Newtonville Area Council Logo
On September 27th, during Newtonville Village Day, an election was held to select the members of next Newtonville Neighborhood Area Council. This was a contested race of the 12 candidates, with the top 9 to be sworn into office in January 2016.
The winners are:
- Peter Bruce
- Joyce H. Huber
- Marc D. Kaufman
- Wayne Koch
- Thomas D. Kraus
- Colleen M. Minaker
- Susan Reisler
- Helen K. Sroat
- Timothy D. Stone
Folks may notice at least one regular participant of V14 will be a new member of the Council.
Congratulations to all!
P.S. Elections for the Highlands, Upper Falls and Waban Councils will be held during the municipal election on November 3rd.
For those who find these things interesting (I do) here’s the slate Newton Villages Alliance was promoting for this contest. According to an email sent to subscribers the slate included candidates who either “oppose the Austin Street proposal or have expressed profound concerns about it.”
Peter Bruce
Wayne Koch
Thomas Kraus
Colleen Minaker
Helen Nayer
Susan Reisler
Helene Sroat
Tim Stone*
John Vasilakis
Looks like the NVA did much better with this election than the preliminary.
So in a field of 12, NVA succeeded in matching 7 candidates on their slate of 9. Greg, it is impossible to pick fewer than 6 winning candidates, so I’m not sure this is really such a shocker. Anyone want to do the math?
Haha. @Adam: I suppose I should leave it the victory column declarations to Kathleen Kouril Grieser. And you’re right, the same math that allowed KKG to declare a “triumph” when two non-incumbents moved on following the preliminary, apply here.
However, if NVA’s assessment that their seven winners are Austin Street foes and/or skeptics is correct, then they do have a majority now on the area council.
If NVA’s assessment that 9 of the candidates on their slate were anti-Austin street, a majority was inevitable, with or without NVA. Triumph, indeed!
It’s a NIMBY fest. What else would one expect in Newton?
I think all of the incumbents won. I think a lot of folks (myself included) had thought that there was actually very few people who were interested, and then a group of folks jumped in all at once, all of whom seem to be motivated by Austin Street. I do believe the anti-Austin street folks now have a majority on the board, although considering 9 folks had to win and all the pro-Austin Street folks got re-elected with more votes, perhaps I should declare victory and a mandate. ;-) (that’s a joke folks).
So be it. I will remind those folks that the Area Council is not a one issue organization, and I hope they will put as much energy into something constructive (like Village Day , the Walnut Street redo, and village beautification) as they do in opposing the redevelopment of the parking lot.
Congrats to the winners.
And Greg, can you start a post on the Parks and Recreation meeting from last night on the Cabot School project. It was…unique. Considering the anger and some of the unfortunate statements made by a few of the Parks and Rec folks, I’m guessing a few folks might be encouraged to comment.