Government

Comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform Legislation Moves Forward in State House

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State Sen. Will Brownsberger, from Belmont who represents Watertown, announced that House and Senate have released legislation that would reform the criminal justice system in Massachusetts. Brownsberger included a detailed summary of the legislation on his website. Some of the changes would be:

Strengthen mandatory minimum penalties for opiate trafficking offenses
Reducing minimum mandatory penalties for non-opiate drug offenses
Creating alternatives to prosecution or incarceration for minor offenses
Decriminalizing some minor offenses
Strengthen protections for public safety, including penalties for some types of crime, including corporate manslaughter, homicide by motor vehicle, unlawful possession of a credit card scanner, and high number of repeat OUIs. Improving prisons, and reducing the use of solitary confinement

(Read the entire summary on Brownsberger’s website by clicking here)

Below is the press release from legislators who worked on the legislation:
House and Senate legislators filed their final criminal justice reform conference report with the Senate Clerk on Friday. The consensus legislation is a comprehensive review of the Commonwealth’s criminal justice system.

Arrests

Police Log: Woman Arrested Twice in One Day, Attempted Home Break In

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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests
March 12, 2:50 a.m.: An officer patrolling on Mt. Auburn Street spotted a vehicle parked in an alley off Phillips Street behind a business and its motor was running. Two people were in the vehicle. The officer spoke to the occupants and found they both had warrants for their arrest.

Development

Project on Long Vacant Spot on Mt. Auburn St. Gets Nod from Planning Board

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A proposal to build a condominium building on a vacant piece of land near Watertown Square got the recommendation of the Planning Board on Monday night. A similar project at 33 Mt. Auburn St. received approval from the Town in 2013 and building permits were issued, but the construction never started and the permits elapsed. The old project had 24 rental units and 1,979 sq.

Real Estate

Nearly a Dozen Open Houses in Watertown This Weekend

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See all the open houses happening this weekend around Watertown. $859,000 – 33 Nyack St., 9 room, 3 bed, 3f bath cape, Open Houses: Saturday 12-1:30 Sunday 12-1:30

$399,900 – 74 Duff St. Unit 74., 5 room, 2 bed, 1 bath townhouse, Open Houses: Saturday 11-1 Sunday 12-2

$449,000 – 16 School Lane Unit 2, 6 room, 2 bed, 1 bath low-rise, Open Houses: Saturday 12-2 Sunday 12-1:30

$849,900 – 90 Beechwood Ave., 2 unit, 11 total room, 4 total bedroom 2 family, Open Houses: Saturday 12-2 Sunday 12-2

$429,000 – 24 Arsenal St. Unit 4c., 3 room, 1 bed, 1 bath mid-rise, Handicap Access/Equipped, Open Houses: Friday 11-12:30 Saturday 11:30-1:30 Sunday 11:30-1:30

Sponsored by:

$329,900 – 4 Bradford Road Unit 3, 3 room, 1 bed, 1 bath 2/3 family, Open Houses: Saturday 11-1 Sunday 12-2

$269,000 – 20 Riverside St. Unit 1-3,1 room, 0 bed, 1 bath mid-rise, Open House: Sunday 12-1:30

$815,000 – 199 Coolidge Ave.

Athletics

School Committee Votes to Increase Fees for Extended Day, Alter Them for Sports & Activities

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Parents will be paying more to send their children to the Extended Day program at the Watertown Public Schools, but the School Committee hopes its decision will improve the program. The board also changed how fees are assessed for high school athletics and for extracurricular activities. Extended Day Program
The Extended Day Program, which has before and after school programs and ones over February and April vacations, will increase its fees by 20 percent across the board beginning in the fall of 2018. The last time the fees were increased was in the 2011-12 school year, said Director of Community Education Deb Cornelius. The proposal also asked for a 2 percent increase every year beginning in the fall of 2019.

Gun Control

Watertown Students Pour Out to Join National Walk Out for Gun Control

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First about 20 students gathered outside Watertown High School, then the number doubled and soon people were pouring out of the front door until hundreds of students filled the area in front of the school as part of the National Walk Out calling for safer campuses and gun control in the wake of the shootings in Parkland, Fla. The walk out had been scheduled for last March 14, to coincide with rallies across the nation, but a nor’easter put those plans on ice for a week. The event was organized by students and they were not required to come out for the Walk Out. A few hundred students left school for the 17 minute event. They were joined by about a dozen members of Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment, who stood across the street from the school.

385 Pleasant Street

Residential, Commercial Project on Pleasant Street Approved on Third Try

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Developers of a residential and commercial development of a long, thin strip of land on Pleasant Street brought their latest proposal to the Planning Board Monday night and got approval for the project. 

The project at 385 Pleasant Street includes an existing warehouse and three new buildings. It will have 53 rental units – 2 studios, 4 one bedrooms, 14 one-bedroom lofts, and 22 two bedrooms. It will also include more than 10,000 square feet of commercial space. There will be 92 parking spaces on the site. When the project first came to the Planning Board late last year, it had an additional commercial building, but Planning Board members said the development was too dense. When they returned in January, a smaller commercial building was removed and the commercial space was moved to the existing warehouse building and two stories of residential were added to that building.