The Newton Tab just posted a story by Trevor Jones about the status of the proposed Pine St Inn project in Waban, in the wake of Mayor Warren’s announcement that he’s withdrawing support for the project
Is the Pine Street plug pulled?
by Chuck Tanowitz | Jun 25, 2013 | Newton | 13 comments
To me, this was an intelligent decision.
I was at the meeting last Thursday evening in Waban on this matter, and what was immediately apparent was the anger of the audience at what appeared to be a freight train of a project bearing down on them with little time to decide whether to get on board or jump out of the way. A lot of folks thought this was “already a done deal” and that the public meetings were a sham.
I thought some progress was made during the meeting for folks to be heard and that helped settle the crowd a bit. Voices on both sides could get heard.
To me, though, the biggest takeaway from the meeting was the continued feeling this was a project that, however noble it might be, was just not ready for prime time, that much more needed to be done, and that the timeline called for an unreasonably short window [July 2] for the mayor to make an up-or-down decision on $1.4 million.
I don’t live in Ward 5 [actually Ward 2] and have no axe to grind against such a project, as long as it’s viable and executable. To me, that wasn’t yet clear, and I’d have been disappointed in the mayor had he actually signed off on this on July 2nd, as was being demanded.
I hear a numbers of questions at that meeting last Thursday along the lines of “why this particular project; why aren’t we considering others?” Seemed a reasonable question, and it sounds like Setti is asking that same question.
You’re a good soldier, Dan, but this was absolutely the wrong decision for all the reasons the aldermen from the ward gave when asked by the TAB and the Globe. The Ward 5 aldermen put a lot of time and effort into arranging public meetings in order to share information and get feedback from all sides. The Mayor never showed up at these meetings and pulled the plug before tonight’s community meeting, where I know a lot of Waban residents wanted to express their support. If the Mayor wanted more time, he could have taken it. Instead, he stifled the discussion. Not good.
Are there any projects that could be executed at Engine 6 that don’t require Community Development Block Grant funds?
Joshua Norman — The site is currently a hospice so that answer is a yes. Prior to that the Boy Scouts were there
Further, Joshua, if you look at the land records, the restrictions aren’t limited to a non-profit. The key seems to be a low traffic use — a law office possibility is mentioned (as example)
A “good soldier”Ted?
First of all, until Setti announced his decision, I’d not talked with him about this, nor did I have any solid idea where he was coming out on it. In fact, the vibes I’d heard was he may have been leaning toward this project.
I respect that we disagree, but I don’t like being characterized as an unthinking puppet, because we disagree.
And, on project concept, wee may not agree at all.
OOPS, I meant to say “on project concept we may not DISagree at all.”
Dan, I am interested in furthering the public discussion, so if I offended you I apologize.
With respect to Engine 6, you are arguing the merits of the proposal; I am arguing about process. I believe that cutting off the discussion about Engine 6, when the aldermen from the ward went to so much trouble and effort to arrange a public forum after having the task thrust upon them by the previous lack of community engagement from the administration, was disrespectful to them and a disservice to the public.
Tonight, there is another meeting at the Senior Center to discuss the proposed mixed use project in Ward 2, on the city-owned Austin Street parking lot. I know from years of experience on and off the board that there needs to be active community engagement and an extensive public discussion concerning any proposal that will have a profound impact on this or any other neighborhood and the community as a whole. The Austin Street project is one of those projects. Whether you are for or against it or just have questions about it, would you rather have more of less community engagement prior to making a decision that will permanently alter the village of Newtonville?
Ted Mahan is obviously fanning the flames of this issue because he is a mayoral candidate with nothing to campaign on. Mahan wants discussion? This is the same guy who chartered the budget! What a hypocrite. He only wants discussion when it serves his purpose. Mahan didn’t go to any of these meetings, didn’t engage in any of the discussions and has no clue about what homeowners really think.
I’m about process too, and the Austin St project has been on the radar screen for quite awhile now [perhaps 2 years?].
The Firestation 6 project came from out of nowhere, and suddenly a month of comment and then an immediate decision called for from the mayor? As I commented before i was struck with how much of the angst last Thursday was about the timing of this process. This needs more time to be vetted, and that is apparently what Setti believed too.
@Dan Fahey
I was at that meeting too. The stated purpose of the meeting was for the city to gather questions and concerns from the community, which would then be answered in the meeting the following Thursday, where the representatives of Pine St and MetroWest would be present.
After the questions were posed and then answered, everybody, including the mayor, could make up their mind about what they thought about the proposal.
By pulling the plug on the project before those questions could be answered, the major effectively turned that public meeting and the whole process into a sham.
There were plenty of people in that room who supported the project and I believe that there were also a substantial number of people in the room who had very real concerns which may have been allayed when the questions were answered by the proponents.
I don’t necessarily disagree that the best course of action for the mayor was to kill the project. Unfortunately, since the proponents were never allowed to publicly answer the questions or compromise on any of the issues raiseed, we’ll never know.
It’s beginning to appear to me that the most effective way of steering public policy in the city is to yell a lot – and I find that disturbing and depressing.
Dan, the Mayor has known about Engine 6 for quite some time. Had he wanted to engage the community sooner to give them more time to understand and discuss the proposal, he could easily have done so.
The story in the Globe today made it seem a distinct possibility that Metro West will seek to acquire a bridge loan so it can move ahead without public funding. On the other hand, the Pine Street Inn had previously said it would pull out without public support, so the status is unclear at best.
Does anyone know if the PSI has ever said it would seek to find residents for this property from Newton’s homeless population? I think that would be great.