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NEWTONTABNEWTONTABCommunity Newspaper Company I www.newtontab.com WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2006 Vol. 29, No. 23 I 62 Pages I 5 Sections FREE

P an oate to return West Newton to s PAGE 3

Budget couldbe $5.5M

in the red

Emergencyprotocol in

schools tobe updated

By Jennifer RoyDAILY NEWS TRIBUNE

Newton is just one of fourMassachusetts communities tosecure a generous grant from theU.S. Department of Educationthat will be used for emergencypreparedness.

The school department re-ceived $330,625 from the De-partment of Education for Emer-gency Response and CrisisManagement, school officials an-

nounced last week.In partnership with local law

enforcement, public safety, pub-lic health, mental health agencies,local government and parents,this grant will allow Newton Pub-lic Schools to create a system ofexcellence with regard to crisismanagement, SuperintendentJeffrey Young said.

The money will be used to buya Reverse 911 system, paying for

Recreationin NewtonCentresfuture?

Task force to discussthree visions

By Rachel LebeauxSTAFF WRITER

Three visions for the future of NewtonCentre share a common goal of creat-ng a recreational village center, but di-erge on proposed parking, housing and

zoning initiatives.The visions the works of three differ-

nt groups within the Newton Centre Taskorce will be discussed at a meeting

his Sunday and at a public hearing in No-ember.A composite plan or perhaps all three

f the current options will then be pre-ented to Mayor David Cohen.Its hard to predict where well go,

aid Charles Eisenberg, task force chair-an. Weve had the leaders of each

roup meeting and working to try to figureut what areas of commonality there are inhe three plans, and establish a base thatverybody agrees on.The task force, which is funded by a

$40,000 state grant, has been hard at workince July on these three alternative de-igns for the villages central commercialrea.The task force first discussed the scenar-

os last month and met again last Wednes-ay to further discuss and refine them, findheir commonalities and assess their dif-erences, Eisenberg said.

Obviously, its easier if we come upith a single proposal, but on the otherand, if theres a sense that if theresnough differences of opinion, were notoing to force a compromise, Eisenbergaid.Following the public hearing in Novem-

er, task force members will continue totudy the impacts, mitigations and finan-ial feasibility of the proposals.We dont want to give a bunch of pie-

n-the-sky proposals, Eisenberg ex-lained.The three plans share several elements

Newton North plan is back in boards lapBy Rachel Lebeaux

STAFF WRITER

Mayor David Cohens proposal for asprawling state-of-the-art new NewtonNorth High School has been sent backto the Board of Aldermen.

A petition drive demanding that the

board either revamp the schools siteplan or put the matter before voterswas ruled a success by election offi-cials on Thursday. The decision re-versed an earlier ruling by the depart-ment, which said organizers didnthave enough signatures and sparked a

City Hall investigation. (See relatedstory, page 10.)

As a result, board president LisleBaker is proposing that aldermen un-dertake site-plan reconsideration nextMonday.

If the aldermen decide to stand by

their original 16-7 vote and send thesite plan to a referendum, they must seta date for the special election to takeplace within 120 days of their decision.

Baker told board members in amemo that Jan. 9, 2007 would likely be

By Rachel LebeauxSTAFF WRITER

Newtons projected budgetdeficit is growing but just how bad it might be-

come is not yet known.Agrim forecast prepared by the

citys comptroller is already pre-dicting that Newton is likely toneed $5.5 million more next yearthan it has to spend.

The forecast does not includeadditional state aid or money forany increases for teachers andother city unions beyond thisyear, comptroller David Wilkin-son said.

Wilkinson estimates that each1-percent increase in salarieswould increase annual operatingcosts by approximately $1.5 mil-lion. So if teachers, police, fire-fighters and other workers all re-ceived a 2-percent salary increasenext year, then the city wouldneed yet another $3 millionmore or a total of $8.5 million.

He also warns that the citycould face up to a $16.5 millionshortfall by 2012.

An alderman subcommittee re-viewed Wilkersons preliminaryforecast in late May projecting a$4 million to $14 million shortfallover the next five years. Further

refinements over the summer in-creased the bad news, he said.

But city spokesman JeremySolomon said Mayor DavidCohen is hoping more local aidcould help narrow the gap.

You dont know, particularlyin an election year, whats goingto happen with local aid,Solomon said. If things dontchange for the better, this is es-sentially what the deficit wouldlook like, according to our bestfigures today.

More study ahead

Wilkersons document will bereviewed by Cohens Blue Rib-bon Commission, which was es-tablished late last month with thecharge of reviewing all of thecitys projected financial re-sources by Feb. 1, 2007.

While taking a long look atNewtons finances is nothingnew, it is a concept thats been onsomething of a hiatus for quite awhile, Wilkinson said.

Newton did long-term finan-cial forecasting for many years from the early 1980s to whenMayor Cohen came into office,Wilkinson said.

During last years budget

CITY SPENDING

By Christopher LohSTAFF WRITER

Rapper Jay-Zs most critical-ly acclaimed album, TheBlueprint, was created in justtwo days.

That may not be the case for anew online publication with thesame name, but a group ofNewton North High School ju-niors thought the name fit per-fectly for a project to bring newthoughts to a static journalisticenvironment.

It started about a year agowhen Newton North HighSchool junior Mike ElsenRooney thought there wasroom for another publication in

the academic institutionsbricked hallways.On a trip to a Model United

Nations conference with historyteacher Albert Cho, Rooneysaid, something struck me.

It was then, at that moment,that Blueprint was born.Rooney decided to broach theidea of starting another publica-tion, and the then-sophomoreturned to three friends for help.

I figured other people maybe interested, Rooney said.When I talked to [Max Wen-

neker] about it, and he was onthe same page, it was really en-couraging.

We want to show whatsgoing on in the scene, junior

STAFF PHOTO BY JIM WALKER

Julian Liao, 4, of Newtonville, hangs out on the back of Engine 4 during an open house

at Station 4 in Newtonville, Monday afternoon, Oct. 9.

Horrors show:artists capture war

SEE PAGE 37

INSIDE

THIS WEEK

Coming Up 26

Crime Watch 6

Destinations 47

Newton Life 25

Obituaries 44

Opinion 14

Religion 45

Sports 21

2006

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!SEE PAGE 28, 29

FINANCES,page 5

NORTH, page 4

GRANT, page 10

CENTRE, page 9

Student pub Blueprint hits the net

STAFF PHOTO BY JIM WALKER

Four Newton North students have launched Blueprint, an alternative monthly online publication for

students. From left to right: junior Ben Nathan, senior Rachel Berman, junior Max Wenniker and

junior Mike Elsen-Rooney.

BLUEPRINT, page 10