Ward 4 Councilor Chris Markiewicz recently shared this memo written by the Inspectional Services Commissioner, John Lojek, to the Mayor, regarding delays with the Turtle Lane project. In 2016, the City Council voted to approve a special permit request to preserve the existing theatre space, construct an addition to the…
Fig City News
In 1970, the committee work on the Board of Aldermen was often conducted in private. The public and Aldermen were, at the whim of the chair, prohibited from attending committee meetings. With the decision to prohibit the public from using graphics at Zoning Redesign meetings, is ZAP returning to those…
NOTE: The complaint and inquest linked from this article contain graphic images and descriptive language regarding the events that led up to and include the shooting. The family of Michael Conlon, a Newton Highlands resident who was fatally shot by Newton Police officers two years ago, filed a wrongful death…
As a parent invested in the NPS’ success, it gives me no pleasure to OPPOSE the Operating Override. An overwhelming number of parents[1] feels NPS is NOT headed in the right direction. Newton first needs to acknowledge the problem and develop a plan to fix it, before seeking override funds.…
January and February may be the best months to buy a new electric vehicle (EV). Before March, there are fewer limitations on qualifying for the full $7500 tax credit. January and February Rules Right now and continuing beyond March, tax credits up to $7500 are offered for purchases of clean…
The Full City Council voted to approve two projects that had been chartered by Ward 4 Councilor Lenny Gentile at the last City Council meeting in December 2022 (see Fig City News article). Councilor Gentile started by stating that he opposes both of the projects because of their size and…
Fig City News launched on June 27, 2022 with the premiere issues of both Fig City Local Government Meetings & Reports (covering City Hall) and Fig City News (offering local news and community announcements). In the half-year since, these were our most-viewed news stories:
On Thursday morning, a truck heading eastbound on the Massachusetts Turnpike hit the Auburn Street bridge in Auburndale. The truck’s pneumatic lift had suddenly released and became wedged in a steel beam on the overpass. According to former Ward 4 City Councilor Jay Harney, a longtime Auburndale resident who came…
Mayor Ruthanne Fuller has proposed a tax override and two debt exclusions, each of which, if approved by voters, will increase Newton’s property taxes to fund the purposes associated with each. (The Mayor also proposed exemptions to mitigate the effects of these tax increases on economically vulnerable taxpayers.) Newton voters…
Newton Teachers Association leaders discussed several topics related to Newton Public Schools, as well as their support for teacher strikes in other Massachusetts districts, in the latest NTA President’s Blog post published on January 2, 2023. UPDATE: The School Committee provided an update on collective bargaining in its meeting on…
Carefully sorting through colorful, donated children’s clothing, Christie Webber and more than a dozen of her colleagues from Norwood’s HMI Performance Incentives happily returned to volunteer at Cradles to Crayons after a two-year absence due to the Covid pandemic. The nonprofit, located at 281 Newtonville Avenue, recently marked 20 years…
On Monday, the Newton Public Schools district, in consultation with the City’s Health and Human Services Department, announced its strong recommendation that all NPS staff and students wear face coverings for the first two weeks of school following the December break. With “a rise of absences of both students and…