This is a guest blog post submitted by Newton resident Richard Rasala, a retired Professor and Associate Dean in the Khoury College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern. Since Fall 2018, he has played a role as a data consultant for the NewCAL Working Group.
In recent blog posts on Village 14 about NewCAL, there have been some questions about what data the Working Group has had access to during its deliberations. I have prepared a guide to some of the most important documents and sites. In particular, the Deep Dive document referenced in the guide is the most extensive exposition of the rationale for NewCAL to date.
Click here for NewCAL and Data: A Guide
Tech Note: The link is to a PDF file which means in some browsers it may not automatically be displayed. Instead it will have been copied to your Downloads folder and you can view it there
https://web.northeastern.edu/rasala/senior/pdf/NewCAL_and_Data.pdf
Thanks for this post, it’s really helpful to dive into this and get informed. I feel that a lot of the posts/commentsonNewCAL are lot of opinion but little on data and other information that would help citizens sort through this hot button issue.
Links in the pdf don’t open for some reason… Posting here to make it easier to access
At this stage of the NewCAL process, massive data has been published on two sites, the NewCAL project
web site and on the data site entitled “Senior Information for Newton MA”. The purpose of this document
is to provide a guide to this data and to highlight items well worth examining in detail. To avoid a bug in
PDF conversion, the URLs may use a smaller font size so they require only a single line.
Here are the links to the two sites.
The NewCAL Project Website
https://newcal.projects.nv5.com/
Senior Information for Newton MA
https://web.northeastern.edu/rasala/senior/
Nelson:
Thanks for the PDF alert.
I have not experienced this problem but perhaps this is because things work fine in Chrome.
For others with this browser issue, I suggest downloading the PDF and trying it directly on your computer with no browser in the middle.
Yours, Richard
How much has the City of Newton paid the contractor, NV5, to date for this massive amount of material and report apparently resulting in and justifying the Mayor’s determination that (1) a NewCAL combination athletic/community/senior (rather than simply senior) center is needed and (2) the two best sites are Albemarle Park or the Newton Centre parking lot?
The bulk of the data posted on the NV5 site was prepared by Building Commissioner Josh Morse or by those working for him. The NV5 role was to post the files on the site. NV5 did not earn money by collecting the data.
I was the lead author of the Deep Dive document but that document was thoroughly checked by people in the city to make it as accurate as possible.
I am entirely responsible for the other site:
https://web.northeastern.edu/rasala/senior/
I did receive help on creating the data summaries for the 9 centers discussed there because the task required examining both center websites and newsletters in painstaking detail. This was very hard work.
Everything else on the site is my work alone.
All of my efforts have been 100% volunteer efforts. I have received no payment from the city nor would I accept such payment if offered.
So why did I do this?
Because I care deeply about the NewCAL project.
I believe that the hybrid model where the NewCAL center is open mostly for seniors on weekdays from 8AM to 5PM and then welcomes the community on evenings and weekends is the right way to maximize the opportunities for seniors during the entire seven day week. This belief is borne out by the operational data spreadsheet on the senior data site. By and large, pure senior centers have few if any evening and weekend hours.
As far as site selection, please ponder the Center Green Space Data.
I and the other seniors who have put in lots of time for NewCAL have done it because NewCAL is as vital for the future of seniors as schools are vital for our children.
Thanks for the info. When you say “Center Green Space”, does that mean NewCAL would encompass the green space in Newton Centre as well, or if not, what does that mean?
The reference to Center Green Space Data is to the following website:
https://web.northeastern.edu/rasala/senior/green_space.html
This is one of the links in the document NewCAL and Data: A Guide. The purpose of the site is stated in the first paragraph.
This site classifies the relationship between a senior/community center and its surrounding green space. The senior/community centers examined here are the 40 centers (aside from Newton MA) that are listed on the senior center data site.
By providing Google maps links, the site shows that it is much more the norm to site a senior center adjacent to a park, a playground, or a woods than otherwise. You may verify this yourself by clicking on the “Location” links and then using satellite maps.
To the specific case of Newton Centre: If the NewCAL facility is sited on the Newton Centre parking lot triangle, it will absolutely not touch the public park land that is immediately west of the parking lot.
From a more philosophical viewpoint, many people in Newton have taken it as an axiom that NewCAL should not touch a single blade of grass in any park. I am very sympathetic to the reasons behind this view. However, I would note that many other nearby communities have taken a different view and decided to place their senior center in a park or on land taken from a woods.
I think it would help to calm the discussion to acknowledge that Newton appears to be making a decision about NewCAL in relation to parks rather than applying a general principle that applies to all communities.
Richard, thank you, and the others that helped, for compiling all of the data, putting all of this info in one place and for posting it on V14. I can certainly tell that it involved a lot of detailed work.
After reading and digesting the facts in both of your links, took a while, I now agree that the most economical and viable way is to build a “hybrid” center – such that the
As for the preferred siting in a park or forested area, a lot of further information on solving the problems facing Albermarle especially would still be necessary to make a decision. Personally, I could be persuaded to support it being at Albermarle because I would love to have all of the problems associated with Albermarle solved – a babbling Cheesecake Brook, a new Gath Pool, several upgraded School and City Playing Fields, additional Parking for the Schools and some great Traffic and Intersection mitigation. (Anything else?)
I have trouble believing the city could afford (or even would if they could), to do all of those things – but if in fact they do all of this, with the reason it all gets accomplished being to site the new center there, I’m all for it.
Thanks further.
You posit that many Newton residents are out of the norm for opposing siting a NewCAL in existing parklands. In that regard, I believe that in your submission of data to the City for its decision-making, you are leaving out the two most important metrics:
1. The massive majority of Newton residents do NOT want, nor want to pay for, expansion of a proposed senior center to a NewCAL combination athletic/community/senior center, as your data suggests is desirable.
2. The massive majority of Newton residents do NOT want a senior center or NewCAL sited in ANY park (irrespective of what other communities may have done).
It would certainly seem appropriate for the data submitted for City deliberation be revised to include these two overriding metrics.
Jim, any facts to back up your statements.
I think the reaction to the building of a new senior center may be partly a reaction to all the other development- especially in Newtonville regarding albemarle. It’s just too much.
And, as I drove past albemarle on a weekday afternoon last week, the place was packed to the gills,
Thanks Richard for contributing so much time and effort to the NewCal effort, we all appreciate it. To keep the discussion from getting sidetracked, it seems like the Newton Center triangle is the main focus right now. The design challenge is figuring out how to make the parking a net positive. There were several really good ideas suggested from the community that I hope inform future deliberations.
I remember some suggesting a decentralized model. My gut feeling at the time was that it was not a good idea as I didn’t think the senior population was large enough to support this and it ends up fracturing the senior community. Plus what’s mentioned here :
“The other challenge with this model is that many seniors are drawn in by
fun programs like Zumba, and while at the central location they become
aware of financial, social, or emotional services offered by the central staff.
In addition, and most importantly, the sense of community that exists within
these facilities are a direct result of having a central location where
personal relationships and bonds are created among seniors as well as
staff. It is this very sense of community that overcomes barriers and helps
combat isolationism. In many respects the central location is Newton’s 14th
village. ”
14th village eh? Shots fired!
@Nelson, I wasn’t talking about the decentralized model. That spirals costs – space, staffing; and reduces the social community benefits. I thought Alicia Bowman had some very good ideas re the parking structure that could be nice looking and functional instead of an eyesore. And there was another woman (missed her name) who had excellent ideas about maximizing parking at the existing municipal lots nearby that could replace some of the triangle parking spaces. Josh the building commissioner had ideas re angled parking along Langley, too. So it seemed to me the most productive of the community meetings I have attended.
A majority of folks support a vibrant center that integrates seniors with the rest of the community.
But let’s just decide NewCAL based on anecdotes, gut feelings, and hot takes.
@Beth, sorry, my comment wasn’t in response to yours, it was just a paragraph that I found interesting from the FAQ.
(this is where the linear commenting on village 14 is a hindrance to discussion)
@Nelson
Clearly a typo 😉
Marti, yes:
https://www.change.org/p/mayor-ruthanne-fuller-save-newton-s-parks