The Nonantum road has borne tricolor, Italian flag lines in the center of the street since 1935. (Photo Courtesy of Chuck Proia)
Two weeks ago, city workers painted standard double yellow lines on Adams Street in Newton’s predominantly Italian neighborhood of Nonantum. It was the second time in two months that the city covered up the Italian flag–colored lines that had adorned the street since 1935.
“It was more than a breach of trust: it was a slap in the face,” wrote members of the St. Mary of Carmen Society, an Italian American nonprofit based in Nonantum.
On June 26, from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., workers drilled out part of the street covered in Italian flag lines before painting double yellow lines in their place. Ward 1 Councilor-at-Large Alison Leary, who represents the neighborhood in the Newton City Council, explained that these were unusual circumstances for roadwork in Newton.
“It’s not unusual to do [roadwork] late at night, but we don’t usually hammer out the colors,” said Leary. “We usually just repaint. [The workers] didn’t get a noise waiver either.”
The timing of the roadwork not only upset residents because it happened at night, but also because it was three weeks before the community’s 90th annual St. Mary of Carmen festival. Volunteers have repainted the stripes every July since 1935 in preparation for the occasion, according to festival organizers.
“[Residents] felt like they were doing the roadwork in the middle of the night in secrecy, and were just outraged that this would be done three weeks prior to the festival,” Leary said.
But in a newsletter to residents on July 14, Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller contended that the city took the action with careful consideration.
“We gave great consideration over many months to the striping of Adams Street,” Fuller wrote. “We took the action thoughtfully, especially as we know how important the Italian center line is to people who love the Italian-American heritage of this special village. This part of Newton is steeped in history and Italian cultural pride. The tricolor center line has been an important and meaningful tradition.”
The city also allowed the repainting of the tricolor lines just before the festival, but shifted over by about a foot to make room for the standard yellow lines.
“Before the City painted the reflective yellow center lines, we gave permission to the Festa volunteers to again this year repaint the tricolors on Adams Street prior to Festa, just moved over by 12” or 18” next to the double yellow center lines,” Fuller wrote.
Chuck Proia, festival chairman at the St. Mary of Carmen Society, argued that this wasn’t good enough because the tradition was changed either way.
“That is not the way of solving—that is taking away our identity,” said Proia. “Changing anything is erasing the traditions and the culture and the identity of this neighborhood. You do that, it’s going to confuse people even more.”
Fuller also stated that the lines needed to be replaced for safety reasons after a “traffic analysis last year identified Adams Street as one of the city’s top-five crash areas,” The Boston Globe reported.
Leary said she never saw this specific report and wasn’t properly consulted about the mayor’s plans.
“I was kind of flabbergasted that this was done without more communication,” said Leary. “It was a real failure of communication with local elected officials as well as members of the neighborhood.”
Since residents find the traffic lines essential to the neighborhood’s Italian character, some residents took it upon themselves to repaint the Italian flag lines the week of the festival.
“Some guys found some time at night where they could sneak in here and paint [Italian flag lines] over what was here,” said Jim Donovan, owner of Nonantum Press Room on Adams Street. “They never got the whole street done, and it didn’t look great, but at least it was something.”
Public frustration manifested in other ways as well. A Change.org petition garnered over 2,500 signatures, and all 24 city council members signed a letter requesting the return of the Italian flag traffic lines, according to Donovan. A 54-year-old resident was also detained attempting to spray paint an Italian flag over the replaced lines, NBC Boston reported.
While the community was distraught over the change, Proia said there was an outpouring of support for the community.
“I would say 15 to 20,000 people showed up [to the festival] this year because of the publicity that came with what was going on,” Proia said. “We have never seen the numbers that we saw. It was incredible. Nothing dampened. We did worry that this controversy was going to overshadow what was a very consequential year for us on the 90th anniversary. Luckily, it did not happen.”
Fuller doubled down two weeks ago, as city workers sandblasted the painted red, white, and green lines on Aug. 27. The action drew a peaceful protest along Adams Street that police eventually broke up.
“The police came down and told us that we had to leave or we were going to get arrested,” Donovan said.
In addition to painting over the Italian flag lines on Adams Street, the mayor covered a number of other paintings on sidewalks and curbs around Nonantum, residents say.
“In front of a number of our driveways, a tribute to a former member of our neighborhood [depicting] a moon and stars, which was his tattoo, [was removed] … in the name of safety,” Proia said.
Leary said Fuller was worried sidewalk symbols would set a precedent for other Newton neighborhoods to do the same. But Leary argued that these symbols were never an issue before.
“If you can do it somewhere, it would only be fair that other people could also do that as well,” Leary said. “However, that was never, ever a problem … It was not obtrusive.”
Community members and councilors alike are skeptical of the reasons behind the removal of the Italian flag lines.
“I thought there were a lot more effective alternatives to removing the Italian colors,” Leary said. “The Italian colors are very visible. It’s not like you can’t see them.”
Donovan said he feels that Fuller is specifically targeting Nonantum with her policies.
“It’s a vendetta on the neighborhood,” Donovan said. “She’s not giving us any respect down here … That was one way of her really letting us know who was in charge.”
Leary said she was upset with Fuller’s unwillingness to budge on the traffic rules.
“I just think the mayor is pretty inflexible,” said Leary. “A rule is a rule in her book.”
According to Donovan, this inflexibility will not work for the community. The question is not if the Italian flag lines will return, but when.
“These lines run right down the center of this culture,” Donovan said. “Knowing the people in this neighborhood … they’re going to get painted [again]. Somebody’s going to do it. It’s going to happen.”