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.

Business

Move to Raise Tobacco Sale Age to 21 Meets Resistance

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The Watertown Board of Health is considering raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco to 21 in town, but some stores and their fans do not want to see the change. This week, the board held a hearing to discuss changes to Watertown’s tobacco regulations. Probably the biggest change would be to raise the age when it is legal to buy cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco and nicotine products from 19 to 21. Donna Moultrup, interim Director of Health said one of the main reasons for the change is to prevent youths from getting their hand on cigarettes. “Research has shown that young children 12 and 14 years old are getting cigarettes from people age 18-21,” Moultrup said.

Elections

LETTER: ProgressiveWatertown Endorsements for Nov. 4 Election

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Dear Editor,

On September 28th, a large group of Watertown citizens met to talk about the November 4th Election. We all felt the Ballot Questions were extremely important, and all faced monied opposition. We voted and endorsed our majority opinion on these questions. Later 25 citizens chipped in to print up our positions and take the issue voter to voter. On Question #1 we voted NO to the repeal of the indexed gas tax.

Environment

Council Disbands Watertown Recycling Committee

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After 22 years, Watertown’s Recycling Advisory Committee has been dissolved. 

The decision to end the committee was made by the Town Council last week after the Public Works subcommittee recommended the move. The Recycling Committee and officials in the Watertown Department of Public Works have disagreed about the goal of the committee since Watertown went to a single-stream recycling program, according to Councilor Cecilia Lenk, chair of the Public Works subcommittee. Councilor Aaron Dushku worried about what will happen when issues around recycling arise. “I think we need a place where recycling issues will be discussed in town,” Dushku said. “We need some way to convene residents who want to discuss recycling issues.”