Category — Upper Falls

Join Historic Newton volunteers for walking tours of two of the city’s historic villages, both of which sprang to life around the mill industry on the Charles River.

Lower Falls circa 1905, from the collection of Historic Newton. Click for more historic images.

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You may have thought once or twice before, “Why do developers do our planning for us?  They tell us what they want, and we react.  Why don’t we have our own vision?”

Mayor Warren has convened a committee to create that vision–the Comprehensive Plan Mixed Use Task Force (MUTF). The group is led by the rightly esteemed Phil Herr, who led the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee that gave us our 2007 Plan.

[NOTE:  Two Newton Villagers (Andrea Kelley and John Pears) are serving on the MUTF.  As updates on the MUTF work are available, we will post them here.]

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As I hope everyone knows, Newton Highlands’ Village Day is tomorrow.  To the unwitting observer, this would seem unrelated to the recent beautification work I observed a couple of weeks ago.

In fact, the two are intimately connected, and made possible through the Newton Highlands Neighborhood Area Council (NHNAC).

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Last week, Newton Villages hosted Emmy Hahn of Massachusetts Downtown Initiative (MDI) for a tour of city’s village centers.  Hahn has extensive and broad experience in revitalizing downtowns:  she directed the downtown revitalization program in New Bedford, and has coordinated MDI–a statewide educational and technical assistance program to improve downtowns in Massachusetts–for several years.  She knows a lot about downtowns.

During her visit to Newton, while she toured several village centers (plus Needham Street) with a crew of Newton Villagers and others, one concept dominated all others: Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).

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According to the recommendations of the  Citizen Advisory Group (2009) and the City of Newton’s Comprehensive Plan (2007), our city’s long-term financial health will require moderate growth — some commercial and some residential development.

The Comprehensive Plan recommends “Flexible Moderate Growth” that “involves preservation of Newton’s residential amenities, strengthening of business in Newton’s village centers, and promotion of commercial development along Newton’s commercial corridors.” (Comprehensive Plan, page 6-7)

So, where can Newton grow? [Read more →]