Lasell College -- a small liberal arts school in Newton -- wants to put up four light towers on their small athletic fields. The lights are within Newton's current zoning laws. But in an all to familiar story, they have been battling neighbors for two years in court about the lights.
I understand that people can fight for protection of their neighborhood and property. But it certainly feels like everyone in the town of Newton calls their lawyer at the mention of any local college wanting to cut a blade of grass. The list of hoops that BC has jumped through over the years is endless. I feel for Lasell as four light towers doesn't seem like much of an intrusion. And like many of the residents who complain about BC, I ask "did they not see the college when they bought their homes?"
In writing this up, I looked at satellite images of Newton North and Newton South high schools to see if their fields had light towers. Based on the images it appears they don't, so at least the locals aren't using a double standard for the colleges. But that still doesn't make any of this reasonable.
Lasell seems to be winning small victories in court. I hope it continues. It would only mean good things for BC.
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19 comments:
Newton residents have always been hostile to BC. Just try and park in their neighborhood during a football Saturday.
BC women's BB Lands TOP 100 recruit who is rated #12 at her position .
Kudos to Coach Bern-McNamme. An exciting coach scores one "FOR BOSTON" in her drive
to return to "THE HEIGHTS" where Cathy Inglese had reached before FLOPPO's arrival !!!!!!
Georgia Eagle, so true!
Far cry from the 1980's when tailgating was allowed on all area side streets. Some of the stuff the residents had to deal with was over the top though...think lots of beer with no bathrooms.
Now if Craig Yeaster ever squatted down to piss on a lawn there would be hell to pay for sure.
Thank you for mentioning Lasell. It was Lasell Junior College when I was an undergrad. Its student body was all female and we BC students enjoyed mixers and parties at Lasell, also at its Newton neighbor, Mt. Ida Junior College, which, sadly, recently failed to merge with Lasell and was closed this Spring. The Mt. Ida campus was acquired by UMASS.
Also Pine Manor Junior College - now a 4 year school and co-ed. Big chunk of the campus sold to Tom Brady for his estate. The girls at Mt. Ida were often unusual.
Foe some the idea of personal property rights is quite bizarre. If i lived near an institution that suddenly decided to play loud music all day should i just sit back and forget the enjoyment of my property? I guess if one believes that no one has property rights then it would be ok to open a loud dance club next door. So if I owned a house in Newton for forty years I should not complain if lights and noise are suddenly allowed and destroy my enjoyment of my property and reduce the value of my property. Lenin or marx? or Trump
Napoleon - it was sometimes referred to as Pine Mattress. 🙂
Oh boy.
Joseph - I hear you. Parsons Field in Brookline (Northeastern U Field) is a study. I was an abutter years ago, and I can remember neighborhood meetings that became quite contentious.
There were homes on 3 sides of the field whose backyards were next to the fence.
The topics were anything from artificial surface to lights. The field was and is used for intramurals as well up until 10pm.
The light towers got bigger and bigger and the neighborhood was illuminated until 11:00pm most nights.
While we coexisted pretty well, I can see where the Newton neighbors are coming from.
Arguing against is tough. Arguing for limitations might be better - height of the poles, how powerful the lights are, how late they can be illuminated, etc.
In my day Mt Ida was known as bcs bed board
it's ethnic too.
Most BC people are catholic
Most Newton people are not.
Judge Arthur Garrity would never have gotten away with what he did to South Boston had it been Newton. No way
There has always been whispers of animosity between Jewish Newton versus Catholic BC. Who knows for sure.
Hold your horses.
I never said or implied judaism.
Someone else did.
Aren’t there a lot of Christian scientists,Unitarians ,
And mayflower dependents/ descendants?
Boston yankees?
Who never wanted us around?
Fair amount of projection despite the comments from Georgia eagle.
I stand corrected. Probably do more to upscale snobbery than religious reasons.
Mod, did you major in statistics? Me thinks you spend your life on Google
Heyyy, stop with the bigot allegations, asshole.i'm just stating a common misconception when I was an undergraduate. Jesus, a guy dares to stray from PC orthodoxy and he's crucified.
If it looks like a duck etc. Why not look at the obvious? Stadium lights mean more night usage. That means more noise and disruption to the use of your home. Ethnicity or background or religion/culture have nothing to do with attempting to stop intrusion into the peaceful use of your own home.
I really am deeply disappointed that the headline characterizes the reasonable objection from residents as being "ridiculous locals". People who don't understand a person objecting to being deprived of the use of property are ridiculous. Athletics are an important part of our culture and institutions. But, why would the needs of the institution take precedence over private property rights? Where are the limits?
Joseph,our resident lefty is back with his moralizing. Don't you have a Trump protest to organize?
Property rights are obviously (at least) a two-way street. Does the college not have the right to construct something on its own property?
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