Category Archives: From City of Newton

Community Announcements

Pumpkin Smash! Saturday 11/5, 1-4 pm

Bring your pumpkins to Newton’s Annual Pumpkin Smash at City Hall on Saturday November 5th from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Why put your pumpkin in with your yard waste when it’s much more fun to smash it?

This family friendly event takes our orange pumpkins and turns them “green.” All our smashed pumpkins will be composted by Black Earth Compost (Newton’s curbside composting partner), thus reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions and creating a valuable amendment for our soils.

You can fling, toss and smash your pumpkin in all sorts of ways, including with smashing machines made by the Newton LigerBots, the high school robotics team. 

Pre-registration is encouraged but onsite registration will be available for the Pumpkin Smash which will be held rain or shine. 

All the information above is available at www.newtonma.gov/recycling

Community Announcements

NCE Middle School Speech Team

The Newton Community Ed Middle School Speech Team is resuming in-person tournaments and is actively recruiting new team members! More information about this opportunity including registration details is available HERE.

Newton Fall Events for Kids

The City of Newton’s Cultural Development office is hosing two great kid-friendly this Fall. Please see below for more information and share with families!

The Harvest Fair on Sunday Octover 16th is a wonderful family event in Newton Centre where kids can enjoy games, rides, entertainment, and fair food.

The Halloween Window Painting is a once-a-year opportunity for creative kid artists to adorn Newton storefronts with Halloween-themed art. It’s open to all Newton students in grades 3-8. Students can register HERE.

Community Announcements

Mini-Golf Fundraiser for Pediatric Cancer: October 1st

The Newton North Class of 2023 is partnering with Putting 4 Patients to host a Mini-Golf Fundraiser on October 1st, 12-3pm, on the Newton North Front Field.  (In case of rain, the event will be in the Newton North SOA).  All proceeds go to Pediatric Cancer at Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana Farber.

Activities include an 18-Hole Mini-Golf Course with prizes for the winner and the winning team, a Hole in One Contest, Face Painting and a Prize Drawing.  Entry is $10 for students and kids and $15 for adults.  All are welcome!  Food from food trucks and a concession stand will also be available for purchase, and some proceeds will benefit the Newton North Class of 2023.

Additional donations to Putting for Patients from this event can be made HERE.  On this site you can also mention why you are supporting.

Thank you!

NCE Middle School Speech Team

The Newton Community Ed Middle School Speech Team is resuming in-person tournaments and is actively recruitiing new team members! More information about this opportunity including registration details is available HERE.

Newton Fall Events for Kids

The City of Newton’s Cultural Development office is hosing two great kid-friendly this Fall. Please see below for more information and share with families!

The Harvest Fair on Sunday Octover 16th is a wonderful family event in Newton Centre where kids can enjoy games, rides, entertainment, and fair food.

The Halloween Window Painting is a once-a-year opportunity for creative kid artists to adorn Newton storefronts with Halloween-themed art. It’s open to all Newton students in grades 3-8. Students can register HERE.

Community Announcements

Newton Fall Events for Kids

The City of Newton’s Cultural Development office is hosing two great kid-friendly this Fall. Please see below for more information and share with families!

The Harvest Fair on Sunday Octover 16th is a wonderful family event in Newton Centre where kids can enjoy games, rides, entertainment, and fair food.

The Halloween Window Painting is a once-a-year opportunity for creative kid artists to adorn Newton storefronts with Halloween-themed art. It’s open to all Newton students in grades 3-8. Students can register here.

Newton COVID-19 Care Fund is Open

The Newton COVID-19 Care Fund is designed to provide financial assistance to Newton residents, people who work in Newton, and families with children receiving childcare services in Newton or enrolled in Newton Public Schools who have been financially burdened by the pandemic. City of Newton First Responders who incur new childcare expenses or other expenses as a result of the crisis are also eligible.

The funding is available for basic needs, including rent/mortgage, childcare, health care, utilities, or other immediate needs. The application asks for documentation of the need and also of the change in income in the home. Please apply; so many people here in Newton have had and are anticipated to have significant setbacks due to the pandemic. The people reviewing the applications at Family ACCESS – want to make this fund as accessible as possible.

  • More information and apply for assistance here.
  • More information and donate here.
  • More opportunities to get some help and/or to make a donation, click here.

Family Illnesses

The goal of social distancing is to slow down the spread of COVID-19 and keep everyone as healthy as possible.  If you, or someone you have direct contact with, become ill and require testing for COVID-19, please reach out to Ruth Hoshino, the Director of School Health Services, hoshinor@newton.k12.ma.us.

Mayor’s Update

We need your help.

The City of Newton’s recycling contains 18 percent contamination. Contractually, the City is required to have a contamination rate of less than 10 percent. As a result, the City was charged $6,120 in fines last month and we have paid $65,611 in fines so far in 2018. This is a direct impact Newton is facing due to the global recycling markets downturn you may have heard about this year.

The City of Newton is embarking on a focused initiative to educate our residents and lower our contamination rate. We received a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to fund a robust education campaign, help us inspect what’s in the recycling carts and to communicate that information to residents.

Beginning next week, on Monday, October 1, we will be performing curbside inspections of residential recycling carts. Contaminated carts will first receive a warning and specific feedback on what issue was found.

If, after a warning is issued, a cart is found to again contain contamination, it will not be collected that week. A tag indicating the issue found will be left on the cart handle and we will also send a follow up letter. Once the issue has been corrected, the cart will be collected the following week.

We know that recycling has become increasingly complex in recent years and that our education efforts have not been effective in keeping up with this growing complexity.

Contamination in our recycling typically comes in two forms:

1)     Materials that belong in the green cart but are not prepared correctly. For example, contamination occurs when there is still food in a plastic container or a half-filled bottle of juice. Containers should be empty and clean (just a quick rinse) before being placed in the green cart.

2)     Materials that do not belong in the green cart. The most common contaminant is plastic bags. Other contaminants include other plastic film (such as the wrap around a case of bottled water), food, liquids, textiles, toys and electronics.

The only materials that belong in the green cart are empty bottles, jars, and containers made of metal, plastic and glass from the kitchen, laundry and bath, and paper and flattened cardboard.

We believe deeply in diverting waste whenever possible to lessen our environmental footprint. But, unless you are absolutely certain that something is recyclable in the green cart, put it in the trash instead. Think – “When in doubt, throw it out!”
I know it will be difficult for you if we reject your cart because of contaminated materials and we don’t pick it up for a week.

For more information about how to recycle correctly, check out the mobile Recycle Right Newton app or get information here. Thanks for your help and your commitment to a more sustainable Newton.

Warmly,
Ruthanne

Newton Power Choice Program

The City of Newton is developing a plan for a new electricity program called Newton Power Choice, which will provide an opportunity for Newton to significantly increase the amount of renewable energy in the community’s electricity supply. Newton Power Choice is a form of group purchasing known as an electricity aggregation.

Newton Power Choice will provide:

  • Greener electricity
  • Price stability
  • Consumer protections
  • New electricity choices

As a program participant, you will have greater control over the environmental characteristics and price of your electricity supply. You will receive a standard amount of renewable electricity automatically, above the minimum amount required by state law, without choosing any of the options. (The standard amount is still to be determined.)

Or you can choose to:

  • Opt up to 100% renewable electricity.
  • Opt down to receive no additional renewable energy electricity above the state law requirement, but retain the program benefits of price stability and consumer protections.

More than 125 communities in Massachusetts are already engaged in electricity aggregation. But no other community has done what Newton is doing, which is to undertake an ambitious campaign to persuade electricity customers to opt up to 100% renewable electricity. Newton aims to have many more customers getting all of their electricity from New England renewable projects than any other community.

Participating and opting out: All Eversource Basic Service customers will be automatically enrolled. But participation is not required. Electricity customers may opt out of the program before being enrolled or at any time with no fee or penalty.

For more details on Newton Power Choice, see www.newtonpowerchoice.com.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Newton Community Celebration

Please join Mayor Setti Warren, the Newton Clergy Association, the Newton School Department and The Foundation For Racial, Ethnic, & Religious Harmony at this special event.

Each year the event brings together elected officials, the business community, volunteer service clubs, health and human service organizations, the Newton schools, religious congregations and other members of the Newton community to voice our support of the philosophy that all people should be treated with dignity and respect.

Newton’s diversity is evidenced by the fact that over sixty different linguistic groups are represented within the City’s School system.  A broad variety of backgrounds and cultures are spread among Newton’s thirteen villages.  The mix of the many races, creeds, and ethnicities in our community is a treasured resource to be nurtured, protected and celebrated.

This past year, with two publicized incidents of racist and anti-Semitic behavior.  Newton’s leadership jumped in quickly to take corrective action with the offenders, and sent us all a reminder of the ideals noted above.

An important part of the Celebration is the initiative of the Newton Rotary Club to answer the call from the Newton Food Pantries by donating toiletry items as noted on the Celebration flyer.

We are reminded of the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., ” Life’s Most Persistent and Urgent Question is, What are We Doing for Others”.  In response to this question, Rotary members will be providing boxes at the event for attendees to drop off their donations.  Drop-offs after the Celebration may be made at the office of The Presti Group Realty, 701 Washington Street in Newton.

January 16th, 9:30 am
Temple Beth Avodah
45 Puddingstone Lane, Newton Centre