Despite a low turnout from citizens at last Tuesday’s town hall meeting, members of the Newton City Council and Newton Municipal School Board exchanged ideas, learned more about ongoing projects, and discussed a shared vision for the city.
In his opening remarks to those assembled, Mayor Antonio Hoye expressed his desire to “put as much positivity in the atmosphere as we can” and provided a list of seven initiatives for the town of Newton. Initiatives included developing a thriving downtown area, cooperation among various city entities and neighborhoods, and encouraging interaction between the city and the city’s school system.
“We don’t want to talk about what we don’t have, but what we can do now to get to where we want to be,” Hoye said. “We have to invest in our youth. If we don’t do that, our town is going to die. If we don’t keep our youth engaged and give them things to keep them here, everybody will keep moving off. Without our youth, the town is going to die. We have to invest in our youth, but not just our youth. We have to invest in one another.”
Newton Municipal School District Dr. Glenda Nickson said many work-based programs that introduce students to careers and tours of workplaces and colleges are activities that the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, but she listed several activities that the school has recently provided and would be providing to get more community interaction with students and vice versa. “We do welcome our community in,” she said. She also said the district encourages students to participate in community service like the city wide clean-up on October 1. “Anything that you have going on that our students can come and participate in, just call my office and we will get those students out there.”
School board member Jhaddaka Leverette informed the group about an outreach program that could use more help from community members and have an immediate impact on students whose families are struggling to put food on the table. The Blessed Bags program provides food staples for weekend meals for a student in need. Currently, the program serves about 35 families and provides food and snacks for meals when children aren’t at school. Several members were unaware of the program and voiced their desire to help with the program.
Newton Chamber of Commerce Director Nena Hammond asked the alderman to look into getting signs along US Interstate 20 that bring attention to historic buildings such as the Depot and McElroy-Hoye House as a way to draw in tourists. Hammond also said services for the homeless in the area was a growing concern as well.
Former city alderman Don Vares brought up issues of a vacant downtown and neighborhood cleanliness as detractors to the city. “Downtown - that’s the torso of your town,” he said. “It takes guts to start a business. It takes more guts to stay.” Vares noted that several small business had moved into vacant buildings because of lower rents but shutdown after only a few months.
On that point, Alderman Eric McCalphin said that there has to be local support of those businesses as well and instead of traveling outside of the area community members should look around Newton first.
A couple of audience members voiced concerns over the slowness of the city in taking legal action against land and homeowners with unkempt property. Council member Tomeka Drummond and City Attorney Brian Mayo said that the city’s ability to take action on a citizen’s call about such matters requires a multi-step process that takes time.
