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Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Italian flag colors were removed from a Newton street. Residents rebelled.
To some Nonantum residents, it was an assault on their heritage -- especially given the timing, three weeks before the start of their beloved festival. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'These lines are not just paint, they are sacred symbols of Italian American pride, religious tradition and community identity,' the St. Mary of Carmen Society, the local group that holds the festival, wrote in a statement. The city's action, it added, was 'a slap in the face.' Advertisement Newton, a suburb of Boston known for liberal politics, pricey real estate and highly regarded schools, is made up of 13 'villages,' each with its own identity. Nonantum has long been a neighborhood where immigrants settle. Irish and French Canadians came in the first half of the 19th century, followed by Italian and Jewish immigrants in the 1880s, said Jordan Lee Wagner, a longtime resident who has studied local history. Advertisement A tight-knit neighborhood where people worked blue-collar jobs and where modest homes were passed down through generations, Nonantum has increasingly become a place apart, Wagner said. Some residents feel looked down upon by the rest of the city, he said, for their more conservative politics and old-world traditions. Some took it personally when the city replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People's Day, bristling at a perceived insult to Italian Americans. For them, the removal of the red, white and green from Adams Street felt like a particularly pointed insult, said Fran Yerardi, who previously ran an Italian restaurant and now has a real estate business in Nonantum. He said many residents were already frustrated by changes that they see as eroding the character of their neighborhood, including proposals for new housing and other development. 'It used to be a working-class neighborhood, where people were gardeners and housekeepers,' Yerardi said. 'Now they're building $4 million condos, and the original people are being pushed out.' The encroachment goes beyond real estate, he added: 'As the community gentrifies, we get more pushback on our traditions and blue-collar mentality. We're praying to a saint in the street -- it doesn't fit, in one of the richest towns in Massachusetts.' Similar grievances have bubbled up in Boston's North End neighborhood, another traditionally Italian enclave. There, some business owners have complained that Mayor Michelle Wu, the first woman and nonwhite mayor elected in the city, and whose politics are more progressive than her predecessors', has treated them poorly because they are Italian. Erin O'Brien, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston who has studied shifting political dynamics in Boston and the surrounding region, said the strong sentiments in both Nonantum and the North End reflect the complicated history of Italian Americans. Advertisement 'Italian Americans in the Boston area still understand themselves as immigrants who came over and were treated incredibly poorly, and that is historically accurate,' she said. 'But Italians and Irish have ascended for a long time, and now, with demographic changes, they have to share their power.' She acknowledged the loss on Adams Street as something meaningful, a joyful element of local landscape and identity for 90 years. But, she added, 'This isn't just about paint -- it's a symbol that resonates around who has power.' The angst is not unique to Boston. In New York City last week, Italian Americans protested outside the office of Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor, after an old photo resurfaced of him giving the middle finger to a Columbus statue. Outraged by the line's erasure, some in Nonantum chose to escalate the conflict. Dozens showed up for a protest outside City Hall. On the eve of the Italian American festival, some residents of the neighborhood took to the street in the middle of the night and repainted the tricolor stripe over segments of the new yellow line. One of the paintbrush-wielding scofflaws was detained by police, who said they would charge him with defacing or damaging city property. Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, who, like Wu, is the first woman to lead her city, has stood by her decision to paint the line yellow. The change, she has said, was required under federal regulations and was urgently needed to address a high rate of accidents on the street. Advertisement A spokesperson for Fuller, a Democrat who is not seeking reelection, said she was not available for an interview last week. In written answers to questions from The New York Times, Fuller said the city had communicated with festival leaders 'over many months' about the need for a yellow line on Adams Street and had agreed to let volunteers repaint the red, white and green stripes on the street somewhere to the side of the yellow line. The city made its decision 'thoughtfully,' Fuller wrote, 'understanding that we could simultaneously improve public safety while maintaining the neighborhood's long traditions.' Residents, who said they were given no warning about the line's removal, were not appeased by the offer to move their colors to the side. Wagner was convinced that the proliferating lines in the street would confuse and endanger drivers. Yerardi feared the Italian flag colors would end up 'in the gutter.' Wagner, who is Jewish, said a long history of friendship between Jews and Italians in Nonantum made him deeply protective of his neighbors. Irked by the city's action, and eager to repay past kindnesses, he issued a mild-mannered call to action on his Facebook page. 'It seems that we should just go out and paint,' he wrote the day before the festival began. 'What can they do? Arrest us?' After others took him up on his suggestion that night, Wagner felt compelled to join the next day, pushing a long-handled roller dipped in green paint down the middle of Adams Street. Police did not try to stop him. 'Some people thought it was an Italian thing,' he said of the old red, white and green line. 'They didn't understand it was a neighborhood thing.' Advertisement Other critics of Fuller's action include a former Massachusetts transportation secretary, Gina Fiandaca, who is Italian American. She wrote in a letter to The Boston Herald that the city's claim that the yellow line was needed for safety 'lacks merit.' Residents, too, have challenged the accuracy of the traffic analysis cited by the mayor. Fuller said another study will be done later this year. There was no shortage of ethnic spirit in Nonantum's streets July 20, the final night of the festival, as residents of diverse backgrounds partied in driveways and backyards under strings of twinkling red, white and green lights. Crosswalks, fire hydrants and numerous side streets bore stripes in the three colors. 'Stop Italian Hate in America,' read a yard sign on one lawn. The start of the five-day festival had felt overshadowed by unrest. By the end, after the renegade painters had covered most of the new centerline on Adams Street with their own handiwork, elation took over, Yerardi said. 'It became a rebellion, the people against the government,' he said. 'So what does the mayor do now?' Pressed on his question, Fuller said the yellow line would be restored. This article originally appeared in
New York Post
3 days ago
- General
- New York Post
Locals turn tables on Mass. city after they scrub Italian colors from street after almost a century
A Massachusetts city abruptly scrubbed the Italian colors off a street ahead of a cultural festival — but outraged residents illegally sprayed them right back onto the pavement, according to reports. The red, green and white stripes, representing the colors of the Italian flag, have been a fixture of Adams Street in Newton's Nonantum neighborhood since 1935 and are repainted every year ahead of the annual festival, NBC 10 reported. 6 Italian flag colors removed from Mass. street causes resident uprising. NBC 6 A marching band in red shirts and black pants playing instruments at an Italian American festival. St Mary of Carmen Society/Facebook The iconic lines were replaced overnight on June 26 with standard double-yellow lines, the outlet reported. 'This is something my parents grew up with,' resident Costanzo Mancone, who lives on the street, told the outlet. 'They came from Italy. They came here and they felt at home, this was their home. And now they've taken this away, they're taking everything away,' he said. Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller claimed the move was a safety decision, citing a 2024 traffic analysis that showed the street as one of the top five areas for crashes, the outlet reported. 6 The red, green and white stripes, representing the colors of the Italian flag, have been a fixture of Adams Street in Newton's Nonantum neighborhood since 1935. NBC But angered residents of the town, where many Italian immigrants have settled, took matters into their own hands. Locals had covered most of the centerline with their original Italian flag colors by the end of the town's 90th annual Italian American Festival — which kicked off on July 16 and ended last Sunday, the New York Times reported. 'They could've waited until after the festival,' resident Mike Callahan told NBC. 'The festival's only five days long. They could've done it on July 21,' added Callahan, who started a petition with thousands of signatures to bring back the historic lines before the festival. 'There was no reason for them to do it now.' 6 The iconic lines were replaced overnight on June 26 with standard double-yellow lines, the outlet reported. NBC 6 Angered residents of the town, where many Italian immigrants have settled, took matters into their own hands. NBC 6 Locals had covered most of the centerline with their original Italian flag colors by the end of the town's 90th annual Italian American Festival. NBC One 54-year-old man was even briefly detained for trying to spray paint green, white, and red lines over the yellow ones in outrage, police told the outlet. The St. Mary of Carmen Society, which organizes the festival, said its members were never notified of the overnight change, the outlet reported. 'These lines are not just paint, they are sacred symbols of Italian American pride, religious tradition and community identity,' the St. Mary of Carmen Society wrote in a statement. The group claimed the action was 'a slap in the face.'
Boston Globe
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Newton residents react to ‘Line Gate' during Italian American festival
Tim Strayer, who has lived in Newton for 28 years, said that the move was 'tone deaf.' Advertisement 'There may be legitimate reasons to paint it yellow, but the timing and the engagement with the community was very poor,' Strayer said after a 10 a.m. Mass at Our Lady Help of Christians Church. Around 2:30 a.m. on July 16, on the first day of Festa, police Lieutenant Amanda Henrickson Advertisement Although some residents found the removal of the Italian flag stripes disrespectful, many want to move past it and focus on the festival. Chuck Proia, 57, who has been chairperson of the festival for the last 20 years, said that he thinks of the event as 'Christmas in July.' 'I was afraid for a long time that the line controversy was going to overshadow this event,' Proia said. Around 12:30 p.m., people drank beer, ate pizza, and wore matching white shirts emblazoned with 'The Lake,' a nickname for Nonantum, even though there is no lake here. Some volunteers were preparing for the 2 p.m. procession down Adams Street, where the statue of the Madonna del Carmine from Our Lady Help of Christians was carried through the neighborhood. During the procession, the North End Marching Band, dressed in red shirts, played snare drums. Spectators pinned dollar bills to the statue, which will benefit the St. Mary of Carmen Society. Michael Panella, 72, who grew up in Newton but now lives in Needham, said he was upset when he found out that city officials had painted over the stripes on Adams Street. 'It was disgraceful … those Italian colors have been on the street for decades,' Panella said. Panella's parents immigrated from Avellino, a town near Naples in Italy. He said his father encouraged him to speak English and he regrets that he is not fluent in Italian. Panella said that the festival and the Italian character of Nonantum were an important part of retaining his parents' culture. Advertisement Michael Panza, 56, has lived on Adams Street for 20 years in a house with a driveway that's painted red, white, and green. He was welcoming neighbors to his backyard to share food before the procession. Panza said that he and his neighbors were kept up until 3 a.m. on June 27 when city officials repainted the street. 'They were out here from 10:30 at night to 3:30 in the morning with backpack blowers as loud as can be,' Panza said. He said he was skeptical about the mayor's claim that double yellow lines were needed to make the street safer. Michaela Carrieri, 28, of Brookline, came to Adams Street for the procession with her cousin, a first-time visitor to the United States from Abruzzo, Italy. Carrieri's father grew up in Nonantum, and she would attend the festival every year as a child. 'My cousin's never been a part of this festival, and this is something that I've done my whole life,' Carrieri said. 'I just wanted to show him what we do in America.' She said she found it interesting that Adams Street was repainted, pointing out that multiple streets in Nonantum, not just Adams, have a red, white, and green stripe in the middle. 'It's been here for decades,' Carrieri said. 'I'm not too immersed into what is occurring, but I do find it interesting.' Carmen Pancerella, who has lived in Newton for 28 years, said she was sad when she saw that the lines had been painted over, especially since people generally repaint the red, white, and green stripes right before Festa so the street is 'bright and vibrant.' Advertisement Pancerella, whose grandparents immigrated from Calabria, Italy, said that it was important to maintain the stripes on Adams Street and the annual celebration of the festival. 'I like seeing tradition because it's so easy for it to go away in today's world,' Pancerella said. Angela Mathew can be reached at
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
