Village 14 is inviting all candidates for mayor, city council or school committee to submit a single guest column between now and Aug 1.

I want to continue to serve on the Council because many of the issues I’ve been involved with as an Alderman/Councilor since 1987 are coming to decisive points.    I want to bring the knowledge and insights I’ve developed as a Councilor, Environmentalist, Neighborhood Activist,   a graduate of the Newton Public Schools and of  Boston College, , a Master of Urban Affairs recipient from Boston University , and a participant for decades  in the War on Poverty to bear on the reform of Newton’s Zoning Ordinance,  the upgrading of the Needham Street Corridor, and the redevelopment of Northland Development’s property on Needham Street.

I came to the Board of Aldermen to support the values of our villages.     I want to be re-elected as a  Councilor At Large to Protect the Environment, Preserve Our Villages, and Prevent Overdevelopment.  I also want to preserve and commemorate the History of Our City,   and improve our transportation for all our residents.

PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT

As Founding President of the Friends of Hemlock Gorge, I’ve worked to preserve and enhance this beautiful park along the Charles River.   As a member of the Advisory Board of the Newton Conservators,   I’ve worked and will continue to work  to remove invasive plants from our parks  and to acquire new open space and to open up new trails across the city, particularly along our aqueducts.   I helped update the city’s Open Space Plan to make Newton eligible for grants to upgrade sites like the Newton Highlands Playground and to purchase open space like the Webster Woods.  I helped to create the Upper Falls Greenway from an abandoned rail corridor. and will work to link it more closely to Charles River Pathway.

I’ve removed invasive plants from the Quinobequin Road park in partnership with the Waban Neighborhood Council ,the Newton Conservators and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.      I hope to implement for a vibrant section of the Charles River Pathway  along this beautiful streach of the Charles River

I helped begin the Echo Bridge Railings Committee and will continue to work to replace the Bridge’s badly rusted railings by getting this magnificent structure recognized as a National Historic Landmark where residents can enjoy the beauty of Hemlock Gorge and access the Green Line of the MBTA.

I sponsored the city’s participation in the Million Solar Roofs Program of the U.S. Department of Enerrgy and have supported the installation of solar energy on as many city sites as possible.   If re-elected,

 I will work to expand the city’s solar program to even more sites like the Emerson Community Center.

PRESERVE OUR VILLAGES

As a neighborhood activist, I fought against the closings of schools in the heart of villages like Upper Falls, Newton Highlands, and Lower Falls and against the closings of the nearby branch libraries.  I had attended the Emerson School in Upper Falls like my father before me, and I was an active user of the Upper Falls  Branch Library.     As an alderman, I fought for the bookmobile as a stopgap measure and when the closings of the last branch libraries in Auburndale and Waban were proposed, I opposed them.  Based

 on my experience with the previous closings, I sponsored a successfiul Budget Resolution that left the book collections intact in the Auburndale and Waban buildings and gave the leaders of these villages the chance to establish the Auburndale Community Library and the Waban Library Center.  I’m very proud that both of these community libraries have become active community centers.   I hope to help other interested villages to follow their example.

I care deeply about the historic character of our villages.   I sponsored, co-sponsored or otherwise supported the Landmark Ordnance, Demolition Delay Ordinance  and the Auburndale, Newtonville ,  and Chestnut Hill   Historic districts proposed  while I  was Chair of the Zoning and Planning Committee. (The Upper Falls Historic District had been in effect long before I joined the Board of Aldermen.)   I proposed designation of Saint Bernard’s Church in West Newton and the Staples-Croft Farm as City Landmarks.

I I have provided technical assistance  to the residents of  Newton Highlands , Waban,  and West Newton Hill as they work to comply with the standards of state law and  to win approval of historic districts in their villages.

I reached out to the Main Street Center, the affllate of the National Trust for Historic Preservation,   that has revitalized hundreds of historic business districts across the country.

PREVENT OVERDEVELOPMENT

I’ve proposed numerous amendments to the Zoning Ordinance to discourage or prevent the demolition of existing naturally occurrng affordable housing units and their replacement with monster homes out of scale with their surroundings and not affordable by most long-time city residents and workers.

When the city granted permits for construction on illegal lots, I spoke out agains tthem and even fied a Friend of the Court with Alderman Lisle Baker in the State Courts to prevent violations of the Zoning Ordinaance.  We and the Mauri Family, the neghbors of the site of the first violation, were successful.

When the draft of the Pattern Book proposed as part of the Zoning Redesign included boundaries of Upper Falls and Waban that distorted these villages, I protested strongly and repeatedly against these errors.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION

I sponsored the inclusion of the Charleston Principles of Historic Preservation in the General Plan of the City and have worked to implement them as described above and in city wide ways.

I sponsored a Resolution adopted by the City Council to Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the American participation in World War and have worked with the Historic Newton Director, the Library Director, Veterans Director, and other city personnel to sponsor appropriate activities.

I championed the use of Community Preservation Act funds to restore the Civil War Soldier Monument in the Newton Cemetery. and the East , West and South burying Grounds.

As  a member of the Historic Burying Grounds Committee of Historic Newton,   I have taken part in ceremonies and cleanups,  particularly in the East and South Burying Grounds where I have ancestors buried.   An ancestor of mine  buried in the South Burying Ground fought in the battle of Lexington and Concord at the start of the Revolutionary War.

I worked with Barney Frank to have the Jackson Homestead included on the Underground Railroad Network of Freedom.

I was the former Co-Chair  of the Newton Public Buildings Task Force.

Transportation

As a member of the Public Safety and Transportation Committee,  I have worked to make transportation in the city as safe and acessible to all as possible:

I proposed the newly authorized adoption of a lower speed limit on city streets and urged the Department of Conservation and Recreation to make the speed limit on Quinobequin Road uniform and lower.

I worked to have the reconstruction of the Elliot Street Bridge completed as soon as possible and to relieve the impact of the bridge’s closing on Upper Falls businesses..

I blocked a proposed cut in MBTA bus service to Upper Falls and Newton Highlands.

If re-elected, I will support providing maximum access for Lower Falls and Auburndale residents to buses from institutions to the west accessing the Green Line at Riverside and Woodland.

I will continue to urge Northland development to improve MBTA bus service to Needham Street as part of any new development.

I won improved signage for the truck exclusion on Quinobequin Road and will work to improve access to this river frontage.