Progressive Newton

Join Progressive Newton for a conversation between Newton high school students (Ana Ciric and Melody Moktar) and candidates for Newton’s School Committee (Jim Murphy, Jenna Miara, Bruce Hendison, and Mali Brodt). The event will be held on Tuesday, May 20th at 7:30pm in the Alliance Room at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Newton located at 1326 Washington Street in West Newton. There is no on-site parking so please use the Cherry Street lot or public street parking.

Please RSVP here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeSKjzw-FBo0-vU4fdtBhZrmhTZXez-jG4BmCbbfQ2iN9siOg/viewform.

For further information email progressivenewton@gmail.com.

Join us for our Fall Social Gathering where we will discuss organizing for the November elections and other future activities. Refreshments will be served.

Progressive Newton is a chapter of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide, diverse grassroots organization mobilizing around progressive issues, and helping to elect and support committed progressive candidates for public office.

If you’re a progressive, and you live in Newton, Massachusetts, please join us! We are growing our membership and contact list to help make a difference in our home community and around the state.

Progressive Newton first began in 2013 when folks who had worked on the Obama, Warren, and Markey campaigns came together on a more permanent basis out of an interest to work not only on candidate races but also around progressive issues.

For a number of years, we actively worked as part of the Raise Up Mass coalition on winning the minimum wage, earned sick time, paid family and medical leave, the Fair Share Amendment, and driver’s licenses for undocumented residents. We also worked in coalition with other Newton groups working for more affordable housing and a fair contract for Newton’s school custodians.

Read more…

Statement on “NewMo” Program Change, from Terry Altherr, Progressive Newton Steering Committee

On August 17, Mayor Fuller unexpectedly announced a significant rollback of the Newton in Motion “NewMo” demand-responsive, shared ride service. After previously being opened to virtually anyone for ridership, the service is being reduced to “core residents” defined as “older adults, individuals with disabilities, lower income residents, and a limited number of students with high needs in select NPS programs.” This decision was made because much of the funding had been coming from state and federal grants and the City was unwilling to provide additional local investment to subsidize this vital transportation system run by the Senior Services Department.

NewMo was made available to all Newton residents two years ago, and it has since played a critical transportation role for wide range of residents beyond seniors, from commuters who would otherwise have to wait ages for connecting buses or trains (or walk the last mile from transit to work) to teens too young to order Ubers or Lyfts. NewMo has provided a real alternative for daytime riders who would have otherwise had to use cars. Although NewMo does have its limitations, it resulted in fewer miles traveled by cars, enabled parents to get their kids to activities across town without having to skip afternoon work hours, and made it easier to travel around Newton in areas under-served by public transit. It also showed how committed Newton was to transit justice.

But the program’s expansion to offer rides to all residents was not just a convenience for those residents but also vital to the program remaining viable for the “core residents” it was originally intended to serve. The whole reason it was opened to a wider population in the first place was to justify the costs of expanding the number of vehicles available to seniors and people with disabilities, so that they could realistically expect to be picked up anywhere in the city in a reasonable amount of time. The peak travel times by non-core rider populations helped offset the costs associated with serving the core population and made the entire program more feasible. Without these additional fleet vehicles, now numbering 10 in active service at the time of the announcement, the program is likely to fall apart for core riders, too.

The recent announcement to revert NewMo for use among a limited consumer base couldn’t come at a worse time. Newton Public Schools has continued to cut after-school bus service and the MBTA still hasn’t restored service in Newton to pre-pandemic levels. Restricting NewMo’s ridership will further exacerbate vehicle congestion, and it is putting jobs at risk for individuals who are unable to drive and/or afford a car. By limiting the consumer base, the reduction in rides and vehicle availability will hurt NewMo’s sustainability and viability for core riders in the long run.

NewMo has been a game changer for all Newton residents and the Mayor’s proposal would make life in Newton more isolated than ever for many residents, eventually including the core ridership.

We urge everyone (especially NewMo riders) to contact their elected City Councilors (citycouncil@newtonma.gov) and Mayor Fuller (rfuller@newtonma.gov) to ask that they reverse this change and to make the case that this decision is actually fiscally worse for the program and worse for its core riders. Bottom line: Restoring service to non-core riders would be one great use of recently announced one-time city funds, replacing the temporary grant funding that has supported the program until now. This will buy time to continue institutionalizing the program in the community, which will make it stronger, and to find long-term funding to maintain the service. We have to continue supporting our seniors, students, and workers. A widely available NewMo is a more stable service for the people it was most intended to serve and it was making our city a better place to live and work.

Statement on Deferred Revenues by City Councilor Bill Humphrey as Chair of Progressive Newton

The long-awaited release of deferred revenues from legal complications represents an opportunity, but Mayor Fuller’s proposed financial plan is not the best or most appropriate use of the money. The Mayor ought to consult first with the City Council and the public to solicit a wider range of proposals and engage in a more collaborative analysis of the trade-offs under consideration. That is exactly why the Mayor voluntarily consulted with Councilors and the public about the use of one-time ARPA funding from the federal government.

Newton’s long-term fiscal security is dependent on public confidence. Our revenue strength depends on the attractiveness of our properties and public willingness to vote through permanent operating revenue increases from time to time. If the voting public believes that the City of Newton and the Newton Public Schools are no longer delivering on core services and catching up on deferred critical maintenance in a visible, tangible way, they will not vote for additional operating revenues. If that cycle continues, Newton properties will only be attractive to residents who do not plan to make any use of city services or our education system.

The announcement of the deferred revenues becoming available finally may leave voters with an erroneous impression that ongoing operating revenues from an override were not necessary and that the administration has been concealing funds. In reality, there is still an undeniable need for more permanent operating revenues in order to help resolve the contract with the teachers and to meet the inflationary challenges of maintaining a steady level of city services. (We stand in solidarity with our public employees who are no longer being paid competitively.) But the voters made clear during the unsuccessful override referendum campaign, and in the years leading up to that election, that they wanted the city to prioritize catching up on addressing long-deferred problems, especially around infrastructure quality and safety, to prove that things are still going in the right direction, so that they were not throwing good money after bad.

If the city had had access to these revenues when they were supposed to be received originally, we would simply have spent them towards the annual budget each year in a more traditional manner. Instead, with access to these funds denied until now, the city and NPS made hard choices about deferring expenditures. It follows logically that these funds should now be used to address these problems finally.

The Mayor may believe that pension pre-funding is identical to deferred maintenance of physical infrastructure and assets, but it is not. In fact, the city’s future ability to pay for pension obligations depends entirely on the political willingness of the residents to continue increasing revenues over the long run. The city’s finances are not separable from the political opinions of the electorate. We need to prioritize visible improvements to the City in the current fiscal year to restore confidence as fast as possible.

A financial Rube Goldberg Machine use of deferred revenues, not even beginning in the current fiscal year, aimed primarily at future pension payouts, with theoretical but negligible spillover benefits to the Newton Public Schools, does not address the present-day disinvestment crisis, nor does it actually eliminate the need for additional long-term revenues. 

We are hopelessly behind the curve on roads maintenance, to say nothing of road safety improvement projects. This affects everyone’s daily life and reduces public morale. Despite road quality being the number one issue, and the number one cause of falling confidence in city government, once again excessive pension pre-funding for the future is being prioritized over fixing our roads in the here and now. Likewise, some of the funding could be used to address the urgent parent concerns about school staffing levels this academic year, even if this one-time funding pool is not a long-term solution. (Pending developments across the city are expected to begin generating additional permanent revenues in a few years anyway, however.)

Disinvestment from the present day is not the fiscally responsible course of action, because political considerations and public confidence cannot be separated from future financial health. It might be tempting to think that every windfall can be used to smooth out a future shortfall, but the City of Newton is not a private business. We are given public resources one fiscal year at a time, and we are not given these resources for the purposes of asset investment management. The public expects us to fix holes in the roads and schools today with this money, not potential holes in the budget years from now.

Making one-time catch-up surges of funding in the present-day is a valid form of investing in our community and building public confidence that translates into future revenues. The public deserves a say in how this delayed revenue is spent.

Dear Progressive Newton,

I hope you are doing well. I am proud to announce our 2023 endorsements for City Council.

• Daniel Gaynor (Ward Councilor, Ward 2)
• Doris Ann Sweet (Ward Councilor, Ward 4)
• Martha Bixby (Ward Councilor, Ward 6)
• Holly Ryan (Ward Councilor, Ward 8)
• Deb Crossley (Councilor At-Large, Ward 5)
• Andreae Downs (Councilor At-Large, Ward 5)
• Alicia Bowman (Councilor At-Large, Ward 6)
• Victoria Danberg (Councilor At-Large, Ward 6)

We reviewed all candidates who sought our endorsement holistically, looking at their past actions and experiences, as well as their present values and future commitments. We believe this cohort of endorsees will be excellent progressive champions on the Council. We will be in touch about future ways people can get involved to help these campaigns. 

Some important notes about the endorsement process:

1. After much deliberation, the Progressive Newton Steering Committee decided to only endorse in contested races. Still, we want to give shout-outs to the candidates in uncontested races who gave thoughtful answers to our questions: Andrea Kelley (Ward 3 At-Large) and Becky Grossman (Ward 7 At-Large). We encourage folks to read what they wrote. 
2. All candidates for City Council who are part of our organization recused themselves from the endorsement process. The endorsements above reflect the choices of Progressive Newton’s general membership. 
3. We are allowing all candidates to submit questionnaires until their elections. You can read all of the candidate questionnaires here. 

Additionally, here is information about the dates of every upcoming election in Newton. There is a preliminary in Ward 2 and Ward 6 on September 12th, so if you are in those two wards, stay informed! There is also early voting on September 5th and 6th at City Hall (see the link for more details). 

In Solidarity,

Andrew Steinberg

Progressive Newton Secretary

Dear Progressive Newton,

Over the last year, we have grown so much as an organization. From its inception, Progressive Newton was envisioned as a group that promotes progressive values on both the local and state levels. From the Fair Share Amendment campaign to supporting NPS students on ToBeGLAD Day, we have laid the groundwork for future victories because we have done the work at home. 

To continue this momentum, we have elected a new group of leaders who will steward our community into the next year. Progressive Newton’s 2023-2024 leadership is as follows:

Chair: 

Bill Humphrey

Secretary: 

Andrew Steinberg

Steering Committee:

Terry Altherr

Susan Davidoff

Warren Goldstein

Stav Keshet

Holly Ryan

Although I am still a part of leadership, this email marks my last act as the chair of Progressive Newton. I am fully confident in Bill and this new team to continue the organization’s mission and grow its impact. 

The opportunity to lead Progressive Newton in its first year after revitalization has been an absolute honor. Over the last year, I witnessed firsthand the power of community organizing and met progressive champions who I will call friends for the rest of my life. From the NTA to our Override allies, every person who has joined us over the last year deeply inspires me. As someone whose political adolescence began in 2016, I am energized by and grateful for your politics of hope. Thank you for all you do and all you will do. 

This type of grassroots organizing does not make one rich. It does not always earn glory, and setbacks often happen. Yet, the victories we achieve are because normal people decide to speak up for themselves and their neighbors. They do not remain silent in the face of injustice, and dream of what can be: a world where all people are treated with dignity and respect, and have the opportunity to thrive. 

As I step off this virtual soapbox, I remain committed to this work more than ever before. Our air can be cleaner. Our schools can be better funded. Our neighborhoods can be safer – our job is not done. As Progressive Newton’s Secretary, I will continue to help this community and cause for which I am so grateful. If you know someone who would like to join us, please forward them this link and we can sign them up for our regular emails: https://forms.gle/MwSVsEZogamqGP757 

As revitalized Progressive Newton enters year two, we have a lot of major announcements and actions planned. Get ready and I am excited to see you soon! 

Forever In Solidarity,

Andrew Steinberg

Progressive Newton Chair