Who is on the board of the ACL, you ask?  These are the folks who, in addition to staffing regular volunteer shifts, help with the finances, programming, circulation, holdings acquisition, and policies of the ACL: Polly Bryson, Johanne Campbell, Susan Cassidy, Ellen Chu, Dana Hanson, Christina Hardway, Lenna Kutner, Janet Linder, Liz Miller, Ned Schofield, and Lynn Slobodin.

Freda Piecuch
Penny Caponigro
Barbara Darnell
Chuck Smith
Trish Smith
Pat Rand
Jim Noon
Liz Noon

Also, many thanks to our veteran gardener emerita, Patrica Bottomley, who keeps the flower arrangements and indoor plants at the ACL looking fresh, festive, and seasonal all year round!

If you would like to help with the gardening and beautification efforts on the ACL grounds, please contact Liz Noon (liznoon at comcast dot net). Thanks!

Village Summit
Sunday, December 4, 2011
1:00 to 4:00 p.m
Newton North High School
Cafeteria

Find out what’s happening in your village and others. Share ideas about the improvements you would like to see. Identify ways for residents, businesses and City Hall to work together.

Questons and RSVPs: please contact Sarah Ecker in the Mayor’s Office at secker@newtonma.gov or 617-796-1106.

If you would like to join in, please email isadoraloftus at yahoo dot com. We’re always looking for more writers to join our group!

Parents, children, grandparents, neighbors, and friends are welcome–the more the merrier!

Burr Elementary School Book Fair
Tuesday, Nov 29 5-8 pm, Children’s Literature Speaker at 7 pm
171 Pine Street, Auburndale
In the cafeteria (go to the main entrance by the flagpole and head down two sets of stairs)

Jessica Avery, Maeve Bartlett, Patricia Bottomley, Debbie Bowen, Nancy Caulfield, Ellen Chu, Anne Costello, Barb Day, Marlene Gibson, Jill Greblick, Diana Fisher Gomberg, Barry Goldstein, Dana Hanson, Rosemary Hinteregger, Julie Huber, Suruchi Kaul, Kirti Kusum, Lenna Kutner, Janet Linder, Amanda Loftus, Joanne Lyons, Pam McVey, Liz Miller, Maren Oslund, Valerie Patterson, Joy Rice, Ned Schofield, Lynn Slobodin, Jennifer Sulewski, Ed Sugrue, Martha Sweet, Beth Tierney, Christopher Weinmann

Your name here??? We are always looking for new volunteers: many ACL hands make for light work (very basic tasks, we train you on the job). Please contact danakhanson at gmail dot com to be added to our scheduling email distribution list. Really, it’s only a matter of signing yourself up for an hour or two once a month–bring the kiddos for some family volunteering time! (You were planning on coming in to borrow books anyway, weren’t you?)

This new docket item describes a zone that would allow, by special permit, a development with a single commercial office building not to exceed 225,000 square feet with a maximum height of 9 stories, two residential buildings not to exceed 290 housings units in total, retail space not to exceed 20,000 square feet, along with a multi-use community center.

This is an important milestone in a process which began in 2007 with the Lower Falls Improvement Association (LFIA), Lasell Neighborhood Association (LNA), and Auburndale Community Association (ACA) working constructively with the MBTA to provide materials included with the bid package given to developers interested in the Riverside project. In early 2010, the Riverside Station Neighborhood Coalition was formed by the LFIA, LNA, and ACA to advocate for the local residents.

In 2009, BH Normandy proposed over 1.6 million square feet of development- and little or no information on traffic, school, and other impacts. Subsequent proposals included the expansion of a large section of Grove St. to four lanes to accommodate all the extra cars on the road!

Throughout this process, the level of community involvement in this project has been very high- not NIMBY activists, but people genuinely concerned with the impacts generated by over 1.5 million square feet of development. Each of our four community meetings with the developer have attracted close to 200 well-informed residents.

The developer’s willingness to accept the reduced density reflected in the zoning request is the result of ongoing negotiations which aldermen Lenny Gentile, Amy Sangiolo & Jay Harney- working on behalf of the City- and the Riverside Station Neighborhood Coalition (RSNC)- working on behalf of the local residents- have been conducting with BH Normandy. Our goal has been to get to the right proposal for a smart, mixed-use development at Riverside which will benefit all.

Though much work still remains, BH Normandy has listened to the neighborhoods and the City. We expect a new proposal from the developer which would reduce the office space from 364,000 square feet to 225,000 square feet and reduce the number of new office buildings from two to one. We expect the residential portion of this proposal to be similar to that proposed by the developer last June and would include 290 residential units. We anticipate the distribution of 1, 2, and 3 bedroom units will also be similar.

The reduced density of the project will lessen the projected traffic impacts somewhat, particularly during afternoon and morning rush hours. Roadway modifications would likely still include the two, single lane roundabouts on Grove Street.

Traffic mitigation at areas away from the immediate site has not been addressed. No solution has been offered to address the failing I-95 collector road, though any plans here would need to be long-term.

The storm and wastewater mitigation plans appear to be in generally good shape. We anticipate that they should soon be ready for the City to conduct a formal peer review. The peer review is a process wherein the City hires an independent consultant (with funds provided by the developer) to analyze the plans and ensure that they will meet the City’s requirements. The City of Newton will require, at a minimum, the removal of 4 gallons of wastewater for every 1 gallon created. The City has the option of increasing these values and in the past has required up to 8 gallons removed for every gallon created.

We have yet to receive a report on what the potential impact to our school system might be from the 290 apartments, or any proposals to help deal with that impact.

Clearly, much work still remains.

But it appears that we are on-track to create a good, mixed-use development that will work for the neighborhoods, the city, and the developer.

Riverside Station Neighborhood Coalition Steering Committee

The Riverside Station Neighborhood Coalition was formed in 2010 by the Lower Falls Improvement Association, Lasell Neighborhood Association, and Auburndale Community Association to advocate for the residents of the areas most affected by the proposed 22 acre development of the Riverside MBTA Station on Grove Street in Auburndale. More information on the project is here.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje

The Litigators by John Grisham

Also, for fans of the WARRIORS series: a generous patron has donated a large collection of Erin Hunter’s books.

The workshop will be taught by ACL volunteer, Joanne Lyons, who has entered arrangements in many flower shows. Joanne is currently a member of the Temple Shalom Garden Club, and she is a studying to become a flower show judge.

Supplies fee – $12. Pre-registration is required! The class will be capped at 15 participants.

Email us to register – activities@auburndalelibrary.org

*If there is interest we will run future classes for kids in middle school and/or for adults.