against the war in Vietnam in the 1960’s. The Friends of Austin St spent a few shekels on something it appears that no one bothered to do a spell check (much less stay within our city zoning code).
A huge shout-out goes to Tom Gloria too! Tom is on the steering committee of event organizer Bike Newton, has been tireless in his efforts to recruit ride leaders and sweeps, but most importantly Tom has singlehandedly organized (and for the most part, singlehandedly executed ) the route arrow painting on Newton’s streets for all three years that the Tour has existed. This year he painted the route in June but weather caused a postponement of the Tour until yesterday. So last week he painted the entire route again so the markings would be as clear (and safe) as possible.
Maybe the friends of Austin St. could have just worn stickers like the candidates did. I liked having candidates at the stops, easy way to meet them, and found them all friendly, good greeters.
I did find it ironic that at Waban, the person protesting the signs was wearing an ACLU badge with his name on it.
@Lucia
What does the ACLU have to do with real estate development on publicly-owned land?
My understanding of the ACLU is that they were champions of free speech. I put signs in the speech category.