Masked Marauder

Lots of thoughts pass through my mind as I wend my way this morning on bike through the streets of the Garden City doing errands. As usual, my thoughts wander to things local, national, and even personal. In my life, this stretch of time is filled with contradictions and cross-currents.

We’d been away from home the last few weeks as contractors and technicians removed our air conditioning and oil heating systems and gradually replaced them with mini-splits. When they are done, the gas stove will be the last appliance in the house powered by fossil fuel, and it won’t be around for long. The project, originally scheduled for March, was delayed because of the Coronavirus. 

Though one week of work remains, and I’d rather not inhabit a work zone, we had to return this week for two reasons, one joyous and one sorrowful. First, we became grandparents when my daughter gave birth to a six-pound son. But sad news followed when my father-in-law, slowly declining over the past year, finally passed away at 93. After the burial, my wife will sit shiva (services online only/outdoor visiting/call first) even as we delight in viewing the latest baby pictures texted to us. For now, though, we can’t even cradle the baby in our arms so as not to endanger the child…or us. 

Ours is hardly the only project in the neighborhood. All over town, on almost every block, construction and renovation are proceeding with vigor. Trucks crowd the sides of the road as Capes and Ranches tumble down. Judging by the new foundations, their replacements will be enormous. Clearly, those who move in will be wealthier than those who depart.

Those of us who worry about Newton’s affordability place some hope in the ongoing zoning process. At the recent Waban Area Council meeting we had an interesting discussion of the proposed changes. Zones near public transport will allow for the conversion of single-unit structures to multi-unit buildings. The idea is to create higher density there so that people can commute to work without cars. In theory, increasing housing stock should also lower the cost of living here: more competition, lower prices. Though skeptical of such hopes, I might embrace the high-density movement if indeed more people of modest means could afford to live in our wonderful city. Thus far, however, the evidence suggests the contrary. Sometimes, a one-unit building sold for $900,000 becomes a multi-unit building, each of whose components cost $900,000. Our tax coffers may prosper as a result, but will rezoning make Newton more affordable? I hope that someone in city government is keeping statistics. 

On Wednesday I will return to Newton South to be photographed alongside the seniors on my tennis team and their parents. Newton South has worked hard to compensate the senior athletes for their lost final season with lots of love and praise. I wonder how we will keep our physical distance, and if we will be wearing masks. Study after study reinforces the truth that staying home, keeping social distance when out, and wearing masks around others have accounted almost entirely for the decline in the spread of the virus. The wisest heads are predicting that we will need to continue these practices indefinitely. Will that mean that school sports will prove untenable next academic year? Not coaching this spring left a huge hole in my heart, which has not yet mended. 

These concerns, admittedly, pale in contrast with the issues all Americans are wrestling with. The Black Lives Matter movement, with its particular focus on police violence, is changing the national consciousness day by day, moment by moment. Most of the proposed reforms are long overdue. Part of my spirit marches with the young people on the streets though I can’t be there. At the moment, biking down Woodward Street is providing me some peace in the midst of the turmoil.