Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/category/government/page/244/)
Athenahealth will hold the second community meeting about its Campus Master Plan on Thursday, Jan. 14. and the presentation of the latest plans has been released. The meeting will be held on the athenahealth campus, 321 Arenal St., in the Blakeway Auditorium inside Building 311 at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 14. Use garage and enter through the main South entrance in the middle of Building 311.
Watertown’s elected officials will be sworn in at an inauguration ceremony to take place at the Arsenal Center for the Arts. The ceremony will be held in the Charles Mosesian Theater, 321 Arsenal St., in the Arsenal on the Charles Complex on Monday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.
Those elected to the Town Council, School Committee and Library Board of Trustees will be sworn in that night. A reception will follow.
The Watertown Department of Public Works will hold a special recycling event to get rid of some of your hard to dispose of waste, plus shred your paper documents. The event will be held on Saturday, Jan. 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Watertown Recycling Center on Green River Way. To get there from Watertown Square, take Pleasant Street west, turn right on Bridge Street, left on Waltham Street and left on Green River Way. Recycle your styrofoam products – trays, cups, peanuts and packaging.
The Progressive Watertown group has started an online petition to urge Attorney General Maura Healey to create a law mandating that all new guns sold in Massachusetts have smart tech lock technology on them so only the owner can use them. The group’s founder, Richard Marcus, said the effort grew out of a campaign issue of Warren Tolman’s when he was running for Attorney General. The desire to do something to make guns safer goes even farther back for Marcus. “I’ve been working on this issue since the Newtown tragedy,” Marcus said. “I am tired of going to vigils and memorials for gun tragedies.”
Dear Editor,
On March 1, 2016, “Super Tuesday,” Watertown voters of the Democratic Party will go to the polls to nominate a candidate for the U.S. Presidency and elect two State Committee members (one male and one female). I am respectfully requesting that the Democratic voters of Watertown consider David Kazis to the open seat to serve as the Democratic State Committeeman for the Second Suffolk and Middlesex Senate District. David Kazis is a proven hard working progressive Democrat and he is familiar with the needs of Watertown, including constituent’s economic discrimination concerns over the proposal to create a new Regional Mixed Use District and DCR’s plan to create a Greenway community path between Watertown and Cambridge. David worked at the Democratic National Committee in Washington, DC, under the leadership of Howard Dean in 2005, and also volunteered on several campaigns, including helping to elect Elizabeth Warren to the United States Senate in 2012. David is a strong proponent of transparency and would serve on the Party’s Statewide Board of Directors.
Letter to the Editor
I attended the council subcommittee meeting last week and came out upset. This is the most important issue this Council will face and three council members voted on amendments to present to the full nine member council for their vote at their regular council meeting. A recommendation for crucial amendments including zoning for this major development should not have been sent to a subcommittee as well-meaning the members are. First, I want to address the manner in which the Chair Councillor Steve Corbett so rudely ruled Deborah Peterson out of order as soon as she was beginning to present her statement. This is unacceptable and never should be condoned.
Deborah Peterson and I have been working conscientiously on the RMUD issues, attending meetings, studying the Comprehensive Plan and Design Guidelines and talking with others. The following is what Deborah tried to present at the economic development sub-committee meeting of the Town Council on Dec. 15. She was roundly dismissed by the Chair Steven Corbett, telling her she was out of line in bringing up these issues. She had only begun to give her statement.
There are only two buildings in Watertown 13o feet or taller, but there may be another if the Council subcommittee’s recommendation becomes part of the new zoning for the area around the town’s two malls. Maximum height was one of the amendments to the Regional Mixed Use District zoning discussed Tuesday night at the Community Development and Planning subcommittee meeting at the Watertown Free Public Library. Height has been a contentious issue for many residents who don’t want to see large buildings going up in Watertown, especially near the Charles River. “Are you people crazy? These buildings are too tall!”