Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/author/cbreitro/page/978/)
The Raiders opened the season with a win at Victory Field on Friday night. Watertown defeated Medway 21-6, and quarterback Nick Giordano rushed for more than 150 yards and two touchdowns. The Raiders hit the road next week and play Shawsheen Tech on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 1:30 p.m.
Well over 100 people made their voices heard during a volatile meeting about the proposal to renovate the track area of Victory Field. Many opposed the project, but the project had its strong supporters, too. The Phase II project calls for adding more parking, installing a multi-use court that can be used for hockey and installing a new track. The items that seem to cause the most controversy include replacing the grass inside the track with artificial turf and the addition of lights around the track (See more details on the Recreation Department’s proposal here). Glenn Howard, project architect with CDM, said the artificial turf would allow the field to be used earlier in the fall and earlier in the spring as well as later at night.
Last school year, the Watertown Public Schools had to freeze spending when they had a major mid-year deficit, but they ended up with a large surplus. The Fiscal 2014 budget looked like it could be a major problem for Watertown school officials, who froze spending in January when the school budget ran $926,000 in the red, said Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald. The district turned it around, but officials still appeared to have a major problem in June when they though they needed to make up a shortfall in the special education budget of about $640,000. It turns out the money was not needed. At Monday’s School Committee meeting, Watertown Director of Business Services Charles Kellner said the district ended the year with a $770,00 surplus.
The Raiders kick off the 2014 football season Friday night at Victory Field. Watertown hosts Medway at 7 p.m. on Sept. 12 in Watertown. The team lost some talented seniors to graduation, but Coach John Cacace told the Watertown Tab that this year’s team will try their hardest to get a sixth straight winning season. (Read the Tab’s season preview by clicking here).
A Memorial Funeral Mass for Beatrice J. (Marshall) Fleming will be celebrated in the Church of Saint Patrick, Watertown at a time to be announced. Mrs. Fleming, a daughter of the late Joseph & Mary (Paz) Marshall died in her home surrounded by family on Wednesday August 20, 2014. She was 95 years of age. Born and raised in Somerville, MA she was a graduate of Somerville High School, Class of 1938. After High school she continued her education at Fay Secretarial School and graduated in 1940.
To: Town Council, Board of Health, Town Manager, Tree Warden, Planning Board and Citizens and Neighbors:
I have been reviewing the so-called “Phase II” plan for turning Victory Field into a giant industrial “athletic complex.” They include digging up the lush green lawn currently at the center of the track, replacing it with toxic artificial turf, expanding the track area, renovating the tennis courts, adding a street hockey/ice hockey section and generally WRECKING Victory Field for some person’s vision of a giant pay-to-play sports complex that will be used by very few people from Watertown. I’m quite certain that most of the families and seniors who find it pleasant now will no longer feel that way when it’s just a glorified parking lot. {Editor’s Note: The Recreation Department will have two meetings on the proposed Victory Field Phase II project – on Sept. 11 and Sept.
Tuesday treated one Watertown candidate well, and another finished the Primary Election on the wrong side of the vote. Former State Sen. Warren Tolman lost his race in the Democratic primary for attorney general to Maura Healey. Tolman conceded Tuesday night. Healey had received 62 percent of the vote with 89 percent of the precincts reporting. Healey faces Republican John Miller in November’s general election.
While Watertown officials look at adding more liquor licenses, they will also consider whether restaurants can have bring your own alcohol licenses. Councilor Aaron Dushku, who sits on one of the three subcommittees looking at liquor licenses, said he also wants to consider allowing people to bring their own wine or beer to enjoy with their meal. One of the reasons for having BYOB is so people can have wine and avoid the markup on the wine, Dushku said. “Residents who want to enjoy a fine wine, they can pay the value of the wine which they perceive the price to be,” Dushku said. Restaurants would still be able to charge a corkage fee.