Letters

LETTER: Continued Support for the Watertown Square Area Plan & Comments on Central Parking the Square

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To Our City Council and to our Watertown neighbors and community at large …

The Watertown Business Coalition (WBC) is writing to express our continued support for the Watertown Square Area Plan (WSAP) as well as the concept of improved centralized parking behind Main & Church Streets. As an organization which serves businesses of many sizes, non-profits and the community at-large we are constantly thinking of ways to connect people and to advocate for pragmatic approaches which serve as many stakeholders as possible in our community. The Watertown Square Area Plan has many goals, but paramount among them are characteristics and goals that “take back” a downtown that has seen regional planning shaping roads and corridors that are ours. Since the introduction of an Exit off the Mass Pike and the removal of the Green Line more than 50 years ago, our downtown began a slow progression towards becoming a “pass-through” versus being a destination. A Vision for Revitalization

As we think about the parking questions in front of us, let’s review the goals of a “New” Watertown Square.

Letters

LETTER: Housing Advocates Encouraged to Attend Meeting on Watertown Square Redevelopment

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This Monday, Aug. 10th, the city will hold a public meeting to update the public about the Watertown Square Demonstration Project at 6 p.m. at the Watertown Free Public Library. For those who need a reminder, here’s where things stand. The city has proposed redevelopment of the parking lot behind CVS, along with several adjacent private parcels of land. The project will add 200-300 new units of market rate housing (including 30-45 new deed-restricted affordable units through our inclusionary zoning ordinance) as well as some new public open space.

Letters

LETTER: Concerns About Redesign of Mt. Auburn Street

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Greetings Councilors:

Are you aware of the many resident concerns being voiced about the excessive size of the sidewalk bump outs along the Mount Auburn Street Corridor? Someone is certainly monitoring the negative feedback. Note the most recent Mount Auburn Street Project Updates for the week of Aug. 3rd. The City’s Project Team clearly places the onus of the design concept on the 07/10/2018 endorsement vote of the Town/City Council.

Letters

LETTER: MWRA, Keep Your Promise of a Clean Charles River

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I don’t know about you, but I love being able to access the Charles River here in Watertown. We have invested a lot in cleaning up our waterways, especially the Charles River and it shows. Many of us remember when you had to get a tetanus shot if you were exposed to the water. But we have waited a long time (since 1972!) for the MWRA to live up to its promise of a truly swimmable, fishable Charles River. 

However, a recent proposal from the MWRA will betray this promise and replace it with certain pollution for many years to come. The main object in the way are the continued Combined Sewerage Overflows (CSOs) that are released into the river whenever we have serious rainstorms. Rainstorms are becoming more severe, dropping large amounts of water at a time and triggering these CSOs.

Letters

OP-ED: Comparing the Watertown City Manager’s Salary to Other Top Administrators & Mayors

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By Linda ScottWatertown Resident

And If Comparisons Were Made (A Quick Comparison of Administrator Salaries for 37 Massachusetts Cities and Towns)

This is a followup to “Answers and Questions about City Manager’s New Contract”

See: https://www.watertownmanews.com/2026/06/24/letter-answers-and-questions-about-city-managers-new-contract/

I received quite an array of comments to my letter, “Answers and Questions,” but one very simple response got me thinking. One resident said quite simply when referring to Mr. Proakis’ new salary, “That’s too much.”

I thought, is it? We were told that this “compensation package” fell within the range of other administrators from other municipalities. It was in the middle of the pack. I thought that I’d put that remark to the test.

Elections

LETTER: Watertown Resident Supports State Senate Candidate

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To my Watertown friends and neighbors:

Senator Will Brownsberger is running for re-election and I enthusiastically support his continued service as our State Senator. Over many years of public service, Senator Brownsberger has earned the trust of our communities through thoughtful leadership, accessibility, and an unwavering dedication to serving his constituents. 

I have been especially impressed with Senator Brownsberger’s commitment to improving education in Massachusetts, and in Watertown. The Senator is aware of particular funding challenges that arise in our community. Through his investigation into the highly-complicated funding formula for schools (Chapter 70), he discovered that Watertown was not receiving the money to which we are entitled. Over his 12 years in the State Senate, this has led to nearly $22 million dollars of additional funding coming from the state to Watertown.

Letters

LETTER: Answers and Questions About City Manager’s New Contract

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Hi All,

I read the agenda for last night’s City Council meeting. As I went to the City website and clicked on the City Council agenda, it “beach balled” forever! Thinking that it was my problem, I tried to open other agendas for that evening and found that this did not happen on any of the other agendas. I called 311, and they could not replicate the problem. (By the way, at the City Council meeting later in the day, I saw that Council President Sideris was having a similar problem).

Letters

LETTER: City Should Hire Independent Polling Group to Gauge Public Opinion on Major Issues

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On June 9, two of us – Watertown residents Bruce Coltin and Josh Rosmarin — spoke at the City Council’s public forum to present our case for the City to commission a polling organization to better determine where residents stand on major issues. Here are the texts of our two-minute comments. From Bruce Coltin:

For almost every local election that I can remember, I falsely believed that that election would be the breakthrough election – the one where voters would turn out in record numbers. In Watertown, non-voters have been an overwhelming majority to the tune of about 75%. In our most recent election, the percentage of non-voters rose to just under 80%.