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Elections

Volunteer Opportunity – Celebration of the Adoption of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Dear Members,

Women’s Equality Day is celebrated in the United States on August 26 to commemorate the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex.

In preparation for this important day this summer, the Board is looking for members who have an interest in history, excitement for this important achievement for women, time and energy to help plan event(s).

If you are interested, please send an email to info@lwvnewton.org and let us know how you would like to be involved.

Sincerely,

Marcia Johnson

The League Presents: Civics with author Gloria Gavris

Gloria Gavris, a Newton resident, joined Marcia Johnson for a conversation about her book E is for Election Day.   During the conversation we learn about Gloria’s early involvement in elections and civic engagement in her home town of Everett Massachusetts.  At an early age she became involved in her father and brother’s campaigns for local office.

Gloria also shared how she has been working with educators to help students, of all ages, learn more about elections and how they can become actively involved.  She shares how her book became something special to her and some of the 2016 presidential candidates.  It is fascinating!

With the 2020 presidential, congressional and state legislative campaigns in full-swing, Gloria shares ideas on how parents can use this book as an educational tool to help their families learn, real-time, more about the election process.

What did LWVN do this week? The Pollworkers’ Party and the Supper for Elected Officials

Newton celebrated our Pollworkers on Tuesday, January 21st!

The Newton Election Commission and City Clerk’s office, along with LWVN, thanked our hard-working pollworkers with a supper on Tuesday, January 21st.  LWVN supplied the cakes, paper goods and drinks.  Many thanks to LWVN volunteers Alice Donisi-Feehan, Frieda Dweck, Sue Flicop, Marcia Johnson, and Sharyn Roberts for all their help in providing these items and greeting pollworkers.

City Clerk David Olson noted that there are FOUR elections to come in 2020, starting with the Presidential Primary and Newton City Referendum, both on March 3, followed by the State Primary on September 1 and the Presidential Election on November 3.  If you can be a pollworker on any of these dates, please contact the Newton Election office at elections@newtonma.gov.

 

LWVN Supper for Election Officials on Wednesday, January 22nd

As we’ve done every two years, LWVN provided a light supper for our newly elected officials as well as Election Commission members to celebrate the new session.  Many thanks to Frieda Dweck, Sue Flicop, Marcia Johnson, Andrea Kozinetz, and Sharyn Roberts for their help!  We hosted approximately a dozen City Councilors before their meetings at City Hall, 1 School Committee member, 1 Election Commissioner, Mayor Fuller and several staff members.

A Successful LWVN EVENT – Saturday Night at the Races

On  Saturday, November 2, from 5 to 7 p.m, LWVN and its co-sponsors: Green Newton,  Mothers Out Front, Newton Conservators, Newton Cuncil on Aging,  Newton Needham Regional Chamber, 350 Mass for a Better Future and Welcoming Newton hosted Newton’s first ever Saturday Night at the Races.

The goal of this evening was to provide voters an opportunity to learn more  about city council candidate positions on important challenges and issues that Newton is facing today.  Therefore all city councilor candidates, whether they had a challenger or not were invited for this evening.  We are pleased that the following City Councilor candidates spent the evening with us:

At-Large Councilor Candidates:  Ward 1 – Alison Leary;  Ward 2 – Susan Albright, Jake Auchincloss, Jennifer Bentley, Tarik Lucas; Ward 3 – Jim Cote, Andrea Kelley, Pam Wright; Ward 5– Deb Crossley, Andrea Downs; Ward 6 – Alicia Bowman, Vicki Danberg, Greg Schwartz; Ward 7 – Becky Grossman, Mark Laredo; and Ward 8 – David Kalis, Rick Lipof

Ward Councilor Candidates:  Ward 1 – Allan Ciccone, Maria Scibelli Greenberg; Ward 2 – Bryan Barash; Ward 3 – Julia Malakie, Carolina Ventura; Ward 4 – Chris Markiewicz;  Ward 5 – Bill Humphrey, Kathryn Winters; Ward 6 – Lisa Gordon, Brenda Noel;  Ward 7 – Mark Laredo, surrogate for Lisle Baker and Ward 8 – Holly Ryan

Many thanks go toall of the volunteers for the evening with a special shout-out to the LWVN  team of Bonnie Carter, Lucia Dolan, Sue Flicop, Lois Levin, and Sharyn Roberts who made this very successful event happen.  It was LWVN at its finest!

Remember….think global, vote local on November 5th!

LWVN supports the proposed Northland project

September 24, 2019

Newton City Council
Land Use Committee
Newton City Hall

Dear Chairman Schwartz and Members of the Land Use Committee,

The League of Women Voters of Newton (LWVN) supports the proposed Northland project because it leverages underutilized space that offers substantial improvements for Newton residents.  With this development we will be able to work towards our common goals of increasing housing diversity; mitigating the use of cars; creating new recreational open space; encouraging walking, biking, and use of the Greenway; attracting new shops, restaurants, and other kinds of employers and increasing our commercial tax base.

In the Globe article NIMBY? Not in these cities and towns Watertown, our neighbor, was cited as an example “In Watertown, which permitted 1,296 housing units in the four-year period, Community Development and Planning director Steve Magoon credited the town’s regulatory and elected boards with making the tough decisions needed to allow projects to go forward”.  We believe that Newton should also continue to step up to address the housing crisis in the metro Boston area.

The Newton City Council over the past few years made the difficult decisions to approve both the Austin Street and Washington Place projects.  With the Northland project, the City Council of 2018-2019 once again has the opportunity to make another tough decision and do the right thing by approving this development.

Northland’s proposal will provide a diversity of housing options that Newton needs, with an alternative to single-family homes, which many people – from young professionals, to seniors looking to downsize, to people who work in Newton – are looking for but cannot find right now.

  • It will increase the housing supply overall and provide much-needed affordable units.
  • With the newest proposal, 17.5% of the units will be affordable, producing 140 new affordable units, including 120 of affordable units at a blended 65% of AMI and 20 units of work-force housing for persons at 80 to 110% of AMI

The developer is committed to sustainability and is working with Green Newton to maximize environmentally-friendly features, including those listed below.

  • Passive House design in three buildings, exploration of Passive House design in the five remaining residential buildings and LEED for Neighborhood Development certifiability throughout.
  • The development will create new connections to the Greenway, plant 600 new trees, and will include 10 acres of active open-space available for public use.

And finally, the project will generate increased tax revenue for the City.

Overall, the combination of increased housing diversity, environmentally-friendly design, added green space, and additional tax income provide an opportunity that LWVN encourages the City Council to support.

 

Sincerely,

 

Marcia Johnson

President, League of Women Voters, Newton