On November 19th, Jay Walter, a Newton resident and experienced local architect, helped us to learn about the the changes the City Council is proposing to Newton’s current Zoning Ordinance, how those changes differ from current zoning, and what effect those changes will have on our community. View the presentation and audience Q&A.
With almost 90 participants, we had more questions than time to answer them. Find here answers to questions not addressed at the presentation.
On November 17 LWVN joined together with the Newton Free Library and Families Organizing for Racial Justice to present a virtual session with Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law, A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Mr. Rothstein argued with exacting precision and fascinating insight how segregation in America is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state and federal levels, and offered several concrete suggestions for how to address the housing and economic inequities caused by these policies.
During this virtual session, attendees also heard a conversation between library director, Ellen Meyers, and community activist, Richard Evans, who told his family’s story of encountering discrimination in the 1960’s during the state’s eminent domain taking of land for the construction of the Mass Pike bypass through Newton.
To wrap up the session, Newton City Councilor Deb Crossley introduced attendees to the efforts being made by the City Council to address housing inequities in Newton by engaging in a comprehensive review of Newton’s zoning codes.
If you were unable to listen in to this informative and engaging session, you can view the recording.
Today’s New York Times included a special section, Suffrage at 100: “To mark the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, we’re revisiting the stories of how women won the right to vote in the United States.”
On Tues. August 18th, Unfinished Work: Finish the Fight will premiere at 7:00pm ET. [Update: watch the recording on Youtube.] The Times describes it as “a virtual play, celebrating the unsung heroes of suffrage.”
“They were tireless organizers. Tenacious fighters. And political geniuses. They were Black and Latinx. Indigenous and immigrant. Together, they won women the right to vote and laid the cornerstone for gender equality in the United States. Yet their stories have rarely been told. Until now.
This August, we give voice to these heroes of the suffrage movement. Join us for the premiere of this innovative new performance. Learn why their fight is far from over.”
The LWV Climate Change Task Force would like to gather the League information for all League members who an interest in climate. We have over 1000 League members on our list, so together we make powerful state and regional networks. Please let us know your League by filling out the form at the link below.
Coalition Letter Urges Action on Electrification of Vehicles as COVID-19 Pandemic Highlights the Dangers of Air Pollution
The Massachusetts Zero Emission Vehicle Coalition and its partners, which includes the Newton EV Task Force and League of Women Voters Massachusetts, recently sent the Department of Transportation and Department of Environmental Protection a letter urging the following action by the State: “Set a goal and create an action plan for all vehicles to be electric by 2040. Commit to all electric transit and school bus fleets by 2035. Commit to complete electrification of state and municipal fleets by 2035. Establish goals and incentive programs for the conversion of private vehicle fleets.”
The COVID-19 pandemic makes the transition to cleaner electric vehicles even more urgent as, “People with COVID-19 who live in US Regions with high levels of air pollution are more likely to die from the disease than people who live in less polluted areas.” Middlesex County has the second highest level of air pollution particulate matter in Massachusetts, much of it concentrated along the Mass Pike and 128 (A Clean Transportation System for my Patients).
Transportation accounts for the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts. Setting a goal and creating an action plan for electrification of vehicles is an important step toward achieving the State’s ambitious net zero emissions limit. It’s time for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to make good on the Governor’s Earth Day 2020 pledge for an aggressive, science-based, net-zero emissions limit.
Newton’s Climate Action Plan, officially adopted on November, 11, 2019, as a part of the City’s Comprehensive Plan, includes the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Recently the City made a step towards this goal by converting the NewMo, senior transportation vehicles, to hybrid vehicles.
At the LWVUS Convention in June, the League of Women Voters of Araphoe and Douglas Counties proposed a resolution that calls for an immediate, wide-scale, mobilization by the United States that restores, protects, and funds an ecologically sustainable environment and climate, based on an interrelated approach that is environmentally sound, science-based, just and equitable, and dedicated to appropriately addressing the speed and scale of the global climate change emergency. This resolution was passed at the convention by an overwhelming majority, thereby reenforcing the LWVUS commitment to the environment.
Read the complete letter from the Massachusetts Zero Emission Vehicle Coalition.