The Upper Falls News is an email newsletter about what's going on in our village.  The Upper Falls News is brought to you by the Upper Falls Area Council but it's intended to cover any and all news in the village. 

Where am I? - This issue, we have a double-header.  Here are a pair of photos of two different spots in Upper Falls without their surrounding context.  The game is to look at the photos and identify where in Upper Falls you can find these two convex mirrors that help with seeing traffic in difficult spots.
   
 
Upper Falls is Having A Party - On Sunday, June 23rd from 5 - 9PM, the entire Upper Falls neighborhood is invited to The Feast At The Falls.  On that evening, walk across Echo Bridge, up the stairs and into a Tuscan style feast in the woods of Hemlock Gorge.  There'll be delicious food, roving violinists, wonderful ambiance, and all of your neighbors joining together for a neighborhood feast.  To whet your appetite, have a look at the Feast menu.  There will also be a vegetarian menu from the chefs at the Tzu Chi Foundation.

The Feast at the Falls is a gift from our local businesses to the people of Upper Falls and sponsored by the Tzu Chi Foundation on Summer Street.  The entire event is being provided free to residents through the generosity of the local businesses and our Buddhist friends but they'll need your help.  They could use all sorts of volunteers to help out with everything from preparation, decoration, checking folks in, etc.  Click here if you can help.  (If we don't get enough volunteers we may have to find some of these guys).

IMPORTANT - Here's the most important part.  We will send out invitations to the Upper Falls News list on Friday or Saturday.  There will be a limited supply of tickets available for the event and they are expected to go very quickly.  Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.  So keep an eye out for that invitation and act on it as soon as you get it.  Please also tell your neighbors about it  and please Upper Falls residents only.  We'd hate to be turning away our neighbors because the tickets went to folks from elsewhere.  Anybody from Upper Falls will be able to get tickets (not just Upper Falls News subscribers) while they're available.

Biltmore Bursting Its Seams - Construction started last week in the alley between the Biltmore and Sol's old barber shop.  It will soon be turned into a new patio with additional seating for the Biltmore.  Further down the block towards Oak St, a different unused alley way will be opened up.  You'll still be able to get from the parking lot out back to Chestnut Street, without having to dice with death by walking down the driveway as someone swings in from Chestnut Street. 

Work should be finished pretty quickly.  It won't be long before you'll be able to enjoy some al fresco dining - Biltmore style.

Family Fun Day at the Park - The "Picnic at the Park" last Saturday was a great way to kick off the Emerson Playground - Building it Together project.  Lots of neighbors were there for the festivities including egg races, rocket launches, three legged races, water balloon free-for-alls, pizza, water cannons.  Thanks to all the volunteers for their help.  Thanks to Boston Sports Club for running the games, John Rice and Newton Pizza House for the pizzas, Allie Riklin and Mia Ramirez for the face painting,  Ben Kalis for his balloon work, and the Upper Falls Variety for some much needed shade.

Future of Needham St - A community meeting will be held tonight, Thursday June 6, 7-9PM at Countryside School about a redesign of Needham St.  Representatives from both the city of Newton and the state's Department of Transportation will be presenting their plans and soliciting comments.

Alternate Future of Needham St - Last week's Newton Tab featured a guest column by Anatol Zukerman pitching his idea to build a new road parallel to Needham St on the railroad tracks that will soon become the Upper Falls Greenway.   Here's a response from your Upper Falls News editor.

Them Nasty Weeds - There's a highly invasive plant called "garlic mustard" (or is it "mustard garlic"?) that quickly takes over and crowds out other native plants.  The Newton Conservators have a volunteer program to enlist neighbors to help find and eradicate garlic mustard patches before they completely take over. A week from Sunday, June 16, at 9AM we'll be pulling garlic mustard from Hemlock Gorge and the Quinnobequin Rd area.  It's easy work and no previous knowledge necessary.  Just three minutes with the Conservator's Katherine Howard and she'll turn you into an expert garlic mustard identifier.  So come on down to the parking lot at the bottom of Ellis St at 9 AM and let's pull them nasty weeds.

New Neighbor - A new neighbor stopped by the Upper Falls News office last week to ask that we run more stories about seeds, nuts, and fruits.  Here's a really bad photo of the chipmunk who just started hanging around in our back yard.

My iPod Speaks - The iPod in my office has thousands of songs on it and is always on permanent "shuffle".  I never know what will pop up next.  While writing this issue of the Upper Falls News, this song by an Upper Falls resident randomly started playing.

Did You Know ... that a starfish has no brain?  (and it isn't a fish either)  "Did you know ..." features an interesting and random fact every issue, collected by ten-year-old Upper Falls resident Jayla Reilly.

Send Us Your News - If you have any upcoming events, activities, news, trivia, stories, anecdotes or jokes related to Upper Falls just send them to news@UpperFallsNews.org and we'll include them in the next newsletter.  For those who prefer living in the past, back issues of the Upper Falls News are archived at UpperFallsNews.org.

'Where Am I" Answer -  The first mirror is at the back of the Clark's parking lot on Oak St, on the shortcut to Tower Rd.  We would of course never take that shortcut ourselves since it's private property and that would be trespassing.   The second mirror is at the difficult intersection of High St and Elliot St in front of Bob's Sub Shop. 

*** Free Suggestion *** - other neighborhood spots that would benefit from a mirror include: the bend on High St, and the corner of Summer/Chestnut streets.