If Past is Prologue …
Big Development Plans for Watertown Square on April 6th!
By Linda Scott
Watertown Resident
Calling All Everyday Watertown Citizen Heroes!
Well, it’s that time of the month in Watertown again … the time that the next large development plan will be hauled out and introduced, but this one’s been a long time in the making. Put the Library on April 6th at 6 p.m. in your calendar, because this promises to be a doozy!
And what is “this” you ask?
“Why, it’s a parking garage!!” I reply. At least I think it’s a garage. That’s what we’ve been told by George Proakis a while back. He’s been working on this for years. The concept was first introduced by Jeff Speck in a November 2023 meeting (see video below).
In that version of the plan, Jeff was talking about 200 apartments built around a parking garage in the CVS parking lot! Since nothing, not even a picture of this structure, has been shared with the public, we can only go on past discussions. George acknowledges that the idea is an unpopular one in Watertown, but he insists that we’ll all be won over. We’ll see.
George is always so brimming with enthusiasm when he speaks about Watertown’s newest developments. As it was explained to me by one Watertown resident when describing George, a city planner turned city manager, “You get a huntin’ dog, and it’s going to want to hunt.”
A Little Watertown Development History
But before we continue, let’s go back to the Watertown “before times.” Not so very long ago, an edict went out across the City, proclaiming… “Watertown … you’re it!” And in a thunderous gallop, large corporations came a callin’ with promises for a brighter future that they, and they alone, could bring to Watertown.
You see, Boston and Cambridge were inundated with like-corporations. Developers pounded down the doors of these communities, and they built and built and built. They built until neighborhoods were screaming in pain, but by then, these large corporations were in charge, and there was no going back.
Every once in a while, I run into this guy in Watertown. I never remember his name, nor does he mine, but he’s always good for a piece of information that consistently turns out to be prescient.
A few years back, we bumped into each other at a city meeting. After the meeting, he was telling me about a well-connected real estate friend in Cambridge who told him, “It’s Watertown’s turn next. Cambridge is about as built up as it can be, so they’re moving west to Watertown. Watertown isn’t going to know what hit them or how to handle these guys.”
As one large developer recently said to me in a casual conversation, he preferred dealing with Watertown, because (I’m paraphrasing): “In Watertown, the Planning Board knows its business. They know what to do, and they make the decisions. Compare that to Newton, where you have to actually deal with all of the Councilors separately. In Newton, they make the decisions … and there’s 24 of them!!!”
It’s no surprise that our Watertown leaders were pleased with this new interest by developers. I’m not so sure that it was a total surprise that developers chose Watertown … kind of like dating the girl next door, not because you really like her, but because the arrangement is so convenient.
We also had other charms … large industrial areas just ripe for the picking, and we were a cheap and amenable date. Please do not forget that even before this new infusion of corporate cash, our City Council, in coordination with our former City Manager, Mike Driscoll, had managed to navigate financial lean times without laying off any of our City employees and still maintaining a Triple A bond rating, an impressive feat! These businesses were entering a stable community with a proven track record of financial prudence and responsibility.
From our City Councilors’ end of things, welcoming in these businesses was a no-brainer. It brought the possibility of getting projects done while keeping us out of debt and our taxes reasonable for our residents … a notion that could be potentially blown out of the water by a complicated state tax formula. See: https://www.watertownmanews.com/2026/03/08/op-ed-its-all-a-balancing-act-part-three-linkage-fees-and-taxestheyre-going-up-how-much/. Instead of a success story, we may become a cautionary tale.
Watertown lost no time in working to make our new businesses feel welcome. In one case, a developer had a major influence in the rewriting of the zoning for their own property. We delayed in instituting linkage fees. Currently, we’ve not collected a dime in linkage fees.
And how did those fees eventually come about? After a City councilor sat down with a knowledgeable resident-heroine who filled him in on the existence of this opportunity and how it worked. Then, several years later, in 2023, a linkage fee was voted on.
One councilor, I believe, wanted to set the fee at $15.00 per square foot. (Cambridge’s was $33.34 per square foot after all, and Boston’s was $30.78 for lab space and $23.09 for other commercial developments). We set our linkage fees at $11.12 We wouldn’t want to scare development away, contended Steve Magoon (DCDP). We could always revisit this number again later. With inflation, we’re currently at $11.81. As mentioned in a previous Op-Ed of mine, the funds from linkage fees may be used for affordable housing, infrastructure and job training, but Watertown has chosen to dedicate any funds received solely for housing.
Here’s a quick look at an example of a City Council committee meeting at the beginning of our new relationships with developers:
This is an only slightly exaggerated example of City Council Committee meeting back in the day, when the topic was development and rats. I invite you to speak with other residents who attended these meetings to see if I’ve gotten the substance, tone and spirit right.
At one of these meetings, after numerous residents complained about rats, a Watertown city councilor is wondering out loud about how we could get money from the City to pay for rat mitigation at a newly proposed construction project.
A resident-hero got up and asked, “Why don’t you make the developer pay for it?”
The councilor looked like he’d been struck by lightning (only in a pleasant way). “We can do that?”
“Of course you can do that,” said the resident. “You’re still in negotiations aren’t you? Make it a condition of allowing them to build.”
And in Current Times
When economic indicators were flashing red, our City believed the “experts” that said, “No worries. This is just a temporary slowdown. Keep building!!” As one Watertown resident-hero commented in Watertown News at the time, “This could get very ugly around here … we’ve been in this situation before.”Yes, we continued building to a 45% vacancy rate for some very specific and expensive real estate, as reported by Sam Ghilardi. We’re told that these developers built our schools … yes, they helped a great deal … by doing business and making money in our city and by paying their taxes, but didn’t the homeowners pay taxes too?
Yes, Watertown seems to be geographically lucky, as it directly abuts Cambridge and Boston. We’re lucky, or are we? In this small and unique, multicultural city, these large corporate entities are changing the faces of this community (figuratively and literally), as many people are forced to leave as rents and housing costs increase.
In a recent meeting of the Charles River Chamber, where a panel of developers and life science leaders spoke, we’re told that Watertown has a problem … it’s not well-known enough to draw more businesses into their buildings.
Watertown needs to “brand” itself. ”Watertown still does not have the brand yet of those other locations (Kendall Square and Cambridge). I think being able to brand Watertown as the new home for emerging companies, boy, that’s really the branding that you want,” suggests CEO of Labshares, Phillip Borden.
That’s a good point, Mr. Borden, but what would we need to do to become more visible? Build more hotels and large chain restaurants, making Watertown “Anywhere USA”? Do we have to become Kendall Square Light to compete with Kendall Square?
At this same time, this panel said that their current employees in Watertown want to stay in Watertown … what reasons do they give? Less congestion, easier commutes, and free parking at their places of work are considerations that are mentioned. It’s said that one company stayed in Watertown, because when a move was contemplated to Kendall Square, the employees wanted to stay here.
In other words, quality of life issues are valued by their workers. That is a powerful draw and one that Watertown is destined to lose if we overbuild. At the Watertown Square meetings at the middle school, former City Councilor and citizen-hero John Airasian said this in his request for the City to take development “smart and steady”:
“The scope and the scale of this make it difficult to understand what the outcome will truly be. It’s been mentioned that the size of the buildings is right for the area that we’re focusing on, and that very well might be true, but what happens when you put twenty-five of them there? This is why I truly believe that we have to roll it out tactfully.”
In opposition to this thought is the steering committee for our local housing group, HAW (Housing for All Watertown), which applauds and “high fives” every aggressive development strategy that is put forward.
For instance, they’ve even advocated for all of Watertown to be densely zoned like Watertown Square, including what consultant Jeff Speck (See the video below) calls Watertown’s “peaceful residential streets.”
Back to the Development du Jour (and the video)
So, like a kid at Christmas, I’m anxious to see this parking garage project that’s been promised. It has the modest moniker of the “Watertown Demonstration Project.” We wouldn’t want to alarm or alert residents, after all.
In anticipation, and since no concrete information has been shared by the City, with all residents, I went back to November 2023 to see what George and his friend and colleague, Jeff Speck, were pitching then at the Watertown Square Revitalization meetings. Maybe it would provide some clues as to what they’re thinking now. Here’s what I found. Start at minute 00:56:14 and go to 01:04:00 and prepare to be slack-jawed:
http://vodwcatv.org/internetchannel/show/2898?site=3
If this isn’t even close to the project that George will present in a week, you might want to drop to your knees and thank your higher power.
What are Our Options as Citizens?
I would like to add a comment to clarify some of what Jeff Speck said in the eight minute portion of video that we watched, because I think what he said could lead to some false impressions and add stress to an already stressful situation for many Watertown residents.
As Jeff said in the video, he is aware that a lot of Watertown residents are against this use for this City land, but he and his staff are the experts, after all. (Flashback: the “experts” also said keep building lab space). In that video, he was talking about building 200 units of housing around a parking structure in what most people refer to as the “CVS parking lot.”
Jeff said, “The MBTA Communities Act is requiring you to put more housing in Watertown.” He goes on to say, “If you don’t want these people downtown, where are you going to put them, because you probably don’t want them on your peaceful residential streets.”
That seems to be a misrepresentation of the MBTA Law by Mr. Speck. Interpretation: If we don’t build a large structure like this downtown, you’ll have to squeeze all of this housing into your neighborhood.
Here’s what the MBTA Law really requires of Watertown:
1. That our city zone for the possibility of 1701 units of new housing in the Watertown Square area. Any possibility for units above this number were added by the City and are NOT required by the State.
2. The state ruled that we were officially compliant with the MBTA law in April 2025.
3. There is no time limit to achieve the 1701.
4. The City is already planning for 250 new housing units in the Square. (See https://www.watertownmanews.com/2026/02/03/letter-housing-production-a-review-of-small-but-industrious-watertown-past-present-and-future/ ). That’s 14.7% of the State goal in less than a year.
The particular property that will be discussed on April 6th is mostly City owned land … our land. The land that is private and would need to be bought by the City with taxpayer money and then demolished (known as the Gray Block), contains Tresca’s restaurant and other long-time Watertown Square successful businesses. Compare that with many other spots in the Square where there are empty storefronts, including storefronts in new construction that have never been occupied since being built.
George is well aware that as residents we are entitled to work with our City Councilors to modify or even nullify his plan, and if he can do “the government two-step” and conduct a smooth and quick end-run around the community at large, he’ll get what he wants quickly and easily.
There is no State deadline to build this. Unless George has some personal or professional deadline that he’s not revealing, we have time to get this right. I’d suggest that any sudden and rash decisions made would be contrary to Watertown’s interests. Given our volatile economy, should we be committing City money, land and resources during these financially uncertain times?
The dominoes are beginning to drop everywhere. We have lots of empty lab space and storefronts. Watertown taxes may be going up precipitously. And do we need to mention gas prices? To quote Donald Rumsfeld, “Even our unknowns are unknown.”
Do we put all of the City’s chips on red, and throw caution to the wind, or do we act like the financially responsible, grownup community that has kept us rock-steady and on track and moving forward for 30 years or more?
About the April 6th Meeting and Community Respect
The unveiling of the Watertown Square “Demonstration Project” is on April 6 at 6 p.m. in the Watertown Library. Perhaps, given that it’s the day after the Easter long weekend, they’re not expecting a crowd?
It’s also going to be televised on cable, but there’s no Zoom link … small room and no Zoom link, but it will be on cable tv, an expense that many residents have cut in a cost-saving measure … that sure keeps public participation to a minimum in that subtle way that we’re becoming accustomed to here in Watertown.
In Councilor Gardner’s newsletter, one of the few sources of decipherable information on the meeting itself, this is some of what she said about the April 6th meeting:
“The meeting will also cover public-private partnerships, future community engagement opportunities, and next steps. There will be plenty of time for your questions and input. Community feedback will help shape the future of Watertown Square. You can also watch live on WCA-TV, submit questions by email before, during, or after the meeting. You can also provide additional feedback online after the meeting at Watertown Square Improvements.”
An Open Letter to George Proakis:
Dear George,
The public shouldn’t have to try to “shape the future of Watertown Square” without at least a clear and decipherable informational document put in front of all of them in a timely manner before the meeting so that they can take time to gather their thoughts and concerns for that meeting.
Also, a set of convoluted documents purposely set in government speak or needing multiple clicks to unearth would not be appropriate for a project as consequential as this and would not be acceptable.
There’s a certain amount of community input control being exerted here and a disrespect for the community at large by conducting this meeting in the way you’ve planned. Sadly, we’ve seen this all before.
Sincerely,
Linda Scott
Now back to you, dear reader:
If you’d like to see how the City under City Manager Proakis has handled important City decisions like this in the past, and if you haven’t already read this excellent recounting of that process or would like to refresh your memory, click below to read citizen-hero Bruce Coltin’s blog, “Watertown’s Crisis of Mistrust and the Man Who Called It Out.” https://thebattleforwatertown.blogspot.com/2025/10/watertowns-crisis-of-mistrust-and-man.html
More Free Publicity
And then there’s one of the latest (October 2025) in a long line of Proakis/Speck self-promotional efforts using the City of Watertown in the CNU (Congress for the New Urbanism) Journal. In it, it appears that the number of housing units has mysteriously changed once again. See: https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2025/10/17/watertown-plans-main-square-transformation
The Journal reports that according to the Watertown development/planning team (Utile, Speck, Dempsey and Stantec), “Watertown responded to a request for 1701 new housing units by allowing 4,423 units instead.” 1701 to 4,423 housing units? So, which is it, George…1701…6,320, the “compromise number” reached with the residents of 3,133, or this new never-before-heard-of number of 4,423? Keeping up with the numbers is quite dizzying.
Rereading Bruce’s blog and seeing this self-promotional bait and switch brings a Mark Twain quote to mind:
”It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
And a wish: May we all be wise beyond our years and with the strength and resolve to follow through on that wisdom.
And, Finally … Where Do We Go From Here?
You’ve seen some examples here of how Watertown citizens’ ideas have made an important difference. Our city is full of everyday citizen heroes … those who make small and big contributions and differences every day.
And once in a while, those anonymous people come out of the woodwork (whether invited or not) and disrupt their daily lives to speak up for their city. All it takes is the belief that Watertown, their home and our community, is worth supporting.
Be one of those everyday citizen heroes. Stay informed on this Watertown-redefining project. Remember, it’ll be unveiled on April 6th at 6 p.m. in the library.
This meeting is inconveniently scheduled for early evening the day after the long Easter weekend, but please make an effort to show up. There is no Zoom option, and you’re out of luck if you’ve had to cancel cable. I’ve been told that you can, however, connect to watch via Watertown Cable (Comcast 9, RCN 3 or wcatv.org on the Public Channel) and e-mail to watertownsquareimprovements.com.
And, whether you are for or against what is presented that evening, make your voice clearly heard.