I stopped by for a couple of the Area Council sponsored City Council debates this afternoon at Newton North. I’ll leave it to others to comment on the content of the debates but my favorite line of the afternoon was when Jim Cote was speaking about housing issues facing Newton.
I’m quoting here from memory:
“Newton is facing serious housing issues. It affects all of us in all kinds of ways.
Between me and my wife we have 10 kids between us. Finding affordable housing to move some of those kids out is a real quality-of-life issue in my house”
Jim Cote us starting to grow on me. 😉
That is a great line. Made me laugh out loud.
Also 10 kids!??
Ten kids. Blended family.
If Jerry doesn’t have the words exactly right, he’s pretty close and he captured the gist. And, yes, the line killed.
I had my own candidate for line of the day. But, you’ll have to read my post.
I’ll stick my neck out here, – hey why not – but, in a world approaching 10 billion people, does anyone else want to crack the taboo of being silent on how many children people choose to have? Or is that the last environmental taboo – the size of your house being the most popular on Village, er I mean City 14?
That a lot of driving to soccer games, unless they all play on the same team. Probably a fairly big house although you could still make do with 2 bedrooms for the kids.
But I’m afraid that we can’t bring up, such a personal choice topic. And society still looks at the couples who choose to remain childless as “selfish”.
What kind of measures would Jim Cote support to bring affordable housing to Newton?
Whatever happened to ZPG? The old ( 1960’s ), environmentalist mantra .
And these folks who choose to ignore same, or are ignorant of it ,( ?,.. including Al Gore ), want to lead us into the future . ???
@Blueprintbill – the US is below ZPG (Zero Population Growth) and has been for a while.
Ask not what our elected officials can do for the City. Ask what the City can do for them!
@Michael: Good question and happy to answer!! All but one are long out of the house and out of the area. What did they do for you? Four of our kids served in the Armed Forces, with two as Iraqi War vets. Three others are married to military members currently serving. Two are Eagle Scouts. My wife chairs a Volunteer Latino Trust that has raised $10M for Children’s Hospital over the past 10 years. We have a long and deep family history of Community Service!! I’d like to think we’ve given equal to, or more than we’ve received.
I’d say Mr Cote and his family have ‘money in the bank’ when it comes to settling up our community ledger.
@Jerry Reilly if the US is below ZPG then the more the merrier? That’s like saying my neighbor has an electric car so I’ll get an SUV.
Every person added to the planet will have a carbon footprint, and the planet doesn’t care where they live. As a matter of fact one could say that 1 additional American living an American / Western lifestyle might have more negative impact than someone living in say rural Africa living a traditional lifestyle. This is a big factor in the “developing” world. The Chinese adopted capitalism and hence raised their standard of living and hence their carbon output.
But we’re getting back at them by giving them 6000 KFCs. And the health problems that go along with it.
Cote for the win! Councilor Cote- thank you to you and your family for all you have done for our country and our community.
ps- if you need a break you and your lovely wife are welcome to crash at my place.
Jerry Reilly,
If the US is below ZPG, what’s the pressure to build all this housing for the growing population problem ?