Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/category/government/elections/page/47/)
To the Editor:
I moved to Watertown early this year, and am interested in participating in the election. Where does a new resident turn for information about candidates? Naturally, the Town website should have some information … right? I have moved around a lot since graduating college, but it has never been so difficult to simply find out who the candidates are for my neighborhood.
The East End Neighbors group submitted the following responses from the candidates for District A Town Councilor. District A has two candidates running for District Councilor in Tuesday’s Nov 3 Election. Angie Kounelis, Current District A Councilor and Bob Erickson, former town Veteran’s Agent. We asked East Enders for questions they would like to pose to the candidates and consolidated these into 5 questions. Candidates answers are on the following pages.
(Watertown News will accept Town Election related letters until Oct. 31)
Editor,
I have two kids in elementary school. We have had great experiences with teachers, our own school and the Watertown school system in general. I support Watertown teachers and schools absolutely. However I see something like the not so great results received by Watertown schools in the MCAS science tests this year and I am concerned.
(Watertown News will accept Town Election related letters until Oct. 31.)
Dear Watertown,
I ask for your vote for School Committee on November 3, 2015. I am a firm believer in public education—it is the mechanism societies use to prepare children to flourish in a modern world. Public schools are one of the best possible economic investments a community can make. Everyone benefits by investing in schools because communities with excellent schools are safer, better connected, attract more economic development, and have higher property values than communities with weak schools.
(Watertown News will accept Town Election related letters until Oct. 31)
To the Editor:
Lisa Feltner has earned my vote this Tuesday for District B Town Councilor. I worked on Arsenal St. development issues with Lisa in her role as President of the Concerned Citizens Group (CCG). I have watched her bring people together as she had many, many conversations with her CCG constituents and other residents, with developers, and with town officials.
Three of the four districts in Watertown have races for Town Council. Find out more about the people running for Council seats in the Nov. 3 Town Election. District Councilors are elected by voters living in their district. Watertown has four districts made up of two precincts each: District A is East Watertown; District B is Common Street/Spring Street east to School Street plus the are south of the Charles River; District C is the area west of Common Street/Spring Street to Lexington Street; and District D is the Westside of Watertown.
Bob Erickson is running for District A Town Councilor in the Nov. 3 election. Watertown News asked candidates a series of questions. 1) What is the biggest issue for your district, and how would you seek to address it? The biggest issue for District A is development and the attendant concerns about traffic, height of project and size, congestion, air pollution, parking, impact on daily living, future impact Watertown should seek to attract the best developers, as it is a very desirable community at this point, so it is very important to encourage development, however they must abide by the guidelines in the adopted Comprehensive Plan and the adopted Design Standards
I would support only development that is a good fit for the neighborhood and minimizes collateral issues which would negatively impact the quality of life.
District A Town Councilor Angeline Kounelis is running for re-election on Nov. 3. The district covers East Watertown. Watertown News asked all Council Candidates a set of questions. 1) What is the biggest issue for your district, and how would you seek to address it? Balance between development, traffic, congestion and quality-of-life for residents is the paramount task.