Village14 has been nearly asleep these recent weeks. Aside from Bob Burke’s post on Dec 27 the site has been nearly idle.
Part of it no doubt is the holidays. Part of it is that I’ve been away in Ireland for a few weeks and haven’t been checking in as I usually do.
I think its time to shake V14 from its slumbers and starts the conversations again.
What Newton topics would you like to see discussed at the moment? Better yet, would you like to write a Guest Post on the topic of your choosing? If so, just send it to me at [email protected].
How about we start the New Year fresh by requiring people to use their real names, Jerry? It might not be a kick start, exactly, but it would be a badly-needed fresh one.
Ralph, you are right on.
Dead on. So tired of pseudonyms. If you can’t say it with your real name, you shouldn’t .
Totally agree, its very awkward to comment or consider posting an article to a relatively small audience when some people use their real name and others choose to use pseudonyms. This I think makes the forum less inviting and perhaps unintentionally encourages poor behavior.
As long as I’ve been involved with Village14 this issue keeps resurfacing. It’s been discussed many times amongst the decision makers. Here are the general arguments I’ve heard for and against requiring real names.
For Requiring Real Names – a suspicion or belief that allowing anonymous comments encourages bad behavior among commenters. There may be some truth to that. The flip side is that we have plenty of anonymous commenters who are fine, constructive and civil contributors. We also have had plenty of non-anonymous contributors who have been problems. So perhaps on the margins there may be some truth that non-anonymous contributors overall are a bit better behaved, though it’s not terribly clear that’s true.
Against Requiring Real Names:
1. A number of our favorite anonymous contributors have made clear that they would cease to participate if they were required to post under the real identity.
2. The various methods folks have suggested about how we could enforce this policy all seem to have one or more of these drawbacks.
* The method of identifying real names is easily subverted
* The method provides a significant barrier to first time contributors
* The method requires some kind of manual intervention by one of the volunteers (creates work)
A few come to mind:
1. How to consistently get kids back, safely, in school, with the infections/positive tests, etc. still very much with us.
2. With COVID and vaccines ever present, what will the new normal look like, if there is a normal, for the City?
3. Election 2022: a slew of changes coming to Beacon Hill will have significant implications fir Newton.
Er, Ted…..
The Northland project on Needham Street seems to have come to a standstill. I don’t think there has been any demolition on the site since at least, June of 2021, and the buildings in the Marshall’s plaza are still standing.
I just checked with Northland and they said …
“While it appears things are not happening, a whole lot has been happening behind the scenes to keep us on track.
We are planning on providing the Upper Falls Council an update on the project next Thursday at their January 20th meeting.”
Milissa, I’ll probably listen in to that meeting on Zoom. I’ll post more then if I hear anything interesting about the project.
Here’s Northland’s previous presentation from May 2021 to the Upper Falls Area Council. It’s full of before/after (planned) photos/drawings of the site. The final slide is a project schedule for the following year. It does indeed look like there’s been some slippage. The schedule does show that the Marshalls Plaza buildings were already scheduled to be demolished by now. I guess some schedule slippage isn’t too surprising given how this past year has unfolded.
Hi all: I have a more recent update than that, from August 2021 (I am a member of the Northland Liaison Committee).
Northland spent last summer into September working on “value engineering”, i.e., trying to find ways to cut costs.
At that time they were still looking at a Q1 2022 start to construction, and were targeting demolition of Marshall’s Plaza by end of year 2021.
They also spent time last year offering a “General Property Condition Survey” to all abuttors by their engineering team, both as an exercise in “being a good neighbor” as well as to establish a baseline of neighboring building conditions prior to construction, so that any vibration or other damage to neighbors due to construction can be properly assessed.
I do agree with Jerry that this timeline seems to have slipped once again, and I look forward to hearing from them what the new timeline is as well as a general update. I have noticed some more vehicular activity on the site lately.
Thank-you Jerry. I might listen to the Zoom meeting as well.
Any updates on the development going up where the old Barn was?
I’d like to hear about new business updates in general. Anyone tried any new restaurants? There are a lot of new ones right now! I’m excited to try Bluebird when I’m ready to dine out again and I can’t wait to take home pastries from Tous Les Jours.
Anyone know anything about the YMCA buying the Wells Ave BSC property?
The new WoW looks nice. I had been worried about such a large vacant storefront in West Newton.
Sorry, that was a brain dump.
Last I passed by the old Barn site (last week sometime), the construction fences are up around all but the Eastern Insurance building, it looks like several of the buildings have had interior demolition, and siding was stripped off the long low building parallel to Washington St.
Rumors have it that the YMCA has entered into an agreement to purchase 135 Wells Avenue, which it will develop into a southside Y. Sadly, it seems, those valuable four indoor tennis courts might become basketball courts.
The demise of Wellbridge/BSC Newton seems unfortunate for me and many others. At the end, to be sure, it was run down and in need of a deep cleaning. Still, it had a devoted community of exercisers, swimmers, and tennis players, and the staff was great.
The Y can fill the void for exercise and swim, but the number of indoor courts in greater Boston keeps shrinking as club after club closes: BSC Lexington, BSC Newton, Weston, a Mount Auburn, and Northeast to name some. The remaining clubs are crowded with little available court time. BSC Lexington, I have heard, has reopened under management by tennis pros. I wish that the Y would keep at least two of the four tennis courts as a site for adult play during school hours and youth instruction afterward. Tennis is a great lifelong sport.
I heard a rumor a while back that BSC/Wellesley had lost its lease, but have heard nothing since. Anyone know?
That would be terrible to lose all the courts there. I haven’t played tennis since high school but thought about doing it again soon as my kid gets older. I loved it. It would be nice to have had it in that facility.
Would the Y keep their original building open and running??? It would be strange to have the YMCA and JCC very close to each other.
Interesting point, but bear in mind that Wellbridge/BSC Newton and the JCC coexisted for decades though they lie less than a mile from each other.
I get that, but to leave the north side without a more affordable family options. . . .
They’d have two locations from what I understand.
Things that need to stop in 2022…
**noteworthy people using a press release to say that they have covid
**drivers not obeying cross walks
**politician solicitations
**fancy cars in the food pantry pickup line
What else am I missing?
@Ken Laird – people who own fancy cars can lose their jobs or have unexpected catastrophic expenses and need food pantries. You can’t judge how much a person needs help by what they’re driving.
The renovation of the senior center should retain its historic facade. The new center should be a senior center not a mixed use facility. New basketball courts should not be incorporated into a senior center. If the city wants to build more multigenerational activity gymnasiums, this should be built alongside the new indoor swimming pool now desperately advocated for by youth and middle aged groups. This is an important issue to discuss on Jan. 20. A public hearing is scheduled on this date.