Why we need to rethink our streets
Tuesday afternoon I was sitting at the stoplight at Cherry and Washington waiting to turn left from Washington to Cherry. The all-walk was lit and a man in an electric wheelchair was trying to cross the street from the corner next to the Cherry Tree restaurant to...
Covered bike parking at NNHS!
Some lucky Newton North bike commuters are about to get the best bike parking: covered spaces! As the father of a son who bikes there regularly, this is welcome news. It’s the result of a lot of hard work by Alicia Bowman in her role as President of Bike...Newton deputy planning director James Freas to move west — to Natick
James Freas, the deputy director of Newton’s planning department, is going to be headed a few exits west along the Pike. He’s accepted a new job as the Planning Director for Natick. This is a huge loss for Newton as not only has James been the key driver...Toy store and a cafe coming to Austin st.
Buried in the Mayor’s email, meriting just a quick mention, is the fact that two retailers have announced at 28 Austin: Henry Bear’s Park and Caffe Nero. Both of these are pretty significant and are good drivers of foot traffic. These are the types of...
Monday: start your own robotics team
As many are aware, I’m a coach on the Newton LigerBots, the high school-level FIRST robotics team here in the city. On Monday we’ll be hosting our annual information night for parents interested in starting FIRST Lego League (FLL) and Junior FLL Robotics...
Celebrating sculpture on the Upper Falls Greenway FRIDAY
If you’ve taken a walk on the Upper Falls Greenway over the last couple of days you’ve started to see sculpture dot the landscape! It’s time of the second annual Greenway Arts project featuring sculpture from Studios Without Walls. We kick things...Newton North alumni graduates West Point
When West Point graduated it’s most diverse class ever, among those tossing their hats in the air was Noah Carlen, the only Newton North graduate of his year to attend a service academy and, according to the Times of Israel, among a small group of Jewish...
Barbara Brousal-Glaser will not run for re-election
In a letter to constituents late Friday, Ward 3 Councilor Barbara Brousal-Glaser announced that she will not run for another term. Glaser was first elected in 2014 (back when we had a Board of Alderman) and has served Ward 3 since. She currently serves on the...Newton North Senior becomes famous for opening email
I present the video that a student took of herself opening the acceptances (all sent digitally) to the 20 (!) schools she applied to. This video has earned her some major YouTube cred and also landed her in the Washington Post in a piece titled “High schoolers are inviting thousands of strangers to watch as they get into college — and get rejected”.These videos are somewhat of a “thing” on YouTube, with some amassing more than a million views. Nina Wang, the Newton North student (who, I hear, is headed to MIT) has more than 700,000 views as of this writing.
Of course, she warns “don’t compare yourself to me, as the college process is stupid and unpredictable as f*ck.”
For the record, she got into 8 schools, waitlisted at 4 and rejected from 8.
Protected lanes would never work in Newton!
Who would want to be out in this cold and wet? Why should we build infrastructure for people to bike, run, walk, or do anything but drive? Oh… yeah… this is why. In writing about Heartbreak Hill and the current push for marathon training, the Boston...
Zoning and the future of transportation
Last week in West Newton the city held a discussion around the changes both proposed and underway for the village center. Unfortunately, I had a previous engagement and couldn’t make it, though I listened to much of the conversation through the Facebook feed. ...
Crazy Divers: Men be like...
drivers man be like