Sarah Quigley, one of the opponents of the Austin Street development is hoping to put two non-binding questions on the ballot this fall, Jenna Fisher from the Newton TAB reports.
But why wait until November? Here’s your chance to vote here.
Question 1
Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to vote for legislation to require that a majority of the voters in a municipality approve the sale of any municipally owned real estate containing more than 7,500 square feet of land?
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Question 2
Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to vote for legislation that would allow elected officials, in communities that have taken steps to promote affordable housing at a local level, to have binding input regarding density, required parking, and other project characteristics to the extent that those changes would help to protect existing neighborhoods and businesses from negative impacts on infrastructure and public services, when a zoning board of appeals is deciding whether to approve an application for a comprehensive permit to build affordable housing in that locality under Chapter 40B of the General Laws?
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I guess we could put everything on the ballot. Bag fees? Leaf blowers? Recorder lessons for the kiddos? Do we fire the police chief?
Oh wait, isn’t that called a “Town Meeting” form of govt? Maybe Hingham is doin it right!
Our elected representatives don’t even pay attention to binding referendums. Just look how they’ve neutered the medical marijuana ballot initiative that passed two years ago by a large margin statewide. And the Newton Board of Aldermen has ignored two previous non-binding resolutions to reduce the size of that board. The best way to eliminate 40B is stop voting for those pols who support it. I’d also like to see a change in the City Charter that allows for recall petitions.
What Hoss said.
We have a process in place.
I think the questions will stimulate discussion about these issues, both among residents and some of the local politicians, Development seems to be accelerating in Newton over the past couple of years, and I think a lot of residents are concerned about it.
Question one is a really bad idea. Nobody will understand Question 2.
Question 2 is really fuzzy and appears to be in conflict with state law.
What is the required number of signatures?
Gail – I’m interested to know why you feel Question 1 is a bad idea? If I’m not mistaken, I believe that the Comprehensive Plan calls for the city to increase the amount of land that it owns over time so selling off land seems to conflict this. Also, since this is public land I’d like to believe that in a democracy that we the residents of Newton should have some say in what happens to our publicly owned land. No?
@Peter: The residents of Newton do have some say in what happens to our publicly owned land. We vote for people to represent us on the Board of Aldermen. Land use issues are too complicated to be decided by neighborhoods. Also, too often ballot questions are divisive, disruptive or both.
what on earth does “binding input” mean? Either fix 40B or don’t, but the second question sounds like wishful thinking.
I think that we should use Community Preservation Act funds to buy Austin Street for the $1million that the Mayor is selling it for and turn it into a park. I would much rather see CPA money spent on that than some of the other things they have used it on in the past.
I agree with Hoss when he said that Hingham is doing it right since they are doing more with less. Hingham spends 45% less per student yet gets better test scores. They also have a stronger financial balance sheet position then Newton.
Then again Hingham doesn’t give away the store to its unions with regards to compensation. If only Newton followed Hingham’s lead.
Hingham has about 20,000 people … Newton has over 80,000 people. Hingham is comprised of approximately 26 square miles of land … we’re trying to all fit into a little over 18 square miles of land …
I don’t imagine that everything that works in Hingham would work here in Newton. But perhaps we should entertain moving to Hingham …