Sunday, October 26, 2008

A new lane to the city

By Bennett Gavrish

Commuters are finding more competition for space on the city’s busiest streets after Mayor David Cohen unveiled Newton’s first official bike lane last month.

Over the last two years, the mayor worked with local organizations to create a bike lane on the side of Walnut Street to protect bikers and force drivers to share the road.

A white stripe extends from Beacon Street to Newton North High School.

“A dedicated lane provides an important safety measure for cyclists,” said Jeremy Solomon, the mayor’s spokesman. “Instead of trying to stay close to the curb and avoid parked cars, it provides a clear and free lane for them to use.”

Along with marking bike lanes, the city is posting “Share the Road” signs on streets with high levels of traffic.

“Our roadways are so car-centric now that they are no-man’s land for anyone not surrounded by two tons of metal,” said Steve Runge of Newton Center, who writes a blog about biking in Newton. “More bikes on the road mean more drivers getting used to making way for human beings.”

Because the new biking initiatives are partially covered by state funding, the city is only paying for the painting of the lanes, said George Kirby, the chairman of the Newton Bike and Pedestrian Task Force.

“It’s a very reasonable price for reducing congestion, lowering collision and making things safer,” he said.

Some members of the community have criticized the local government for not pursuing safety measures earlier.

“The city has done almost nothing up to this point, because it has for so long bought into the dominant belief that cars rule the road,” said Lois Levin, the leader of Bike Newton, an organization that works to make the city safer for bicyclists.

City officials said the delay was not due to a lack of concern.

“The recent changes have been in the works for some time,” Solomon said. “The mayor worked with citizen groups to locate a few streets that could safely accommodate a bicycle lane. Once safety studies had been completed, we were able to carry out their plan.”

Solomon also said creating bike lanes on many streets is not feasible.

“Implementing bicycle lanes presents a challenge because many of our roads here are fairly narrow and were not designed to have a dedicated bike lane,” he said.

Bike advocates say additional lanes will encourage residents to adopt more environmental-friendly transportation.

“All of our shopping areas, schools and libraries could be easily accessible with a bike if so many people were not scared to be out there unprotected from speeding cars,” Levin said.

Solomon said the mayor is aware that the city’s bicyclists are not satisfied and will work with them to add more lanes.

But because of economic concerns, bicycle activists do not expect new projects in the near future.

“Bike lanes are very low priority given the city’s present financial condition,” Levin said. “The situation will be getting worse, so we are going to have to be very creative to get the changes we want in the next couple of years. But we won’t stop trying.”

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Putting the brakes on tire slashing

By Bennett Gavrish

In the so-called safest city in America, Doug Haslam stepped outside his house on Sept. 13 and realized he would not be driving to work that morning.

Haslam, who lives on Nonantum Place in Newton Center, found that two of his tires had been slashed during the night.

“Later on, I discovered that four or five cars parked on our street had their tires slashed as well,” he said. “It looks like it was some lone vandal thinking he was having a nice joke.”

A series of tire slashings and other acts of vandalism and theft made up almost 70 percent of the crime in Newton last year and have grown from 677 to 829 over the last three years.

The increase in property crime has been taken seriously, because the city has historically been known as one of the safest in the United States.

Newton was named America’s safest city in 2006 by Morgan Quitno Press, but then fell to fourth in the 2007 rankings. The rankings are based on statistics from six crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.

An unidentified person slashed the tires of 40 cars near Crystal Lake in early July, said Officer David Spirito of the Newton Police Department, kicking off a summer of similar incidents.

Officer Spirito said none of the recent tire slashings are related.

“We don’t think there was a ring involved or anything like that,” he said. “It was probably just kids who were out causing mischief.”

No arrests have been made, but police say groups of younger people are behind the recent rash of tire slashing.

“Different types of vandalism are typical for juvenile behavior,” Officer Spirito said. “We do know that juveniles who cause malicious damage are usually part of a group dynamic.”

Newton residents do not need to worry about tire slashing developing into a major crime problem, Officer Spirito said, but certain kinds of vandalism are inevitable.

“You have to worry about that type of behavior in any community,” he said. “There’s always going to be malicious damage, so I wouldn’t even begin to speculate on if or when the tire slashing is going to happen again.”

Tire slashings are especially irritating for residents, because little can be done to prevent it.

“The only protection from tire slashing is to put your car in a garage, but that is not possible in many cases,” said Jay Moskow, the chairman of the Newton Crime Commission. “It’s just something that is difficult to protect yourself from.”

City officials said they do not expect the spike of tire slashing to last.

“I don’t think it’s something people will need to worry about in the future,” said Steven Aronson, a Crime Commission member, “but it’s probably a good idea to keep a light on over your car at night.”

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The fight to save the branch libraries

By Bennett Gavrish

The city’s four branch libraries closed their doors in June and will not be reopening soon, despite a surge of support from the Board of Aldermen and outraged citizens.

Mayor David Cohen shut down the neighborhood libraries in Auburndale, Newton Corner, Nonantum and Waban, after residents voted against a $12 million tax override, which left the libraries and other public services out of the city budget.

“Prior to the override vote, the mayor had asked each department to present a reduced budget in case the override failed,” said Jeremy Solomon, the mayor’s spokesman. “The library director and trustees recommended the closure of the branch libraries with their reduced budget, and Mayor Cohen deferred to their judgement.”

Patrons of the branch libraries have condemned the decision, arguing that the city’s one remaining library, the Newton Free Library, cannot serve all 13 villages.

“We’re sad that we’ve lost that extra dimension to the library services available in Newton,” said Dana Hanson, an Auburndale resident who regularly visited her neighborhood library with her family. “It’s just really frustrating because it was a great community gathering place.”

Patrons are also upset that the librarians who worked at the branches lost their jobs.

“The branch librarians were phenomenal,” said Ward 4 Alderman Jay Harney. “They knew all the customers by name and helped to run events.”

But officials say that the benefits of the branch libraries do not outweigh the costs.

“We do not have the money to reopen the branches without negatively affecting the operations of the main library, which provides services to all residents of Newton,” said Nancy Perlow, director of the Newton Free Library.

Cohen inspired further debate this month, when he announced that Newton has $11 million in unused funds from last year’s budget.

The Board of Aldermen requested that this money be used to reopen the libraries, but Cohen said he intends to fund future city projects with it instead.

“The problem is the same thing that we’ve needed to change all along, which is to get the mayor to agree to return some of the city services with the free cash,” said Ward 4 Alderman Leonard Gentile. “But to this point, he has been reluctant to do so and that remains our biggest obstacle.”

The aldermen are planning a special board meeting in October, where they will again ask the mayor to restore some of the items that were cut from this year’s budget, including the branch libraries.

The mayor has maintained his stance that the newly discovered free cash will not go toward any budget items, but there may be hope for former patrons of the libraries.

“Mayor Cohen has made a commitment to the Board of Aldermen that the branch libraries will not be sold or altered,” Solomon said. “If the city’s fiscal outlook improves, we will be happy to examine the possibility of reopening the branch libraries.”

But for now, the doors to the libraries remain locked.

“This isn’t the end,” Harney said. “I’m going to make very loud noise during the next year, because for me and for many people in my area, one of the most important issues is getting the branch libraries reopened.”

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Newton's neighborhood historian

By Bennett Gavrish

NEWTON – Nearly 200 years ago, slaves found refuge at a small house on the outskirts of Newtonville.

Inside that same gray building today, Cindy Stone is preserving the history of the Underground Railroad.

Stone is the director of the Newton History Museum at the Jackson Homestead, where the city’s cultural and political past is put on display for citizens and outsiders.

“The challenge for me is to learn the history and then figure out how I’m going to translate it for different audiences,” said Stone, sitting at a table in one of the museum’s main exhibition halls. “It’s not just reading the information. It’s all about what you do with it.”

Stone is from Winchester, but said she was attracted to the Newton’s museum because of her background in art history and experience in the area.

Stone ran the education program at the Museum of Fine Arts before hearing about the director position at the Newton History Museum.

“I knew I probably had one more career in me, so I asked myself what I should do,” she said. “This opportunity was really nice because I thought Newton was a progressive community and I love doing community-based things. So here I am.”

Since Mayor David Cohen named Stone director in June 2006, her colleagues say she has had a meaningful impact on the museum and the city.

“When Cindy took the job, one of the ideas that she brought to the organization was to really focus on the ties between the past and the present, because that’s what history is all about,” said Melissa Westlake, the public programs manager at the Newton History Museum.

Stone’s staff members said she has drawn more attention to the museum and what it has to offer.

“She’s really taken a great leadership role in trying to make the museum more noticeable,” said Kate Bresee, a staff assistant at the museum. “Not only has she made people more aware of it in the community and in Boston, but also on a national level.”

During her time as director, Stone has organized projects such as the museum’s school programs and the purchase of historical properties in Newton.

She may also add a classroom at the back of the museum for children to do hands-on projects.
“I consider Cindy the ringmaster or conductor of this place,” said David Oliver, the museum’s director of development. “She definitely has a lot to manage and she’s continuously busy.”

And when she is not balancing budgets or reading about historical houses in the area, Stone serves as a leader to her staff of Newton experts.

“Cindy is extremely easy to work with,” said Lynette Aznavourian, the museum’s public relations manager. “She’s very positive in the way she distributes work, and she always gives us information about what’s going on at all levels of the organization.”

Stone said her favorite exhibit at the museum is a special display of pictures and memorabilia from Norumbega Park, a popular tourist destination in Newton that included an amusement park and ballroom before it burned down in 1965.

“A lot of people have fond memories of Norumbega because they had their high school prom there,” Stone said. “It’s very satisfying for me to see people come look at the exhibit and reminisce or learn something new.”