Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/author/cbreitro/page/389/)
See the properties that were sold in town this week. $573,465 – 88 Belmont St. Unit 88, Condo – 2/3 Family, 1,200 Living Area Sq. Ft., 6 Room, 2 Bedroom, 1 Full & 1 Half Bathroom
$995,000 – 36 Church St. Unit 36, Condo – Townhouse, 2,244 Living Area Sq.
Watertown school and town officials put shovels in the ground at the official start of the construction project Cunniff Elementary School. The ceremony also marked the beginning of the Hosmer School project. Standing next to the first of Watertown schools to be torn down and replaced with a state-of-the-art facility, Watertown School and Town officials celebrated the beginning of what will be several years of construction at school sites around town. Officials posed in hardhats, holding shovels during the official groundbreaking of the project at Cunniff Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon. The ceremony also marked the start of the project at Hosmer Elementary School, which will take place simultaneously.
City Works Pour House Eatery will be coming to the Arsenal Yards, featuring 90 different beers and indoor and outdoor seating. The City Works Eatery & Pour House received permission to have temporary outdoor seating during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving Watertown 11 restaurants which have received the permits. The permits have been given as part of an effort to increase the seating at restaurants, which have had their seating restricted due to the state’s COVID-19 guidelines. Tables must be at least 6 feet apart and parties can be no bigger than six. As of June 22, restaurants can seat diners indoors, but the same social distancing requirements apply.
Homebuyers have a huge amount of properties to check out in Watertown this week. $499,000 – 10 Williams St. Unit 74, Condo – Mid-Rise, 950 Living Area Sq. Ft., 4 Room, 2 Bedroom, 1 Full Bathroom, Open House: Saturday 11-1
$575,000 – 885 Belmont St. Unit 2, Condo – 2/3 Family, 1,400 Living Area Sq.
How the Watertown Police Department’s budget is used, and whether there are other ways the money could be spent became a major topic of discussions of Wednesday night’s Fiscal Year 2021 Town Budget Hearing. The WPD budget was just one of many departmental budgets discussed during the hearing, but it garnered the interested of Councilors and members of the public, many of whom wanted to see a portion spent on mental health services provided by the town instead. The meeting was held remotely over Zoom. The Police Department’s budget of $10.3 million makes up 6.76 percent of the Town’s operating budget. The WPD has 70 police officers (including 52 patrol officers), nine dispatchers and four civilian employees, as well as the school crossing guards.
Lowell School in Watertown, and all Massachusetts schools, will operate differently in the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Massachusetts school officials seek to bring back “as many students as possible to in-person school settings” in the fall, but the classrooms will look different with schools being required to adhere to social distancing guidelines. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has put together its Initial Fall School Reopening Guidance, which is expected to be discussed by Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday. The plan, of which the Boston Globe obtained a copy, says getting students back into the classroom is the goal. Education and medical officials weighed the risks of COVID-19 as well as the impact of keeping students at home.
Watertown Town Hall
The COVID-19 pandemic will have a major impact on Watertown’s budget, Town Manager Michel Driscoll told the Town Council Tuesday night. He also gave details about how the Police and Fire departments use their funding. Driscoll’s presentation (see the documents here) gave more details about Watertown’s Fiscal 2021 Budget the day before the Town Council will have the chance to ask questions about each Town department’s budget. Two weeks ago, Driscoll presented the $152.4 million budget proposal which included no lay offs, despite the loss of about $4 million related to the COVID-19 pandemic. State Aid is forecast to be down $2.6 million as a result of the impact of the pandemic on the Massachusetts economy, Driscoll said.
A lot of money was raised and spent on the 2015 Watertown Election. Gov. Charlie Baker announced that the sales-tax free weekend will take place on Aug. 29 and 30, 2020. In 2018, Baker signed a law making the tax holiday an annual event. “The annual sales tax holiday is an opportunity for us to support small businesses and consumers, and this year, it’s a great way to support our economy that’s been impacted by COVID-19,” Baker said.