I’m very happy to see that the city is beginning work on renovating (using CPA funds) the Newton Highlands Playground, behind Tedeschi’s on Dedham and Centre Streets. I’ve lived down the street from the park for 25 years and it’s always been disappointing. Fields flood, tennis and basketball courts are unsafe, little kids’ playground has deteriorated steadily. Swings and a slide were removed years ago. The city held a neighborhood meeting about the renovation during the Cohen administration. It’s being funded with CPA dollars.
Crazy Divers: Men be like...
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Ask how the Ward 5 Alderman (when he began working on this), now Ward 5 City Councilor and the Newton Highlands Area Council helped this process along! Another reason to keep both!
Not quite Sallie-
John Rice HAS done a magnificent
job sheparding this process and is
to be commended for his efforts and success. The same CANNOT be said for the NHNAC. When this process began 12-14 years ago, long before John was an alderman, the NHNAC and Ward 5 alderwoman Christine Samuelson, serge ndelkovic & Janice bourque
were prepared to support a site survey done by the city and
initiated by a group of Newton Center
residents – that would designate the Newton Highlands playground the new home of a comprehensive skateboard park. Meeting minutes i still have from the parks & Rex and the NHNAC from that period,
make it clear that a skateboard park would not be acceptable in either cold
Springs park or in the park near manchester st in the highlands.
The Newton center residents lobbying for this park, a group of NIMBYS-
(I think the group was led by center resident Susan Erickson) had already decided they didnt want the skateboard park in their backyard either,
gave up when ward 5 residents on this side of route 9 were infuriated to learn they were not informed of
meetings, nor were their concerns heard or listened to. I personally was incredulous that our own Ward 5 specific alderwoman -Samuelson- was lobbying and advocating on behalf of ward 6 & 8 residents and was basically telling her own ward 5 constituents to screw. I could write a fairly detailed synopsis of the whole process and show how sleazy the whole process and its players were, including the behavior of other aldermen and women throughout the city, but rest assured, neither the NHNAC, nor its members have expended one bit of energy or advocacy on behalf of this project either then or now. To be honest,
unless I am completely wrong, I can’t find any NHNAC members names that have attended any meetings other than their own on behalf of this project either at cpa funding requests or parks and rex meetings. Other than John Rice, Fran Towle, Bob Derubis, Stephanie Pelkowsky, Dave Mandatore, Andy Stern, Debbie Schmill, myself, and perhaps a few others, this project has had few if any interested advocates for years.
@Paul. I’ve only been on the Highlands Area Council for the past 5 years, so I have no recollection of events pertaining to the Highlands Playground when Christine Samuelson was our Ward Alderman. That was then, this is now. This is the first I’ve heard of a skateboard park. Just know that the Newton Highlands Area Council I’ve been a member of was in solid in support of the playground plan and we either wrote letters in support or attended meetings at City Hall to advance the project. I also think we voted unanimously at one meeting to fully endorse the plan. Once elected, I attended at least 3 Community Preservation Committee meetings at City Hall concerned with approving part of the funding for the Newton Highlands Playground. I didn’t say anything because John Rice and other city officials, but particularly the people from streets surrounding the playground and the coaches of baseball and football teams that would use the facility said all that needed to be said.
@Paul Green: I have attended a few NHNAC meetings to share various info that was in common to both councils (WAC) and (NHNAC) and know there were discussions supportive of this project over the last two to three years!