Elections

LETTER: Watertown Resident Helped Question 1 Succeed

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To the Editor,

On November 4th the voters of Massachusetts said no to “Taxation Without Representation” by voting Yes on Question 1. We repealed the legislation that raised the gasoline tax atomically every year without any further debate or vote of the legislature. In so doing the Commonwealth’s voters restored representative democracy, in it’s birthplace and cradle. The vast majority of credit for this effort belongs to Watertown’s own Steve Aylward. He conceived this ballot initiative.

Elections

See How Watertown Voted in Tuesday’s Election

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Watertown backed Martha Coakley for governor opposed adding new bottle deposits and opposed separating the gas tax from inflation in an election that saw more than half the voters turn out. The voter turnout in Watertown was 52.31 percent – with 11,698 ballots cast. That was close to the number in the last governor’s election in 2010 when 12,019 people voted. The presidential election in 2012 had 16,200 voters. Town Clerk John Flynn said the turnout was healthy.

Business

Liquor License Debate Gets Murkier for Town Council

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Three Town Council subcommittees met last week to shore up the details of the town’s request to the State Legislature for more liquor licenses, but by the end of the meeting Councilors had not made a decision. At a previous meeting, the members of the Rules & Ordinances, Economic Development & Planning, and Public Safety subcommittees, discussed asking for 15 new licenses. Five would go to approved projects or existing locations. The other 10 would be divvied up among different areas of town. Last week, however, the group was not sure how to handle the forthcoming requests for liquor licenses from the Arsenal Project (formerly Arsenal Mall) for new restaurants.

Elections

LETTER: Residents Explain Why They Support Coakley for Governor

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Dear Friends and Neighbors,

We are supporting Martha Coakley for Governor on Tuesday, November 4. We hope you will too. Martha has been a dogged and courageous force for fairness and progressive values throughout her public service career in Massachusetts. She has consistently protected women’s access to reproductive health services and fought for equal pay for equal work.  She challenged the Defense of Marriage Act and won and she went after predatory lenders and kept over 30,000 families in their homes. However even beyond her clearly progressive record, there is another critical issue facing us now: the growing inequality of wealth in our Commonwealth and across America. How we deal with this now will impact us all, rich and poor, for many years to come. The growing gap between haves and have-nots is an urgent moral and political issue, but there is also a growing chorus of economists who contend that the accelerating hollowing-out of the middle class in America will have a severe negative impact on the long term health of our economy and our society. Policies that support the growing concentration of wealth actually weaken our economy.

Government

Town Council Unhappy With Leaning Pole in South End

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A couple blocks off Galen Street on Morse Street sits a utility pole that has irked members of the Watertown Town Council. The pole is actually a double pole – where an old pole fell or is about to fall and a new one is put up but where the old one has not been removed. The Town Council has worked with Watertown’s State Reps to try to get the utility and phone companies to remove these double poles more quickly. The one on Morse Street is more than just an eyesore, however, said Town Councilor Cecilia Lenk, who represents the South End. “It’s at a severe angle and appears to be about to come down in a storm or hit by a truck,” Lenk said.

Government

Budget Has Increase for Schools, Town and $2 Million Shortfall

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The good news in the Fiscal 2016 budget is the increases for schools and town departments, and the bad news is the town must find more than $2 million by April to fund the budget. Town Manager Michael Driscoll unveiled the preliminary budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2015 at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting. The budget includes $119.08 million, which is $5.6 million and 4.7 percent more than the current fiscal year. “We have two issues – a challenge of $2.085 million and we have got to submit a balance budget in April,” Driscoll said. “Either revenues can go up or expenditures can go down – or a combination of the two.”

While the town faces a shortfall, Driscoll said he used conservative projections when drafting it.

Around Town

Committee Recommends Calming Traffic on Church Street

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In an effort to make Church Street safer, the Town Council’s Public Works subcommittee recommended that a traffic table, like those near Watertown Middle School, be installed at Palfrey Street. Residents of the area complained to the Council that the intersection is dangerous and has frequent close calls and many accidents, too. Aaron Caine lives near the corner of Church and Palfrey streets and said there are close calls on a daily basis at the intersection, and about once a week there cars screech to a halt trying to avoid a collision. WorldTech, a firm hired by the town to study traffic in the area, did a traffic study and made recommendations. They did not recommend a stop sign, but did say a speed table could be installed.

Dog Park

See Where a Subcommittee Wants to Put an East End Dog Park

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East End dogs could have a place to run and play if the Town Council approves the recommendation of the Public Works subcommittee. Last Wednesday, the subcommittee voted to recommend that a dog park be built at Filippello Park, near the Grove Street entrance. The spot was one of three considered by the subcommittee. The other two were near the Arsenal Project. One was by the tennis courts in Arsenal Park and the other is on land owned by the mall behind the back parking lot.