The Engine 6 project and its failure seems to have been a defining moment for Ward 5. If a project nearly identical to Engine 6 came up today — similar site, size, and residents — would you support it? If not, why not? How has your position changed since 2013?
Bill Humphrey
I supported the Engine 6 proposal in 2013, uniquely among the candidates running in this year’s race, and would support a similar proposal today. The proposal was to use the Engine 6 fire station in Waban for a small number of apartments for people who had been formerly homeless getting back on their feet and with an on-site support staffer. The residents would have already met certain support program benchmarks for recovery and so on. The site was right near the Woodland T station, allowing easy access to get into Boston for work. And we know that, despite the fearmongering rhetoric from a few community members, many of our friends and neighbors already in Waban (or Newton as a whole) are recovering from addictions to alcohol or opioids, and they are not in any way different from the people in recovery who would have lived at Engine 6 under the proposal, particularly since they would have already met certain benchmarks in their recovery process before being allowed to live there. The people who were (and remain) leaders of the Engine 6 group supporting the effort are all lined up behind me in this City Council campaign. There remains a great deal of extremely vitriolic misinformation around this project that typically dissipates when I explain the actual proposal to people. Pulling the plug on the process because of a few angry people before it could get to proper hearings was inappropriate.
Kathy Winters
I would not call Engine 6 a defining moment for Ward 5, but it was certainly a divisive time for many Waban residents. Since 2013 I have learned a lot about housing and development, and the city and our region have become even less affordable. Without digging into all of the details and possibilities, if a proposal came up to fund affordable housing for the formerly homeless (or for some other population in need of affordable housing), I would be supportive. As a city councilor I would work hard to promote a successful project, to keep the community informed as early as possible, to foster constructive dialogue, and to address community concerns.
