On August 21, 2025, the School Committee held its annual summer retreat at the Newton Education Center. All Committee Members — including Mayor Ruthanne Fuller — were present at the meeting, with the exception of Committee Members Rajeev Parlikar (Ward 1) and Barry Greenstein (Ward 8). They were joined by Newton Public…
Posts published by “Theo Younkin”
At 11AM on August 21, the property at 283 Melrose Street in Auburndale — formerly home to the Turtle Lane Playhouse and currently home to a failed real estate development — was slated to be auctioned off live. However, one hour earlier that morning, the property’s current owner — Turtle Lane LLC…
Construction of a much-anticipated traffic calming project at the intersection of Waverley Avenue and Franklin Street is underway. For years, abutters had noticed the high volume of traffic accidents at the intersection and pushed the City to implement a speed-reducing raised table. The project was approved by the City Council…
Since 2011, local nonprofit Newton at Home has been on a mission to help older Newton residents age in place with dignity and independence. The organization, which is built on a membership system and a neighbors-helping-neighbors style of community, connects “members” — older adults looking for support — with a network of…
On August 1, Director of Transportation Planning Jenn Martin and Director of Planning and Development Barney Heath sent an update to the Newton City Council regarding the recently launched Washington Street Pilot project. Construction began in the spring and is expected to be completed in the fall. The project, which…
On July 1, waste collection workers at Republic Services, one of the largest waste management companies in the country, went on strike in Massachusetts, leaving communities across the state grappling with overflowing dumpsters. The strike is now in its fifth week. On July 10, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller and Director of…
On Wednesday, July 9, the City Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee met to consider the “current state of Newton’s commercial office space,” as the Committee’s agenda described the discussion item. According to the agenda, the discussion was intended to focus on new commercial office leases, the current commercial office space…
On Thursday, June 26, the West Newton Cinema held a screening of two films by award-winning Japanese American filmmaker Eimi Imanishi: Battalion to My Beat, a short film released in 2017, and an excerpt from Imanishi’s upcoming feature, Nomad Shadow (earlier title, DOHA: The Rising Sun). The event was part…
On June 2, eight out of the School Committee’s nine members held their regularly scheduled meeting and discussed student cell phone policy, physical education curriculum, policies on gifts and support organizations like PTOs, the five-year strategic plan, and the Superintendent’s evaluation. (Ward 8 Committee Member Barry Greenstein was absent.) The…
On May 19, the Newton City Council voted unanimously to approve Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s proposed $623 million FY2026 budget. (Ward 6 Councilor Alan Lobovits and Ward 3 Councilor Pamela Wright were absent.) The Council took several different votes regarding the appropriation of various funds for FY2026 before the final vote…