Does Setti Warren's Rhetoric Match Up With His Record of Results?

From Joshua Norman

On January 1, Setti Warren was inaugurated for his second term as mayor.  Village 14 enclosed a link to Setti Warren’s second inauguration speech as mayor.  I just read it and I hope you read it too as it reinforces the Newton Taxpayers Association’s position that things have not changed substantially under Setti Warren’s mayoral administration versus David Cohen’s mayoral administration.  Regarding Setti Warren's second inauguration speech, I found a number of statements that were either grossly inaccurate or misleading.

“Four years ago we were a community divided in the midst of financial crisis, mired in gridlock and indecision. Today, thanks to our citizens, elected officials, employees, city unions, business community, non-profits and the work of this administration we are in a very different position.”

Unfortunately, for Newton taxpayers, Mayor Warren’s statement was misleading, inaccurate or both.  According to the City of Newton’s Audited Financial Reports, Newton’s financial position is in worse shape relative to four years ago as Setti Warren increased annual spending by $44 Million in his first term and he racked up over $110 Million in interest-bearing debt and retirement benefit liabilities in his first term.  Furthermore, former Citizens Advisory Group member Kevin Dutt highlighted how things in Newton have not changed in the last four years.  If you want to find out how wobbly Newton’s financial position is, just ask Newton’s Comptroller David Wilkinson or visit the Comptroller’s website.  That is what I did because it is public information.

And it means that we have a responsibility as elected officials , civic leaders, clergy and citizens of Newton to elevate dialogue with one another, promote and assist our fellow citizens in need, educate, and lead.

Unfortunately, Mayor Warren does not believe this because anytime points out something that counters the “Setti Warren, rock-star mayor myth,” the mayor’s surrogates besmirch the character of the person raising important civic related issues.  We have no confidence that Setti or his surrogates have the humility to recognize that the first term wasn’t perfect, that there are things to improve upon in the second term, and that opposing viewpoints might have some value.

Like many cities, ours will need to meet the needs of those that are young, old and of different socioeconomic backgrounds. For the senior who is aging in place, to the single parent, to the family who recently moved to Newton, to the immigrant, the business owner, for the affluent and less affluent, for people of all races, religions and sexual orientation, from every village on the north side and the south side – We know that we must come together and break down the walls of division to move Newton forward.

Unfortunately, the bureaucratic socialist model of more taxes, more spending on lavish compensation packages for 17 union bargaining groups and more borrowing have resulted in Newton becoming less affordable, especially for long-time residents living in the north side villages.  If we want to keep Newton diverse, we need to keep it affordable.

"We have put in place a model for financial sustainability.”  This is either inaccurate, misleading or both because he claimed that he saved Newton taxpayers $436 Million when he increased annual spending by $44 Million in his first term and he racked up over $110 Million in interest-bearing debt and retirement benefit liabilities.  Furthermore, he accrued $12 Million in deficits in his first term and is projecting another $12 Million in deficits from 2015 to 2019. 

We are implementing a first of its kind capital plan and have made critical investments in public safety and education.  Unfortunately, for Newton taxpayers, this statement is inaccurate because the execution has been mediocre at best.  We saw estimates for building renovations that clearly did not assess properly.  We also saw funds going to departments like the police department, whom many would argue are not in need of a greater presence in a city that is already one of the safest in the country.  Do we need more police to give out more parking and speeding tickets?  The override proponents said we need more police presence because of increasing accidents, some involving bicycles. What would these extra police personnel do to prevent such occurrences, stand on every corner?

“We have expanded economic development to improve the quality of life and expand our tax base and made Newton more attractive for businesses and retail to stay and come here.”

I cannot believe he said this when technology companies TripAdvisor and Eagle Investment Systems recently moved one town over to Needham and Wellesley respectively and when construction contractor Richard White & Sons closed up shop after 107 years.   In addition, specialty chemical manufacturer MicroChem recently moved from Newton to Westborough.  Furthermore, we found it ironic that the President of the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce (who is a close friend and supporter of Mayor Warren) Greg Reibman was instrumental in pushing for the 2008 and 2013 overrides only to call for special targeted tax breaks for businesses 10 months after endorsing the 2013 override package.

“We will continue to ensure Newton has one of the best school systems in the Nation by attracting and retaining the best educators we can.

There are 24 K-12 school systems in Massachusetts that spend significantly less per student than Newton yet get comparable or better results.  50 years ago, Newton was the most innovative school system in the world yet today, our results are worse than districts like Hingham and Shrewsbury, even though we spend 45% more per student than those districts.

In conclusion, despite the fact that Newton’s political establishment is enthusiastic about Mayor Warren, his performance in office has failed to live up to his own rhetoric.  We at the Newton Taxpayers Association agreed with former Citizens Advisory Group member Kevin Dutt’s observations that the dialogue about how things are going in the City has really disappeared. Four years ago, we had a healthy, invigorated debate about how the City was doing, and how we could fix it. However, while Setti Warren may be more affable and gregarious relative to his predecessor David Cohen, it is obvious that Newton’s city government has not changed much from what we had four years ago, when many were outraged.  It seems that so many are willing to support Mayor Warren’s bureaucratic socialist program of more taxes, more government spending and more borrowing on top of Newton’s $1.16 BILLION in existing debt and unfunded liabilities simply because he’s their buddy.