If you share an interest in planning for the future of Newton’s village centers, please consider voicing your thoughts at one of Mayor Setti Warren’s upcoming town hall meetings.

After presenting a capital improvement plan presentation and budget forecast to the Board of Alderman last month, the mayor is holding a series public meetings around town to solicit feedback directly from residents.

Specifically, the mayor and his staff want to hear about infrastructure issues residents that concern residents. These meetings are open to all residents and merchants. Schedule:

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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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With help of the Newton Highlands Neighborhood Area Council, the Waban Improvement Society and Alderman John Rice, we are proud to announce the publication of our Guide to Planning a Village Day. (Also, we want to say a big thanks to volunteers Sean Pears for writing the booklet and Betsy Blazar for designing it!)

The Guide outlines all of the moving pieces that have to come together to make a street fair work in Newton.  Although many of our villages have a Village Day or the equivalent, some still do not.  We’re talking to you: Newtonville, West Newton, Auburndale…. What are you waiting for? And as you ponder the possibilities in your own village, don’t forget to check out Upper Falls’ Heritage Day this Sunday.

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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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 →]