UPDATE. Please note the earlier start time.

Mayor Setti Warren has created a task force, a group of more than 20 volunteers who are meeting over the summer to determine how the city should react to large real estate developments, especially three large parcels: Riverside Station, Chestnut Hill Square, and Needham/Oak Street.

The Mayor’s Mixed-Use Development Task Force is examining relationships between economic development, neighborhood and environmental impacts, and affects on housing, schools, and transportation. “Mixed-use” is a planning term that refers to the development of “housing, civic uses, and commercial uses, including retail, restaurants, and offices” in close proximity to take advantage of existing infrastructure and transportation networks. [Read more →]

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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Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 75th anniversary of the St. Mary of Carmen Society Festival in Nonantum.

The 2010 festival runs Thursday through Sunday and includes amusement rides, a midway, food vendors, and outdoor concerts. For hours and other details, please visit the society’s website or Facebook page, or download the festival flyer.

Founded in 1935 to help recent immigrants from from Italy, the society today continues to support religious and charitable activities.

Garden City Preservation Society (GCPS) has launched a website to provide information on the volunteer group’s efforts to restore the area surrounding the Newton Centre T Station.

GCPS has had a busy year so far, starting with a NewtonSERVES project in April to clean up the grounds and prepare the soil for planting. Since then, the group launched a Dahlia bulb fundraising drive and a held flea market in May to raise $1,500. In June, Weston Nurseries installed foundation plants, volunteers removed dead and diseased trees, and the MBTA provided mulch for the planting areas.

Those interested in this helping with this volunteer project may want to attend the group’s pot luck dinner at 6:30pm on Thursday, July 22nd. It will be hosted by Ward 6 Alderman-at-Large Vicki Danberg at 30 Chase Street in Newton Centre. Contact For more information, contact GCPS.

The next meeting of the Mayor’s Mixed-Used Task Force, which is charged with clarifying the City’s vision for any future large, mixed-use developments, will be held on July 15th, at 6:30 pm, at City Hall.  The public is welcome.

Here’s a quick heads-up on a project we’re developing with the Chamber of Commerce.

We want to find opportunities to improve our village centers, and have fun in the process. We’re going to run scavenger hunts in our villages’ business districts, starting this fall. Teams will go out with cameras and work through a list of challenges like:

• Photograph a GREAT window display
• Find a senior citizen walking in the village
• Find a block of metered parking spots that are all taken
• Find empty parking spots in a private lot that would probably be used if it were allowed

[Read more →]