Two giant stories to pass along: A possible lawsuit to halt housing in Wellesley and a massive housing win in Newton.

But first, a reminder that today is Giving Tuesday.

Many worthy regional, national and global causes need our support. However, as you consider the ways to donate your dollars and time, please also remember our local nonprofits as part of your philanthropic efforts.

Here’s a list of our 150-plus nonprofit chamber members.

Riverside approved, with more homes than ever!

Some 755 individuals or families will have a chance to move to, or remain in Newton, after the Newton City Council voted last night to approve Mark Development’s project at the Riverside MBTA station.

We can only hope and pray that this is truly the final iteration of the storied project, first proposed in 2007 (that’s not a typo!) and approved in four iterations over seven years.

Missing from version four is any office space, hotel, labs or even a community center — all casualties of economic headwinds over nearly two decades.

But it includes 755 apartments — exceeding the number in earlier versions — in six buildings ranging from four to seven floors, 20,000 SF of ground-floor commercial space and 1,110 parking spaces, mainly in a new garage.

The city will receive $1.5 million for nearby building or grounds improvements, plus $1.65 million for sewer infrastructure. There’s also $3.5 million earmarked for off-site traffic work, noise mitigation, open-space improvements or other neighborhood needs.

And there’s an anticipated $1 million per year in net tax revenue.

Notably, Councilor Randy Block, who as a private citizen was among the project’s most vocal past opponents, made the motions to approve it, with Councilor Lenny Gentile seconding.

Only Councilors John Oliver and Julia Malakie cast no votes.

Newton Beacon has more.

Wellesley may sue the state to stop MassBay Housing

Two months ago, the Wellesley Select Board signaled its intent to cooperate with the state on selling an underused five-acre parking lot and possibly some of the adjacent woods at MassBay Community College to create much-needed housing.

“The state has the absolute right to sell the property. And there is no question that something is going to go there,” Chair Marjorie Freiman said at a select board meeting on Sept. 30.

But in a stunning reversal, the board now says it may sue the state instead.

It has also abruptly called off a community input meeting scheduled for next week.

A statement on the town’s website doesn’t specify the legal challenge. There may be legitimate grounds, so it’s reasonable to give the town the benefit of the doubt, for now.

However, because this shift follows a groundswell of community opposition, it’s hard not to wonder whether public pressure isn’t primarily driving this.

Just last month, Sen. Cindy Creem and Rep. Alice Peisch announced that the state had agreed to delay releasing an RFP for the property to allow time for a town-led visioning process and would consider that input when drafting the RFP.

The town had already hired a Virginia-based consultant to facilitate the Dec. 8 session. That meeting is now postponed indefinitely.

How Wellesley got here

The opportunity to sell a portion of state-owned surplus land adjacent to MassBay’s Wellesley Hills campus for housing became possible under the 2024 Affordable Homes Act, which allows the state to preempt local zoning in cases involving surplus land, the Globe explained in a recent editorial.

But the same editorial urged “community leaders to work together to get to yes, to build a housing project that the state and town can be proud of and can tout as a model for how this process can work well,” rather than head down “the type of oppositional, litigious path that has plagued the MBTA Communities Act.”

Back in September, Select Board Chair Freiman seemed to agree.

“We have the opportunity to participate productively and constructively if we work together,” she said then.

“If the town continues to repeat only what we don’t want,” Freiman added, “we risk the state coming back and presenting a proposal that is not what we do want.”

I value your feedback

Tuesday grab bag

• Watch as Gov. Maura Healey calls Max Ritcey to thank him and his team at Ritcey East for stepping up and providing more than 250 servings to families in and around Watertown. “Massachusetts is full of people like Max — small business owners who show up for their neighbors,” Healey wrote on Facebook.
  
  
• Hellenic College is the latest local higher education institution seeking to stabilize its finances by selling 25 acres in South Brookline. (Banker & Tradesman)
  
  
• Medical device startup NanoDx has moved its teams in Cambridge and Albuquerque, New Mexico to a 21,000 SF lab and office space at 66 Galen in Watertown. (BBJ)
  
  
• Needham’s Annual Blue Tree Lighting on the Town Common is this Saturday (Dec. 6) at 5 p.m. Enjoy performances by the Needham High School Chorale, the Olin College Fire Arts Club and Plugged In Band Program. As is tradition, Santa will arrive by fire truck.
  
  
• The next day (Sunday) is the Wellesley Square Holiday Stroll and Scavenger Hunt, starting at 12:30 p.m., with strolling carolers, Frosty, Rudolph and Santa. The tree-lighting ceremony at the Wellesley Square Fire Station is at 5 p.m.
  
  
• The 2026 Newton City Council will caucus on Thursday to select its president.
  
  
• My Gym is moving and opening at 34 Central St. in Wellesley Square, the former home to another gym, We Rock the Spectrum, which closed in September.  (Swellesley Report)
  
  
• The Boston Preservation Alliance recently honored attorney and A History of Boston author Dan Dain, a Needham resident and chamber member, with its Susan Park President's Award for Excellence.
  
  
• Clarification: Friday’s newsletter suggested the Envision Needham Center working group will recommend a new Great Plain Ave. design to the Select Board. However, town officials stress the group is not tasked with reaching consensus; they are collecting community feedback on the three options and will forward all three plans — with feedback — to the Select Board, which will choose the preferred layout.

Anybody know a good planning director? Anybody know three?

Photo: Seated from left: Heath, Arbeen, Newman and Magoon at a 2024 chamber event.

Last night, Wellesley Planning Director Eric Arbeene announced that he’ll be leaving the job he’s held since 2022, effective Dec. 31.

That’s the same day Barney Heath steps down as Newton’s planning director since 2016.

And at the end of January, Steve Magoon — after more than 17 years leading Watertown’s economic development and planning efforts — is retiring.

All three have earned our respect and gratitude.

(For those keeping score at home, only Needham planner Lee Newman remains.)

First, Nonantum’s stripes…now Buddy Holly’s specs

Finally, the good folks in Nonantum may have an idea how people in Lubbock, Texas are feeling.

Except the Texans have Donald Trump, not Ruthanne Fuller, to blame.

The Wall Street Journal reports (gift link) that a series of painted crosswalks depicting 1950’s rock ‘n’ roller Buddy Holly’s famous thick-rimmed eyeglasses must be removed under orders of Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Duffy ordered the removal of all painted crosswalks nationwide in response to street murals honoring Black Lives Matter, pride rainbows and other political messages.

“This includes political messages of any nature, artwork, or anything else that detracts from the core mission of driver and pedestrian safety,” a statement from Duffy’s department reads.

Duffy’s orders came several weeks after Fuller had ordered the Italian flag-themed lines removed from Adams Street in Nonantum. But Fuller cited public safety too.  It’s not clear what Mayor-elect Marc Laredo’s policy will be.

But in Laredo, Texas, they recently removed a street mural that protested the border wall.

And even though there’s nothing political about Holly or his glasses, officials in Lubbock – Holly’s birthplace and home of the Buddy Holly Center – say the specs must fade away.

And that’s what you need to know for today, unless you’re ready to cash it all in and become a blacksmith.

Max Woolf will be back here on Friday.  Give local, please.

Greg Reibman (he, him)

President & CEO

Charles River Regional Chamber

617.244.1688

Max Woolf contributed to today’s newsletter.

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