Polls are closed. Find Newton’s election results here.
Unofficial results for Newton’s Nov. 11, 2018 state and municipal ballot questions will be posted here.
Nearly one out of every six Newton voters has already voted
There were 9,668 State Ballots cast in Newton during early voting and 9,618 Special Municipal Ballots cast for the two marijuana ballot questions, City Clerk David Olson reports. In 2016 there were 17,757 early votes cast in Newton. There are currently 60,424...
Albright: Our marijuana zoning ordinance was done with care to protect our citizens
Newton City Councilor Susan Albright, who is chair of the council’s Zoning & Planning committee, had some enlightening comments on an earlier thread about the research she conducted in her role as chair of the committee charged with determining where adult use recreational marijuana shops could locate, if Newton voters reject the Opt-Out referendum Tuesday. It seemed interesting and timely, so I republishing most of it here.I have talked to many people from states that currently allow adult use. I asked one woman in the Dept of Public Health in Oregon (whom I had called to find data on teenage use) whether there was an adult use shop in her town. She said yes – I asked her what happened there, was she scared to go there? Were there kids hanging around? Were the police frequently called? Was there Trouble with a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for Pool? (sorry I didn’t ask her about Pool). I wanted to get a sense for how she felt about this shop. She said she never went there but it was totally quiet and caused no problems in the town. I got similar answers from whomever i called, including the son of one of my Tufts college friends who works in one in Denver.
I imagine this is what life was like when they were deciding to prohibit liquor. The prohibitionists scared the public that liquor was the foundation of all our problems and the ruination of society – hence we got prohibition. And then had it undone years later.
Our marijuana zoning ordinance was done with care to protect our citizens and to put a store – which is what an adult use shop is – in a place where it was appropriate.
What’s on your lawn? Who’s getting your vote?
What, if any campaign signs are on your lawn, and why? Or what candidates or ballot questions are you most interested in? Make your pitch in comments.
A post Halloween tale
This was posted on the Next Door Newton site…. All, I posted last night about my disappointment in our first West Newton Halloween that the whole basket of candy we left out while we took our young kids trick or treating was taken in one swoop by two boys around...NewTV and Ross Decter launch ‘School Matters’
Former Newton School Committee member Margie Ross Decter has just launched a new series on NewTV called “School Matters,” a program that aims to raise “awareness of educational issues of local and national importance, and the efforts of students and the school community to make an impact by improving our community and the world around us.”
Here’s the premiere episode
School Matters: Student Activism from NewTV on Vimeo.
School Matters airs Monday-Friday at 5:30pm, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30pm on NewTV’s Education Channel (Comcast 99, RCN 3, 582 (HD), Verizon 32).
Where would Newton’s marijuana shops be located?
Often lost in the debate over whether or not adult-use recreational marijuana shops should operate in Newton is the fact that there aren’t very many properties where these stores can exist under the city’s proposed zoning.
Yes, I know zoning deliberations make most people’s heads ache. Mine included. But, if you have not yet dug into this, it’s worth understanding.
The first thing you need to know is that you should not expect to find these adult-only shops in Newton’s village centers. The next thing you should know is that under state law, consuming cannabis inside or in front of one of these stores is a crime.
Unlike liquor stores, which of course exist in our village centers, these shops will have bunker-like exteriors, intense security and state-mandated safeguards. You must show an ID before you’re allowed to enter a secure showroom. You must show it again when you
Central looking to fill the void left by departure of Peets
Faye Goldman, who’d worked at the recently closed Peets in Newton Center for nearly a decade approached the owners of the Central gstropub right across the street and convinced them to open a coffee bar, Newton Patch reports. Alex Nagi who is a partner at the...Should there be an age and/or height limit for trick or treaters?
They were discussing this on Greater Boston today. What do you think Newton?A baby boomer’s take on recreational marijuana
This is a guest blog post that was submitted to Village 14. Like many other Boomers, I favored legalizing recreational marijuana in the Commonwealth. Not that I wanted to partake- far from it! In my early adulthood, pot was both a blessing and a danger. It opened my...With home delivery on the horizon, who needs pot shops anyway?
This is a guest blog post that was submitted to Village 14. The Boston Globe reported this past week that the Cannabis Control Commission has started working toward rules for marijuana home delivery across the state. No retail storefronts would be involved, and the...Rats in our midst
A page one story in today’s Boston Globe talks about the sudden surge of rats in the suburbs and last week the TAB published this story about an uptick of rats in Nonantum. Have you experienced a rat or rodent problem in your village?