Village14 has learned (ok, Greg told us –- first!) that Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce president and Newton resident extraordinaire Greg Reibman is running for mayor of Newton. Here’s an excerpt from his website:
“I have a plan to grow Newton’s economy and make our city more accessible and welcoming, while substantially growing our tax base, reducing gridlock and revitalizing our streets and schools. I look forward to sharing that plan in the months to come.”
I can’t even begin to say how excited I am about this news. Greg is a very strong manager who would make a great mayor. He knows the city from every angle. I have endless confidence in his ability to cut through the bullsh*t and get things done.
Visit Greg’s website here.
great news, does that mean he will no longer remove my comments…
BTW on this sacred day, I am also running for Mayor. Let’s meet for coffee – I’ll bring a tray full of coffee..
Just donated $10K and some rusty old lawn sign stands to Greg’s SuperPAC! Make Newton Greg Again!
He’s got a plan. It’s a great plan. He can only share it with his planners, but he assures you, it’s great. Bigly!
I like his plan that when the charter revisions are rebuked by voters in November, he will gather one at large council member from each ward as his inner circle advisory group. From there this inner circle of 9 will move forward to eliminate those 8 positions thru a bona fide home rule process. What a novel idea, congrats on the plan.
Everyone can agree, newtons commercial tax base needs to grow for a brighter future.
With its location to Boston and educated population, it’s an absolute disgrace that we don’t have more large firms ( tech, bio, finance ) opening offices here.
The retail situation is mess too, so many stores opening and closing funding no success
He stands out from other candidates in that he can speak credibly on business issues
.. on second thought, after long deliberation and careful analytic analysis of time apportionment, I have decided not to run for Mayor. Please remove my comment above.
Funny! Happy April Fools Day.
I wish Greg had the stones to run for mayor. He would probably be a good one.
Former Mayor David B. Cohen will serve as Campaign Chair.
Note to Greg: you may want to remove the double-negative in your announcement:
I’m running for mayor because we need a fresh direction and I ——don’t– believe we —don’t— need another politician running the show at Newton City Hall.
That’s great news Greg. Thanks for stepping up to the plate. Your role as a political outsider from the business end of things means you’ll be bringing something different to the race.
How many cliches can we use ? Game Changer. Won’t you be the talk of the John M Barry Newton Boys and Girls Club Dinner Auction tonight.
April Fool’s? On the “official” website, the link to donate is disabled……………..
April fools day!
Word on the street is Gail is running also
Bumped into Greg last night at Stone L’Oven, the new restaurant in Waban Square, and he let slip this morning’s announcement. He stressed that after more than eight years of Mayoral representation from the North side of the City, the South side should take it back. He noted that Ward 5, the Ward in which he resides, has the most active voting population in the City and is covered by three Neighborhood Area Councils that could work closely with him to bring better blogging to Newton. If a new City Charter produces an all at-large City Council, he, as Mayor would appoint and fund Ward Councilors for each Ward and seek their counsel on issues of local interest. Reibman supports plans for development of Newton Centre Green. He foresees a self-contained, and sustainable 75 story Mega-Village, containing 14 levels of bicycle parking, 8 levels for cars, a roof garden, business incubators, baby incubators in the building’s health services section, residences for Seniors, Millennials, Boomers, Gen X,Y and Z and a kosher supermarket. He indicated that he has been speaking to Trump about developing the site.
Brilliant of Greg to announce on April Fools Day! He got more publicity than if he’d announced on any other day. It’s gonna be a great campaign!
First I want to thank the two people who called me today with offers of support. Words escaped me in both instances.
I also wanted to announce that I will be suspending my campaign tonight just before midnight. It’s been quite the experience but enough is enough. Ralph you can keep the lawn signs and Andrea please don’t think I don’t know what I’m doing. Sallee, uh, okay.
I gotta go return some calls now.
Thanks so much for your 24 of public service today Greg. Now that you’re in no danger of becoming an elected official you can walk across that” Marshall’s Plaza and look after those medical issues you’ve been putting off.
To our mayoral candidates, thanks for taking it all in good fun. At least we didn’t get you fired or ship you off to a foreign country.
Heard you had a sit down with former Mayoral spin doc Jeremy Solomon to discuss media strategy and how to avoid the pitfalls of the Cohen administration.