Posts from — December 2009

BH Normandy Riverside LLC will present its latest plans for development of the MBTA Riverside site at the regular meeting of Newton’s Economic Development Commission.  The meeting is at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, January 12, in Room 209 in City Hall.

Plans dated 12/10/09:  Option A, Option B.

Below is an email I just sent to Mindy Gregory Sieber, executive director of the New Art Center, to gauge her interest in an artistic bike rack for Panera Bread. I wanted to get the right people talking about this idea, and she’s the perfect person. I believe she formerly coordinated the Open Studios events for artists in Newton.

John Pears had mentioned the installation of informational kiosks in our village centers, directing people to restaurants and other services. Brilliant idea. I’d also had a lark of a thought about directional signs that would point from one village to other villages and nearby points of interest, like parking lots and the main library. Of course, other towns are already doing these things, such as Renton, Washington. [Read more →]

Last night’s vote approving Panera Bread’s petition means we aren’t getting another bank in Newton Centre like the one that opened in the old Kitchen Views space next to the Gulf station. That’s good news.

At the same time I worry about the little sandwich shop around the corner from where Panera will open. While I don’t think Pie or Johnny’s will be hurt by Panera, as their business models are different enough, Sandwich Works faces some big challenges. And it faces them alone. I think we would all support actions that support our existing small businesses. Some of that effort should be specific to each village, like the work of the Highlands Area Neighborhood Council. But some of that effort should be city-wide, and Newton Villages may be able to help. [Read more →]

Yesterday, Matt and I had a wonderful and wide-ranging discussion (and I had one too many ginger snap cookies) yesterday with Marcia Cooper, president of Green Decade, who was supportive of our idea for building a coalition which promotes the quality of life in Newton’s villages.  She was very helpful in suggesting who else we need to meet in her group and in the community.

One of the most exciting topics we conversed about is “sustainable aging in place” and work being done by David Del Porto, a Newton resident with a long career working on sustainable strategies and ecological engineering. Please see his paper from October 2008 here. [Read more →]

Srdjan S. Nedeljkovic has written a handful of guest columns in the Tab about land use and planning in Newton. One of those was posted to the site yesterday:  The importance of good design in Newton

You may have seen his column “Affordable housing in Newton” in the Tab last month. Matt and I are looking forward to meeting him and other members of the Highlands Area Neighborhood Council next week.

Happy reading,

John

In case you’ve been wondering what we’ve been up to…

Last Wednesday, Chris, Matt and I met for coffee at the Knotty Pine diner in Auburndale to discuss retail mix and ideas about doing what Chris calls “reverse site selection.” Unlike site selection, which analyzes places to best locate a specific business, this market analysis would look at a village and evaluate the types of uses it might support. (Chris and Matt can explain this better than I can, but it’s a very exciting idea.) This would be a valuable service Newton Villages might provide and one that could be completed with volunteer power alone. Speaking of the diner, we would all recommend the home fries, and there was discussion of starting a breakfast club… [Read more →]