8 thoughts on “Council to Look at Neighbor Notifications About Projects, Rodent Control Plan & Hiring Department Heads

  1. It will be good that more and better communications on developments and other issues will be discussed and come up with a resolution. Councilor Izzo has done a great job of sending details to those of us in District D who are on her email list, but not everyone is aware of this option and, therefore, many people have missed meetings and the details. She has even walked around the neighborhoods to spread the word, but again she can’t cover every street.

    The Boston Globe is now the paper of record for Watertown for public notices of important City meetings, but that does not serve residents well, especially if we don’t subscribe to this paper and don’t want to. I have been told that it is up to the MA Legislature to address this issue as we aren’t the only city/town who no longer has a local paper. Waltham and Newton are two that also don’t have a newspaper. We need to put some pressure on our state representatives to do something on this issue or they will drag their feet like they do on so many issues.

    Online publications don’t work for seniors and others who don’t have access to computers. Maybe we need community bulletin boards in prominent areas of town, such as parks or near key areas of town in each district so people know to check these boards frequently or weekly and can spread the word to their neighbors.

    Maybe these boards could also be used for local issues where people can post their individual concerns or questions to discuss with neighbors and friends to bring up at council meetings or to contact their councilors.

    • Thank you. As a resident who works very hard to stay informed, I have seen communications improve over the last couple of years with significant effort made by city employees. The pandemic clearly pushed the city out of our comfort zone and allowed legal requirements to be met while providing remote access.
      We are all trying to take in so much information every day that having our own city make a special effort to make us aware of what’s happening right here can really build a better connection between citizens, neighbors, town government, businesses moving in, businesses continuing to operate here, developers etc.
      It’s just the only way.
      We can’t be forced to pay attention, attend meetings, or feel comfortable speaking up, but we need more channels of communication as we do not all use or have access to social media.
      I look forward to seeing the ideas that will come out of these discussions. 

  2. Yes, Joan. Your words are the online beginning of a conversation that Clyde Younger has been having for quite some time with residents. Democracy dies when residents are no longer involved. Thank you for stating the issue so clearly and suggesting some options for getting us back on track.

  3. Joan,

    How about a sort of telephone “hotline” from the City? This would help the vision impaired as well as folks who want to stay involved but find the website unmanageable. If there was an easy phone number (include it on tax bills, etc.) that people could call:

    “Next week in Watertown”, with dates,
    press 1 for meetings, with agenda items, (make a feature that they can skip ones they’re not interested in)
    Press 2 for special events

    and so forth. It could give people advance notice for meetings and events they don’t want to miss.

    Also, is this already done on our local cable access channels?

    Just some thoughts.

  4. Linda, you raise some great ideas. Let’s hope the city councilors, the new City Manager, and others in the various city departments read our comments and become creative. They should know best what the city is capable of doing. The council meetings that have been taped do appear on the cable access channels, but again some people are cutting the cord to cut costs and don’t get the local cable news. I don’t know if the library could give any assistance with providing playback times in one of the big meeting rooms during set times during the day or early evening for people to go and watch, similar to what they do with the movies.

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