Aldermen approve $56 million more for Newton North

No one is going to be able to afford to live in Newton...........Cohen needs to be locked up for mismanagement

I cannot for the life of me understand what they are going to build for $200 million. Do they really need that much just to be able to say that it's obsolete in 5 years ?

I THINK THAT'S DISGUSTING! WHILE OTHER SCHOOLS ARE SUFFERING FROM LAY-OFFS, CUTTING BACK ON AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS, THIS BIG FAT PORK OF A SCHOOL IS SHAMEFUL!!

As a resident of Newton, I am ashamed of this project and our mayor.

Unfortunately, the North project has depleted our community's appetite for tax increases and the impending vote on the override will most certainly fail. However, the victim of the override's failure will NOT be the mayor, nor will it be the North project.

If the override fails, the victims will be the current families and their children - who deserve to benefit from a standard, adequate school system. Schools like the Angier elementary school have been 'as is' for 70 years, and need major structural enhancements - like adequate circulation and a cafeteria.

The residents of Newton - and their children - deserve better.

I don't believe this! We have so many schools in desperate need of funding. This is crazy.

"Mayor David Cohen, who requested last night's appropriation, has promised that he will not come back to board for more money in the future, even if it means making changes to the building plans...."

SURE HE WON'T!!!

What the article failed to mention was that his fingers were crossed behind his back when saying this.

Anyone who actually thinks this clown who calls himself mayor is doing a good job probably also believes that the world is flat and that the moon is made of cheese.

He's a disgrace to the City and needs to be shown the door come election day...

Hey, people from Newton have to pay for it so if you dont like it...go to town hall and over ride it...I find it humorous that when a foreign city/country does something that its citizens don't like they take to the streets...in this country we complain online...
grow some and picket his office or move. Pretty simple. From what I hear Newton is pretty well off and most of its high school teams compete every year so the money eventually pays itself off.

How is it that the state can sit idle and watch this happen while other schools are cutting back on teachers, after school programs, and infrastructural improvments?
There should be an investigation into how much money the state is putting into Newton's budget considering the lavish "requirements" of this project. Do they need funding from the state....it doesn't appear so to me! BS!!!

As someone who attended Newton North -- which was a fantastic, unique and diverse high school even twenty years ago -- I am envious of all the families that will get to take advantage of this new facility. I wish I could afford to live in Newton and send my kids to this school which promises to be absolutely phenomenal and leading edge. I wish the community was talking more about what a fantastic resource the building will be for the students as well as for the city at large. You all should feel lucky, not ashamed.

Clearly this project has lost control. Every big project needs to have someone at the helm that can control the message. Sure, the project is $200 million. But few people understand what that $200 million brings, how it will be allocated over the decades, and what the other rejected options were about.

Perhaps I haven't been paying close enough attention. But more likely, the messenger is doing a lousy job. And if the messenger is doing a lousy job, then what does that say about the others running the project? Heck, I don't even know who the messenger IS, other than the mayor. It all feels BAD.

For sure, without doubt, a Prop 2.5 override isn't going to happen. And for good reason - nobody knows what it is for.

This is the new Big Dig. What is the deal here? We live in a less affluent but good town Northwest of Boston and we are closing schools instead of building state of the art facilities. I'm all for expansion/updates/renovations but this really is bordering on absurd.

If this gets funded by the state I am moving to NH. Period.

This place is out of control. The nuts love to run the asylum here. Especially the moonbats in Newton.

BUSH has IRAQ and COHEN has NORTH.
Unfortunately obsessive behavior never serves the public interest.

Continued mismanagement should no longer be funded!

BA - you got it right. The North price tag is Mayor Cohen's WMD. He is a total liar!

This makes me proud to live in Danvers.

The "override moms" don't have a prayer this time. It’s for the children and we can't deprive them of gold plated lunch trays. Where is the humanity?

What a bunch of sheep living in Newton. You know what they say about democracy; you get the government you deserve.

I've lived in Newton 44 of my 48 years. I graduated from the current Newton North in 1978. The cost of the new Newton North has become absurd and ridiculous to say the least. With the exception of the 5 Board of Aldermen members who voted against the appropriation, Mayor Cohen and the Board of Aldermen should be ousted and replaced with competent leaders in the next election! I know I won't be voting for the incumbents next election. Are you listening Mayor, board members? (Go Tigers!)

Take your frustration to the polls at the next election.

The operative question is: "Who elected this clown in the first place?" Why the citizens of Newton of course. Mayor Cohen was a State Rep with a committee chairmanship, bit backed the wrong guy for Speaker of the House, loses his chairmanship, and figured the Mayor's job was ripe for the taking. He unseated Mayor Concannon, and has made a bloody mess out of the City. I went to the OLD Newton North with Bldgs 1,2 and 3, and watched that school torn down to make way for the factory that was built in it's place. Overruns,asbestos, cracked pool etc.And if you look at national rankings of high schools in this country, where newton would rank highly, they're not even in the top 700. Five of the top schools in the country were in Dallas Texas. It's a disgrace, but you ELECTED him

Isn't it a shame that only those living in the wealthiest suburbs have the luxury of doling out added millions of dollars for improved facilities, while communities like Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester are stuck in a never-ending cycle of cutbacks and closings.

That is not meant to be a knock on the residents of Newton (or other wealthy communities) but merely to point out that our school system, much like our economic system, is purely a capitalist enterprise. Those who make the most, can afford the most, and in turn get the most benefit. In business this strategy makes undeniable sense, but when it comes to educating American children we should be sparing no expense. Whether a child lives in Reading or Roxbury, Duxbury or Dorcheseter, they should have access to the same opportunities to learn and grow and it will take more than city budgets to make this happen - we need a commitment at the federal level.

The biggest sham of this whole debacle is that the taxpayers in the rest of the commonwealth will end up footing the bill for a large chunk of this project if it does in fact go through as discussed. AS I understand it the state reimburses 60% ? of the cost for new school building projects. I hope & expect that our State senators & Congressional members will step up & cut this off immediately. Of course if the people of Newton want to pay for it themselves, I'm sure the majority of you can afford to pay the tax bill. How many Newton Homeowners are currently in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure? An additional tax hike will not help. Good Job Newton! I'm sure you would be very pleased to run out the non-millionaires anyway

HEY MR MAYOR COHEN -- YOU BETTER UPDATE YOUR RESUME CUZ YOU SURE AIN'T GONNA GET BACK IN NEXT ELECTION. NOT TO WORRY, YOU PROBABLY GOT A LOT OF EXTRA CASH IN YOUR POCKETS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS IN ORDER TO GET THIS PIG OF A SCHOOL TO FLY. ENJOY YOUR EARLY RETIREMENT, YOU FOOL

I live in Newton and have a son graduating the year before the new school is scheduled to open. I am in favor of "proper funding" but not to this extent. Someone please explain how construction costs escalated out of control (up 40%) from the original estimate. Who's getting the kickbacks, and padding their pockets?

Please don't forget the side effects that the cost of this school will bring to Newton. While the students will have one of the best facilities around, the City of Newton will have less money to pay the people who actually teach the kids. Of course this means that secondary programs like art, music and vocational classes will be the first to suffer, but if spending like this continues the primary programs will suffer just as much. Everyone that voted for this extra money deserves to be shown the door next election.

I grew up in Newton and would not choose to live there at this point. The costs associated with this new school building are embarassing. What makes a great school are the teachers and students inside the school. The town should be able to build a school for half the funds and still offer state of the art features. Why does Newton North need to spend more than double any other school in Massachusetts. Mayor Cohen you should look at how other towns were able to build new schools on a fixed budget! The state should revoke any funding that has been provided and give it to a town or city that really needs it! I hope everyone in Newton votes NO on an override - wait until the City has better leadership!

If any of you want to look at a well run amazing high school then go visit BC high. The place is like a small college. It has a nationally rated sports program and excellent academics. BC High just completed a major expansion on budged. Ask them how to do it.

Doesitreallymatter - The state put a stop to all new school building projects starting in 2005, then they tore down and rebuilt the entire infrastructure for state funding. Newton slipped in before this happened, and may have actually been the cause of the restructuring. Now, any school building project has much much more state oversight.

The people of Newton are 8 cents short of a dime! The intelligent ones have more degrees than a thermometer and less sense than a bankrupt bank. So why is everyone surprised when they spend 200 Million for a new school versus 37 million to rehab the old dump built almost 35 years ago..

As incompetent as the mayor is, the Newton aldermen are just as responsible for this debaucle -- most of whom are "career" aldermen (as Cohen was) and who should have stopped this years ago. They are the sheep who rubberstamped whatever Cohen wanted. Who in their right mind would choose to tear down a 35 year old building rather than make some repairs!?!?!? Another reason for term limits.

And is it true that the contractor who's pouring the cement at Newton North is the same one being sued by the Big Dig for supplying substandard concrete???

And still the mayor has the nerve to ask for an extra $13M override--with no restriction on how it is spent !!!!!!!!!! How stupid they must thnnk we are.

Can they divert 10 of that 200 mil. to fix the city's roads? They are the worst in the entire state.

This is absolutely ridiculous. As a Newton resident, I am pretty p**sed off about this. With an prop 2 1/2 override vote coming up, I'm torn: Vote yes and help keep our school class sizes down, keep teachers employed, but reward Mayor Cohen and the Board of Alderman for complete mismanagement of city funds??? Cohen claims that funds that would result from the override would not go toward the high school project, but for other things like elementary school repairs, salaries, etc. Think about this Mayor Cohen: If you didn't plan and approve of this ridiculously expensive MAYOR COHEN HIGH SCHOOL project, you probably wouldn't need this override. So indirectly, yes, this override would indeed go toward paying for your pet project.

I grew up in Newton and I came back to live because I wanted to provide my children with the same quality of life that I knew. For the sake of our children, we need to reign in this excessive spending and mismanagement of our tax dollars.

Cohen should be pitched from office and the Aldermen as well. The high school project is totally out of control and still does not account for the cost of tearing-down the existing $50M building built just 35 years ago. The prop 2-1/2 override must be defeated.

When our daughter started kindergarten, we were told how lucky we were because there would soon be a remodeled high school at Newton North that she would attend. Well, she's now a sophomore in college and never got to go to an upgraded school. I think Newton residents are just as much to blame as Major Cohen. The Newton Taxpayers Association and other groups slowed down the effort to redo the school delaying the upgrade more and more as the price rose quickly. The school indeed did have serious problems that needed to be corrected and they could not be corrected by upgrades to the school. A new school was required. Newton North has to handle a LARGE number of students, more than intended. It houses the vocational school as well. I am not happy that $200 million is going to be spent but I certainly see why the delays have been bad for the city in many ways, not just cost. I hope the citizens of Newton don't take it out on the students of Newton by voting down the much needed property tax override. Newton property taxes are still one of the most reasonable in the area and the good schools have contributed greatly to increasing our property values.

This is insane. I voted against this project in 2007, when it was clear that it was too expensive, poorly planned, impractical, and wouldn't even accommodate predicted future growth of the school. Those of us who were voting against were voting for a new plan for the school, not against children. Unfortunately, the propaganda convinced people to vote for the current plan with some claim that state money wold be lost otherwise. (Which was not true.) Now all of the kids in Newton potentially will suffer because of the mistakes in not demanding a realistic plan last year.

I will vote against the override as well. And I typically vote to spend more money, raise taxes, etc.--this is just beyond ridiculous.

Newton is such a joke. I know people who live in Newton and are all snobs to anyone who doesn't live there. They walk around like their town is the best, safest city my butt. No more talk on that....well it serves them right that its going to cost that much and if the state has anything to do with it, it is a down right shame. I agree with some of these commenters, there are more needy schools in this State and Newton North is not worth it. Well at least by the time it is built it will be obsolete and other schools will have advanced far beyond them with samller budgets. So it will serve them right. Soon Newton will be an unsafe city as well as a dumb one, because they won't have good faculty and staff to teach their kids. Serves them right.

Newton is a well run , community-based city where citizens contribute much to its quality of life through civic engagement, much of the cost of the project is for energy saving enhancements that shall quickly pay for themselves, and with the cost of steel , copper and other metals etc rising , so the overall cost has correspondingly expanded - Newton does not have virgin soils to break into, the actual ground of the new school had many unforeseen pollution and other troubles also adding to the cost : for folks in other school districts who do not have the money for education it is likely due to their unwillingness to pay adequate taxes : in Newton we pay high taxes but we all receive excellent services in return: Newton North is an investment in our children and the entire citizenry, as it will be a community center - Cohen is farsighted and managing the city properly.

I hope other Newtonites who oppose the NNHS project and oppose the override will remember to vote against Mayor Cohen (if he chooses to run again) and the aldermen who got us into this mess. Newton is a wonderful city but we deserve better representation.

Hey, what is everyone complaining about? A modern, state-of-the-art high school for only $200 million? It seems a bargain to me when I know that President Bush has authorized spending on a new helicopter, Marine One, that will cost $400 million per copy. And he has ordered 28 of them. I'm not making this up. So take your pick: a new high school for $200 million or a new presidential helicopter for $400 million. Makes my head spin.

To Cohen is Right
You are right also!! This is an investment for the WHOLE City of Newton!!Does anyone think about the thousands of hours children-adults-handicapped-seniors spend in the "Community Pool" the atthletic facilities-the auditoriums-the gyms etc of Newton Schools
Newton is fortunate to have the forsight to build schools that operate 7 days a week and 12 to 14 hours a day!!
Do it right when you do it--like most everything else the City has done over the years to make this a "City to Love"
Wish I could be around to watch the face of 1000's of citizens when they enter North High for the next 50 years and enjoy its facilities from toddler to senior!!
Go Mayor--get it done!!

Attention to "Cohen is Right" and Mike Rouke. What you said is a case of never-never land wishful thinking. You spend 200 million plus--there is no final figure on the monstrosity of the high school yet, you have four elementary school that need to be rebuilt, the fire stations are a disgrace and are living safety hazards that have to be replaced. There are as well other expenses, so how are you going to pay for it all? I know -- sign over all your future pay checks, IRA's and indenture your family to the city. In this economy, which is slowed, rising gas prices and increased food prices ... and David Cohen believes still that money grows on trees. Oh, by the way, the growing consensus is that Mayor Cohen cannot run the city of Newton and its finances. In fact, he is considered to be incompetent, cannot be trusted to tell the truth, and other such items.

HA! We all may be losers and snobs in Newton but we are getting a new high school that we do not need, that replaces one that is valued at $90 million, is only 35 years old and in perfect condition. The rest of the taxpayers of MA are the real suckers. They are putting up $46 million of our $197.5 million and getting no use of this building for there money.
Oh ya, when Newton finally goes bankrupt you will all probably have to pay to bail us out. So who is dumb now? Of course it is the voters of Newton for letting this go on.
Also, all of you Cohen supporters are silly heads.

All I know is I drive through Newton on my way to work.As soon as I hit Newton the roads are a disgrace and continue this way until I hit the next town. Bumpy ride no matter what road you take in Newton. Pot holes galore.
This Mayor is a Joke. The people who approve of him and his adlermanic group are even more of a joke.They are the most stuck up, snootiest, snobbiest people this side of the world. Something really smells in Newton.Pea-ew ,Im glad I dont have to spend much time there.
If the state thinks we are paying for these spoiled snobs uncalled for high school, they are asking for a revolution. Regarding the safest city rating! It all depends on how you fudge your numbers. Any city can make themselves look good on paper. From what I understand this Mayor is good at not giving the TRUE figures. Thats about all hes good at. There is another word for what he is, but it slips my mind at the moment.

P.S. Newton hasnt had a good school system since the late 70s. No better than anyother high school around.So whats all the hype about a great school system?

You people really do not get it. You all are paying for our bloated, unncalled for school. We are recieving $46 million from the state to tear down a building that 98% of the cities and towns would love to have. Not all of us want this building so the name calling does not help and the treats of revolution ring hollow because none of you are going to follow up on this. By the way, hate passing through newton, we hate you passing through as much, if not more than you hate passing through, so why don't you go around?