“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” George Bernard Shaw
To quote one of our Watertown residents in Watertown News regarding the survey for the (failed) city logo, “There is a FlashVote asking for input on which of 4 versions of this logo people prefer. Not sure why this project has continued without community input until – ‘which version of this logo do you prefer?’ The comments in this thread were clear, sensible and seemingly went completely unheard…”
This feels very familiar. How did we get to a place where we’re considering the fine points of a four or five story parking garage in the CVS parking lot before Watertown residents were even asked what, if anything, should be put in this space?
Have the Square businesses even been polled by our City Council (the people who represent them) about what they’d like to see? Now that the idea of this garage has been so strongly introduced, would they even feel comfortable speaking up? This would be a very important and necessary step, especially knowing that this garage is being touted as being good for business.
There was strong community opposition to a garage at the Watertown Square Meetings (as stated by both consultant Jeff Speck and City Manager George Proakis). Too bad that data was inconvenient and appears to have been swept under the rug. Wouldn’t polling the community at large have been the next step? Perhaps that would have garnered a more favorable result. Perhaps Watertown Square businesses could convince others of the garage’s value, if they in fact see any value. Too bad there has been no discussion.
To my mind, we’ve skipped this very important step once again, especially since the general complaint that I hear time and time again in Watertown is that things are routinely presented as a “done deal” before public input is given.
Saying that this garage is a “just a concept” is of no consequence. Actions speak louder than words, and the general feeling is: “Look at all of the work that the City’s put into this. They’re just going to do what they want, no matter what we say.” So saying that this is “just a concept” is missing the point entirely and is infuriating to the public at large.
I would want the Councilors to have a very strong hand in any of this, and with that, the responsibility for its outcome. That’s why we elected them. To my mind, even they were left out of the parking lot process until George and his consultants generally had things the way they wanted them. Make no mistake about this. So far, this has been the City Manager’s “show.”
I expressed my concern to Caroline Bays after her councilor meeting (the first brave soul to schedule one) about how public input has been manipulated. I used the Logo FlashVote survey as an example. That survey was totally misrepresented, and almost worse to me, being a former teacher, is that our young staff members are apparently being trained to operate in this manner. This ploy almost worked!! It was residents who pointed out the faulty logic, not councilors.
If that’s old news, let’s look at the Flock camera issue. The information was presented to the City Council by City Manager Proakis in a very non-transparent way in the year 2027 budget. It took some very alert citizens (not the Council) to uncover the details. The Council could have voted those cameras in without a sense of what was happening, thanks to how the budget was presented to them.
Council President Mark Sideris has assured us that the City Council will hold meetings to determine whether the public is in favor of this garage or not. Thank you, President Sideris. May I say, however, that this is after City Manager Proakis has spent considerable City time and taxpayer money on hyping his “development project”… the consultants, the meetings, the staff involvement, and I hear fancy displays are in the works.
Are lessons not learned in Watertown? The time and money spent on the failed City Logo alone should have been a wakeup call.
Linda Scott
Watertown Resident