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 →]