Thanks to Matt Lai for digging up the links for watching last weekend’s candidate debates.
It’s not too late to watch last weekend’s debates
by Meredith Warshaw | Oct 18, 2021 | Newton | 126 comments
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In the school committee debate between Valerie Pontiff and Kathy Shields, I was extremely disappointed to hear both of them agree that bus fees should continue. Newton talks about equity but charging for transportation to school is truly inequitable.One of the most basic items that a school system should have is to ensure that students have adequate transportation to school. As a city, we have bag ordinances, leaf blower bans, etc. If we are committed to the environment and to reduce traffic congestion, we should be encouraging kids to take the bus when needed. HS students can drive their own cars to school for the same cost that is charge for bus. Hearing this, I don’t think I can vote for either candidate.
Bruce,
Which program would you cut to fund the $ for bus?
Bugek-
I would get rid of the chromebook initiative and I am sure there is plenty of other bloat within the school system. At the very least I would double student parking fees.
The school bus fees are asinine. I live reasonable walking distance to the elementary school but about 1.75 miles from the middle school. Too far to walk and I have a child with a disability making riding a bike on that route dangerous. We are almost .75 miles from the bus stop which is walkable but it is a bit of a hike to walk that way to go in the wrong direction of the school and pay $300 for this annually. If we care about the planet, we should have more frequent school bus stops and at a lower (or nonexistent) rate. Instead we have more cars on the road, parents idling their cars in blue zones, etc.
Levy vs Fitzgibbons, a couple of points:
– Fitzgibbons rightfully points out that Levy does not want to pay our teachers top salaries. Levy uses the term “competitive” which is code for good enough. This view is consistent with several blog posts Levy wrote in the past making the same point. A big concern if you’re worried about attracting the best.
– Fitzgibbons’ lack of urgency around the schools’ inadequate response to COVID was very concerning. Laughable that he attributes his silence during the year on being too busy, and there’s a concern that he’s being dishonest. Fitzgibbons is a political party creature, tied closely to unions, and when our teachers’ unions were appallingly making it hard for our children to go back to school with demands beyond those of any other industry, Fitzgibbons cowered as our kids suffered.
– Fitzgibbons called a decline in NPS enrollment and increase in private school enrollment a “talking point” and “anecdotal”. Stunningly ignorant. The fully NPS-wide data shows an unprecedented decline in NPS enrollment and it is alarming that Fitzgibbons is seemingly unaware. The decline is highly troubling, a condemnation of our school system, and his lack of awareness shows he’s not fit for school committee in this moment.
Overall: concerned about Levy’s long-standing views on teachers compensation, but Fitzgibbons is not a good candidate for SC member post-COVID. Levy is the clear choice.
Has anyone asked Fitzgibbons how he’ll find time to do a thorough job on the School Committee if he’s so busy?
Thanks for posting links to these debates. I watched the two contested SC seats debates. I agree with Alec about Shawn’s response about the decline in NPS enrollment and the perceived decline in educational quality. I was hoping to hear a different response. It’s a huge concern among the parents – pretty much the only thing I hear about. And it needs to be addressed.
I also thought that Valerie did pretty well in her debate and made some points that I very much agreed with. I thought I knew how I am voting in this race, but now I don’t know anymore…
The fact that Shawn said he was “too busy” is not only concerning in terms of him being to actually be able to commit to his role on the SC, but it also shows questionable political instincts. Wrong answer, Shawn!
2 weeks out- Is it too early for predictions?
I have concerns about Valerie but Kathy and Shawn are non starters for me. Shawn was busy with his own kids. Got it. Shawn also thinks leading the Newton Democrats is good preparation for school committee. What happens if he’s busy with his own kids next year when Newton’s kids need him? Sounds like someone else on the school committee and I don’t mean Tamika. Kathy is part of the original problem that got us here. She IS the problem. No thank you. She speaks a great game in a debate but she failed our kids so many times I’m unwilling to give her another chance. Valerie deserves this chance. Paul will be everything Ruth was not: starting with being a valuable and respectful school committee member who represents his constituents. As long as he doesn’t end a school committee meeting high school teens are members of with “I suggest everyone get a beverage of their choice” I think Newton will be getting a huge upgrade.
@Casey – “beverage of their choice” can mean soda or juice or water. That’s what it means for this middle-aged adult.
@Meredith Warshaw most elected officials hold full-time jobs in addition to their elected roles. School Committee members receive about $7000 (just recently increased from $4500)- hard to live on that as your full-time salary in Newton. Our community has decided we want essentially volunteer elected officials. We are truly fortunate that so many residents are willing to give of their time to serve us.
@Susan Albright-
You only mentioned the small stipend.
Could you please detail the other benefit(s) that all councilmen/women receive? Isn’t your health care fully subsidized, not only while you serve but in perpetuity when you leave?
In either the short term or long term,
that’s a huge benefit.
Didn’t Bill Humphrey say that he worked as a City Councilor full time in one of his debates?
…For a family of 4, a decent
health plan is going to cost almost $2,000 a month if you aren’t covered
by a public sector union or corporation. That’s a $24,000 benefit.
on top of the $7000.
@Paul Green have you tried to live in Newton for $31,000 of which $24,000 (according to your calculations) is in benefits? Do you seriously disagree with me that the school committee is basically a volunteer job? I know you don’t care for me very much – but really?
Having observed city government at work, I can assure everyone that the pay school committee members and city councilors receive is hardly commensurate with the effort they put into their positions. I have great respect for all our public servants though I reserve the right to disagree with some of their perspectives. Please challenge their stances but never doubt their idealism.
@Susan Albright-
Let’s get real here.
First of all, no one is forcing anyone
to run or serve on the school committee or city council. It’s a personal choice. Low pay or high pay.
Second of all, there have been many
City politicians who have the time
because of their fortunate financial status. Management consultants, money managers, lawyers…
If my memory serves me, Paul Levy ran either the MWRA, or Massport,
and was CEO of the Deaconess Hospital. $7,000 is unlikely to make any difference to his bottom line.
Health care is expensive, the cost of which is the highest in the country here in Mass. My “calculations” are probably pretty darn accurate because
health care hasn’t been included with my job as it has been with yours.
No, I don’t care for you. You’re a really good advertisement for term limits.
Paul,
The lifetime costs of paid health carev should be put into perspective. Unless its a noticeable ongoing cost to the city, its not something ppl are going to care about.
24 council members * $24000 = 500k per year
Assuming there are 50 living ex councilor members at any one time then the total is $1.5M.
I think it’s a manageable number as its for ppl who volunteered there time
I found Paul’s question to Shawn to be tone deaf and was surprised that he couldn’t come up with a better one. Shawn has been constantly involved in the community on many levels for years and just about all of his involvement relates to work with children and families. To make assumptions about another person’s personal life and to question him in public about what he was doing during a certain period of time was intrusive and inappropriate.
Not to mention, even if that’s all he’s got on Shawn and plans to make a big deal of it, he’d better think long and hard about using it, because he has way more serious stuff in his background related to gender discrimination in the workplace. If he chooses to go that route, he puts himself in a very vulnerable position. He’s much better off staying in his lane and talking about educational issues. I sometimes think he gets bad advice from his peops.
The only new pertinent information from that debate was one piece I’d always assumed. Paul’s answer to the educator’s compensation question provided greater clarity that he doesn’t consider remaining within range of the “comparable” communities important. “Good enough” gets you good enough teachers. If that’s what the community wants, then let it be said and accepted. If Newton wants to attract and retain top candidates, compensation has to stay somewhere within the range of the comparable communities.
I didn’t watch the Kathy/Valerie debate because Valerie’s contributions to Trump sealed the deal for me. Everyone makes his/her own decision about the importance of this information, but for me, it’s simply a deal-breaker.
I watched a lot of the debates and didn’t find out anything much I didn’t already know from most of them. House/zoom parties are a much better way to learn where candidates stand on issues.
I think the original point that Meredith was making is that when our kids were suffering, Shawn said he was too busy to advocate to do anything to help them. Well a lot of other parents were also juggling jobs and kids at home but managed to find the time to reach out to their School Committee members and Mayor and City Councilors to get kids back in school and back with their teachers and back with their friends, and I know this because I got their hundreds of emails literally begging us to act.
You know who *did* make the time to step up for our kids? Paul Levy. He organized over 300 doctors to reach out to the state Board of Ed and as a result they voted to force schools to re-open, as a result of the overwhelming advice from medical experts.
Our kids needed us, in a way that is unprecedented in our lifetimes. And Paul Levy responded. That’s who I want representing me on the Newton School Committee.
It should not be a surprise he led during this difficult time, because Paul is a renowned leader. He led on cleaning up the Boston Harbor as head of the MWRA, and he led Beth Israel as CEO during difficult financial times, saving jobs when so many other “leaders” don’t make that choice:
“Paul Levy, the medical center’s president and chief executive, was looking at the prospect of laying off 600 of the hospital’s 6,400 staff when he had the revolutionary idea of appealing to the best instincts of his employees. In the end, only about 70 people received pink slips, and most of them would have been let go any way, for various reasons, he said. None of those laid off were on the lowest salary rung.”
http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/02/09/what_goes_around/
It’s not a theoretical what we’ll be getting with Paul on our School Committee. Someone who cares about our kids and will act accordingly.
@Susan Albright – I don’t know why you think you need to tell me that, when I was making precisely that point. If he was too busy to advocate, why should we expect that he won’t be too busy to fulfill the responsibilities of being an active School Committee member?
1. I’ve got nothing against Shawn, just think Paul will be a greater contributor to the School Committee.
2. My issues with Shawn has more to do with circumstance. The fact that he’s endorsed by the same group where is wife is a founder (city councilors recuse themselves in votes where there is a potential or perceived conflict of interest) is a problem. The doubling down on the endorsement is a bigger problem. The fact that the group did not endorse Mayor Fuller initially (due to her perceived late disclosure on the gun store) only to do a 180 and endorse her anyway over Amy for the sake of party lines, is the biggest problem. This has been brought up before, but it’s hard to swallow and even harder to forget. It’s everything that’s wrong with Newton politics. And speaking of endorsements…
3. When most of Newton’s affinity organizations endorse the same candidates…for every contested seat…then to have the sitting city councilors all endorse the same candidates in their constituent newsletters…what we have is an unofficial “party”. It was also sad to see some members of this “party”, play the game of tag team debating across two days and many, many hours of debate. Candidates not in the party had to debate twice as hard. Some Wards much worse than others. Councilor Kelley won my admiration for not playing the game; debating with equal measure facts and grace.
4. There appears to be tremendous effort to keep the “party” together in this election cycle. Perhaps it’s because there are big, upcoming issues to address. Zoning reform and a possible override immediately comes to mind. Voting for the “party” essentially guarantees very little discussion on what gets voted on. If majority rules, then a super majority conquers. Government best serves its constituents when checks and balances are in play; where ideas can be debated for the best possible outcomes. And to achieve that balance, my votes will start with Amy Sangiolo, Paul Levy, etc (most of you know the rest) ;-)
PS. Chill out on Councilor Albright. She’s a nice lady, who’s dutifully served this community for a long time. Whether you agree with her or not, she deserves our courtesy if not respect. Happy Hump Day everyone!
I’m bothered by all the attacks I’m hearing on Shawn because he said he was busy with his family. No two families are the same and the balance that each household has in terms of income and support differs greatly. Some households have additional family around to help with children, or their incomes are supplemented through investments, in which case they can back down on their jobs. Others may have two full careers running in which case both parents are trying to balance family obligations with demanding jobs. Maybe their extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) is distant, or the support network is absent entirely.
The only conclusion that I come to in regards to Shawn and Paul when it comes to this comment is that they have different households with different support networks. I would guess that in each, should they win, the balance of time and priorities will shift slightly to allow time to take on this additional role.
@Chuck – Are you equally bothered by the Trumpian level smear campaign that his campaign has leveled against Paul?
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Shawn camp comes out even more attacks on Paul in the two weeks before election day. Perhaps an October surprise similar to what Ruthanne did late in her campaign against Lennon with that fallacious Tab ad. Desperate times, desperate measures.
@Lisa I don’t want to get into a discussion of “whataboutism”. In the case of this particular discussion, we’re talking about a single quote in a single debate. Whether that equates to a history that is documented across several years and some of the area’s most respected reporters (Eileen McNamara) and institutions (Beth Israel, NOW) isn’t really a fair conversation.
@Matt
Well said.
Keep writing
@Chuck
I guess you were happy with that quote. He probably could have said that he was going to Cancun during the pandemic and that wouldn’t have bothered you either.
Calling the allegations and categorizations about Paul’s live 15-25 years ago “history” is a gross distortion of what history really is.
Here is the definition in case you need it “the whole series of past events connected with someone or something.”
By he way I am still undecided but leaning away from Sean after reading the tone of the attacks against Paul. I still think that they are both good candidates
Two comments responding to the comments on Fitzgibbons:
– Silence is different than effort. I’m not bothered by the “taking care of my family” as a reason for a lack of effort. As others have said, we don’t know Shawn’s family situation. But that isn’t an excuse for total silence. There were many efforts among parents to push the school system to do things differently, and not backing any of those is questionable and problematic. To make no known statements about whether the school committee was doing a good job during the spring/summer/fall last year and then running to be a leader for our school system the following year, is not acceptable. Our standards should be higher than that.
– And it’s not just that. Listen to the debate. Shawn does not acknowledge that our school system is in decline, is not aware that we’ve had a disturbing, massive pull-out from our system. We need significant change. Last year was an absolute failure. I do not hear that coming from Shawn. That is disqualifying in my view.
Chuck- Have you seen one of the area’s most respected reporters, Marjorie Arons Barron piece about Levy? Lots has been written about Levy. Be selective.
https://marjoriearonsbarron.com/2021/06/08/paul-levy-is-running-for-newton-school-committee-why/
@Lisa I’m not sure why you think I’m speaking for or against either candidate. I haven’t come out one way or another. I was just pointing to a single line of discussion that I found particularly frustrating (and in another thread, @fig seems to agree). I’m not interested in getting into a back and forth on Paul’s extensive background. That’s an entirely different discussion that has been hashed out in various comment threads
Paul Levy says that he suffered from a “disease” that afflicts “CEOs and other leaders” who are “engaged in doing their jobs, and who know they are doing it well.” Such humility!
I’m not sure what the disease is, exactly – something to do with poor judgment – but the interview in which he describes it is truly cringeworthy. Kudos to Sacha Pfeiffer (ex-Globe Spotlight) for calling BS:
https://www.wbur.org/news/2012/02/17/paul-levy-book
Remember, this was prior to the settlement of the $7 million gender bias lawsuit – the “incident” discussed in the above interview was the one Eileen McNamara described in her Boston Magazine piece:
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2010/11/30/the-getaway/
@Chuck
I agree with you that one quote that was spit out in the middle of a debate shouldn’t necessarily be hung over a candidate’s head, And there is nothing wrong with a candidate saying that I wish we handled things a bit differently but we did the best we could considering the conflicting information that we received.
It’s good to see that you (like myself) are still open minded and haven’t made a final decision yet. To me the bottom line is that these are two good candidates
Sean Fitzgibbons is among the most active politicians in Newton. If he objected to how the school committee handled the pandemic, I am sure he would have done something.
To move on to another debate, my Ward Councilor debate between Julia Malakie and Jim Cote.
Councilor Malakie said in the debate that traffic safety was one of her priorities. She also lists traffic safety as a priority in the campaign mailer I got from her just today.
I know the Councilor is passionate about rebuilding our tree canopy. I share her enthusiasm and both celebrate and support the work of the Newton Tree Conservancy and other groups to green our Garden City. She also has championed historic preservation in the face of commercial development on Washington Street, and has generally been a critic of new development. Those are her passions.
But as someone who believes passionately in the role of safe and vibrant streets for our community, I am very surprised to hear Councilor Malakie express her traffic safety priority during the debate and in the campaign.
West Newton has had chronic speed and cut through problems on both arterial streets and neighborhood roadways for decades. We have a dense residential neighborhood with missing sidewalks on the way to our neighborhood schools. We are divided as a community by Watertown St, Waltham St, and Cherry St. that have almost no crosswalks. Our students use the broken sidewalk on Washington Street to bike to our high school. One student was hit by a car there just last week.
We have real traffic problems. So does the rest of the city. The administration, Public Works, and Planning have started to put effort into prioritizing these safety issues and modestly budgeting to solve them, in no small part due to Councilors who staked political capital on it. Those Councilors need help. They need support, as do the people in the ward who have been complaining for years about cars launching into their front yards or just not being able to cross the street.
Councilor Malakie, is not just a voice on the Council, she is on the Public Safety and Transportation Committee. She has a seat at the table regarding these issues. I’m realistic about what a single Councilor can do, but working together to docket a discussion about hotspots, or addressing traffic calming at a neighborhood level, is an excellent start.
Yet it hasn’t happened during the last almost two years. So is this some new priority? Transportation advocates welcome everyone to the table, but inaction for the last Council session is a lost valuable opportunity. Councilor Malakie has pointed out that she identified cut-through traffic as an issue before she was elected. But being elected gives you the opportunity to act. To my knowledge she hasn’t acted.
Other Councilors have acted. For years, often before they became Councilors. Improvements and planning is starting to happen in their wards, and across the city, because they have raised the issues. In a car-centric Newton, that’s not beyond risk for them. But they did it. Not just complaining. Making hard and sometimes electorally unpopular choices and persisting.
In fairness, every street in the city needs to be a safe and welcoming street for every member of our society. We need equity and the resources to address issues simultaneously at a large scale. But right now, many critical issues get addressed because Councilors make them visible. So that’s where the city’s attention falls.
In contrast to apparent inaction from Councilor Malakie, I’ve had many more discussions about traffic in the ward with Jim Cote even though he wasn’t a current City Councilor. I’m sure Jim Cote and I disagree on a fair amount of stuff in the world, but I can talk with him and he responds. That’s his passion.
It’s frustrating enough for advocates fighting to make it easier for kids to walk to school, families and caregivers to get to the park, or neighbors crossing the street to see each other. If you say you’re going to help, help bring together like minded Councilors, the city staff, advocates, and the community to understand the complex problem of traffic and start the long process to solve it. Let’s work together for something rather than against it.
I get it. Councilors have the special focuses and passions. While we all probably care about safety in an abstract “ma and apple pie” sort of way, traffic safety isn’t going to be the primary calling for everyone.
But if it isn’t your passion, and your focus is elsewhere, at least don’t claim otherwise.
Mike halle,
To be fair to councilor Malakie, half of her term was during the pandemic where Newton was mostly locked down
Its not a fair comparison to normal times
@Bugek I would argue that the pandemic was the PERFECT time for someone concerned about pedestrian safety to take action. Many other communities did just that by experimenting with different traffic patterns and street configurations. The W. Newton rebuilding process was happening during the pandemic, so things didn’t stop in the city, even as traffic slowed.
A voice on city council pushing for changes at the time that each of us was rethinking our transportation needs could have had an outsized influence.
Ward 6 – Vicki Danberg took two $1000 donations from the developers of a special permit about to go before the Landuse committee. Danberg stood by these donations and didn’t see any wrong doing.
I for one believe it is unethical, and she should recuse herself from voting on the special permit.
Bugek, I very much disagree.
Walking and biking in our neighborhoods and most neighborhoods across the country exploded during the pandemic and continues to this day. Contention for sidewalk space was at a premium with social distancing. Because many people, both kids and adults, don’t feel safe biking on streets, they were on sidewalks with everyone else.
The pandemic exacerbated this problem: in one of the safest communities in the United States, kids (and caregivers) don’t feel their neighborhoods are safe enough to bike on the road. Yet we have a neighborhood school system that relies on the ability to students and families to walk and bike to school every day year round.
With streets more empty during the pandemic, motor vehicle speeds went up, driver behavior under increased stresses became even more horrid, and crashes involving pedestrians increased while miles traveled decreased.
This was an opportunity to at least temporarily reallocate space to make walking and biking safer and make other changes to improve safety for everyone. Newton did some, but didn’t distinguish itself compared to its peer communities. Once school restarted in hybrid, we tried to get safer routes to, for example, F. A. Day. What we got was at most minor improvements, to the point that we couldn’t advertise specific accessible routes we felt to be safe to bike or walk.
A sense of powerlessness was a clear part of the early pandemic. That was also the time of the greatest need. It was the time when we needed leaders such as our Councilors to step up, to identify needs, and to address them as best they can. Traffic challenges are often hard, but in this case the pandemic actually offered us opportunities to act more rapidly and boldly than otherwise.
And some other Councilors acted and engaged the city. Others didn’t. But the worst is not acting when you say it’s your priority, and when you have a seat at the table on the Public Safety and Transportation Committee. Those meetings didn’t stop. Councilor Norton helped organize one about Newtonville Ave traffic calming. While progress is still frustratingly slow, at least the issues and the conversation are public.
So, even if we just look forward, what’s the Councilor’s plan for “traffic safety” priorities in the next session? Nothing on her web site. Why raise it as a late breaking priority then? It may be because of the complaints regarding West Newton Square, where the city is still adjusting traffic signals and making other changes. That’s just a tiny part of West Newton’s traffic issues, and even there I haven’t heard Councilor Malakie being an involved participant in a constructive dialog with the city.
Traffic safety isn’t just a campaign issue. It’s about people’s lives, how they raise their families, about their sense of their home, their street, their neighborhood, and their community. Get elected and become part of government to help address those issues. Don’t just use public frustration about those issues to get elected.
Mike,
Your statement below could also apply to mayor Fuller on her leadership on schools during the pandemic ..
Its only fair to apply the same standards to all city councilors and the mayor.
“And some other Councilors acted and engaged the city. Others didn’t. But the worst is not acting when you say it’s your priority, and when you have a seat at the table…”
@Simon – That revelation during the debate was appalling. The question is whether Danberg will do the right thing?
Bugek, this seems like an open election discussion thread, so if you want to talk about the Mayor’s race, go at it. No whataboutism hijacking required.
My comment is about my Ward Councilor, Councilor Malakie, identifying the issue of neighborhood traffic safety when she campaigned last Council election, getting onto the Council and getting a PS&T seat, not acting on the issue when there was both a chronic and an emergent need for it, and now is saying it’s again a priority.
We have a special carveout for Ward Councilors in Newton’s electoral system to provide for local issues and needs. If those Councilors don’t do anything else, that’s what they need to do. This isn’t some tiny gotcha issue for political points. This is real, no one doubts it, and we’ve lost precious time and opportunity (including federal and state grant opportunities) to deal with it.
In contrast, Jim Cote has a history of ward service and being able to work with other Councilors effectively.
Thank you, Mike Halle, for pointing out Councilor Malakie’s inaction regarding the issues specific and unique to our ward. Yes, a ward councilor has a duty to his / her constituents and I do not believe that Malakie has done her job. Jim Cote, on the other hand, has been vocal and involved as he advocates for public safety in and around the square. He keeps us informed in a way that Malakie has never done. Cote has my vote.
@NativeNewtonian – “Cote has my vote” reads like a punchy rhyming campaign slogan … but isn’t
“Cote has my votee” is just plain silly though.
Cute, Jerry! On another note (notee?), I just bought my tickets for the upcoming Nomadic Theatre show at the historic Allen House! And the elections will be over by then. Yay
@Chuck T-
I just got a mailer from “Voters for a Vibrant Newton” and noticed you are on their steering committee.
When is VVN releasing its list of endorsed school committee candidates? The flier only has your council endorsements.
There are 3 former school committee members on your steering committee,
so VVN is going to endorse school committee candidates.
When will that happen?
@Chuck T-
Nevermind. Voters for a Vibrant
Newton appear to be endorsing
Shawn Fitzgibbons.
@Paul, do you even need to ask?
If VVN does not match the EXACT same endorsees as Engine 6, Green Newton, the Gun ladies, Councilor Albright’s and everyone else in the “party”, I would be highly surprised.
C’mon @Chuck…take a page out of The Cars song book and “Shake it Up!”
@Matt Lai-
I was hopeful, but after a look at
Paul Levy’s endorsers and Shawn
Fitzgibbons endorsers, it becomes crystal clear that VVN will be endorsing Fitzgibbons.
Many of Shawn’s endorsers have
been heavily involved in Newton elections for at least a decade.
Many more have been around gumming up the works for 2 decades or more.
There are a handful of Shawn’s supporters who had children who attended Countryside school years ago including two of my neighbors.
These “deeply concerned”, “ it’s about education” frauds have done nothing to improve the school despite the fact that their own kids went there.
It’s about the children. What a croc of you know what..,
Me thinks this group is trying to keep Paul Levy as far away from the school committee as possible, and that’s why I’ll be voting for him.
@Paul, while I’m no student of history, I can’t think of many times if any, where a super majority has done much good for its citizenry. In most cases, it’s the exact opposite.
Government works best when differences in philosophy and thought converge in the middle; that space between desires and consequences. That’s democracy!
As a member of the Blue Empire, VVN endorse all their usual suspects. And I… will be voting the opposite… for a balanced city government.
@Matt-
Many of Shawn’s endorsers havent
had kids in the Newton schools for years, so one might ask why they are so interested in who sits on the school
committee. It’s about power and control, not education. They are not looking out for the best interests of Newton school children. The fewer new people sitting on the school
committee, the less our schools will change, evolve and improve. Take a look back 10,15, even 20 years ago and you will see the same names over and over endorsing, financing and
campaigning for the latest crop of PAC endorsed, slate ready candidates looking to maintain the status quo.
I didnt see the debates, but from what I take at the top of the thread both shawn and Paul agree that the Newton schools are in decline. Thats seriously a breath of fresh air….it hasnt always been that way where both candidates agree that we’ve had a longstanding problem with the schools.
There was talk above about private schools taking our best and brightest, I think that maybe part of the decline along with testing.
I grew up in the southside where NSHS was in the top 10(?) high schools in the country. I believe at the sametime NNHS was in the top 200 (?). This wasnt by accident. We had great teachers (not to say we still dont) that were able top teach the way they wanted and it seems they had more freedom on what to teach.
I think this is a huge issue, has been for decades and I dont feel anyone has addressed the problem adequately.
Matt:
“Gun Ladies?” Really? You don’t like their endorsements and that’s the response?
I’m pretty sure if someone referred to one of your organizations in a similar way, for instance calling Rightsize Newton as Rightwing Newton you’d have a quick response about how disrespectful that was, how horrible Village14 was, etc, etc.
Not the first time you’ve used that term either. I’d ask you to rethink continuing to use it.
@Tom Sheff-
Correct you are. The Newton
school system is not only not among the best in the country, it’s not among the best in the state. Like a tired old athlete past his prime, the Newton schools are living on a long gone reputation and it’s because of politics.
For the record, responding to Paul’s comment above, VVN did not endorse in any school committee races. Only City Council and Mayor.
@Chuck T-
VVN doesn’t need to endorse
any school committee candidates.
It’s pretty clear they/you will all vote for Shawn Fitzgibbons. A peek at the candidate website endorsements should indicate the rest of VVN’s
“endorsed” candidates.
I had no idea you were such an active political guy. You really should run…
we are voting for
Amy – Bc her kids went to public school like mine
Levy – Bc teachers don’t like him
Valerie – Bc she likes Trump
Riffe – Bc we want traditions to continue in the lake
@Ken L-
You’re going to have to up your game.
Zero mention of equity, diversity,
tolerance, or any of the other
essential social justice buzzwords
when endorsing candidates. :)
I hear you Paul. You forgot cancel, power, privilege. However, In my house we don’t use those woke words so therefore they aren’t in our vocabulary. We feel strongly about the candidates we are voting for in Nov. Change is coming.
@Paul and @Ken- You do realize that Sangiolo is probably more progressive than Fuller when it comes to all that you have disparaged. In effect, you will be voting, and therefore supporting, those very views to which you are opposed.
@Bruce – Perhaps you meant to say populist, not progressive. It’s a feature not a defect.
I care where her kids went to school..that tells me enough about her and her family. Wonder why the teachers don’t support her?!?
@Lisa- I am not sure what your point is. I use the term progressive within the context of today’s political vocabulary.
The teachers endorsed only in the two contested school committee races. It’s not as if educators went through the process in the mayoral contest and decided not to endorse. There was no educator discussion about the mayoral race at all.
Hey Jane
So the teachers (with 90% living outside Newton) had a closed door meeting in 2017 to endorse SL for mayor but conveniently didn’t have a closed door meeting in 2021 to endorse anyone?? Seems fishy. Did NTA forget to have the meeting? They clearly didn’t forget to endorse for the SC.
Jeez, Ken. You’re constantly accusing people of some kind of wrongdoing. So glad you’ll be able to get out of a community in three years that makes you so unhappy. I’m sure it will be a relief for you to move away.
Actually, I’ve explained the reasons about five times, but one more time is not a problem. In 2017, the schools were high on the list of voter’s concerns and a major part of the campaign discussion. Fast forward to 2021, and development and affordable housing are the issues of the day. The 75% (not 90%) of NPS employees live elsewhere and aren’t knowledgeable about what’s going on in Newton with respect to these issues.
In addition, at least half of the school committee will be new to the position beginning on January 1st, 2022, so any possible contested races rose in importance early on. As it turns out, three committee members will walk on without a contested race and only two seats are contested. As a result, these two races took on greater importance than in a usual year when the school committee has two or three new members, and most (but not all) races are contested. I have no recollection of an election year that the school committee had three uncontested open seats. Someone with a better memory may recall another similar situation in recent years. I do know that one election in the 90’s had a situation with heavy turnover, and it was not an easy transition.
It was a decision, not an oversight, and this was the reason for the decision.
Jane, I understand that you have whatever preferences you indicate. However, some of the actions that you and your NTA colleagues have taken seem inappropriate. For instance, yesterday you posted a comment on a facebook group meant to facilitate discussion among educators and parents saying “BTW, there are also concerns about the ward 8 candidate who, for all intents and purposes, hasn’t campaigned at all. She’s literally just walking into the school committee room unvetted.”
Setting aside for a moment the utterly ill-suited nature of that remark, the person you are talking about, Cove Davis, is an experienced educator and former school principal, with experience working for several school districts. I would have thought the NTA would welcome having a fellow educator who understands classroom and school challenges on the committee. This is quite a surprising take on someone you reportedly don’t know well. It’s unclear, too, why you singled out Ms. Davis in this manner. Do you also feel that way about Emily Prenner, who also “walked in unvetted” by your standards?
Further, someone pointed out that another teacher posting an endorsement on behalf of Shawn — both on Facebook and also broadly emailed out to his lists — failed to let people know that she is on the NTA’s executive committee.
I glimpsed at Facebook last night for the first time in a while. Jane seems to have taken on the role of Shawn’s campaign manager. I get the NTA is backing him and you may have a personal feeling that he is the right candidate however it seems over the top the level you are going to.
I guess I’m a little baffled by the hostility coming from Jane. I always loved reading her comments and perspective, but I don’t understand the anger right now.
“In 2017, the schools were high on the list of voter’s concerns and a major part of the campaign discussion.”
And they aren’t now?
I noticed how Jane singled out the Ward 8 candidate too. To prejudge somebody that the teachers will need to work with is appaling especially when Jane Frantz is the mouthpiece for the teachers union. This is an example of why many Newton residents don’t trust the teachers union on their endorsements
Interesting that Jane is attacking Cove when Cove is an Educator herself. In Cove’s current role she is an Administrator with a program https://5districts.wpcomstaging.com/vision/ that brings together Educators from 5 Districts to create common curriculum. This idea is that in an area (Chelsea,Everett,etc) where kids often move between districts during the year if the curriculum etc is consistent it provides continuity for those learners so they don’t lose ground in their education when they have to move. The focus of her job is collaboration with other educators. One of her priorities is to provide an excellent education to all students. I have not been a public supporter of Cove’s but find that her background could bring a pretty interesting perspective to discussions. I did attend a Zoom and speak with her one on one, to find out more about her and one thing that is important to me is meeting the needs of all learners. Truly meeting then not lowering the bar or making it appear all is well. Cove made a comment that stuck with me during the zoom which was for equity you need to dig deep, not to just create the optics of making things appear better. To me that is important. The SC should be working with NPS to help them provide the best educational experience for our kids. Right now I feel that means asking tough questions and acknowledging where they are failing.
First of all, all of my posts for the last 12 years represent my personal opinions. I have never, will never, and do not have the right to, post as a representative of the teachers union. Until this election, no one has ever accused me of doing so. I find it curious that the supporters of one particular candidate keep repeating this same message that is simply not true. In fact, it appears to me to be a campaign tactic. Three posts about me being angry?
I am by no means angry about this or any local municipal election. My life is full to overflowing and I’ve never had the bandwidth for anger about local elections. I enjoy the work and the banter, but anger? Nah. It’s real easy to make accusations about people on Village 14, especially about those who post under their real names. Trust me, I’ve been the target of V14 anger for 12 years, so it’s water off a duck’s back.
In truth, I’m a collaborator at heart. My comment about Cove resulted in a phone conversation with her and a plan to get together, and we even talked about planning a tentative event where teachers can meet her and ask her questions. Is that the actions of an angry person, MMCQ? What say you, Lisa?
Newton Highlands Mom – There was one night this week that I was on a Facebook page as the only Newton educator. Since that time, other Newton educators have joined in the conversation, as have parents who are strong teacher/educator supporters. The tone last night changed significantly. In addition, I also plan to have coffee next Wednesday with one of the very angry parents who was part of that discussion and I have no doubt it will go very well. When we meet in person and actually talk, the dynamic changes. MMQC – if you’d like to join me for a coffee, I’d enjoy it.
One last point, I’m also an ardent feminist. I raised my children as a working mother at a time when daycare centers didn’t exist, when telling your boss you were pregnant was a moment fraught with fear so my life experiences lead me to sense explicit and implicit gender bias. Calling a woman who expresses strong opinions angry remains all too common. I’ll tell you this from listening to my younger female colleagues, you may want to get used to it. They are a new generation of women who’ve been raised to speak their minds. I say good for them. Go for it!
Majorie/Margie Ross Decter, who may
be a very fine person,
has already served on the school committee. Now she gets another bite at the apple for the next four(eight?) years? What is it that you people are not getting? She’s running unopposed, for a second term, endorsed by the same exact cast of long term status quo
characters as last time. No sacrificial lambs ran against her to at least make her debate and try to hold her accountable?
Time to wake up people. What is going to change that didn’t change last time she held office? There are only 8 school committee members.(and the mayor).
If you keep electing the same people over and over you get the schools you deserve. The median price of a house in Newton is a million dollars.
Your children deserve better schools!!!!! That won’t happen unless and until you have new blood running them.
I’m troubled that there are a half-dozen people on this site, mostly Trump supporters like the Dennis & Callahan guy, who seem to have become cheerleaders for Paul Levy. I purchased Paul’s book, “How a Blog Held Off the Most Powerful Union in America,” yet there was no guidance pertaining to this team-oriented approach. Will it be included in an update?
I would also appreciate some additional content on how I can claim that my repeatedly poor judgment was due to a “disease that afflicts CEOs and leaders who do their job well, and who know that they do their jobs well.” The book had precious little mention of how to conjure such excuses.
https://www.amazon.com/Blog-Held-Powerful-Union-America/dp/1482730774
Strike that. We have a race.
Two good candidates. Competition.
It’s good for the body politic.
Can’t wait
“In 2017, the schools were high on the list of voter’s concerns and a major part of the campaign discussion.”
And they aren’t now?
I was just getting reading to quote the post above and MMQT beat me to it…funny how Jane attempts to defend the NTA with the housing issue…we have a mayor who sent all her kids to NPS yet NTA can’t back her…right on.
NTA should focus on why student Enrollment in NPS is way down, why MCAS scores have plummeted, and why highly skilled and gifted teachers are leaving over differences with the admin agendas. And We know NTA wants more housing so NTA has more teachers.
I agree that the NTA can’t be trusted Bc the leadership has lead them down a one way street.
Michael,
Unless you recently moved from Needham to Newton, Paul owes you no explanations. I thought you had found a blog in Needham but unfortunately that’s not the case. I am a Levy supporter, not because I am a Trump supporter, but because I actually live in Newton, have a kid in Newton schools, watched all of the school committee meetings for the past 2 years, and believe Paul would be a great addition. That’s my opinion as a Newton Public School parent.
Sincerely,
The guy you called a child abuser for letting his son play football
P.S. Newton South is 3-3 this year and plays Boston Latin tonight – you should come out and watch the child abuse in person
Although I would not call Jane angry I would certainly call her cranky. She, like most of us, sees Newton though her own lens and set of experiences. Although she has been a teacher for a very long time, she has her own point of view and although I do not often agree with her, I have to respect her for sharing them with so many people on these platforms. I feel that Newton would be very lucky to have Paul Levy on the School Committee. Not only has he been a NPS parent for a long time, he has been a tireless volunteer for our youth soccer programs and fierce advocate for those programs and our playing fields. I have reached out to both Paul and Shawn. Paul listened to my questions and gave me honest and constructive answers. Shawn was “pleasant” enough but was mildly dismissive, patronizing and did not even attempt to answer my questions. I hope the School Committee can grow into a body that questions things, and our school leaders to help move the schools forward. By the way, I am a proud union member of 2 unions, including a teacher’s union.
@Paul – Margie’s is a pretty smart cookie. I won’t put words in her mouth but I suspect she tested the waters for a couple of weeks and figured out that this was going to be a change election and decided not to run.
Patrick,
I paid good money for Paul Levy’s e-book about how to bust unions using blogs, but the tactics that he’s now employing don’t even remotely correspond to that content, even though I only bought my copy last year.
So yes, Paul does owe me something, i.e. either:
a) a refund, or
b) an explanation as to whether these new Republican team-oriented union-busting strategies will be included in an update, or some sort of online bonus content, or not. If he’s not going to support his published work then he should withdraw it from the marketplace.
Also it’s not as if Paul is the only man in this world to have multi-million dollar settlements in gender bias lawsuits casting a pall over his union-busting efforts. I admit that I am a red-blooded American male distracted by my professional success, and I suffer from the same CEO/leader disease that Paul said he had. Therefore it is my sincere opinion that Paul has a moral responsibility to provide me with some guidance, nay treatment, though his self-published self-help books.
Anyway good luck at the football game, I guess. Are parents in 2021 really so unconcerned about chronic traumatic encephalopathy in their children? The data has been in the public domain for over 15 years at this point, but whatever.
Jess – Cranky is the same as angry. This is post #4 about my nasty demeanor from a Levy supporter – a man who has a history of having trouble dealing with strong women. No one in 12 years of posting on local social media has ever described me as angry or cranky until the past two weeks. Just thought I’d point that out.
Jane- I’m neutral in the race. but I would say that your comments are often nasty. I think many of your comments have pushed people to the other side. Civility works better
Well – I’m going to say it – maybe hell has frozen over here today, but I really do think that referring to Jane as “cranky” or “angry” crosses a line. And the reason I say hell has frozen over is because for as long as I have posted here – which is since the inception of V14, Jane and I have crossed swords and disagreed vigorously with each other. She has strong opinions and so do I. And I’ll admit I’ve offended her in the past and vice versa, though I hope those instances have been infrequent. She stands by her views and so do I. That doesn’t make either one of us cranky, angry or any other dismissive term applied to women. It makes us strong advocates of our views which require no personal characterizations.
Jane, I’m not even a Levy supporter. I’m still undecided. This race is just beyond ugly.
Thank you, Lisa. What you say is true.
Jackson Joe – That’s comment #5. As I noted, no one has ever made this type of comment about me in 12 years of posting on local social media. As a matter of fact, I’m usually noted for very calm posts amidst a storm. At the same time, several men on Village 14 have consistently been very nasty to me. Ken is one of those people. Over 12, no one has ever come to my defense until Lisa’s post. Not ever. not once.
Five comments in one day after 12 years of crickets? Sorry, JJ, it just beginning to sound fishy to me.
Jane – If I find out that Paul is a Trump supporter, that’ll be a deal breaker for me no matter how cranky you might get.
There’s ugliness in this particular School Committee race, but it now seems to me to be as much about sometimes long-running interpersonal fights between and from supporters, amplified by pandemic-related issues and general frustration with the SC.
I think in general both Paul and Shawn are forward looking and politically savvy enough (on a good way) not to want to burn bridges with parents, teachers, or the NTA.
It may be about that time for all supporters to realize that strident or event remotely personal arguments aren’t going to get more votes for your candidate and will likely drive people away. At the same time, you’re leaving scars that impact your candidate’s future effectiveness, even beyond this race.
You will, however, burnish V14’s rep and your own though, so don’t let me stop you of you are determined.
I don’t know which is more unfortunate: that the greatest commonality in Newton might be that the School Committee couldn’t step up when we needed it to, or that we cling to the hope that the outcome of this one race will radically change that.
Thanks @Matt & @Meredith and well done to the candidates and the Area Council debate organizers & moderators.
Did anyone who watched the Ward 6 debate see the segment where the moderator asked about planning for the impact of increased Housing Density on NPS schools and enrollment.
Councilor Noel answered that, “The question in and of itself is a violation of the Fair Housing Act. We don’t build housing with a mind’s eye to how many children are coming and what the impact will be on schools.”
(Link to full answer – https://youtu.be/UGHlGwiOggI?t=8884 )
I expect that the FHA protects people seeking housing from being asked about their household makeup (e.g. number of school age kids) and that information from being used to determine access to housing.
However, Councilor Noel’s answer raised several questions for me about school impacts related to increased housing density being discussed in a general policy making sense…
– Does anyone know what FHA statutory provision she is referring to when she states that “[t]he question in and of itself is a violation of the Fair Housing Act”?
– Why isn’t that restriction a clear conflict with First Amendment free speech protections?
– Does the FHA restriction Councilor Noel cited infringe on the MA State Constitution education clause which requires an adequate education be offered to all public school children in the Commonwealth? How will citizens and their local elected officials ensure this obligation is met, if we can’t talk about data relating to current and projected school enrollments?
– Does Councilor Noel realize the City Planning Department shares fiscal impact analyses when special permits like Riverside and Northland are before the City Council? Typically, one of the biggest cost drivers in those analyses is the cost associated with additional children that NPS forecasts from the project?
– Is councilor Noel saying that she won’t review or discuss these impact analyses publicly because doing so is a FHA violation?
Yes elections do matter.
I have a very odd and conflicted relationship to local elections.
On the one hand, I always get very engaged . I love following the ins and the outs, the moves and the countermoves. I love predicting the outcomes though I’m terrible at it. I enjoy it as a spectator sport.
On a more substantive level I do care about various issues and of course hope ‘my’ candidates win in hopes that my issues get better looked after.
That said, every election, just about this time, I begin to really grow wary of the entire enterprise. Part of nearly every election is where the opposing sides ramp each other up to a feverish pitch. Both sides slowly turn their opponent into the enemy and convince themselves that if their opponent gets elected it will be the end of life as we know it.
Reality is far more reassuring. We have a 24 member City Council. Even in the worst case, no matter who gets elected to any seat, the world won’t end. Even more importantly and more significantly, nearly every candidate who runs for office in this town is competent, thoughtful and highly motivated. Even candidates that I disagree with on substantive issues will no doubt do just fine if elected and not destroy my entire universe.
So here’s to hoping we can all take a collective breath and spend the next two weeks talking about the issues, and what our different views are rather than stoking up the flame throwers.
Come election night, stop by Dunn Gaherins. We can watch the results come in together. If your candidate loses I’ll be happy to buy you a drink and I hope you’d do the same for me if my candidates falter. See you there …. and now breathe.
@Rich Heald-
I’m going to assume that Brenda Noel
misspoke or expressed herself unclearly. How could someone serving the city not have a very deep interest in how development will impact the enrollment in the schools of her
constituents(parents/school children). I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt for the time being.
I’m also going to assume she
misspoke when she called the Newton police an “armed militia”.
Thanks @Rich. It’s been a busy week but appreciate the reminder about Noel.
I had a similar reaction when she pulled out the FHA card, so I looked it up.
https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_act_overview
Overall the Act prohibits any practices that could possibly impede someone from obtaining housing. Simply asking if Newton’s infrastructure can support a debatably disproportionate amount of added density, is many levels removed from blocking someone’s right to fair housing. No discrimination was intended by the question from candidate Barry Bergman and moderator Matt Yospin.
Correction: “Trained militia”
is how Ms. Noel referred to the
Newton Police.
Thanks Matt. I just listened to that exchange. Brenda appeared rather strident. I would love to see Barry Bergman on City Council.
OK, I’m going to say it, you’re all cranky and angry, except Jerry. Jane is no more cranky or angry as anyone else. What is there, 11 days to go for election day?? I think we can hold on.
Sorry to be late for this discussion, but Jane is neither angry, nor cranky. She’s been consistently speaking up about school issues for at least 15 years. I often don’t agree with her, and occasionally she has made me upset, but she never posts to anger or troll.
I find it fascinating that the online sites all seem incredibly focused on the school committee election, specifically the one between Shawn and Paul. There is much less conversation about the mayor’s race, and almost no conversation about individual counsel races. I think that will impact the ability of the challengers in almost every race to knock off the incumbents. There is only so much oxygen in the room, and the Shawn/Paul discussion is consuming much of it.
Less that 11 days to the election…
Jane, I am sorry if you feel attacked-that was not my intention and I do see angry and cranky as being different. Must be my NPS education! I have seen your posts on social media for a very long time. I hope that our Newton citizens will take this election seriously and actually learn about the candidates and vote. As I have said many times, we are lucky to have many terrific people willing to run for public office in Newton. I care deeply about public education and the NPS in particular. I am an educator and I have volunteered for many, many years in the NPS before our children were students as well as during and after they graduated.
Speaking of debates… after a tough Sox loss and a disappointing Celtics performance last night, decided to cheer myself up by…watching the Boston Mayoral debate. ;-)
With the overwhelming support for density by Mayor Fuller and her friends on the City Council, how would they receive the people from Mass and Cass if they decided to migrate to Newtonville? Between the shiny new buildings of Trio and Austin Street, a renovated village center and easy access via transit, is it a stretch to believe it could happen?
@lisa. Strident, interesting choice of word there. What did you think of Barry’s choice of word “urbanization”? A Dog whistle for protecting Newton from poor brown and black kids? BTW Heard this term from Randy and Bill of RightSizeNewton crew and from the Gordon camp. Fear mongering that poor people are somehow less deserving and will make Newton less valuable.
As for the Fair Housing Act I was stunned that Yospin did not know that it existed. Interesting enough is that question was stricken from the list of questions going forward. Chris Pitts and Yospin could answer why it was taken out?
@Matt Lai – Mass and Cass is the way it is because Boston decided to cram most of it’s addiction clinics into that small area, the concentration of people camping is because they are literally right next to their treatment clinics. It’s not about easy access to transit, it’s that they literally have no home so if they have to pick somewhere to be homeless then it’s going to be near their clinic. And if almost all of the clinics are in one small area then.. That’s where everyone is going to cluster around. Short of literally moving all of those clinics to Austin St your scenario isn’t realistic.
V14 is like a twisted combination of Groundhog’s Day and the world’s worst car wreck. As much as one should not gawk, it is too hard to look away. So many folks who should never be out on the road to begin with; which to first order is anyone who posts more than once on any given thread. Yet day in and day out, it is the same useless carnage.
In the discussion about how local news coverage has waned in recent years (see for example this month’s Atlantic), this forum is sometimes touted as a virtual replacement. Certainly this thread, though there are many others, is the poster child for just how this is not the case. Al Gore must wish he never invented the Internet.
Elmo – Hell definitely hath frozen over. I agree with much at least part of what Elmo has said. I’ve often said with enthusiasm, it’s a blog, people, not the news! However, when posters have a civil conversation, a back and forth can be much more interesting than stand alone comments.
This place should never be used to mount a concerted attack on one individual. Cyberbullying is a problem all over Mr. Gore’s invention. A one-off is unfortunate but happens. Ken Laird has not been a one-off for me, Jess. You’re parsing words – #8 for the day. I would request that you please refrain from commenting about me or my posts in the future.
“This place should never be used to mount a concerted attack on one individual.”
… except when V14 moderators create posts to target individual councilors they don’t agree with. The tone comes from the top
Fig beat me to the punch about the very narrow scope of this discussion. I’m on the Highlands Area Council and I helped prepare questions for the debates. I also looked at almost all the debates as they were being recorded and have looked at snippets of some of them since then. That said, we had 11 spirited and generally informative debates, but at least 85% of the comments were focused on just two of these contests. There were a lot of interesting and provocative comments that candidates in the other 9 contests made that apparently they didn’t get on most folks radar screen.
BTW. I am pleased that there were no comments questioning the fairness or consistency of the questions we asked or the format in which the debate took place. I’m pleased because we bent over backward to make certain we were fair to every candidate and I think we succeeded.
@bobburke. Why was the question about overcrowding of school and the Fair Housing Act question pulled from the other debates questions? After the Noel Berman debate it was never asked again.
Fig – Thank you. I really appreciate the support. The “Jane is nasty” meme has spread to another site, and it’s quite disturbing. It actually took it to another level, but whatever.
I don’t think we disagree all that much, but more see an issue from different perspectives. Which is why I’d disagree with Elmo on the idea of only having one comment per thread idea. The interchange is what sheds more light on a topic and often leads to common ground.
You also bring up the other issue of concern – the lack of conversation about other positions. There’s been virtually no discussion about either the mayoral or city council races on any sites.
Bob, the debates were very good and I thought fair all around. I also liked the various moderators. I’ll say that the debates all had different tones but none to my ear seemed biased. Each brought for certain questions and concerns from various constituencies.
And honestly considering how much worm and time goes into those things, we should all be buying you and the other folks a beer or two on election night. Thank you to all involved.
Bugek, I disagree in part. The forum can certainly focus too much attention on one politician, and I think sometimes moderators have failed to realize that posting the same general complaint or issue ends up doing so. But let’s also not forget that the person(s) in question are public figures, and often making the news we like to comment on here!
I often think the folks that complain the most about how nasty or unfair this forum is want it both ways. They want their issues public, they want to at times post complaints and at times controversial posts about politicians they don’t agree with, but they also want to complain when folks do the same with their protected candidates.
I was very sympathetic to some of those complaints a few years ago in the last election. And I said so then. Since the special election and now this election Im far less so. When folks started criticizing Jerry for being unfair, when every complaint or issue about affordable housing becomes “But Sean called us racist” (he didn’t), when folks start piling on a poster like Jane and making it personal, I don’t think the problem is the moderators.
Folks should step back and look in the mirror. Don’t like the online community here or on Facebook? Maybe some of that is you. I’ve been trying to curb my instant replies and carry on more conversations, and less, as my kid would say, shitposting. How about you do the same Bugek?
Fignewtonville
Let be honest, what is the ratio of negative posts targeting councilors pro vs against high density luxury development..
100 to 1… or maybe even to 100 to 0.
The partisian slant of this blog leads to such attacks.
And in the same vein, I hesitated in replying to Matt’s post above. But it is so wrong in my view I think it is warranted:
Matt you wrote:
“With the overwhelming support for density by Mayor Fuller and her friends on the City Council, how would they receive the people from Mass and Cass if they decided to migrate to Newtonville? Between the shiny new buildings of Trio and Austin Street, a renovated village center and easy access via transit, is it a stretch to believe it could happen?“
So let’s first just start with the folks at Mass and Cass are people, very ill people, who are addicted to drugs, many of them mentally ill. They have or had families and people that loved them. Anyone who has a mentally ill family member or loved one, or a loved one who got addicted to drugs knows the feeling of helplessness and difficulty in treating those conditions. To use them as a political metaphor is gross and ignores all the pain and the people involved in that situation. There are no easy answers to Mass and Cass. And Newton does not and will not due its part. We couldn’t even find a way to host less than a dozen formerly homeless people at the Engine 6 project. Boston has failed those people. But Newton has no standing to criticize. At least Boston is hosting the treatment centers and housing we’d never allow in our own neighborhoods.
And the comparison Matt is awful in other ways. Please stop dumping on my neighborhood. Newtonville is great right now. The village is active. I spent last night getting burritos and ice cream with my extended family. It was a nice night.
The idea that Newtonville would suddenly turn into Mass and Cass because of added density is just nonsensical. As you often point out, the majority of the units are luxury housing. Are you concerned about the affordable units? That renters bring drugs? I’m not sure which is more offensive.
It is entirely possible to oppose more density without claiming that my home is suddenly one day going to become drug addict central due to some new housing. That’s worse than scaremonging.
Bugek: posts or comments? Most posts now aren’t pro or anti anyone. Sean still occasionally has posted about Councilor Norton, but again, she is a public figure and has a whole group of very vocal supporters on here. There have been some posts about Save Nonantums behavior for sure. But most posts start out neutral. And I’d also say that anti density folks are now the majority of this forum. And certainly a majority of the folks posting multiple times a day. Easy to blame the moderators, but the community is made up of both. And I think the moderators do try to make this a place with interesting posts and discussions. Where it goes after that is on all of us.
@Bugek – This is a thread called “It’s not too late to watch last weekend’s debates” that just contains a link to the recorded video. The thread has 109 comments with some veering into personal attacks between commenters. None of the tone here is as a result of what Village14 posted.
Yours is a valid point – that sometimes v14 contributors can be overly slanted or repetitive with their posts. I think at times that has definitely been true. That’s an entirely different topic than what fignewtonville was talking about.
If you ask people about Village14, you will hear from plenty of folks that they are turned off by it because of the fighting and tone and insults. 99% of what they are referring to is the comments, not the initial posts.
So lets make a deal. We’ll work harder at our end to avoid one sided repetitive posts and all the commenters work a bit harder at making their comments thoughtful and try to avoid purposely baiting or insulting other commenters.
Yes, Matt, it’s a stretch to think that could happen.
But if we could help those people and other people struggling with addiction right here in Newton, let’s do it.
Jerry,
Yes, i feel if posts by moderators were more balanced (to both sides), the level of discord will naturally subside “overall”
It reduces the pent up frustration of being constantly attacked/vilified
I’m surprised no one has mentioned my favorite moment in last week’s debates.
In the mayoral debate there was a question about rats. The mayor’s answer included a description of a new initiative, previously used in Washington DC, for rat birth control.
When she finished, moderator Margie Arons Barrow brought down the house when she asked “how do they get the rats to remember to take the pill?”
@Jerry – yes, that was indeed a great moment in debating!
I was going to avoid responding to the Mass & Cass comments, but I think it’s important to point out one thing. Mass & Cass is caused by a regional problem. A large proportion of the people there come from outside of Boston, and are there because their home towns/cities aren’t providing the addiction services that are available in the BMC area. Solving that problem will require all other parts of the Boston area (and central & western MA) to step up to the plate and provide services locally.
Meredith, I agree. That’s the point I was trying to make on how Newton does not do it’s part. I guarantee you some of the folks at Mass and Cass grew up in Newton. I also know of people in Newton who have struggled with addiction, including Heroin addiction. But connecting it with density is both factually wrong and morally gross.
And I’m tired of folks crapping on Newtonville. Newtonville is awesome.
Fignewtonville – I agree with everything you just wrote. I understood your point and agree it shouldn’t be connected with density (and also about Newtonville).
I do love my little corner of Newton over here in Upper Falls but Newtonville is definitely awesome. I was over there for the recent Village Day and I cant remember the village ever looking better – says this former resident of Newtonville Ave
If you have kids in NPS without hesitation you should be voting for:
Amy
Paul
Valerie
Riffe if you live in Ward 1
Reasons:
1. NPS Enrollment free falling
2. MCAS scores below state avg
3. Young bright minded Teachers jumping ship for better teaching opportunities.
4. Columbus Day plus other lake traditions must stay #SN
For the record, the Mass and Cass crisis was precipitated by the loss of the Long Island homeless shelter and treatment center due to the failure of the bridge to the island. Quincy has blocked the reconstruction of the bridge because the access roads pass through Quincy.
While no facility can address an entire region’s homeless, mental health, and addition challenges, the loss of the Long Island facilities pushed a large number of people in needs onto the streets at once, suddenly overwhelming other facilities. It represented personal setbacks for many challenged individuals.
The standoff between Boston and Quincy remains, and yes, other communities have not done their part to meet the need.
@Jerry
The tone is set at the top.
Sean Roche is probably the most prolific poster on here. Other moderators don’t call out his behavior or put him in “time-out” when he crosses the line.
You reap what you sow.
Change starts there.
Matt raises an important point. If we promote transit and don’t continue to demand continued parking minimums in new developments, we increase the risk of “importing the poor”. Car ownership is Newton’s bulwark against the unhoused.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/24/opinion/parking-wars-another-battle-won/?outputType=amp
@Alec Wilson-
Right you are.
But the clicks!!
@Paul there used to be ads on this site. It any more. So the clickbait is just for kicks it seems.