Transportation

Shuttle May Be Coming to Watertown; Initially it Would Not Serve Residents

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There is good news, and some not so good news for people waiting for a public shuttle bus in Watertown, the Town Council’s Economic Development and Planning subcommittee learned Tuesday night. The Watertown Transportation Management Association (TMA) is close to creating what will be known as the Watertown Connector, which will serve Arsenal Street and other parts of the Eastside of town. However, at first, the shuttles will only be available for people who work for businesses or live in apartment complexes that are part of the TMA. The TMA is made up mostly of companies and projects required by their building permits to contribute to the TMA (and in most cases the shuttle), some who have joined voluntarily, plus the Town of Watertown. The shuttles would be an expansion of the current Athenahealth shuttle system, said Bridger McGaw of Athenahealth who also serves as president of the Watertown TMA.

Around Town

Watertown Library Offers a Universe of Summer Reading Options

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A view of what the current Watertown Free Public Library. The Watertown Library provided the following announcement:

Summer reading at the Watertown Free Public Library begins soon! This year’s theme is A Universe of Stories, and we can’t wait to share our stellar book lists, reading challenges, and prizes with you. The library offers summer reading programs for all ages, so whether you’re a fan of CatStronauts, Star Wars, or Stephen Hawking, we’re bound to have something that’s about your speed. And by the way, summer reading isn’t limited to space books!

Around Town

Works of Watertown Artist Coming to Historical Society

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The Historical Society of Watertown will host the grand opening of the exhibit called “The Art of Franklin Jones” at the Edmund Fowle House. The following information was provided by the Historical Society:

Grand Opening for “The Art of Franklin Jones” is on Sunday, June 30,2019 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Edmund Fowle House, 28 Marshall Street, Watertown, MA 02472-3408. Franklin Reed Jones (1921-2007) was a graduate of Watertown High School who was inspired by his Watertown High School art teacher, Harold Moody, to become an artist. In the years that followed he became an artist, illustrator, photographer, teacher and author. Once out of high school, he began his professional career while working in the Van Keuren factory by drawing a series of political cartoons, “As Jones Sees It,” for the Watertown Sun newspaper.

Bilteracy

Watertown High Students Will Be Able to Show They are Bilingual on their Diplomas

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Watertown High School students will soon be able to have the Seal of Biliteracy on their diplomas and transcripts. Students in the Watertown Public Schools speak 59 languages, Kate Phillipson, director of English as a Second Language Coordinator told the School Committee Monday night. Some learn a language in school, others speak a language other than English at home, and still more take language classes outside of school. “The State Seal of Biliteracy is a nationally and state recognized seal that recognizes graduates that speak, listen, read, and write proficiently in more than one language,” said Adam Silverberg, the district’s World Language Coordinator. The seal will be placed on diplomas and transcripts, Silverberg said, and students could be recognized during graduation.

Around Town

Watertown Hosting Gun Buyback Event on June 22

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An AR-15 assault rifle, in front, was among the weapons brought to Watertown gun buyback on Saturday. The Watertown Police provided the following information:

The Eastern Middlesex County Gun Buy-Back will be held in Watertown on Saturday, June 22 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. The event will be at First Parish Church (35 Church St.)

Make our communities even safer by disposing of any unwanted guns! No ID’s will be requested, no questions asked. You’ll receive a gift card for each firearm you turn in and help reduce the risk of suicide, accidental discharge, and domestic violence.

Environment

LETTER: Thank You to Our Local Government for Cleanup

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On Saturday, April 27, members and supporters of Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice & the Environment again participated in the annual Charles River Cleanup. The general impression is that there was less trash this year; the ban on single-use thin plastic shopping bags works! However, we were appalled to discover a nearby stretch of property being used as a dumping ground for construction debris. Old windows, carpeting, tiles among other trash were among the objects we found. This was too much for us to be able to remove.

Arrests

Police Log: Man Threatens Police, 3 Vehicles Vandalized, Bicycles Stolen

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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests

June 3, 7:04 p.m.: An officer a man on a motorcycle heading north on Spring Street following very close to the vehicle in front of it. Then the motorcycle illegally passed the vehicle. Police stopped the motorcycle at Spring and Palfrey streets. After being stopped, the rider immediately became agitated, and began yelling and threw his hands in the air.

Around Town

OP-ED: State Senator on the Bad Week for the MBTA

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The following piece was written by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston:

It has been a very bad week for the MBTA. Two train derailments injured dozens and massively inconvenienced hundreds of thousands of people. 

As I write, no one seems to know yet how long it will take to repair critical signal systems that the derailed train destroyed. Red line riders may have to endure diminished service and extraordinary rush hour crowding for days or weeks. While expediting repairs, the MBTA has rightly brought in an outside consulting team to review the events. The legislature will take great interest in the results of that review. 

For me, here is the big question: What will that review reveal about the work force and operational management of the MBTA? We knew that from time to time scheduled bus trips simply don’t happen because an employee doesn’t show up. We know that the MBTA’s derailment rate is high. We knew that a terrifying runaway train incident was triggered by an operator disabling a safety device. Investigators have already concluded that the recent green line derailment was operator error. 

While safety is always nominally the number one mission of any transit agency, how strong is the safety culture really? Are line managers overextended and under too much pressure to deliver timely service with inadequate staffing? What do these incidents say about employee morale and discipline? As legislators, we tend to focus less on operational conditions, which are hard to evaluate from outside, and more on the issues of system repair and service expansion. My impression has been and remains that the MBTA’s board and leadership team have been doing a very good job in turning around a state of physical system decay that was produced by decades of inadequate investment.