Rethinking Borderline. Should I continue this blog?

I feel bad about blogging. Lately it's been hard to come up with posts, and when I do, it seems that a lot of readers don't like what I have to say.

There're other problems, too. It takes a lot of time to blog. Borderline has written something like 200 or 300 posts since 2005, and some of them take many hours to write, research, or maintain, such as the ones listed on this page. I can't write this stuff during the day, it's always at night or on the weekend, or when I have a day off from work. I'm writing this post right now at 10:30 pm on a Saturday night. So blogging is taking away from my free time, which I could otherwise be spending with my family, or doing other more productive things around the house, or just relaxing.

And I don't make any money on this blog. Not one red cent. I know I could make some money using Google Adsense or the Boston Blogs advertising banner, but it just seems ... wrong. I really did start Borderline out of a labor of love, talking about all of the interesting things about Waltham and Newton, and to add commercials just takes away from the independent spirit that I want to have on Borderline. As regular Borderline readers know, I love tweaking the nose of the establishment and business community, which includes companies, connected people, and mainstream media titans. It would seem hypocritical to start taking money from this group, even if it was only indirectly through the automatic advertising banners that Google uses with Adsense.

So what should I do? Take a break? Sell it? Open it up to other writers? Give it up?

Borderline interviews Newton Alderman Ken Parker: Mayor Cohen, Newton North, CPA, Hannon, Verizon discussed

Borderline from time to time interviews local residents and pols on the weighty issues of the day. Well, actually only one time -- with Guive Mirfendereski, back in April of 2006. But I have invited other people to participate in the interviews, anyone who wants to talk about life and issues in Newton or Waltham (email Borderline at borderlineblog@gmail.com if you are interested), and someone recently responded: Newton Alderman Ken Parker.

Parker agreed to the ground rules of the Borderline interview format, which are as follows:

1. I choose the questions.

2. I will publish everything you have to say in your reply, and it
will not be edited down for space considerations, like a newspaper. It
may be spread into multiple posts if it is long, however.

3. There is one exception to No. 2: If your reply contains something
that could get me into legal trouble (i.e., plagiarism, defamation) I
will send the reply back and ask you to revise before printing.
Otherwise I won't print that reply.

4. You can choose not to answer a question, but that will be noted in
the transcript.

Parker generously agreed, so here is the complete transcript of the interview. Note that Borderline sent the questions on Dec 4, 2006 and he replied on January 9, 2007.

Borderline: In the most recent issue [Nov. 29, 2006] of the Newton Tab, you've reacted to Mayor Cohen's budget plans as failing to take into account critical expenditures. In your opinion, what are the three issues that will cause the most grief for Newton's budget in the next five years?

Parker: Mayor Cohen’s budget practices are irresponsible and unrealistic. He has been diverting funds from the operating budget for years to set aside for the NNHS project, while cutting teachers and other city staff. In his budget forecast, he predicts that at the end of five years the City will have a $9 million budget deficit. The Blue Ribbon Commission’s draft report on budget forecasting predicts that the deficit will be $36 million if Mayor Cohen’s practices continue. You can read their draft report here:
http://util.wickedlocal.com/multimedia/newton/Draft.pdf

In addition, the Blue Ribbon Commission chides Mayor Cohen for neglecting infrastructure. Was this neglect forced upon the Mayor? No, he had better choices available to him. For the past few years, Mayor Cohen has been setting aside millions of dollars each year in a fund for the Newton North High School Project, while cutting teachers, firefighters and police.

During the most recent budget process this past spring, Mayor Cohen cut the funds for preventive maintenance of City Buildings by 37.7%. Even after the Board of Aldermen passed a unanimous resolution asking him to restore the $70 thousand he had cut, he maintained that he did not have the funds to do so. Only after members of the Board of Aldermen wrote to him and continued to highlight the issue publicly did he relent and restore the cut.

If the Mayor goes ahead with his borrowing plan for Newton North High School, we can expect further cuts in teachers firefighters and police, as well as continued neglect of City infrastructure.

Borderline: What do you find most encouraging about the plans for the new Newton North High School?

Parker: I am encouraged that after years of insisting on a hybrid renovation of the existing building, the Mayor finally came around to the position that many of us have long held in favor of building a new school. Of course, the problem is that that Mayor’s plan for a new school is overpriced and fails to address serious educational, financing, environmental and safety concerns, but since he changed his position on whether to build a new school, I am hopeful that he may yet end his refusal to compromise regarding the site plan and financing plan.

Borderline: What worries you most about the NNHS rebuilding project?

Parker: Paying for it. The Mayor wants to build an overpriced school with a sprawled-out design that requires additional foundation work, specialized construction to build irregular corners, demolition and reconstruction of the existing stadium, and depression of the stadium below grade. The bottom line is that the Mayor’s plan will cost more than $325 per square foot to construct. When you add $20 million in soft costs, you get a total project cost of $375 per square foot. Compare this price tag with the cost of the last six public high schools built in Massachusetts. Their construction costs ranged from $146 to $189 per square foot. Adjusted to inflation to the midpoint of the NNHS project (2008), those six schools would cost an average of $229 per square foot to build.

The problem with the Mayor’s financing plan is that he uses more than 94% of new school-related borrowing over the next five years on this one project, leaving us less than 6% to deal with the pressing needs at many of our elementary and middle schools. In fact, the Mayor’s financing plan for NNHS uses up 88% of all new borrowing for the next five years. That leaves very little for renovating our fire stations and other crumbling infrastructure let alone the estimated $100 million of work needed on our other schools.

Borderline: Why should or shouldn't the Newton South athletic fields be "astroturfed" using CPA funds, as opposed to School or City funds, which have been used to tend the fields in the past?

Parker: First, please allow me to make a comment on the phrasing of your question. "Astroturf" is like a green rug placed over concrete. It is a terrible, unsafe playing surface and is not being considered in Newton (or anywhere else these days). The surface being considered for Newton South High School’s fields is in-filled synthetic turf, which is a soft, multi-layered playing surface being used at many municipal, university, and professional playing fields around the country.

That correction having been stipulated, I’ll proceed to answer your question. I have been pointing out to the Mayor for years that the fields at Newton South High School are unusable most of the time. In fact, I have proposed repeated budget resolutions to that effect, several of which passed the Board of Aldermen unanimously. For years, the Mayor ignored this problem, but, to his credit, he endorsed the proposal of the NEWTURF group, led by Ted Tye, to create new in-filled synthetic turf fields at Newton South High School.

I strongly support creating playable new fields at Newton South by approving the NEWTURF initiative.

So that bring us to the question of how to pay for the new fields. While my preference would have been to see the fields included in the NSHS renovation project (which I advocated at the time) or paid for out of our Capital Improvement Plan and Supplemental Capital Budget (which I proposed repeatedly with unanimous support from my colleagues on the Board of Aldermen), I was not in a position to dictate terms, so I accepted the Mayor’s preferred funding source (CPA funds).

That having been said, as soon as I realized that my colleagues on the Board of Aldermen were not comfortable appropriating CPA funds for this purpose, I asked the Mayor to switch the funding source to general-fund backed borrowing, which I have been told (through an intermediary) that he has agreed to do.

Borderline: What have residents been telling you about their feelings concerning use of the CPA funds for NSHS astroturf?

Parker: Most of my calls and emails have been in favor of the NEWTURF initiative. People point out that the current fields are unusable and that on such a wet site, a natural grass field is not a viable option, since even with an expensive new drainage system, it would turn to mud for a considerable period of time after we get much rain, where as in-filled synthetic turf can be playable right after it rains.

Many people have also pointed out to me that synthetic turf can be played on three-times as much as natural grass (it won’t die if you abuse it) and that it costs much less to maintain (no need for watering, re-seeding, or mowing).

There is also some people who just hate the idea of synthetic sports fields. Some of these people have indicated to me that they hate sports fields, period. They want to see fields kept pure and natural without teams of kids running around on them. To be fair, others of this group don’t hate sports, just synthetic turf.

Also, a small group of neighbors has expressed opposition to the project, but some of them say they will be okay with it if there are no lights (there aren’t) and if concerns about noise and screening are addressed. There may be one or two of them who will not be happy with any playing field in their backyard.

Finally, there is a small but very vocal group of people who object to the use of CPA funds, but say they have no problem with the artificial surface itself. I wonder what will happen when CPA funds are no longer the proposed funding source for the project—will these people drop their opposition to NEWTURF or will they come up with new reasons to oppose it?

Borderline: You talk of supporting the Municipal WiFi for Newton. Considering most households already have high-speed access, what's the point?

Parker: I don’t just talk of supporting Municipal WiFi, I have been working on bringing it to Newton for more than three years, and it looks like we are close to success! I assume that Borderline is joking when asking what the point is, since comparing municipal WiFi to wired high-speed access is like comparing an airplane to a train. Depending on where you’re going, the train may get you there just as fast, but there are many places the train just won’t work and many things it just can’t do.

If all you are interested in is getting on the Internet while sitting at your desk at home, then RCN or Comcast or even your buddies at Verizon may meet your needs (for a pretty penny). But what if you want to surf the web in a public park? Or check your email at a store? Or watch a movie on your laptop at a friend’s house (who doesn’t have a high-speed connection). Then, you want municipal WiFi.

And for folks who are dependent on Internet access for their work, WiFi provides a great backup to your wired connection. RCN down? No problem, you can still download the presentation before rushing off to an important meeting or conference. Just log on to the free WiFi service (one free hour per day anywhere in Newton).

Another advantage for Newton residents, is that municipal WiFi offers another choice for high-speed residential Internet access. A choice that is expected to cost about half what folks are paying now for Comcast, RCN, and Verizon. That not only benefits people who make the switch, it also helps to keep prices low for the other service providers who want to keep their existing customers.

But the most important reason to have Municipal WiFi is that it gives access to City Departments to improve services and public safety. With municipal WiFi, the Fire Department will be able to download building plans from the scene of a fire, getting people out more quickly with less chance of loss of life. They will also be able to locate an address more quickly. By a similar token, the police will be better able to send a picture of a suspect to their colleagues in another community, before that suspect gets away or commits another crime. The Public Works Department will be able to read water meters remotely, saving the time and expense of sending an employee to your home. Better yet, if one of your pipes springs a leak while you are on vacation, you can be notified by a message to your cell phone, so that you can have a neighbor turn off your water service before your house floods.

And municipal WiFi will not only improve City services, it will also save a great deal of money. Free WiFi access will allow us to replace cell phones with wireless Voice-Over IP phones. It will allow us to use employee time more efficiently by directing parking meter enforcement officers to meters that are actually expired, so that they don’t waste their time wandering around looking at meters with plenty of time remaining.

It can also help to clean up our parks, as smart trash cans can signal our Parks and Recreation Department when they are nearly full, so that they do not overflow.

There are a great many more advantages to municipal WiFi. You can read about them in my recent Newton TAB column, which you can find here:
http://www.kenparker.org/WiFi_TAB_112906.html

You can also find the terms of the agreement I negotiated with Galaxy Internet here:
http://www.kenparker.org/GIS_WiFi_Offer_062106.pdf

Borderline: What's your stance on Verizon to get access to the Newton cable market? Considering some of their underhanded lobbying efforts (see http://borderlinenewtonwaltham.blogspot.com/2006/11/despite-hynesnew-media-strategics.html), is this the type of company that should be allowed to do business in Newton?

My initial instinct is to be repulsed by the kind of tactics you describe, but having read your blog entry, I’m still not sure which law Verizon has broken. Please send me more information on this topic and I will check with the City of Newton Law Department to see if Verizon’s franchise application (that was recently signed by Mayor Cohen) is legal. My big concern was that they tried (illegally, I am sure) to enter the Newton cable market without contributing to our public access station, NewTV. However, my understanding is that they finally agreed to honor their obligations under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and pay a portion of their proceeds to support Newton public access television. If I have this wrong or am missing something, please fill me in.

Borderline: Why should or shouldn't the City of Newton buy Pat Hannon's property adjoining Crystal Lake?

Parker: I have been working on this issue for about as long as the Newton WiFi proposal. I strongly support acquiring this parcel (with CPA funds) as it is a perfect addition to the public swimming area on Crystal Lake and the upper portion of the site would make a great park.

That having been said, Mayor Cohen may have ended any chance of the deal going through by low-balling Pat Hannon with an offer half a million less than the property’s assessed value. My understanding is that Mr. Hannon has listed the property with a broker and indicated that he is no longer willing to sell his property to the City after the Mayor’s low offer.

Borderline: Are you interested in running for any other city or state office?

Parker: Yeah, sure. You have something in mind?

Another Newton niche blog about hating Brian Camenker

The Newton Tab blog pointed me to another Newton niche blog -- Hate Resistance, which seems to be focused on attacking Brian Camenker, the former Newton Taxpayers Association head who made quite a stir a few years back when he tried to videotape ToBGLADay activities at Newton North.

Even though Camenker has quieted down in the past few years -- or, as one post suggests, moved to Waltham -- the writer of "Hate Resistance" is not letting this stuff fade into memory. This author is pissed, and wants everyone to know about it.

An unusual niche blog from Newton

This is impressive for a Newton niche blog: Newton Streets and Sidewalks, which talks about life on the Garden City's paved surfaces. This guy really has a passion for this topic. Who knew?

For more Newton and Waltham blogs focused on niches or local community issues, be sure to check out the blogroll on the front page of Borderline (scroll down, it's on the right side of the page below the archive.) Also, email Borderline if you have a blog you'd like to add to the list.

Where to see Good Xmas Light Displays in Newton and Waltham

For the past few nights, Borderline has been checking out some of the displays in and around our Borderline area. Here's a short list of houses and streets that are worth a drive-by, or walk-by, especially if you've got smallish kids.

Most ornate houses:

• Lexington Street, Newton, near the "back entrance" to the Burr School athletic fields. There's a very elaborate light show at one house there, and just down the street (in the direction of Waltham) there is a group of lit-up houses and yards, too.


• Near the intersection of Crafts and Watertown Street in Newton. This is just one block north of the fire station at that intersection. Someone did a pretty good job getting lights all over the frame of this house, plus some displays in the yard.


• The Blue House, Cherry Street where it meets the Waltham line. This house likes blue lights. You can't miss it!

Neighborhoods and streets with high concentrations of lights:

• Newtonville/The Lake, on the side streets off California and Nevada Streets


• Parmenter Street, on both sides of the Newton/Waltham line. It seems like every other house has lights. Get there by going to High Street in Waltham, or Derby Street in Newton. Also, on adjoining Myrtle Street (Waltham) there is a cluster of big displays.


• Waltham Common - There's something very comforting about the light show on the trees there. It's big, colorful, and strangely quiet ... not many people walk through at night.

Feel free to add your own favorite light shows in Newton or Waltham by commenting below. Leave the street name and city, and a brief description.

Newton developers demand special zoning giveaway from Waltham

In the News-Tribune this morning, a story about how a Newton-based developer is getting ready to put a 7-story monstrosity at the intersection of Charles and Moody Street. It's going to block out light, dominate the small businesses and residences nearby, and make for more traffic. But hey, it will give the top floor tenants river views! Now the developer is asking for special treatment from the city. The article says:

Northland has asked the City Council to create a new zoning district, called Business D, to allow for the project. The proposed zone change is set for a City Council public hearing Monday.

The change would allow bigger buildings than those outlined in the developer’s informal proposal. Northland said it will build six stories on Main Street, and seven stories on Charles, where the ground slopes down toward the river, but the new zone would allow 90-foot-high buildings seven stories tall, across the block.

An artist’s rendering of the project, presented to the council this week, shows a building that appears smaller than the actual structure would stand at 77-plus feet. The new building appears to be just slightly larger than a building across the street that, at three stories, would be half the new building’s height.

A developer playing games, by trying to downplay the size of the building? Is anyone surprised?

Northland's chairman and CEO is Lawrence R. Gottesdiener. City councillors, please send Larry G a resounding message: NO WAY!

You can read the rest of the article at Building plan irks residents

Update

The Globe West has more information about the proposed project:

The plan calls for 350 luxury apartment units above 35,000 square feet of first-floor retail space on a 4 1/2-acre site at the corner of Main and Moody streets, opposite the common. ...

An underground parking garage. Plans call for 570 spaces.

Fast-food restaurants.

There's a public hearing at City Council tomorrow night (Monday, 8pm) to debate this project. Don't let it go forward!

Newton High/NNHS Alumni Directory

The fat Newton High School/Newton North High School Alumni Directory arrived in the mail this week. It's comprehensive, and in many ways better than class-based activities like reunion updates and class websites in that you can see what's happening to people from other classes ... if they responded.

So, when I got the book, I immediately did what every other recipient did: Looked up old flames and crushes. Then, friends whom I haven't heard from in years, like some guys I knew on the soccer team. Then acquaintances. Then bullies and class clowns. Then anyone else whose name I remembered.

The entries could include name, married name, current address and phone number, email, occupation, spouse's first name, and kids' names. Some alumni left out pieces of information. A lot of people responded -- I'd say a third to half of the people in my class had a diamond next to the entry, indicating that they had responded to the survey last winter. Other people were listed as well, but it looked like old information -- occupations included student and home addresses were still in Newton. Still others didn't have any listing at all, I think because they asked not to be included, or their status was "unknown."

The back of the book was interesting. They had complete class lists for some years as far back as 1925. But other years had only a few dozen entries, like 1926. Then there were the giant classes from the 1960s and 1970s, with more than a thousand names in each class -- these were the baby boomers, and part of the reason why Newton High was split into Newton South and Newton North.

Another interesting section: Alumni by town of residence. They broke it up by country, state, and city. About 400 alumni who responded listed Waltham as their city of residence. And that's just the people who responded. The number is probably over 500, and this comes to no surprise to Borderline -- about half the people on my street in Waltham grew up in Newton, mostly in northern areas such as The Lake, West Newton, and Auburndale. We knew Waltham growing up -- and hung out on Moody Street and Wal-lex as kids -- and when we couldn't afford housing in in our hometown (or didn't want to put up with the taxes in Newton) we settled to Waltham. By comparison, less than 200 alums listed Watertown as their place of residence.

Despite the Hynes/New Media Strategics fiasco, Verizon's master plan for Newton is working

Goal: Verizon wants to increase its business in Newton and other local cities where there are lots of rich people.

Problem: The law

Strategy 1: Get high-profile mainstream media outlets to parrot your PR and marketing lines, like this report from the Boston Globe does:

Verizon touts higher Internet speeds, more cable channels, a larger library of movies, and better quality -- all at prices that would be competitive with the town's only other cable provider, Comcast.

Strategy 2: Get high-profile municipal politicians on your side by using fake letter-writing campaigns, like this one, orchestrated by Verizon's Stephanie S. Lee and Santoro:

".... If you are interested in more competition, please send an email directly to Mayor Cohen to let him know you want cable choice. A sample letter is provided for your convenience. Please add personal information and comments to customize your letter, if you prefer. ...

Subject: Bring more cable choice to Newton

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

Verizon has invested millions of dollars in Newton by installing its advanced fiber optic network, which offers video, internet and phone services. Verizon not only offers us another alternative to cable, but will provide residents with a more robust channel line up, more HDTV offerings, and thousands of shows and movies on demand -- at lower prices than we are paying today.

The City of Newton has been a pioneer in fostering the spirit of cable competition. With the addition of Verizon's video service, we will be among the few municipalities in Massachusetts to provide consumers with three options for cable TV.

Today residents in nearly 20 Massachusetts communities are enjoying Verizon's FiOS TV. Newton residents also deserve the best technology available along with a superior choice for cable TV.

I am writing to ask that you move quickly to approve Verizon's application for a video license so that Newton residents can benefit from more competition and the capabilities of this advanced fiber network.

Strategy 3: Try to astroturf local blogs like Borderline.

Result: Success, probably, judging by page 3 of the Nov. 15 Newton Tab.

Newton Drives Borderline Crazy

Seems like crappy weather really brings out the worst in local drivers. Yesterday it was some yahoo driving a green Newton Roofing pickup truck (truck no. 1) who cut me off in the front of the Newton police station on Washington Street.

Then this morning, this jerk in a gray Ford Escort sedan pulls a U-y on Comm ave without signalling. He just pulled off the right side of the road, like he had to look at a map or stop the car, then swerved sharp left, forcing me and the Boston Globe truck in back of me to slam on the brakes.

His car had a bumper sticker on the window, "100% Jesus." Shoulda been "100% idiot."

Who is Joe Publius?

Borderline and 49 other people -- most of them current residents of Newton who are involved in or follow the local political scene -- have received a series of emails from someone calling himself "Joe Publius." The emails, and the website they directs us to, are dedicated to questioning the use of CPA funds for the Newton South Astroturf project.

Here's the text of the first message, which Borderline received on November 10:

Hello. On June 21, 2006 the Community Preservation Committee voted 7-2 to recommend to CPA funding for the Newton South synthetic turf improvement project.

Now the Board of Aldermen is being asked to okay CPA money to pay for something that is essentially a School Department proposal.

Says who? Check out the clips from the CPC meeting – statements by the committee members Mr. McMillan and Mr. Dickson on www.joepublius.com.

Here attached is a clip from www.joepublius.com. Enjoy!

For more on this and other insights go to www.joepublius.com.

Feel free to share this e-mail with the grassroots growing near you.

The second installment came on Nov. 12, and followed the same format, referring us to the clips he had gathered (see sample), apparently by pointing a digital videocamera at a television screen, which was showing the CPA/Astroturf debate.

By now people on the email list were beginning to notice, and someone fired this message off to all recipients, including Borderline:

I asked privately and now I ask publicly: I would like to know who is behind Joe Publius. You have answered that you don't want to "distract" the reader's ability to get the facts by knowing who is putting up the web site. However, you have provided parts of people's conversations from a variety of meetings. These bits and pieces can be edited and put back together in ways which support or not. Unless you are willing to say who you are - I for one find that fact a huge distraction to the believability of the material you present.

This email prompted a reply from Jeff Seideman (also on the list of 50), who agreed that the anonymity was distracting, but noted that the clips seemed legit and also presented the community preservation committee in a new light.

So who is Joe Publius? Stay tuned ...

Newton Police Department, circa 1889

This is great: An account of the size and responsibilities of the Newton Police Department in olden times, from M.F. Sweester's "King's Handbook of Newton" (1889):

The police force numbers 3 officers and 20 patrolmen. Of the latter, 4 are stationed at Newton, 3 each at Nonantum, West Newton, and Newton Center, 2 at Newtonville, and 1 each at Auburndale, Newton Lower Falls, Newton Upper Falls, Newton Highlands, and Chestnut Hill. There are also 6 police officers subject to call for special service. This vigilant civic force makes between 500 and 600 arrests each year, about one-third which are of persons who have imbibed too freely, while perhaps 100 are incarcerated for disturbances of the peace, and 50 or more for larcenies. Most of the rueful culprits are foreigners, some of whom are also represented among the 1,200 tramps that are yearly cared for by the city authorities. There are police stations at Newton, Nonantum, West Newton, and Newton Center. The City Council has just provided for the introduction of a police electric signal alarm.

Definitely not politically correct, but very interesting just the same -- this is an era before telephones and automobiles, and police could only be notified of problems in person -- which necessitated the force having an officer or two in every village of Newton.

Calling all Newton and Waltham blogs ...

Borderline added a few new blogs to the blogroll last night, including Paula's House of Toast (Waltham) -- quite possibly one of the best local blogs I've seen to date (check out the fall photographs from the Sept. 30 post).

I am hoping to add some more, too. So if you live in Newton or Waltham, and sometimes post about goings-on or life in the Garden and Watch cities, shoot me an email.

Whittemore budget problems, and a warning for Newton

I was worried about the slow pace of the Whittemore Elementary School rebuilding project before, but after reading "Price won't deter Waltham from finishing school project" in Globe West, I'm even more worried now.

At first glance, the article doesn't seem unusual, or cause for worry -- typical Boston Globe fare, actually. The writer, Denise Dubé, quotes lots of officials, who sound determined and play down potential problems. Not once are ordinary people interviewed. (See "Sloppy reporting on Waltham development" and "Blackout, part II. Media misses the story at first, then gets it wrong" for other examples of the Globe's bias towards officials and company spokespeople)

But read between the lines. What worries Borderline about this article are some developments about the Whittemore rebuilding project that spell major problems for Waltham families and taxpayers.

Here's major development No. 1:

"Despite $25 million in cost overruns, Waltham officials say they will not scale back plans for rebuilding the James Fitzgerald and Henry Whittemore elementary schools."

Here's major development No. 2:

"The mayor has said the schools come first," [City Auditor Dennis] Quinn said of the loan. "I don't believe there will be a major impact on the taxpayer over the next decades because of the school building program."

And here's major development No. 3:

"Whittemore will be renovated and expanded, with bid solicitations due to go out this month."

$25 million in cost overruns? Let's put this number in perspective: It's nearly half of Waltham's "education budget for FY 2006. Moreover, $25 million is not even a final figure, because building hasn't started on these two schools -- it may very well go over budget.

And there will be no "major impact" on the taxpayer? $25 million short, and we need to find the money somewhere, and there's no major impact? What are you smoking? These types of comments are just the type of worthless B.S. that anti-tax fanatics love to turn into a major issue around election time.

Waltham will not scale back plans? Not only is that ridiculous, it is flatly contradicted by an official statement at the end of the article that says the city is trying to identify cheaper building materials to use.

And to top it off, no bids have gone to actually start work on the Whittemore renovation. Borderline thought something was odd back in August when no work was going on, but now it turns out that we don't even know who is going to do the work, or when they will start?

Whittemore parents have already put up with a lot. The teachers and classmates are all the same, but the kids have to go to a different, temporary school. It's far away, on Moody Street -- one of Waltham's busiest roads. There's no playground at the temporary school, and the crowded gymnasium is dominated by the older kids during breaks. Now we find out that we don't have the money in hand to rebuild Whittemore, and bids haven't even gone out!

Borderline has to ask: Is the planned 2008 reopening realistic with so many uncertainties?

And, why didn't any of our elected and appointed officials see this coming? If they did, why didn't they tell us parents about these problems at the community meetings in 2005 and earlier this year?

There's a Whittemore parents meeting coming up (tomorrow, I believe) to talk about some of these issues, but Borderline can't attend. I am not sure I can trust the local press to tell us what's going on with Whittemore -- apparently all they are capable of doing is reporting happy talk and hot air from officials. Therefore, can someone leave comments on this blog post, or email Borderline to tell us what happened?

Oh, and I almost forgot the warning for Newton. Check out this item from the Boston Globe article about the Whittemore/Fitzgerald budget problems:

Officials blamed escalating costs of steel, concrete, copper, and asphalt for boosting the total cost of the school reconstruction project from $165 million to more than $190 million.

Does a $165 million estimate sound familiar?

It should.

The Barn is a Zoo

West Newton has a secret shoe store called The Barn. It's off Washington Street, near the old National Guard Armory and Trader Joe's. And it's great -- the people there know their shoes and you can get some good deals. (see Borderline's review from last year).

But Borderline wandered in there last week and found that The Barn had become a zoo. The lot was full, and it was tough to get help. The reason? Back to school. Everyone takes their kids down there not only for school shoes, but also athletics -- they sell soccer cleats, balls, shin guards, running shoes, and everything else for the Fall sports season.

Damage control, City Hall-style: Hire a lightning rod

I had a good laugh reading Mayor Cohen's spokesman Jeremy Solomon's fiery letter to the Newton Tab and criticism of editor Greg Reibman on August 30. Here's the meat of Solomon's rant:

For a long time now, Greg has simply been unable to hide his animosity toward Mayor Cohen.While careful readers of the Newton TAB may pick up on the paper’s propensity to print sensationalistic headlines and articles with negative slants, it is only now that Greg has made it personal.

Shame on you Greg Reibman. For someone who claims to care about our community and who serves as a newspaper professional, to disparage our city leaders in a Brookline media outlet is unprofessional at best, and slanderous at worst.

Given your stated opinions of the form of government and our elected officials here in Newton, as long as Greg Reibman is the Editor-in-Chief, it is clear that Newton residents should not expect to find unbiased news coverage of our city in the Newton TAB.

Unfortunately, the Tab editor is taking the letter way too seriously in the Tab blog, not realizing that it's an old ploy from the PR professional's bag of tricks: Deflecting attention from an unpopular issue or your unpopular boss by making provocative statements in your own name about a completely unrelated issue. Here's how Borderline responded in the Tab blog:

On the face of it, it looks like an attack on you, Greg, as well as the Tab, but there's more to the story than that. Remember, as a hired PR gun, Solomon's job is to make the mayor look as good as possible. A large part of that responsibility involves deflecting criticism from Mayor Cohen, who has a serious image problem, as evidenced by his hiding from the media and public scrutiny. What better way to draw attention away from Cohen than to send a provocative letter to the Tab? He's setting himself up to be the lightning rod for people critical of City Hall, as next week's crop of letters to the Tab are likely to prove. This takes attention away from Cohen, just as things are starting to heat up on the NNHS and NFD fronts.

Don't let yourself be played by Solomon, Greg. Stay focussed on Cohen and the city's real problems.

There's no doubt that Cohen has a tough job, but the way he's handling the media -- deferring all questions to Solomon and refusing to answer unscripted questions on his own from the city's no. 1 media outlet -- is really quite sad. Answering tough questions from the media is part of the job of being a public figure. Hiding behind Mr. Solomon — an unelected official whose job is to make Cohen and the city government look good — is weak and doing the public a disservice. Mayor Cohen’s job is to lead the city, and explain his policies — which often means answering tough questions off the cuff. Mayor Menino gets five microphones shoved in face every time he appears in public, and is not afraid to answer questions that deal with ugly or unpopular topics. Why not Cohen?

Mr. Diabetes' Recreational Vehicle Spotted on Crafts Street

Borderline got behind Mr. Diabetes' SUV on Crafts Street this morning. You may remember reading about Mr. Diabetes in the Tab and the Globe last month. He's a Newton native and diabetes survivor named Andy Mandell who raises awareness and funds for the disease. He also keeps most of the money for himself, his brother, two paid employees, a "recreational vehicle" and other overhead, according to the Salem News.

Well, Borderline was able to identify the "recreational vehicle" quite easily. It has Mr. Diabetes logo, and his website URL (DefeatDiabetes.org) plastered all over it. It's a tricked out Land Rover with lots of antennae sticking out of the top. Not sure if Mr. D was in the vehicle, which was speeding toward Newtonville as I turned onto California Street.

Population decline: Local media gets it wrong again, but ...

When will they ever learn? Earlier in the summer, I took the News Trib to task for screwing up the population decline story, and then another reporter working for the same company does it all over again for the Newton Tab this week!

The missing factor, of course, is illegal immigration. Waltham has thousands, Newton probably hundreds, who are not counted by city or federal censii for reasons including language barriers, fear of deportation, and potential investigation of illegal living arrangements. The reasons why local journalists don't even mention this question likely are a combination of ignorance and political correctness. Why political correctness? Because when you start talking about illegal immigration, you have to start investigating who they are and how they are affecting the community. Then you have to deal with the complaints from rightists, who claim that the paper is painting too sympathetic a portrait of illegal immigrants and not doing enough to highlight crime and the burden on local services, and leftists who claim the media is demonizing illegal immigrants and following some national conservative agenda. The easy way out: Just pretend the issue doesn't exist, and hope that no one notices.

I should note that the Tab article did get one thing right: They zeroed in on the Mayor's Office, and how population declines in Newton will affect planning and financing the new high school. The city's response is laughable. Read Borderline's comments about the Tab article here on the Newton Tab blog.

Additionally, Borderline has commented before on the population decline, which I believe is a long-term trend, and its impact on rebuilding NNHS. I suggested moving back to a one-high school system, like Framingham did in the early 1990s. Here's the main reasoning that I put forth:

Having two high schools made sense in the 1960s when the baby boom unleashed a tidal wave of kids on the school system, and there was the need for a dedicated vocational program in one of the high schools. But it doesn't make sense anymore. Besides demographic trends, and the decline of the Tech-Voc program, the costs associated with maintaining two quality high school campuses and academic programs are just too much. Returning to a single high school would eliminate redundancy and reduce costs. Citizens and officials wouldn't be arguing every two years about overrides, cancellation of important academic programs, cuts in essential city services, or illegally dipping into the CPA fund to pay for questionable school improvements.

I am sure there are people who think Borderline is crazy. But consider the crazy situation Newton is in right now before you dismiss my ideas. An estimated $165 million for the new Newton North? A seemingly never-ending series of overrides and budget shell games? The constant spectre of public employees being laid off, and cuts to services and programs?

And what will happen when it's time to rebuild Newton South High School? No one's talking about it now, but they probably will be in ten years. Where's the money for that going to come from?

Newton had one high school before and the kids did fine. It's time to reconsider returning to that model for Newton's schools, and putting an end to the fear, uncertainty and doubt that will continue to plague the city if it rushes into building an expensive new Newton North.

Please feel free to read and comment on the full text of the original blog post.

Fire error

Borderline made a factual mistake earlier this week. The fire wasn't located on Dana St., but rather on 15-17 Cambria Road. Sorry for the mixup!

The Newton Housing Authority's broken list

Rants about municipal bureaucracies are nothing new, but what caught my eye about margalit's post about her recent dealings with Newton Housing Authority was this statement, concerning her place on the waiting list for public housing resources in Newton:

... [The NHA employee] comes back like 3 minutes later and tells me my number is the same that it was two years ago.

Now that's a problem. Because it's a sequential list, and if I'm the same number that I was two years ago, that means that not one family has moved in 2 years. And I personally know of two families that have moved. So something is very rotten in our city. I tell her that this isn't possible, that I know people have moved, so how come my number hasn't changed. Hmmm... she's a bit stumped there. Then she tells me that's not how the list works. But that's exactly how the list works. People move out, you move up.

I tell her I'm finding this extremely suspicious, especially since I was number 1 and then pushed way down the list and now the list remains the same. When I was on the top of the list it moved but not it no longer does? Something is not right. Something is very wrong.

I am sure that the NHA will come up with some smooth excuse to tell the local paper (if any reporters actually look into it) but my own observations of public waiting lists for valuable or important public services is that people with friends or relatives on the inside -- either civil servants or politicians -- tend to rise to the top faster than unconnected outsiders. This situation was one of the causes of the public housing scandal in Boston in the 1980s and early 1990s. It would be very interesting to see how people on the NHA list jumped the queue ahead of someone who has been on the list for years. Or is there a more innocent explanation?

Borderline has his own public waiting list problem, but hardly on the same scale as margalit. I have been on a two-year waiting list with the Waltham CIty Government's tree planting program for a tree on our curb -- for five years. I don't want to say some connected persons got pushed to the top of the list, because it could be the result of budget cuts or something else, but no bothered calling me up about it. When I contacted my city councillor two years ago, he said he had a lot to say about the list, but didn't get into details, except to promise he would push for some type of city-wide plan to improve the planting program.

Translation: I'll never get to the top of the list.

Cross-border firefighting

Sometimes Borderline writes about cross-border crime involving people from Newton and Waltham, but I'd also like to point out how neighbors and the two cities help each other out. This evening there was a fire on Dana Rd. (correction: Cambria Road!) which straddles the border, about halfway between Franklin Elementary in Newton and Whittemore Elementary in Waltham. A two-family house was heavily damaged in a manner of minutes. I heard the sirens at about quarter of six, saw the smoke a few minutes later, and arrived just before six, at which point it was already under control, but had totalled the upper story of the house -- as someone standing in a nearby driveway told me, "it happened so fast."

I am still not sure in which city the fire occured. My map points to Waltham, but a Newton cop said it was in Newton.

Regardless of where the fire happened, there were a few things that really impressed Borderline about how it was handled. First was the concern shown by all the neighbors in our area. Everyone wanted to know if the people inside were OK, or if anyone was hurt. Second, was how well the Newton and Waltham Fire Departments worked to put it out. As the photo shows, a Waltham engine and a Newton ladder truck were the first to arrive, judging by their positions directly in front of the house. There wasn't any bureaucratic haggling about where the border was, or which city had responsibility, the firefighters just worked together to get the flames down as quickly as possible.

Good job, firefighters.