Government

OP-ED: School Funding Formula Not Fair to Communities Like Watertown

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Submitted by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, whose district includes Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston. Overall, state aid to schools is inadequate and, although the current distribution formula works out well for Belmont and Boston, it is unfair to many communities, including Watertown. I hope we can pass the “millionaire’s tax” this November and use the proceeds to increase school aid under a simpler, more rational formula. The state distributes approximately $5 billion annually in unrestricted aid for local schools, known as “Chapter 70” aid, covering on average roughly 1/3 of total local school costs. Aside from MassHealth, unrestricted local school aid is the single largest item in the state budget — roughly 20% of state tax revenue.

Arrests

Police Log: Man Arrested for OUI After Hitting Wall, Police Detain Unruly Library Patron

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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests
Jan. 22, 6:03 p.m.: Police were called to the Watertown Free Public Library because of an unruly patron. The man was reportedly out of control and when officers arrived he jumped up and began yelling about how no body wanted to listen to him. Police asked the man to step aside so he was not disturbing others at the library but he got more aggressive in his yelling and made derogatory remarks about the police.

Artemis Yoga

Watertown Track Team Works Out Bodies and Minds at Local Yoga Studio

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Periodically, the Watertown High School track and field team will take a break from running and hit the yoga mat as a part of their training regimen. On a January afternoon, more than a dozen members of the boys and girls track teams filtered into Artemis Yoga in Coolidge Square to work with instructor Amy Hrobak. Assistant track coach Megan Diduca first brought some of the girls track athletes over last year, and last spring she brought some of the boys track team members. “”We love it,” Diduca said. “We do extra strength training so it is not always running.

Police/Fire

Possible Child Abduction Near Charles River Being Investigated

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A 12-year-old girl reported that she was approached by a man as she walked along the Charles River Path on Thursday evening, and State Police are investigating it as a possible attempted kidnapping. The incident took place along the path near Pleasant Street between 4:30 and 5 p.m., according to a report by WBZ Channel 4. State Police said the girl was OK. State Police searched the area, including sending a helicopter to fly over the area. The abduction, however, has not been confirmed, according to WBZ.

Real Estate

Several Super Bowl Sunday Opens Houses in Watertown

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Plenty of open houses in Watertown to visit on the Super Bowl weekend. $689,000 – 25 Capitol St., 8 room, 5 bed, 1.5 bath colonial, Open Houses: Saturday 12-2 Sunday 2:30-4

$929,000 – 59-61 Carroll St., 2 unit, 12 total room, 5 total bedroom 2 family, Open Houses: Saturday 12-2 Sunday 12-2

$615,000 – 61 Union St. Unit 61, 8 room, 4 bed, 2.5 bath townhouse, Open Houses: Saturday 12-2 Sunday 12-2

$639,000 – 12 Fitchburg St., 7 room, 3 bed, 1.5 bath colonial, Open Houses: Saturday 12-1:30 Sunday 12-1:30

Sponsored by:

$1,285,000 – 444 Mount Auburn St. Unit 3, 8 room, 3 bed, 3.5 bath condo, Open Houses: Friday 12-2 Saturday 2-3:30 Sunday 2-3:30

$695,000 – 230 Westminster Ave., 8 room, 4 bed, 2 bath colonial, Open House: Saturday 10:30-12:30

$641,000 – 49 Bradford Road Unit 1, 6 room, 2 bed, 2 bath 2/3 family, Open Houses: Saturday 2-4:30 Sunday 12-2

Schools

School Committee Weighing Whether to Have Centralized PreK, Preschool Program

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On a recent winter morning, parents of 3 and 4 year olds line up before dawn in hopes of getting one of the spots in the Watertown Public Schools’ Pre-Kindergarten program. This PreK program is one of half of the district’s programs being considered to go into a new early childhood education center as part of the elementary school building projects. On Monday night, the School Committee discussed whether Watertown should have a centralized location for Watertown’s preschool and PreK programs.

Today, the district runs one PreK class at each of the three elementary schools, along with seven classes of preschool – five at Hosmer Elementary School and two at the former Phillips School (which is also the location of the school administration offices). If an early childhood center is built, the plan is to put it next to the Hosmer after some of the buildings on the west side of campus are torn down, said Scott Dunlap of Ai3 – the architect designing the three elementary schools. The proposed center would be able to handle more children, with five PreK classes and eight preschool classes.

Government

Public Sees Visions for Renovation Coolidge Square, Weighs In on Project

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Town officials invited the public to come give its ideas for how to redesign and improve Mt. Auburn Street in the area of Coolidge Avenue, while making the area more efficient for motor vehicles, buses, bicycles and pedestrians. Currently, the street has two lanes of traffic in each direction and parking on both sides of the street, but no dedicated bike lanes. Some ideas for changing the street include cutting the number of lanes of traffic to one each way with left turn lanes at intersections, adding bike lanes and making sidewalks wider in some places to allow easier crossings for pedestrians. Planning for all modes of transportation is known as Complete Streets.

Around Town

Lights, Camera, Implant: Watertown Dentist Does Live Demo of High Tech Dental System

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Putting in a dental implant is nothing new for Watertown dentist Dan D’Amico, but on Friday he did it with cameras broadcasting his every move to a room full of dentists at a major Boston dental conference. 

Most of D’Amico’s dental office on Main Street was taken over by the video crews and representatives from Dentsply Sirona, the maker of the equipment being demonstrated for about 180 attendees of the Yankee Dental Congress. The audience heard a presentation from Dr. Tarun Agarwal in a ballroom in Boston, D’Amico prepped his patient for the procedure – putting in the implant where a new crown will be set. D’Amico, who has been in business for more than 25 years, had given presentations at the Yankee Dental Congress about the technology before, but he had never done a live demo. He has used the technology for about 4 or 5 years. He uses of Cone Beam X-ray to make a 3-D image of the patient’s teeth and jawbone, and then an intra oral scanner to find where to place the implant.