Election 2017

Hear from Those Running for Council, School Committee at 2 Candidate Forums

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Watertown News and Watertown Cable Access will host a pair of candidate forums featuring the people running for Town Councilor At-Large and School Committee in the Town Election. The forums will be held in the Watertown Savings Bank Room at the Watertown Free Public Library, 123 Main Street, beginning at 6:30 p.m., and will also be broadcast live on Watertown Cable. The forums will be rebroadcast on later dates. The first forum will be on Thursday, Oct. 12, and it will include the six candidates for the four-year School Committee seats.

Environment

Watertown Residents Can Request Trees to be Planted by the Town

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The Watertown Tree Warden has trees that can be planted free in front of or in the near front yard of residential properties in town, but the deadline for signing up is coming up. The Tree Warden’s office sent out the following information:

If you are interested in a tree being planted in front of your home or on your own private property, within 20 feet of the back of the sidewalk, please send an email with your top 3 choices to the Tree Warden, Chris Hayward, by October 13, 2017 at chayward@watertown-ma.gov.

He will try to accommodate your choice selection but if any of your choices are not suitable for your location, he will advise a more suitable species from this list. If you had requested a tree in the spring but did not receive one at that time, your name and location was moved onto the list of recipients for the Fall of 2017. Small and Front Yard trees

(Name, height, spread)

Kwanzan cherry ‘Royal burgandy’ Prunus serrulata 15′ to 25′ 15′ to 25′

Shantung maple Acer truncatum “Shantung” 20′ to 25′ 15′ to 25′

Japanese Tree Lilac Syringa reticulata 20′ to 30′ 10′ to 15′

Snowgoose cherry Prunus “Snowgoose” 15′ to 20′ 15′ to 20′

Ornamental Crabapple Species varies 15′ to 25′ 15′ to 25′

Medium sized trees

Yoshino cherry Prunus yedoensis 20′ to 40′ 15′ to 30′

Sun valley maple Acer rubrum “Sun Valley” 20′ to 40′ 20′ to 30′

Large Shade Trees

Pin oak Quercus palustris 50′ to 70′ 30′ to 40′

Red oak Quercus rubra 75′ to 100′ 60′ to 75′

White oak Quercus alba 50′ to 80′ 50′ to 80′

Elm “Princeton” Ulmus spp. 50′ to 70′ 30′ to 50′

Ginko Ginko biloba 50′ to 80′ 35′ to 45′

October glory red maple Acer rubrum 40′ to 50′ 20′ to 35′

Red Sunset maple Acer rubrum 40′ to 50′ 20′ to 35′

Autumn blaze red maple Acer rubrum 40′ to 50′ 30′ to 40′

Redpointe maple Acer rubrum “Frank Jr” 35′ to 45′ 20′ to 30′

Black gum Nyssa sylvatica 40′ to 65′ 30′ to 40′

Common Street

Common St. Project Approved, Including Rotary at Orchard St. Intersection

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The intersection where Common Street meets Orchard Street and Church Street is well known for being a free-for-all, seat of your pants place to drive through, but that will change when it is turned into a roundabout during the renovation project for which funding was approved by the Town Council on Tuesday night. When the project is complete, the vast area of asphalt will be trimmed down with new islands, planting and a landscaped roundabout in the middle. The project will also include major changes for the intersection of Common and Spring streets, and work on other nearby streets. The new configuration of the intersection will make it safer for drivers and pedestrians, said Department of Public Works Superintendent Gerald Mee. “Ultimately we concluded the roundabout was the best solution,” Mee said.

Election 2018

See Which Candidate for Governor Won the Faire on the Square Straw Poll

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Newton Mayor Setti Warren was the choice of Faire-goers among Democratic candidates for governor in the Watertown Democratic Town Committee’s annual straw poll at Saturday’s Faire on the Square. Warren won 41 percent of the 115 votes cast, while former Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez came in second with 37 percent, according to the announcement from the Democratic Town Committee. The poll was held at the Democratic Town Committee’s booth at Watertown’s annual Faire on the Square, Saturday, September 23, 2017. Participants were asked to choose between the announced candidates in the 2018 Democratic Gubernatorial Primary. Coming in third place with 18 percent of the vote was former Lieutenant Governor candidate and environmental entrepreneur Bob Massie.

Ballot

Lottery Decides Order of Names on Ballot for Watertown’s Town Election

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Candidates for elected office in Watertown pulled pingpong balls out of a small wooden barrel on Monday afternoon to decide where their names would appear on the ballot for November’s Town Election. The candidates for Councilor-at-Large, School Committee and Library Board of Trustees selected one of the 30 yellow balls and those with the lowest numbers appear higher on the ballot. If a candidate was not at the Town Clerk’s office for the drawing, a member of the Board of Election Commissioners picked the ball for them. The candidates’ names will appear on the ballot as follows:

Town Councilor At-Large

Anthony Donato

David Stokes

Michelle Cokonougher

Michael Dattoli

Anthony Palomba

Caroline Bays

School Committee

Amy Donohue

Guido Guidotti

John Portz

Lily Rayman-Read

Michael Shepard

Elizabeth Yusem

Board of Library Trustees

Leanne Hammonds

Daniel Pritchard

Michael Hanlon

David Breakstone

No drawing was made for candidates running unopposed:

Town Council President

Mark Sideris

District A Councilor

Angeline Kounelis

District B Councilor

Lisa Feltner

District C Councilor

Vincent Piccirilli

District D Councilor

Kenneth Woodland

School Committee, 2-Year Term

Lindsay Mosca
Election Info
The election will take place Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017.

Government

Pedestrians & Cars to Share Victory Field Driveway, Fencing to be Replaced

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The driveway at Victory Field will be transformed into an area where pedestrians, bicycles and cars will intermingle. 

The Ad Hoc Committee on Victory Field Phase 2 voted to make changes to the area between the two parking areas at Victory Field to make a shared use area. The area will be raised and the surface will be something different from asphalt, likely some sort of brick or paver. Tuesday’s meeting was the second time the committee had discussed the possibility of creating a shared space at Victory Field (read about the last meeting here). The group asked for some possible designs for the shared area and on Tuesday Designer Glenn Howard of CDM Smith presented some mock-ups for how the shared area might look with new surface, plantings and other features. The portion of the driveway that goes between the track and the football bleachers is quite narrow, and adding a sidewalk would just make it tougher for vehicles to pass each other, Howard said.

Community Choice Aggregation

Town Looking at Joining Green Energy Program for All Residential Electric Customers

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Watertown may join a state program that would provide “greener” electricity to customers and would likely come at a lower rate than for regular Eversource customers. Ed Lewis, the town’s Energy Manager, presented information about the Community Choice Aggregation program at a last week’s Town Council meeting. The town’s Energy Office and the Watertown Environment and Energy Efficiency Committee (WE3C) are asking the Town Council to consider signing Watertown to be part of the program. More than 110 communities across the state have become a part of the program, Lewis said, including nearby communities of Arlington, Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville and Melrose. The program applies to residential customers, small businesses and non-profit groups.

DPW

Watertown Fire Hydrant Flushing Begins This Week, May Discolor Water

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Watertown’s Department of Public Works will begin flushing fire hydrants this week, and will continue for the next six weeks. Public Works Superintendent Gerald Mee sent out the following announcement:

In order to maintain the high quality of drinking water in Watertown, the annual program of flushing mains will begin during the week of Sept. 18, 2017. Flushing hours are Monday Through Friday 7 p.m. to midnight. Consumers may experience discolored water at times during the weeks of Sept.