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.
