The NCNA Zoom meeting began at 7:30 PM with all four of our City Councilors and 30+ NCNA members in attendance.

Our first order of business was a shout-out to Nate Gibson for his efforts on behalf of the neighborhood. Not only has Nate been an active and persistent advocate on our behalf with the Department of Transportation, he has also assumed responsibility for ensuring that our streets remain lit (and safe) at night. Thank you, Nate!

Economic Development in Newton Corner:

Our special guest for the evening was John Sisson, the Director of Economic Development for the City of Newton. John sees himself as the city’s “concierge.” His function is to connect people with each other and with needed resources. He does not enforce rules but instead uses the tools that the city has at its disposal to facilitate development. These tools include determining how land is to be used for residential and commercial purposes and how commercial enterprises are regulated.

John began by recognizing the current economic conditions in Newton Corner. These include store vacancies, challenging pedestrian experiences, and a decrease in foot traffic due to the reduction of MBTA busses, all of which work against having a vibrant village center. He noted that the health of a village center depends on having people, and people, in turn, need housing, jobs, and transportation — all of which are inextricably linked. When asked what changes in Newton Corner would attract more retail, restaurant, and service uses, John replied that while economic growth is a slow process and takes place in incremental stages, he felt more people on the streets are needed to spend money and visit stores.

Newton Corner differs from other villages in many ways, including the presence of the turnpike rotary and a micro-economy which includes a significant amount of office space. Another guest, Kevin Sheehan, a cofounder of Greatland Realty Partners, addressed this issue. GRP owns commercial properties in Newton Corner. In response to the question, “How do we promote the creation of great spaces where people want to be?” Kevin summarized a 3 step linear process of development. This process begins with the presence of people settling into a desirable area. It is followed by retail investment and, finally, by companies choosing that location because of a good base of labor and existing amenities. He noted that the second step, creating a successful retail investment, has two main challenges. The first is encouraging business owners to make the necessary investment. Individual business owners may have a hard time justifying investment and risk on their own. They may need to be subsidized with successes made by larger investments. The second challenge is labor costs.

Jeremy Freid, a senior partner at 128CRE (Commercial Real Estate Brokerage), acknowledged that Newton Corner’s biggest asset — proximity to the Mass Pike — is also its biggest challenge. It is not an easily walkable village. While there are some long-standing businesses, such as Buff’s Pub, attracting other forms of retail and even offices has been a challenge.

The NCNA would like to thank John, Kevin, and Jeremy for taking the time to share their expertise with us.

Understanding the Teacher’s Strike and Moving On:

While it is not our purpose to rehash the details of the negotiation and strike, it is interesting — in retrospect — to look again at what happened from the two perspectives that were trying to reach an agreement.

Rajeev Parlikar, School Committee Member, Ward 1, submitted the following statement:

“It is a standard practice in all types of negotiations to package together related items. This is because a change to one item would have an impact on related items. For example, an increase in COLA could reduce funding available for benefits or vice versa. It is not at all unusual to offer and negotiate on package proposals as part of an overall contract negotiation. There is also no “take it or leave it” implication since a package proposal covers only some items within the overall contract. “

Michael Burch, Health and Wellness teacher at Bigelow Middle School and member of the NTA negotiation team, described his negotiation experience at the meeting. I have summarized it below.

“Negotiations began in October of 2022. The teams worked well together until the discussions entered a new phase when items under consideration were packaged together in a series of “take it or leave it” proposals. The presence of a mediator prevented face-to-face communication between the NTA and the School Committee. The NTA refused to join the school district’s filing that they were at an impasse because they believed progress could be made without the packages. This ultimately led to the strike.”

Both Councilors Alison Leary and Marc Laredo noted that virtually all of the city council came together as one in trying to urge both sides to return to the table and talk directly to one another.

Enough history. Moving on, the question now is, “Where do we go from here?”

Councilor Alison Leary made the following observations:

• Our tax base is 84% residential; the city lacks a commercial tax base.

• 65% of our budget goes to the schools

• The lack of city’s growth and tax base don’t give us enough money

• We need to consider a tax override with the bulk of the money going to schools.

• We also need to increase tax opportunities — both commercial and through growth.

• There is a perception that the schools have been underfunded for years.

• Educators have done all they could to raise the alarm, yet it felt like the message they were trying to send was not being received.

• The mental health crisis is a reality that has not been addressed.

Demie Stathoplos was concerned about the conversation and level of suspicion and attacks between the School Committee and the NTA. She asked how we can have these conversations without attacking motivations.

Councilor Marc Laredo also said that the tax base was critical. In response to John Sisson’s comments regarding village center vibrancy, Marc suggested that it was not density per se that led to vibrancy but the perception that the village center was a comfortable place to be, that it was safe, and the stores met people’s needs.

Councilor Laredo then stated that he has asked Councilor John Oliver to head up a group to see what the Council can do to explain city finances and what we can do working together to rebuild trust in the city.

Christie Gibson, a mother of two at the Underwood with considerable experience in financing in the performing arts, made a slide presentation entitled “Newton needs to vote for an Operating Override to restore our budget.” Her points included the following:

• Inflation has decreased our spending power as a city by 11% or $55 million since 2020

• There was no mention of inflation in the messaging around the failed Override Proposal in 2023

• Schools were lowballed within the budget at 57% of the override proposed vs 65% of actual budget

• Wording implied that most of the override would fund new investments in projects and infrastructure improvements to be completed in Fiscal Year 2023-24

• We need an infusion into the budget to catch up City employees’ pay to historic and highly unusual three-year inflation.

Her petition to call on Mayor Fuller to put an Override to Restore Newton’s Budget on the ballot can be seen at:

https://www.change.org/p/override-to-restore-newton-s-budget?source_location=search

The response to her presentation was as follows:

Councilor Marc Laredo:

1. There is still a gap due to inflation but it is not quite was large as Christie suggested because inflation has grown interest in the city’s investments. The actual rate of increase in city funds is 4% for the year.

2. While he is very supportive of what Christie is trying to do, it is important to realize that only 20% of the city have children in public schools. 80% of the population doesn’t have any skin in the game. We need to build a compelling case to convince them to spend money. An override will require a lot of work.

Councilor Maria Scibelli Greenberg thanked Christie for her deep dive into the number and supported her ideas as part of a multi-prong approach to dealing with the city’s financing. The last override was not marketed well and didn’t educated the residents as it needed to.

Councilor Alison Leary: The override needs to be carefully planned. The Council needs to work with the Mayor in deciding where to go - in particular on such issues as the potential merger of or closing of Underwood and Ward schools.

Councilor John Oliver: The override might be part of the future picture as we course-correct, but that is part of the conversation.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40. Thanks to all for their attendance and participation.

In a departure from our normal scheduling, the next meeting of the NCNA will be held on Wednesday, March 13 at 7:30 PM.

Our Zoom link for this meeting is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89295885023?pwd=eFN6bkViSCsvMlk5VWR5bHMwNTFBUT09

Meeting ID: 892 9588 5023

Passcode: 692182

Hope to see you there.

Warm regards,

Robin Z Boger, President

Newton Corner Neighborhood Association