Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/author/cbreitro/page/574/)
Five properties sold this week in Watertown, including one in a former Church on Mt. Auburn Street. $455,000 – 6 Phillips St. Unit 2, room, 2 bedroom, 1 full bathroom, condo/townhouse
$1,385,000 – 444 Mt. Auburn St.
Some changes to traffic patterns on Mt. Auburn Street will be tested during a Bus Priority Pilot in effort to speed up buses on the roadway through Watertown and Cambridge. A community meeting will be May 1, 2018, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Tufts Health Plan (705 Mount Auburn St., Watertown) to discuss the Bus Priority Pilot, but Watertown Department of Public Works officials gave some details prior to the meeting. The pilot will test ways to get buses down Mt. Auburn Street faster, Shuman said, because so many people use public transit to commute.
The Watertown School Committee learned that the estimates for the elementary school building projects underestimated the costs by $50 million or more.
The School Building Committee that oversees the Building for the Future school building projects heard a presentation from architects Ai3 earlier in April and part of the presentation focused on the cost. The estimate for rebuilding or renovating the three elementary schools would be $170 million to $180 million, School Committee Chairman John Portz said. The original cost range was $80 million to $120 million, Portz said, and Town Manager Michael Driscoll has committed the town to cover up to $120 million from the Town budget. That would mean residents would not be asked to pass an override, which would increase property taxes to pay for the project. Strategies for how to handle the increased costs have not yet been discussed, Portz said.
The sun came out Thursday for the Town’s annual Arbor Day Celebration at the Commander’s Mansion in the Watertown Arsenal.
Attendees could visit tables of local organizations and businesses, or enjoy some of the activities for children. The event drew a number of youngsters, said Michelle Cokonougher, who coordinated the event on behalf of Trees for Watertown. “A whole class from Bright Horizons came over right at 11 (a.m.),” Cokonougher said. Arbor Day is an American holiday were people are encouraged to plant trees. In past years, the Tree Warden put together the Arbor Day event, but Watertown currently has no warden.
The following information was provided by Watertown Walks for Peace:
Watertown once again has a team registered for the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace on Sunday, May 13 (Mothers’ Day). The Walk raises funds for the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, a center for
healing, teaching and learning for families and communities impacted by murder,
grief, trauma and loss. The Walk started in 1996 so mothers of murdered children could receive support and love from their neighbors. Twenty-two years later, the Mother’s Day Walk continues to be a powerful way to honor loved ones who have been murdered and embrace partners in peacemaking. The walk starts at Fields Corner in Dorchester and ends at Boston City Hall, a route of 6.8 miles.
Homebuyers can visit nearly 20 open houses in Watertown this week. $519,900 – 17 Commonwealth Road Unit 1, 6 room, 2 bed, 1 bath 2/3 family, Open Houses: Saturday 1-3 Sunday 1-3
$499,900 – 204 North Beacon St. Unit 204, 5 room, 2 bed, 1 bath 2/3 family, Open House: Saturday 12-2
$315,000 – 10 Williams Unit 41, 3 room, 1 bed, 1 bath high-rise, Open House: Sunday 12-1:30
$499,999 – 227 Coolidge Ave. Unit 212, 4 room, 2 bed, 1 bath garden, Open Houses: Saturday 12:30-2 Sunday 12:30-2
$499,900 – 43 Edenfield Ave. Unit 43, 4 room, 2 bed, 2.5 bath townhouse, Open House: Saturday 12-1:30
$529,900 – 91 Spring St.
Watertown High School sophomore Tim McCall recently returned from Frisco, Colo., where he competed in the 2018 USASA Snowboard National Championships. While there he showed he was among the best in his age group. Watertown News asked McCall about his experience, and how he fits snowboarding into his life as a high school student, and multi-sport athlete. 1) Earlier this month you competed in the USASA Snowboarding Nationals in Colorado. How did you do and what was the experience like?
A Town Council subcommittee approved the final draft for the rules on establishing the committee that will oversee the money brought in by the Community Preservation Act. The final draft eliminated some major portions of the previous version, but kept the main priorities. Tuesday night, the Council’s Rules and Ordinances Committee voted to send the draft to the full Town Council, which includes the changed ordinance and the separate policy for appointing the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) members who are selected by the Town Council. Each year the CPC will send to the Council a list of projects to be funded by the CPA funds. The state’s CPA statute allows the money, which comes from a 2 percent property tax surcharge, to be spent on affordable housing, open space or historical preservation.