Government

Board of Health Considering Making New Tobacco Rules After Hearing from WHS Students

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After hearing about research collected by some Watertown High School students, the Watertown Board of Health will look at possible changes to the town’s tobacco regulations. The students are Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leaders – a program of the Wayside Multi-Service Center – and also take part in a statewide movement of youth fighting tobacco in their communities, said Dawn Graham, media and prevention specialist with Wayside. As part of the statewide anti-tobacco effort, called The 84 Movement, the students mapped where tobacco retailers are in town, and their proximity to schools, parks and places where teens hang out. “They found that there are more tobacco retailers in Watertown than there are schools, parks, and other teen hangouts combined,” Graham said. “They were concerned to see that most places teens spend time – including Watertown High School – are less than a 5 minute walk away from a retailer and that there is currently no cap on the number of retailers that can be in Watertown.”

Government

Find Out When You Can Meet with State Rep. Jonathan Hecht

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State Representative Jonathan Hecht announced he will hold office hours twice in Watertown this month. Constituents are invited to meet with Representative Hecht at the following times and locations:

Tuesday, June 27th
8:30-9:30am
Watertown Town Hall
149 Main St, 3rd Floor hallway

Tuesday, June 27th
8:30-9:30am
Watertown Town Hall
149 Main St, 3rd Floor hallway

Anyone unable to attend these office hours can call Representative Hecht at 617-722-2140 to schedule an appointment at another time.

Arsenal Mall

Residents Want to Talk Taxes, Traffic & New Hotel at Recent Arsenal Yards Meeting

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Residents received more information about the hotel planned for the renovated Arsenal Mall and the rest of phase 2, and gave it mixed reviews. The 155 room Hampton Inn & Suites is planned to go in Building B, along with retail on the ground floor and a six level parking garage. While Wednesday’s meeting focused on the plans for the second phase of the Arsenal Yards project, residents brought up other concerns, including the taxes that the project would pay to the town. Developers have requested a tax assurance from the town that would cap the tax rate for the project. Tom Wilder, of mall management company The Wilder Cos., said the tax estimates are still being calculated but it will be discussed at a later date. “We want to have a forum on that when the information is available,” Wilder said.

Government

Meetings Scheduled for Group Looking at Renovation of Victory Field Track Area

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The group looking at renovating the track and courts area at Victory Field had their first meeting this week, and set dates for in-depth discussions of different portions of the complex. The first meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Victory Field Phase 2 was taped by Watertown Cable and will be shown on cable and on the WCATV.org website. The committee includes town officials and residents representing youth sports, the neighborhood and the Watertown Schools. All meetings will be open to the public and will be held in the Lower Hearing Room at Town Hall, unless noted. Here are the upcoming meeting dates and the focus of the meeting:

 
Thursday, June 15, 2017, 5-6 pm: Site visit to Victory Field.

Government

Watertown Police Release Policy for Dealing with People’s Immigration Status

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On Wednesday, the Watertown Police Department released its written policy for how it deals with immigration status during routine police business, as well as more serious incidents. 

The policy mirrors what Police Chief Michael Lawn spoke about during the Unity Breakfast in January, when he said he does not plan to have his department seek out people’s immigration status. He believes this makes the town safer because people will not be scared to seek help or assist police because the are undocumented immigrants. Immigration Debate
Enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws has become a discussion from the national level all the way down to the local level since the Trump Administration began efforts to change the way they are enforced with a goal of removing illegal immigrants. This has lead some governments and community members, including Watertown, to discuss whether the town should be come a Sanctuary Community. The Trump Administration has threatened to remove federal funding from communities protecting undocumented immigrants, though some have argued this would not be Constitutional.

Government

Watertown Man Finds His Name was Falsely Used in Anti-Net Neutrality Letter to FCC

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Watertown’s Joel Mullaney is a software engineer and supporter of keeping Net Neutrality, so he was shocked to find that his name was signed to comments sent to the FCC asking for Net Neutrality regulations to be rolled back. 

Mullaney’s was just one of more than 450,000 people who have discovered their identity had been stolen and used to send fake anti-net neutrality comments to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. Net neutrality is principle that internet service providers and governments regulating the Internet should treat all data on the internet the same, and not slowing or speeding up data from particular sources, or or charging differentially by user, website or type of application. FCC officials are considering changing the regulations that the Obama Administration put into place to strengthen net neutrality saying that they have led to a reduction in investment by major service providers. Opponents say the major internet providers, such as Verizon, Comcast and AT&T, will be able to play favorites, and it will likely favor big companies while hurting small ones and start-ups. Mullaney first heard about the fraudulent comments when he came across a thread on Reddit.

Government

Groups Seek More Time on Watertown Fields, But Space and Time is Limited

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Youth sports groups want more time on the town’s playing fields, adult sports groups want to make sure they don’t lose their space, but the answer appears to be something more elusive that time in Watertown – space. Last week, the Town Council’s Human Services subcommittee heard from many groups who use the town’s fields and tried to find a way to accommodate all of them. After the Watertown Schools (both physical education and athletic teams) the next two users that receive the most hours are Watertown Youth Baseball and Softball, and Watertown Youth Soccer. Bill Furtado, president or Youth Baseball and Softball said while his group gets a lot of hours, the have specialized fields – diamonds – that cannot really be used for other sports. Soccer, meanwhile, seeks to use the same fields as many other users.

Elections

First Time Candidate Joining Race for Watertown Town Council

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A trained family mediator and community organizer, Caroline Bays announced her candidacy for Watertown Councilor-at-Large today. A Watertown resident for 19 years, Caroline and her husband Bill chose Watertown as an affordable, diverse community in which to raise their two children Austin and Susannah. She has organized volunteers and talked with Watertown voters about the issues in local campaigns to elect Watertown Councilors Susan Falkoff and Tony Palomba, State Representative Jon Hecht, State Senator Will Brownsberger, as well as U.S. Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren. “I’ve spoken to people all over Watertown as I have campaigned for other candidates. I’ve talked to people about issues that upset them as well as the many strengths of our community,” says Bays.