Newton City Councilor Deb Crossley and Right Size Newton’s Randy Block were guests on WBUR’s Radio Boston today. Listen to it here:
AUDIO: Listen to the only debate about the Northland referendum here
by Village 14 | Feb 27, 2020 | Newton | 13 comments
Deb Crossley: floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee!
It is very convenient that Right Size Newton claims to support smaller developments and points to Austin Street as an example.
Will RSN stand by that publicly, including their board and activists many of whom fought against Austin Street? Are those who fought Austin Street admitting they were wrong, or is this just another throwaway line to make their case?
@Bryan: Bryan’s point is right on. As an Alderman I was opposed to Austin St for a variety of reasons mostly open space in Newtonville. The Northland project is one that I worked on and supported as part of the super majority of City Councilors. The city cannot afford and should not accept a 22 acre parcel of land sitting and decaying.
Unfortunately, the No campaign has many of the same members, as Rightsize and oppose change of any kind!
Not much of a debate. Repeat points from RSN, based on what I am convinced is fear for change. We saw the same thing for Austin St, and Washington Place. Something will be built on this site, and I believe the two years of work by our City Councilors has negotiated the right set of compromises for the city. Question for RSN…you state it is too big, so would you accept 600 units but exchange underground parking for acres of asphalt? What other compromises would you make. I realize this is all hypothetical as they have gotten to this point in time without taking a stand.
Yet another example of David vs Goliath.
Deb Crossley was given far more time to speak where Randy was cut off at every turn. So too the the caller from Cambridge, who was cut off from her, “be careful what you wish for (on development)” story. I really wanted to hear what she has to say.
Look, I’ve given Greg Reibman a lot of ribbing over the past 2 years about him using Village14 as his megaphone for Northland, but have come to accept that as the creator of that blog, it is her prerogative.
But for a professional journalist on WBUR to blatantly try to control the narrative, is an injustice and further evidence of collusion. This sham of an interview has further strengthened my resolve to vote NO on March 3rd. And if you care about equality, justice and having a voice in Newton politics ever again, please consider voting NO as well.
@Matt: Councilor Crossley came prepared. Randy Block didn’t. He was unable to even explain why Right Size has refused to meet with Northland.
As for Village 14, we’ve repeatedly invited Right Size to submit a guest column and they’ve never taken us up on it.
Perhaps a campaign of spreading false narratives and avoiding conversations will win for Right Size but this cynical strategy has been a disservice to our city and, frankly, Matt to people like you who’ve repeatedly reminded us that we all need to live with each other after March 3.
I thought Deb Crossley did a great job. And I thought the air time between Deb and Randy was fair. I listened to it live while driving to an appointment, so I couldn’t repeat things I might have wanted to hear again, however Randy repeated himself.
As far as the caller from Cambridge, I thought she was going to ask a question. There were callers from Newton Highlands and Waban. The phone lines were LIT up according to the WBUR person.
BTW, this piece followed an amazing piece about Stephen Ross, and I was reminded how lucky we are to have WBUR in Boston. Those were two very different news pieces and both wonderful.
I don’t LOVE NORTHLAND, but I voted for it, because I believe in smart growth, senior living in Newton, money for Countryside, concessions regarding the shuttle bus. Does it have flaws? YES, many. However, I feel like this is the best deal for Newton. I live a mile away, so the construction and traffic will affect me. It isn’t an easy vote. But I thought Deb and Randy on WBUR was amazing, and then the mayor was on the same show.
Much like Donald Trump, @Matt Lai of Right Size Newton decries facts unfavorable to his cause as “fake news. All while Mr. Block repeatedly lies through his teeth in this interview.
It is quite distressing to see the President’s approach filter all the way down to our local politics here in Newton.
@matt I really wish you would drop the victim message. It’s not working and it’s just a bad look because it’s demonstrably false. Try to focus on your core message.
When Right Size started out the message was clear, at least for an early-stage group: reduce the impact of the Northland Development on the surrounding infrastructure. It needed some detail, but it was clear enough. That message should have evolved in a positive way and helped coordinate the concerns of the local community.
Instead, it morphed into a pure opposition group without any real detail behind its message. It also tried to grow to bring in all the other folks in Newton who were opposed to various developments in their neighborhoods (UNITE! in West Newton, LFIA at Riverside). The challenge was that other than the idea of opposition, the groups all seemed to have different goals. On Needham Street, they appeared to want more commercial while on Riverside they wanted less. In a recent EDC meeting, the Right Size Riverside group seemed to distance themselves from Needham Street, saying that Right Size is an umbrella organization but the situations in each neighborhood were different. Yet, there is Randy Block speaking for No, even though he joined the cause from Riverside. From a pure communications perspective, it creates a very messy narrative.
So what do we have? To my eye it’s an obstructionist group that aims to do little more than give voice to people who want to make things smaller… without any real goals as to what they want for the city or the community as a whole. The danger is that by coordinating they managed to amass political weight very quickly and even backed some candidates for city council. I expect we’ll see a Right Size backed candidate for Mayor too.
Councilor Crossley really hit it out of the park. She succinctly, stated the facts and clearly explained the benefits, hard work and long negotiations spent on this project in the few minutes that she had. It was the closest we came to a real debate on the issue. And the yes side was the clear winner.
What Matt said.
There’s no way to post an image on V14 but I went thru the Boston Radio show in question today…multiple times.
Results are posted on both Facebook (Newton Civic Action Forum group) and NextDoor.com.
Short version, “Yes” was given 60% of the air time, “No” only 405.
Not to mention that Mayor Fuller got her own little segment at the end, with opportunity for rebuttal for Right Size or anyone else.
After added review and letting cooler heads prevail, I will stop short of implying this was an evil conspiracy on Tiziana’s or WBUR’s part, but let’s not laud the airtime given as “fair” either.
To learn more about the now approved Northland Newton development, please visit: https://www.northlandnewtondevelopment.com/