Category: Needham Observer

  • Needham seeks its next poet laureate

    Needham seeks its next poet laureate

    A hush fell over the room as Anne Nydam, Needham’s inaugural poet laureate, recited “Home, Needham 2025” at a Select Board meeting last year. She described the poem as a tribute to the town and to Kate Fitzpatrick, the former town manager. 

    “The fact that Kate Fitzpatrick has been part of the life of Needham for so long, she cares about it,” Nydam said. “It made a really nice way to recognize her legacy while sort of looking forward into what we’re all hoping for going forward.”

    Needham poet laureate Anne Nydam, seated beside Library Director Rob MacLean, reads a poem at the Select Board meeting honoring outgoing Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick./ Credit: The Needham Channel

    Nydam stepped into the role in December 2024. As the first person to hold the position, she shaped it by saying “yes” to every opportunity that arose, organizing programs aimed at reaching residents of all ages and backgrounds across town.

    One of her accomplishments is a crowdsourced poem, “The Sidewalks of Needham,” stitched from 90 contributions by town residents. Nydam said she hopes that every time someone reads it, the verses inspire a sense of connection and belonging.

    “I think poetry is a way to give people hope, a window on each other,” Nydam said. “It’s a good thing. It’s an important thing.”

    Serving in the role enriched Nydam’s writing and her reading of poetry. While preparing for the Juneteenth celebration, she discovered many poems previously unknown to her. “It’s widened me in a couple of different ways,” she said.

    Nydam’s term ends June 30, and the town is searching for her successor. Officials extended the term to two years and raised the stipend from $500 to $1,500. Rob MacLean, director of the Needham Free Public Library, said the changes grew out of the town’s experience with Nydam and her feedback.

    The next term runs from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2028. Applications for the program are being accepted through April 15 at noon. 

    “We’re looking for a new poet laureate who is willing to serve the town of Needham for two years, bringing their love of poetry to everybody across town and also helping explain why it’s important, especially today,” MacLean said.

    The next laureate, he said, must craft meaningful poems and connect with the community as Nydam did. “They can’t just be a happy, friendly person who can’t put a couple of stanzas together,” he said. “So, they have to have the ability to excel at both.”

    The role carries special weight in today’s climate, MacLean said, where poetry can draw communities together. “It connects with our soul in a way that helps us continue to do the hard and necessary work to make improvements in the world.”

    When the program was first announced, Nydam hesitated to apply. “I thought, you know, Needham — we’ve got so many talented people here, I’m probably too small-time,” she said. It wasn’t until she saw the announcement again that she decided to apply. She hopes other artists “go ahead and apply because getting a variety of different people and different voices is part of the fun of this.” 

    Nydam said she hopes the next poet laureate will have fun with the role. “Don’t take it like either stressing out because you have to be the greatest poet ever, just if you love poetry and you’re excited about it,” she said, expressing a desire for the program to continue to grow and dreams that each laureate’s work will become part of Needham’s literary history. 

    “I would love people to be like, ‘Oh, Anne Nydam was a great poet laureate.’ [But] if the program grows and sticks, I’ll be very proud of that,” she said.

    Nydam said she hopes she has inspired greater interest in poetry across the community. At the Needham Thrive Festival last year, she set up a tent to help people process emotions through writing. Only one person stopped by. They wrote nothing, but Nydam persuaded the person to go home and read poetry.

    “Even though that was only one person, so in some ways it’s like, ‘Oh, that was OK, maybe that was a failure,’” she said. “But it really felt like a win.”

  • Needham Police write fewer traffic tickets than neighboring towns

    Needham Police write fewer traffic tickets than neighboring towns

    Credit: Needham Observer

    Needham police issued fewer citations in 2025 than any of three neighboring towns, state transportation data shows. 

    The Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s online citation database shows the Needham Police Department recorded 2,089 traffic violations and issued 1,706 citations in 2025. More than half of the violations fell into three categories: failure to stop or yield, using electronic devices while driving, and driving an unregistered vehicle. 

    Under Massachusetts law, “violations” are defined as breaking state or local traffic laws, while “citations” are the printed documents — including warnings — issued to drivers by police who pull them over for violating the laws.

    In 2024, the department recorded 2,148 traffic violations, according to its “Year-End Review Crime Report,” so last year saw a slight year-over-year decline.

    By comparison, Wellesley tallied 5,720 citations and 6,692 violations; Dedham recorded 5,067 citations and 5,480 violations; and Westwood logged 2,907 citations and 3,406 violations, MassDOT data shows. Needham had the fewest of the four. 

    Lt. John McGrath of the Needham Police Department said the town’s officers encourage driver education over punishment.

    “I think we just look at using education and not a punitive measure, which can affect somebody’s insurance. It’s a little bit more expensive beyond just a simple money fine,” McGrath said in a phone interview. “So we really push the ‘get out there, stop cars, educate the drivers, and positive interactions’ with the public.”

    More than 70% of citations in Needham are warnings. A written warning still generates a Massachusetts Uniform Citation, but is marked as a warning and does not affect insurance rates. Verbal warnings are not tracked in the database. 

    In comparison, around 80% of citations in Wellesley are warnings, while the numbers for Westwood and Dedham are 82% and 94%, respectively. 

    However, when comparing the number of violations with the population of each town, Needham still logged the lowest amount of violations on average, with only about 65 violations per 1,000 residents, while Westwood had 209.4, Dedham 216.1, and Wellesley 226.4, based on dividing the MassDOT data by each town’s 2020 U.S. census data. 

    Credit: Sicheng “Chris” Che

    Massachusetts drivers whose infractions lead to fines for violations pay 28% more for auto insurance than other drivers, ranking the state among the highest in the nation for citation-related rate increases, according to a 2025 Bankrate study. 

    McGrath, a member of the town’s transportation safety committee, said the education-oriented initiatives work in conjunction with the town’s Department of Public Works and residents to identify locations with the most issues. While the DPW implements measures to make those locations safer, the police department enforces traffic laws and educates drivers who break them.

    McGrath said the department’s total traffic stops last year roughly matched those of Wellesley and Dedham, though MassDOT does not track that figure.

    Not everyone in Needham agreed about how well its drivers and police department are performing.

    “I think that they need to use their turn signals more,” said Teddy Waltzman, a 16-year-old who had gotten his driver’s license two weeks earlier.

    Waltzman said it’s smart to use citation data to inform how traffic laws are enforced, but other residents expressed mixed feelings about traffic in town. 

    “I get frustrated a lot because sometimes some of the crossways, they are not well maintained, just like one of the intersections here,” said Mak Patel, a clerk at the 7-Eleven on Highland Avenue, motioning to cars lining up outside. He said traffic at the intersection near his store would improve with better planning and management by the town. 

    Patel, originally from New Jersey, said Needham’s streets are easier to deal with than the thoroughfares back home, even though Needham police had pulled him over several times “for a little bit of speeding.”

    “For a few parts of town, they are really vigilant. Right next to my store, they’re always here looking around for people who are speeding or doing something like that,” Patel said. He rated Needham’s police an 8 out of 10.

    “I think for the most part, people are pretty courteous in terms of allowing people out from side streets and things of that nature,” Needham resident Catherine Hogan said. “I just think people need to slow down and not run red lights.” She said the police should write more tickets.

    McGrath, the Needham police lieutenant, said he isn’t sure that would help.

    “It seems like people seemed pretty fixed on their routines. I think just being visible can help, can help deter that, ” he said. “On the other side of the coin, if you heavily enforced [traffic laws], there are people who are just as upset that you’re out pulling every other car over.” 

    McGrath, a Needham native with nearly two decades of law enforcement experience, said the initiative was holistic and could make streets safer by enlisting residents, the DPW and local businesses into the effort. 

    “It’s going to be this initiative with working with our stakeholders, the DPW, even maybe storefronts, are looking at different ways you can make the town easily accessible without increasing traffic volume to just bring speeds down and keep people safe,” McGrath said. 

    This story was written by a journalism student in BU’s Newsroom program, a partnership between the university, the Needham Observer and other news organizations in the Boston area.

  • Digital parking meters coming to Needham

    Digital parking meters coming to Needham

    Needham’s coin parking meters are in for a change./ Credit: Needham Observer

    Soon, you may not have to dig for quarters to park in Needham’s premium spaces. By early summer, digital parking meters will give drivers the option to pay with a smartphone app, text message, or credit card in addition to the current coin option.

    Deputy Town Manager Elizabeth LaRosee said the need for this change emerged from the town’s 2023 Parking Study. “The transition reflects long-term planning recommendations,” she said, “rather than a response to any single complaint or recent issue.”

    Needham officials selected HotSpot Parking as the vendor, LaRosee said, because the system features “reliability, functionality, user accessibility, and [an ability] to integrate with enforcement and back-end management tools.” 

    Needham is working with HotSpot and Passport, the town’s current parking-enforcement software provider, to integrate the new system. The rollout is in beta testing and is expected to be fully operational by summer, said LaRosee.

    LaRosee said the town paid $1,050 to HotSpot for signage directing users to the new payment options. Beyond that initial signage cost, Needham does not incur a per-use cost for the parking sessions themselves. Instead, there is a $0.15 per-session user fee, which is paid directly by the individual using the service. 

    According to the survey in the Town’s 2023 Parking Study, one-third of respondents were in favor of paying for parking with a smartphone app. Some Needham residents greeted news of the more modern system with a yawn. “I think there’s a lot of public parking that you can access for free,” said Sophia Buckley. “It doesn’t seem to be too big an issue for me.” The availability of free parking around town, much of it near the town center, allows people to just walk where they need to go, she said.

    LaRosee said the new system will provide the town with better parking data, streamline enforcement and reduce the need to handle piles of coins.

    Cristian Ortega, manager of Town Pizza, commutes from West Roxbury to Needham for work every day. He said the shift to digital payments mirrors people’s habits in a modern world. “Nobody today carries a lot of cash,” he said. “It’s easy because you put a credit card, you don’t have to worry about change.”

    Nearby towns, including Natick and Wellesley, have already adopted digital parking meters. 

    Ortega said his restaurant has faced similar pressure to modernize. “We have to update it because of the kids, they make it easy. All these things, DoorDash, Uber Eats, it’s so much easier for them.”

    Some people said the idea of storing their credit card numbers on an app makes them uneasy. “There’s too many things out there,” Ortega said, “you don’t know, they can grab your information.”

    LaRosee said the new parking system will protect residents’ privacy and data. The system collects standard parking transaction data to process payments and manage parking operations, LaRosee said, and access is limited to authorized personnel and vendors.

    Syed Zakir Hussain, a Burlington resident who commutes to Needham for work, said he prefers to use coins. Learning a new app, he said, can be a burden for some people. The new system will be convenient for “young people, but hard for the old people.”

    This story was written by a journalism student in BU’s Newsroom program, a partnership between the university, The Needham Observer and other news organizations in the Boston area.

  • North Hill seeks approval to expand

    The North Hill senior living community off Central Avenue is seeking town approval to build a 44-unit expansion of its campus to help address its years-long waiting list, according to documents filed with the Planning Board. 

    Joe Frias, CEO of the 600-resident nonprofit facility, appeared before the Planning Board at its Jan. 6 meeting because building the new four-story addition will require a zoning amendment. 

    “Over the course of the next 25 years, as the baby boomers continue to age and they need more housing, there’s not enough inventory out there,” Frias said last month. “We currently at North Hill have just about a three-to-four-year waitlist just to get into the door.”

    The expansion would require a zoning amendment and modifications to parking requirements, according to documents filed with the town. North Hill is Needham’s only “full continuum-of-care” provider — a facility that offers both long-term senior care and independent living, Frias said. 

    “We’ve identified some opportunities for growth and continue to meet the demand,” he said.

    North Hill plans to build the expansion on the southwest corner of its property.

    The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the zoning amendment at its Feb. 24 meeting. The fate of the zoning will ultimately be decided at Town Meeting in May. 

    Patricia Cusack, director of sales and marketing at North Hill, said it is too soon to answer detailed questions about the expansion, including building designs, costs and the impact of construction.

    Steve Volante, co-owner of Volante Farms adjacent to North Hill, said the senior living facility has been a great neighbor. 

    “It does seem like (North Hill) has been consistently growing over the past decade, so I’m not surprised in any way that they’re continuing that expansion,” he said.

    Several North Hill residents also support the expansion. 

    “I think it’s a good idea. We need more housing, and it would be financially useful for North Hill,” said Anne Weaver, a North Hill resident.

    North Hill’s creation followed years of zoning battles. In 1979, Town Meeting opposed zoning changes that would have allowed 59 acres to be converted from single-family homes to a mixed-use development. The original plan for apartments failed miserably.

    Babson College later proposed building 375 units for people 55 and older. That project, now North Hill, passed the Planning Board with one dissenting member and narrowly survived a Needham Town Meeting vote, despite pushback by residents concerned about traffic and other issues. 

    There are traffic concerns about the expansion, too.

    “I can’t imagine any more (traffic),” said Revel Cotsford, a Medway resident who frequently drives to Needham to shop at Volante Farms. 

    Volante said he welcomes more cars. 

    “Any increase in traffic in the sense of cars passing through, and any increase in additional residents in the area … that’s a good thing for us,” he said.

    Some North Hill residents, including Leila Kern, aren’t worried about construction noise.

    “Will it disrupt us a little bit? Of course it will,” Kern said, “but you’ve got to take a little bit of the pain to get the gain.”

    This story is part of a partnership between the Needham Observer and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • Leaf blowers, Quiet Zone fall off Town Meeting agenda

    The sponsors of two planned May Town Meeting articles that touched on hot-button issues have decided to pull them from consideration with an eye toward bringing them forward at a later date. 

    A group of residents has dropped its plan to pursue a seasonal ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, and the Quiet Zone Working Group has decided to wait until the fall to request construction funds for the long-planned safety upgrades needed to eliminate the mandatory sounding of train horns in town. 

    David Rudolph, who initiated the citizens’ petition on leaf blowers, said his group received too much opposition from landscapers during a Zoom forum on March 5. The proposal would have banned the use of gas-powered leaf blowers from May 15 to Sept. 30, starting in 2026, and applied to commercial landscapers, residents and property managers.

    “There were a lot of [landscapers] saying this is going to destroy their business,” Rudolph said. “They can’t just change everything all at once. It’s going to be much too expensive for them.” 

    The 35-person coalition, most of whom are Needham residents, has instead decided to pivot toward educating the community about the environmental and noise impacts of gas-powered leaf blowers.

    “I had good conversations with several of the landscapers on the forum … and they said they were willing to try electric equipment, so that’s No. 1,” Rudolph said. “Not under any mandate, but just testing it out to see how it goes.”

    The group plans to educate landscapers about alternatives that are quieter and better for the environment, Rudolph said. His suggestions include mulching and composting leaves in flower beds rather than blowing them all off the property, and using gas blowers on a lower-power setting.

    The coalition also hopes to launch a consumer education campaign through the volunteer organization Green Needham, which would work with landscapers experimenting with electric equipment and distribute their names so residents can hire them, Rudolph said.

    The coalition is working with an electric leaf blower seller who may hold a field day in May, where landscapers can test out electric equipment, Rudolph said.

    Speaking of noise reduction …

    The working draft of the Town Meeting warrant contained an article that would have sought $3.5 million “for the purpose of quiet zone construction, including all costs incidental or related thereto.”

    However, the Quiet Zone Working Group had difficulty engaging a consulting engineering firm to lead the effort of assessing the cost of installing the required supplemental safety measures at the town’s five at-grade crossings (Oak Street, Great Plain Avenue, May Street, Rosemary Street, and West Street) that would meet the standards required to establish a Quiet Zone for Needham.

    This delayed the start of the group’s work and left it with an incomplete plan, despite having held multiple meetings with the MBTA and other stakeholders. The group made a final attempt at its March 26 meeting to settle on a cost estimate. The six members and its engineering consultants from Tighe & Bond discussed options that indicated the cost could range from $3.5 million to $5 million, but came to the conclusion that there were still too many unanswered questions to produce a reliable number.

    “We simply couldn’t go before FinCom without a final number,” said Marianne Cooley, the Select Board’s appointee to the working group, which voted unanimously to pull the article.

    Both Cooley and Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick, who is also a member of the group, expressed some optimism that the delay until Fall Town Meeting will not necessarily slow the project, assuming Town Meeting approves the eventual funding request.

    “We have the bonding capacity if that’s what the town wants to do,” Fitzpatrick said at the meeting. “It’s not a matter of having to find the money.”

    Cooley explained that the QZWG can continue its work and can use funds approved at Annual Town Meeting in 2024 to complete the design work pretty much on schedule while also producing a more reliable cost estimate.

    Cooley hopes to be able to bring a fully baked warrant article to Special Town Meeting in October.

    “Design will be done this summer,” she said prior to the April 1 Select Board meeting. “That will inform a cost estimate and we’ll be ready to go to Town Meeting in the fall.”

    This story is part of a partnership between the Needham Observer and the Boston University Department of Journalism. Peter O’Neil also contributed to this report.

  • ‘The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow’ as ‘Annie’ takes the stage

    Opening night jitters and “break a leg” well wishes are beginning to stir as the Needham Community Theatre’s production of “Annie” prepares to open Friday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m.

    Cast members say the classic tale of a pure-hearted, redheaded orphan who seeks her parents and ends up finding family in unexpected places, carries a deeper meaning than the experience of memorizing lines and frenetic costume changes.

    “It’s a community theater because really everyone’s such a community,” said Deahna Spada, the 13-year-old actress who plays Annie. “I get to go in after a long day of school or work and (be a member of) a community where everyone loves each other, and we all get to work on something really magical in the end.”

    Spada, who began performing at age 5 and appeared professionally in “The Little Mermaid” and “SpongeBob” by age 11, said the theater provides a refuge from life’s daily pressures. Unlike her other passion, competitive ski-racing, she says she enjoys the helpful, communal ethic of working with other actors.

    Meg Dussault, who plays the villainous Miss Hannigan, typically directs shows for the Needham Community Theater, but chose to act in “Annie.” 

    “When you’re a director, you have to take care of all the details and it’s your job to worry about everything,” Dussault said. “When you’re a performer, you really just have to worry about, ‘Can I do my best and can I deliver?’”

    She described the 40-plus people involved in the production as talented and supportive, so much so, the cast was unaffected by shortened days of sunlight and seasonal mood challenges. “As soon as we get daylight savings everyone’s cranky,” Dussault said, “and that hasn’t been here.”

    The actors involved in the show include Michael Bailit, who plays Franklin D. Roosevelt and is on the theater board. His dog Harpo is cast as Sandy. The cast has put in two to three hours per rehearsal, three times a week, since September. 

    “The theme of the show and its uplifting message means a lot to our community right now because we live in fraught times, where there’s not a tremendous amount of optimism that people are feeling about our country at this moment,” Bailit said when asked what the show means to the Needham community. “Having a show where the theme song is, ‘The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow’ is, I think, a balm for sad souls.”

    With opening night approaching, actors are antsy to begin.

    “I’m really excited, I can’t wait for all my friends to come,” Spada said when asked how she feels about opening night, her hair cut and dyed, ready to play the part.

    “We’re ready,” was Bailit’s response to the same question. “We have a wonderful director, Marianne Lonati, who has directed for us previously and she runs a tight ship, and she makes sure that her cast is ready to go by the time it’s opening night.”

    Performance dates for the show along with tickets and other details can be found on the Needham Community Theatre website.

  • The case of the purloined posts

    Tim Puopolo first discovered a signpost was missing on Oct. 7. Over the next three days, Puopolo, Needham’s conservation specialist and trail coordinator, found that a dozen more of the 8-foot-tall, beefy wooden posts — newly installed and waiting for trail directional signs to be attached — had disappeared from the Town Forest, leaving dirt-filled holes on the crisscrossing trails.

    The thefts have interrupted a 16-year trail improvement project and prompted a police investigation. The posts were installed at the Town Forest and Ridge Hill Reservation as part of the Trails Master Plan to update all of Needham’s forest trails into a cohesive park system. 

    The signposts were being installed ahead of the winter frost. Next spring, they will be supplemented with trail markers to help hikers who commonly find themselves lost in the maze of pathways.

    Each of the 4-by-4-inch cedar posts weighs more than 50 pounds. The thieves appear to have used trucks and specialized equipment to dislodge the posts, which were buried 3 feet deep.

    “As far as I know, (police) haven’t uncovered anybody with these posts or received any tips leading them in any particular direction,” said Puopolo. “It’s no longer a little act of vandalism, but something that’s very targeted.”

    Premier Fence, a company based in Canton, began installing the trail markers for bikers, hikers and dog walkers Oct. 6. Days later, by Oct. 9, more than $2,000 worth of wood was missing.

    Posts one and 29 were taken the day after they were installed Oct. 7. The fencing company replaced both posts, only to discover four more posts missing the day after. Three of those were from new locations, but post 29 was snatched for a second time, according to Puopolo. 

    “I went out there that Thursday morning, the ninth, and found seven more posts were missing,” said Puopolo. 

    It was at that point that he went to the police and filed a report Oct. 10 for a misdemeanor and the $2,000 of stolen property. 

    “There are no suspects or cameras and the poles will be replaced,” the report said.

    The wooden posts that have been inserted into the ground, sprouting 5 feet above the soil, don’t make for an easy snatch and sprint.

    “It was quite an effort to pull these things out,” said Dave Herer, chair of the Conservation Commission. “They weigh over 50 pounds, 3 feet of wood is in the ground too.”

    “It would not be possible for a person to carry 10 of these out of the property without multiple people, multiple trips, or even the aid of a vehicle,” said Puopolo.

    The majority of posts were taken off a major artery of the blue trail that goes through the property, one that’s big enough to allow for vehicular access. The posts haven’t been found anywhere on the property, and the holes left behind from being dug three feet into the ground have been backfilled by the thief with dirt and debris, according to Puopolo.

    “I’m thankful they were worried about people not breaking their ankles in the holes, but that just adds another level of intention into this whole thing,” he said.

    Puopolo hasn’t returned to the scene of the crime in weeks, putting a halt to replacing the posts until the project starts up in the spring. In hopes of explaining what the posts are and why they’ve been put on the trails, Puopolo has put up laminated signs stapled onto the wood that explain they’ll be “helping people at major intersections and trailheads.” 

    “I thought people were just uninformed or fearful of potential projects,” said Puopolo when asked what someone’s motive for taking the posts would be, suspecting that a lover of Needham’s outdoors might’ve been trying to put a stop to any construction that would destroy the landscape. 

    Herer says the signs are needed. “I know people that don’t even want to go there because they’re afraid of getting lost,” he said.

    Eleven of the 85 trail markers have been stolen as of Oct. 9 — as far as town officials know — but there may be more. A full assessment of the theft is expected to be finished when the project starts back up in the spring.

    “There’s no guarantee that any time, money and effort we spend replacing them now that they’ll stay,” said Puopolo. “It’s not just the cost of the post, but the labor.”

    Needham Police currently have no leads on the thief’s identity. Some of the $2,000 worth of wood that’s gone potentially could be covered by insurance, but the town finance department has yet to give the final word on that process, according to Puopolo.