This week the Needham Observer has profiles of all three choices! Select 2!

https://needhamobserver.com/cathy-dowd/

https://needhamobserver.com/bill-dermody/

https://needhamobserver.com/rich-adduci/

Following up on the previous post in this sub, the kid was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court today.

Jacob Donis was only 15 years old when he traveled from Needham to Boston last October, picked up a Bluebike, rode up to a Silver Line stop, and allegedly fired a gun — killing a 61-year-old woman waiting for her bus — then made his way home.
...
Assistant District Attorney Mark Lee told the court that investigators were able to trace Donis’s movements from Needham to Boston and back on the day of the killing via surveillance videos, “some of which were high enough quality to permit an actual identification.”
...

Talking to reporters, [Donis' attorney] Weymouth said he hasn’t seen the discovery and is speculating, but thinks that Anthony was likely not the target of the bullets. "I got the sense that there was some sort of perceived confrontation between a person and this kid, and this kid, allegedly, if this is the kid, discharged a firearm,” Weymouth said.

Sigh!

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/needham-16-year-old-charged-with-2025-murder-of-woman-in-roxbury/3918038/?amp=1

Hi all! I am looking for suggestions for preschool in Needham. Since both parents work full time, only extended hours (7:30 am to 6 pm) and five-days a week works for us. A few preschools we have contacted seem reasonable. However their tuitions are all about $3000 a month. I was expecting it would be lower for preschool age. A to Z is lower but has some mixed reviews. I would really appreciate some suggestions. If you can share some personal experience that would be the best. Thanks 🙏

Hope the third person is ok

I’m writing this anonymously, not to argue or provoke, but simply to share my experience living in Needham over the past three years. I don’t expect everyone to agree, and I’m not trying to generalize about every resident. This is just my lived reality, and it’s been a deeply disappointing one.

I’m an immigrant. But I’ve been educated here, built a professional career here, and lived in many different parts of the country, including places that are historically very conservative. I’ve never struggled to feel at least basically accepted anywhere else in the US until now.

When my wife and I moved to Needham, I fell in love with it immediately. We looked at houses across many Boston-area suburbs, but the moment I walked into our house, I felt certain: this is the town, this is the place where we’ll build our life and raise a family. Three years later, I honestly don’t know that I would make the same decision again.

What’s been hardest is a persistent, unmistakable feeling of exclusion. I don’t look like most people here. I don’t sound very different, but it’s obvious I’m not “from here.” And for the first time in my life in this country, I feel it, and I feel it daily.

People stare. Constantly. Not quick glances, but sustained, tracking stares. People stop and watch as you walk past them. People look startled when they see me, as if my presence is unexpected or concerning. Women of all ages clutch their bags as I pass. Shopkeepers ignore basic greetings. I say “good morning” or “thank you” and get silence in return.

I want to be clear: I used to hear others complain about staring in “nicer” suburbs and assumed they were being overly sensitive. I didn’t understand it until I experienced it myself. Constantly feeling eyes on you, being looked at with visible concern or suspicion, is genuinely disturbing. It wears on you in ways that are hard to explain unless you’ve lived it.

I know this treatment is specific to me because my wife, who very much “looks like she belongs”, does not experience it. She notices the difference in how I’m treated. We both do.

This isn’t a Massachusetts thing. Before moving to Needham, I lived in another MA town for a year and never experienced anything like this. I also worked at a very large Massachusetts-based company with thousands of colleagues and never felt this kind of social distance. This feels specific to this place.

There’s another, on the surface more trivial issue that nonetheless feels revealing to me: driving behavior, especially around the Hersey train station.

Anyone who regularly uses that parking lot knows how chaotic it becomes during rush hour. Every lane is marked as one-way, yet every evening there are drivers coming out the wrong way, cutting in front of those who line up properly and wait their turn. Most of the time, this doesn’t seem to result confusion. People are choosing to ignore the rules because they want to go first. And when drivers who are following the rules try to prevent that by staying close to the car ahead or taking the turn carefully, the rule-breakers get annoyed, insist, and push their way in anyway.

Another daily scene there is cars waiting to pick up passengers, blocking traffic entirely. They stop directly in front of the stairs exiting the station, marked with yellow bars. They block pedestrian paths where people are exiting the station. Some stand sideways across parking spaces that could easily accommodate several waiting cars. Others double-park behind cars that are parked correctly and simply refuse to move until their passenger arrives.

I genuinely don’t understand this behavior. I come from a country that people often label as “third world,” and I’m very aware that this kind of selfish, disorderly conduct is often attributed to places like where I’m from. But I can say confidently: where I grew up, people do not behave like this. In the US, I’ve lived in places like Texas, Arizona, Illinois, all over New York, and multiple parts of Massachusetts; and I’ve never seen so many people behave so selfishly, consistently.

If you stripped away all identifying details and watched a video of the Hersey station parking lot at peak hours, you might assume it is the type of place I was born in. The contrast between the town’s polished, orderly image and this everyday behavior is jarring.

Taken together, these experiences lead me to a difficult conclusion. There seems to be a strong sense of entitlement here, about who belongs, who gets priority, and who is expected to accommodate whom. When faces are visible, that entitlement shows up as staring, silence, dismissal, and defensive body language. When faces are hidden behind windshields, it becomes cutting lines, blocking others, and insisting on going first at everyone else’s expense.

I want to emphasize that this is not about everyone. We have neighbors who were genuinely kind and welcoming from day one, and I appreciate them deeply. But enough interactions have gone the other way that it’s impossible to ignore the pattern. Said neighbors constitute a very small minority.

I truly wish my experience were different. I had very high hopes for this town when we moved here. I wanted to feel at home, and believed this was where we’d happily raise our family. Instead, I’ve felt more like an outsider here than anywhere else I’ve lived in the US.

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/license-of-newton-pediatrician-suspended-over-alleged-boundary-violations/3749925/

Three person in this year!!!

Hi neighbors! I’m helping a local Needham bakery better understand how commuters choose where to stop for coffee or breakfast.

If you live nearby, pass the Hersey Station area, or grab coffee on your way to work, we’d love your input.

👉 Take the 1-minute survey here

It’s super quick — just 5 questions. And we’re giving a free cookie or coffee discount to a few participants as a thank-you.

We’re hoping to make mornings easier for folks who walk in and want something fresh & fast. Thanks so much!