Government

School Committee Meeting Online Monday, Rec Department Hosting Facebook Live Open Forum

By |

The Watertown School Committee will hold its May meeting as an online meeting on Monday night at 7 p.m. and the Recreation Department will host an Open Forum session on Facebook Live. The School Committee’s agenda includes a presentation about the Phase 3 of remote learning in the Watertown Public Schools, information about WHS seniors and an update on the Building for the Future school building projects. See the entire agenda here. The meeting can be viewed live on WCA-TV (Comcast Channel 99, RCN Channel 13) and on Zoom at: https://bit.ly/3f7AAfy (Meeting ID: 926 0404 0459, Password: 142869). Recreation Department Meeting

On Tuesday night, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Recreation Director Peter Centola will hold an open forum on Facebook live.

Around Town

DCR Closing Grove Street in Watertown on Four Days in May

By |

The following information was provided by the Department of Conservation and Recreation:

On Sunday, May 3, 2020, Sunday, May 10, 2020, Sunday, May 17, 2020, and Monday, May 18, 2020, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will implement parkway lane closures along Grove Street in the Town of Watertown between Greenough Boulevard and Coolidge Avenue from 7:00PM to 5:00AM to conduct paving operations. Traffic patterns will be clearly marked, and a police detail will be on site. WHERE:       Grove Street in the Town of Watertown between Greenough Boulevard and Coolidge Avenue

WHEN:          Sunday, May 3, 2020, Sunday, May 10, 2020, Sunday May 17, 2020, and Monday May 18, 2020. 7:00PM to 5:00AM

Around Town

Gov. Baker Issues Order to Wear Face Masks in Stores & When Unable to Social Distance

By |

Gov. Charlie Baker, with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. All Massachusetts residents must cover their faces in public places as part of the effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. The requirement applies when people while they are outdoors and are unable to social distance, and all the time in indoor spaces such as stores. Gov. Charlie Baker announced the order Friday afternoon, and it takes effect on May 6. The exceptions include children under the age of 2 and those who have medical conditions that prevent them from wearing a face covering.

Around Town

Face Coverings Will be Required in Public in Watertown, Violators Will Face a Fine

By |

The Watertown Board of Health voted to require that people wear face coverings when out in public, indoors and out, or face a fine. The order is a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, said Town Health Director Larry Ramdin. The board voted to approve the order, which will take effect Monday, May 4 and requires anyone age 5 or older to wear something that covers their nose and mouth while in public places, but not necessarily a face mask. Other options include bandanas or scarfs that cover the nose and mouth. Exceptions will be made for children under age 5, as well as people who have health conditions or disabilities that prevent them from wearing a face covering.

Government

Town Council Approves Lights for Fields at Filippello Park

By |

Filippello Park’s two athletic fields, picnic area, playground and more draw lots of visitors. The biggest park on the Eastside of Watertown will receive new lighting at its two athletic fields after the Town Council approved funding for a project that has been in the works for more than a year. The $1.3 million project at Filippello Park replaces the lights on seven poles at the Grove Street Field with LED lights, and adds four poles with LED lighting at the Arlington Street Field, mostly used for soccer. The project also replaces the scoreboard at the Grove Street Field, which is used for softball and soccer, and replaces the backstop and infield fencing at that field. One of the impetuses for the project was the lack of lit field space in Town.

Around Town

OP-ED: Sen. Brownsberger’s Survey Finds Most Agree with Mass. Social Distancing Measures

By |

State Sen. Will Brownsberger

State Sen. Will Brownsberger surveyed people about the social distancing steps that Massachusetts officials have taken, and found that the vast majority agree with them and expect it to be “a long time” before the situation returns to normal. Brownsberger — who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston — sent out the following write up about the survey, which was the second he has conducted about the state’s response to COVID-19 (see the first here). COVID-19 Check-in Survey II

Key Takeaways

95% support Massachusetts’ social distancing policies or feel we should go further.96% expect we will take a long time to get back to normal or will have to adapt to a permanent new normal. Summary of Survey

A total of 2,662 of people responded to an email and Facebook survey initiated on Saturday, April 25, 2020, with 85% responding on that day.As to Massachusetts’ COVID-19 response, only 5% of respondents stated “We have gone too far — the economic impact is not worth it.”Public support for social distancing remains strong: 65% felt “The balance is right at this time” and 30% felt “We have not gone far enough — people are still doing unnecessary and unsafe things.”As compared to the March survey which was completed mostly before the Governor’s non-essential business closures of March 23, the group feeling “We have not gone far enough” has declined from 54% to 30%, while the group feeling “We have gone too far” has increased slightly from 3% to 5%.9% reported that they were unemployed as a result of the epidemic while 3% reported they were previously unemployed. The newly unemployed were somewhat more likely to feel our response has gone too far (12%) than the respondents as a whole (5%), but 88% of them felt we have the balance right or have not gone far enough.The share of respondents currently behind on bills dropped slightly from 3% to 2%.

Government

Board of Health Considering Requiring COVID-19 Face Masks in Watertown

By |

Watertown’s Board of Health will meet Thursday afternoon to discuss whether to require that people wear face masks in public places in town. The meeting will meet on April 30 at 3 p.m. via Zoom meeting, which the public can join. The lone agenda item reads: Consider and affirm order requiring wearing of face masks in public to contain spread ofCOVID 19 Virus. Watertown would join other communities requiring people to wear face coverings while out in public. Somerville and Cambridge passed orders requiring people to wear a face mask in public places.

COVID-19

Gov. Baker Extends Business Closings, Stay-at-Home Advisory to Mid-May

By |

Gov. Charlie Baker, with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. Massachusetts residents will be in staying in their homes due to COVID-19 for at least a couple more weeks, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday. The governor’s order requiring non-essential businesses to close their physical locations and the stay-at-home advisory will be extended until May 18, two weeks longer than his last announcement. He added that an advisory board will set “rules of the road” for a “phased reopening” of the state, according to a WBUR report. “I know pushing these dates back a couple weeks is probably not what people want to hear,” Baker said.