Massachusetts ‘LineGate’ turns Newton Italian-American festival into a success

The Italian-American festival in Newton has been rocking all weekend long as organizers and longtime residents say LineGate has absolutely unequivocally caused more people from all over to turn out in promotion Neighbors of Nonantum the site of the th annual Festa are continuing to take back Adams Street the road where they say Mayor Ruthanne Fuller stole part of their heritage Just three weeks before the festival s start city workers at Fuller s direction ripped apart Adams Street and laid down thick rubberized yellow lines The action took away red white and green lines that had been on the road for nearly the past century But after the festivities wound down Friday night neighbors expanded their effort to reclaim the road painting over the double yellow lines in their beloved colors Red white and green covered about half of the street ahead of Saturday s party resident Fran Yerardi reported the Herald You ve got the people of the neighborhood who are resilient Yerardi explained and they feel unstoppable because they re taking back their streets When this first happened they felt like something was ripped from them and now they are unified they are proud and they are unstoppable The continued effort comes after Jordan Lee Wagner a Jewish neighbor who attends the Adams Street Shul put out a call for action to residents on Facebook earlier in the week to just go out and paint even if it meant arrests are involved Newton police officers could be seen patrolling the area early Saturday afternoon The department had been seeking complaints in Newton District Court against a -year-old city man who allegedly spray-painted over the double yellow lines early Wednesday morning The festival s organizer the St Mary of Carmen Society an Italian-American Catholic organization has mandated members not to participate in repainting the lines despite their frustrations over the mayor s decision Vice President Carl Pasquarosa explained the Herald Paquarosa s grandfather helped start the festival in as one of the society s founding fathers He announced the five-day event every mid-July is the fiber that binds this locality together Pasquarosa called the timing of Fuller s decision to do away with the red white and green lines nefarious and suspect He announced he felt the action was erasing years of history It s not about the lines per se he informed the Herald at the festival Friday evening it s about what those lines mean to everyone in the neighborhood We know it could have waited he added and there should have been a discussion about that opportunity to wait Otherwise as I ve been saying of the matter comes from of City Hall There s no explanation there s no valid explanation Last Monday Fuller admitted that the city missed the mark in communicating with residents and the City Council ahead of time about the controversial decision while acknowledging that the tricolor center line has been an fundamental and meaningful tradition The mayor stressed that the decision for yellow lines on the two-way street was for community safety citing a citywide analysis of traffic volume and carriage speeds that revealed Adams Street as most of in need of traffic calming measures She revealed the lines were mandatory to comply with federal and state regulations Fuller alerted residents in her memo that the city is allowing red and green paint between the white lines in crosswalks and that fire hydrants can be painted in the colors Let s make Adams Street safer as we celebrate our Italian heritage she wrote Juliana Pasquarosa who put Newton in the national spotlight by winning this past season of The Bachelor echoed her father calling the annual repainting of the red white and green lines before Festa a tradition We dress up Nonantum we have fun we love to celebrate and bring people together Pasquarosa a member of the Carmen s women s society communicated the Herald That s the whole point of everything We have given time to have conversations she added it seems like Fuller is standing toes down on making a decision that goes against region and that s all what we want to stand for The mayor s office has declined to make any new statements referring the Herald to Fuller s email memo from last Monday Fuller has stated she is not seeking a third term Siobhan Anderson has lived her entire life in Nonantum She notified the Herald residents are dealing with more than just LineGate pointing to how the neighborhood is seeing a lot of gentrification What had been a neighborhood filled with an abundance of single- and two-family homes has turned into one with an increasing amount of improvement buildings Anderson explained With it she s seen neighbors unable to afford to stay in the area It has definitely been built up she noted and I understand it because you unfailingly want to change but sometimes that change isn t going to do well for the neighborhood The Festa Anderson reported has an added significance given what has been at play in the neighborhood It means a lot more now she announced because families come from out of state out of town to come during these five days to celebrate the festival It makes it more special to come and celebrate The Festa is ingrained in the Proia family Chuck Proia festival chairman of years mentioned as a kid growing up in the neighborhood he looked forward to this weekend all year long Featuring a carnival-like atmosphere he noted everyone is welcome here no matter their background There are so a great number of issues that you ve got to deal with Proia noted of LineGate and other situations that Nonantum faces This week is about this the people the families the kids What has gotten me the preponderance saddened with what s going on is that this is what it s about he added and we did not want to take away from this At points in time I felt that s what was happening Fairgoers take a ride on the Warrior during the th annual St Mary of Carmen Society festival Thursday night in Newton Mark Stockwell Boston Herald