Remember this really terrific thread by Chuck Tanowtiz?
Curbed has posted something along the same lines called “101 Small Ways You Can Improve Your City”
What small ideas do you have?
Small ways to improve Newton
by village14 | Feb 27, 2020 | Newton | 23 comments
When you go out for a walk, take a trash bag with you. There’s enough litter on our sidewalks for everyone to fill their bags.
A 311 hackathon and community focus event: (I call it Village Spotlight, but I’m an idiot that no one listens to)
A group of folks walk a village and make a list of every broken item, every sidewalk issue, every possible improvement idea and every crosswalk needed Help. Then the list is divided up into 311 issues, suggested improvements and community projects. The city assigns a representative to make progress on the list and they publish it here. Anyone can come, even Jerry. We do one village each weekend.
Key is city involvement AND civic involvement. Public/private partnerships have extraordinary power to get stuff done.
@newtoner – Shout out to my neighbor Seta. Every day, all year round, goes for her afternoon walk in the neighborhood, always with a bag, and always comes home with it full.
@fignewtonville – Great idea! If you can keep Jerry out, count me in.
@FigNewtonville and @Newtoner I love these ideas. One of my sons has moved to Lynn and every time i visit i bring a bag to collect litter from the sidewalks. Fig – the city would no doubt be overwhelmed with requests so it may take time to respond to everything but this is a great way to inventory the issues. I’ll talk with the Mayor about this one.
My property borders a small “paper street.” A lot of people use it as a way to cut through the neighborhood (some cars too). It’s rough, so not really a great pedestrian space, but it’s a well-used path. I’ve been toying with the idea of putting up a public chalkboard for kids to draw on, as they often come through with their parents (the street often has huge puddles, which kids use as places to throw stones… it’s something that every kid does).
I’m hoping to put up a new fence this year and would like to make it part of the project.
@chuck tanowitz – nice one!
When I go to the link for Chuck Tanowitz’s piece, I get an error message saying I’m not allowed to see drafts. Please fix the link.
Here’s a tiny way to improve Newton… at least for moviegoers. Get rid of the mice at Superlux in Chestnut Hill. The management there should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this problem to go inadequately checked for such a long period of time. I’ve seen mice on multiple occasions. It really makes me wonder about the effectiveness of Newton’s department of Health and Human Services. With a food service establishment right in the theatre building, it seems like our “health” department should be doing a better job with their inspections.
@Meredith – Done
@Jerry – it’s not working for me (and I tried with 2 different browsers), plus it’s taking me to a different URL when I click on it from the V14 home page than when I click on it from the post’s page. It may be hard for you to tell if it’s working because you have posting privileges.
Mike, that made me smile and gag a bit at the same time. Let’s call that a Smgagle. I had an image of you posting about mice and movies like you post about pot. 😉
Susan, I would not expect any sort of instant response if we sent a firehose of 311 stuff. But it would be a helpful list, and the city could prioritize what came first. And if we did it by village, it might save some time for the folks on the front line of repair. But I’d also love to come up with separate ideas for projects for each village (like the alley to art idea for the alleyspace between buildings in Newtonville). Some of the area councils might be willing to participate too. If nothing else a bunch of folks get to walk their home village and brainstorm about things to improve it.
Can V14 give out awards? I’d like to nominate @Mike for Curmudgeon of the Year.
I mean… it would be a very competitive field, but I really think he’s got this one.
Link still not working.
My suggestion to directed toward all Newton motorists: Each time you get behind the wheel of your car, engage in at least one act of random kindness towards other drivers and pedestrians. Someone is stuck trying to make a left hand turn and you are racing up to a red light? Stop and yield the right of way to the other driver. Slow down as you approach pedestrian cross walks and look both ways to see if someone is standing there waiting to cross – or a few steps away and heading to the cross walk. They will appreciate your thoughtfulness. And when someone is kind to you, acknowledge them. Give them positive reinforcement that your act of courtesy was noticed and appreciated. Lastly, leave your anger at home. Don’t get behind the wheel of your car assuming that every mistake others make is intended to harm you. Try as we might to be reasonable, prudent drivers, we all err. Your horn is an instrument to be used to alert others for safety reasons, not as an expression of your anger and frustration.
@Lisap @Meredith – I’m 99.99% sure it should work for you now.
At major events where guests are seated (such as the Mayor’s Community Breakfast and annual Chamber Breakfast, etc.) when an organization buys a table for ten, scatter those ten people at ten different tables, and do the same for others who purchase a block of tickets. That way people end up sitting, meeting, chatting with new people and building new relationships, exchanging ideas, etc. as opposed to sitting with a group of people who they already know.
I loved the idea of making underpasses fun (or at least less ugly). @Jerry, how about a chandelier for the Chestnut St/Rt. 9 underpass?
Or googly eyes?
Or something else fun?
Thanks Jerry! Success. And some really fun ideas in that thread. Food trucks by the Johnny Kelly statue might be kind of fun.
I would like to see sculptures displayed on the grounds at City Hall. I think it was 2 summers ago when there were several art installations that were really fun.
@lisap sculptures! When we started doing the Greenway Arts program we felt there were multiple ways to grow that. One was to expand the program to other parks. Unfortunately we need to find another arts partner and with my job change, I haven’t been able to work on it. I’m looking at my life over the next year and I’m hopeful I can make the Greenway Arts program work again (my wife has a bit of say on this as well). Putting sculptures at city call or maybe in some of the other underappreciated parks in the city may be a way to expand it.
On food trucks… that’s a bigger lift.
@andreae a few years ago Massachusetts ran a program in which artists repainted highway underpasses in bright colors. It was one of the cheapest and best art programs, because they just needed to buy different colors of paint that they already needed to apply anyway. Unfortunately, that has faded (literally). I would love to see something like that revived or localized.
The “Starry Night” display in the Fort Point area of Boston is a good source of inspiration for what could be done for Newton’s underpasses. (See https://thebostondaybook.com/2014/07/01/starry-night-fort-point if you aren’t familiar with it.) I’d like to see something like it at Winchester/Centre under Rt 9 or Glen Ave under the Green Line.
@Jeremy–I think we might want to wait on THAT underpass until MassDOT is done with the work there–scheduled to start THIS summer!
Another example is the underpass along the Charles River Pathway–east of BU. Check it out by bike some day!
Anyone know of someone with 2-D talent (that’s not me) who could execute the design, I would be in to paint by numbers–in fact, that would be a lot of fun!
@Andrea-
I’d join you! My daughter uses an art projector to project an image on canvas to sketch than paint. (In whispering voice… maybe I can distract her and “borrow” it.)
@fignewtonville – Send me an email ([email protected]). We should make some plans about this.
Jerry, I’ll drop you a line shortly.