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Boston Globe
17-07-2025
- Boston Globe
Police plan to charge Newton resident who allegedly repainted Italian flag street lines
Police will be seeking complaints against the person in Newton District Court for violating state property damage laws, Henrickson said Thursday. The alleged vandalism came after fierce backlash to the mayor's unannounced decision to paint over the lines in late June, citing goals to calm traffic on Adams Street and reduce crashes. Residents immediately demanded the Italian colors, which have lined the street for 90 years, be reinstated, and some threatened to take matters into their own hands, residents said. Advertisement 'I'm happy he did it,' Jimmy Donovan, 64, a supporter of the colored lines, said Thursday. 'Somebody's actually doing what everybody wants to do.' Supporters of the lines have cited the neighborhood's deep ties to Italy and a desire to preserve its traditions. The St. Mary of Carmen Festival, referred to as Festa, is an Italian cultural and religious celebration in its 90th year and runs from July 16 to July 20. 'It's like the veins of the festival, that's how deep this cuts,' Donovan said. Advertisement Fuller has defended her decision, but festival organizers said she ignored warnings that painting new yellow lines would be deeply unpopular, at least in some circles. A smaller, and less vocal, group of residents across a wider swath of Newton are fed up with the drama and 'hotheaded' Nonantum residents, according to one man who lived in the neighborhood for years. The decision to remove the Italian-colored center line on Adams Street was made 'without meaningful dialogue or sensitivity to its cultural significance' and 'has left us disappointed and disheartened,' the St. Mary of Carmen Society said in a statement on Tuesday. Chuck Proia, chairman of the festival, said organizers had nothing to do with the alleged vandalism. But he said it was to be expected following the mayor's unilateral decision. 'It's not surprising knowing the passion of the people here about the culture, our identity, the festival, and their feelings toward losing any part of that,' Proia said Thursday. Proia said there has been an increased police presence along Adams Street in recent days. 'It's unfortunate that the administration decided to take this tack. I think it's a waste of police resources,' said Proia, 57. Ellen Ishkanian, the city's communications director, said Thursday that Fuller will allow residents to paint the tricolored Italian lines, but only parallel to the double yellow lines, not in place of them. 'She can't compromise on the yellow lines, because that's a safety issue,' Ishkanian said. Alison Leary, a city councilor, said that on Wednesday she asked that the Italian colors be painted on a bare patch on Adams Street at the intersection of Lincoln Road and Middle Street. Advertisement Ishkanian said the mayor's office can't approve such requests. 'While we cannot approve these types of markings on Adams Street, we welcome and support community-led efforts to paint the green, white, and red stripes on one side and adjacent to the double yellow center line. Or on crosswalks,' she said by email. That left Leary feeling exasperated. 'I really feel there's nothing else we can do,' she said. 'This was the last effort to see if we can get the mayor to reconsider some of her decisions, but that didn't work.' Fran Yerardi, a longtime Nonantum resident, said Fuller's stance makes it seem like she's 'not listening.' 'She says she wants to make this a win-win, but she really wants to make it a win-lose,' Yerardi said. Although the episode has been painful, most people are refusing to let it overshadow the festival, referred to by locals as Festa, Proia said. On Wednesday night in Nonantum's Pellegrini Park, Festa drew one of its biggest opening night crowds in years, Proia said, with children enjoying the festivities and families basking in the summer evening. Yeradri said that's proof that the street lines controversy has become something of a rallying cry. 'The mayor was trying to destroy the neighborhood,' Yerardi said. 'She's just bringing them all together.' Claire Thornton can be reached at
Boston Globe
09-07-2025
- Boston Globe
Newton mayor faces pressure to repaint Italian flag traffic stripes on Nonantum parade route before festival
'It was a real kick in the [privates],' said Jimmy Donovan, 64, who owns the Nonantum Press Room sandwich shop on Adams Street. 'It's like the veins of the festival, that's how deep this cuts.' While city officials say they told Festa volunteers they're welcome to repaint the tri-colored lines next to the new yellow stripes, some neighbors aren't interested. They've launched a petition demanding officials 'immediately restore' the historic traffic lines before the St. Mary of Carmen Festival, which begins Wednesday, July 16, and culminates on July 20 with a religious procession along Adams. Lifelong resident Julia Camilli said her grandmother and grandfather emigrated to Nonantum from Naples and San Donato Val di Comino in the 1940s. Advertisement 'I'm sure he's rolling in his grave over this,' said Camilli, 25. 'It's just crazy that some of the oldest traditions we have can't be preserved." What happened to Nonantum's Italian flag stripe? On the night of June 26, while many Nonantum residents slept with their windows open after a heat wave, people awoke to a 'deafening' sound of street work, said St. Mary of Carmen Festival chairman Chuck Proia. Advertisement Workers were removing the tri-colored lane lines that have adorned Adams Street for decades and painting double yellow lines in their place. A view of Adams Street in Newton, where red, white and green-colored traffic lines were painted over in June. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff 'Our elders say the Adams Street lines have been here for 90 years,' Proia said. 'I'm 57 years old, and a lifelong Nonantum resident, and I can say for certain they've been here my entire life.' Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said the old lines were stripped and repainted as part of a safety upgrade, after a traffic analysis last year identified Adams Street as one of the city's top five crash areas. Such road work is customarily performed at night, Fuller said in a statement to the Globe. 'Our country has uniform standards for roads in order to allow us to drive anywhere in the US without having to understand local customs,' Fuller said of the yellow stripes. For his part, Proia maintains that while public safety is important, the traffic report's guidelines did not have to be instituted because they are not law. City Councilor says neighbors were not notified John Oliver, one of three city councilors representing Nonantum, one of Newton's 13 villages, said residents who live along the procession route between Washington and Watertown streets were not notified ahead of the repainting. 'No one in the community knew this was coming, no elected officials were contacted,' said Oliver, 57. Chuck Proia has been chairman of Nonantum's Italian-American festival for more than a decade, and he's pushing Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller to reinstate the village's red, white and green lane lines. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff But Fuller said her office 'communicated with Festa volunteers over many months' regarding the upgrade. City of Newton communications director Ellen Ishkanian told the Globe Monday that Festa organizers have also been told they can repaint the Italian flag colors alongside the new yellow lines, about 12 to 18 inches from their original location. Advertisement 'We communicated with the Festa volunteers so that the city would paint the center lines yellow and their volunteers are able to repaint the Italian flag-colored lines next to these yellow lines,' Ishkanian said in an email. Pressure mounts ahead of festival next week A petition demanding Newton officials 'immediately restore' the Italian flag stripe had Residents remain puzzled as to why the city painted the lines just a few weeks ahead of the such a big annual festival. 'The bottom line is the timing of it was the biggest deal,' Donovan said. Fuller's office said that was tied to factors like weather and workers' schedules. 'The only thing we didn't know was the exact date of the line painting as we are subject to both weather and the availability of the long line paint contractor,' Ishkanian said in an email. The petitionwas not launched by St. Mary of Carmen Society, which organizes Festa, but the group appreciates the effort, said Proia. He hopes the campaign convinces Fuller to reverse her decision. 'We do not accept the compromise she has given to paint next to the lines,' he said. Rather, he said, festival organizers are willing to have the yellow lines for 11 months of the year, except for July, when they say the Italian flag colors must bedeck Adams Street — without any yellow paint. Camilli said she and others are impatient to repaint the traditional lines. 'We're going to be painting when the time comes,' she said, 'if the time comes.' Claire Thornton can be reached at
