Category — Newton Highlands

As reported in the Boston Globe earlier this week, Eunice Feller of Bread & Chocolate will appear in an upcoming episode of the Food Network show “Throwdown! With Bobby Flay.’’

Mark your calendar (and set your TiVo) for 8:30pm on Wednesday, March 9, when Feller takes on celebrity chef Bobby Flay in a Boston cream pie battle. Of course, we’re rooting for the home team.

Feller and her husband Steve reside in Newtonville and run the bakery and cafes in Newtonville and Newton Highlands. Not to get sentimental, but the Newtonville cafe was the first village business profile posted on our Newton Villages website last year.

Newton Highlands nightspot 51 Lincoln garnered a nod in this week’s digest by Boston Chowhound for the restaurant’s signature 51 Lincoln burger (on its bar menu). Take that, Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

The City of Newton’s planning department plans to track LEED-certified construction within the city. If you know of a building that has received or is intending to receive LEED Certification, please email Alexandra Ananth or call her at (617) 796.1121.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, only three projects in Newton have been LEED-certified to date:

1. The headquarters of MOCA Systems (silver) in Newton Corner,
2. A renovation of the offices of Chapman Construction/Design (platinum) in Newton Highlands
3. The Newton Centre branch of Wainwright Bank (gold)

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In a post yesterday, “livable communities” blogger Steve Miller suggested a healthy environment requires three things:

1. Smart Growth,
2. Active Transportation, and
3. Human-Scale Architecture.

This year, we’ve written about smart growth, some definitions of it, and how its principles might apply in the context of Newton. At the same time, a Mixed Use Task Force, created by Newton Mayor Setti Warren, worked to clarify the vision of the 2007 Newton Comprehensive Plan as it relates to large commercial/residential developments. These conversations should continue.

Also this year, the mayor founded a Transportation Advisory Committee , including Newton Villages co-founder Matt Cuddy, to help shape our transportation system, “enhance the quality of life in Newton’s neighborhoods and village centers,” involve a broad base of citizens in the conversation, and develop a long-term framework for policy and implementation. Good stuff.

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Mayor Warren is advocating the concept of Neighborhood Area Councils for each of our city’s villages. The idea is to improve communication and also empower the villages to manage their own affairs. (Because of the potential for improving the quality of life in Newton’s village centers, has been supporting this effort.)

The mayor’s interest is motivated largely by the success of Newton’s only ongoing Neighborhood Area Council, which is Newton Highlands.

Want to see what all the fuss is about? Your perfect chance is tonight, when the Newton Highlands NAC holds its first annual Town Hall meeting. The full press release is below.

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Inner Glow - Garnet by Marian Dioguardi (Oil on Cradled Panel, 2009)

Newton Villages has launched a partnership with the Newton Art Association to place Newton artists’ work in our village center businesses.

Our first project pairs artists John Borchard and Marian Dioguardi with Eunice Feller, co-owner of Bread & Chocolate. Eunice’s Newton Highlands location will rotate the artists’ pieces on a monthly basis.

Artists looking to participate should contact the Newton Art Association. Merchants wanting to host art, and volunteers looking to help with staging etc. should contact John Sisson.