Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/category/letters/)
In the upcoming State Senate primary I will be voting for Will Brownsberger. There are three important reasons why. First, we need a Senator who will put the needs of Watertown and Belmont front and center in their consciousness, rather than focus on Boston. Watertown is a textbook example of a streetcar suburb. Indeed, the Watertown that we now know was brought about in the early 20th century by the electrification of the streetcars which ran along our main thoroughfares.
Greetings Councilors:
Are you aware of the many resident concerns being voiced about the excessive size of the sidewalk bump outs along the Mount Auburn Street Corridor? Someone is certainly monitoring the negative feedback. Note the most recent Mount Auburn Street Project Updates for the week of Aug. 3rd. The City’s Project Team clearly places the onus of the design concept on the 07/10/2018 endorsement vote of the Town/City Council.
I don’t know about you, but I love being able to access the Charles River here in Watertown. We have invested a lot in cleaning up our waterways, especially the Charles River and it shows. Many of us remember when you had to get a tetanus shot if you were exposed to the water. But we have waited a long time (since 1972!) for the MWRA to live up to its promise of a truly swimmable, fishable Charles River.
However, a recent proposal from the MWRA will betray this promise and replace it with certain pollution for many years to come. The main object in the way are the continued Combined Sewerage Overflows (CSOs) that are released into the river whenever we have serious rainstorms. Rainstorms are becoming more severe, dropping large amounts of water at a time and triggering these CSOs.
By Linda ScottWatertown Resident
And If Comparisons Were Made (A Quick Comparison of Administrator Salaries for 37 Massachusetts Cities and Towns)
This is a followup to “Answers and Questions about City Manager’s New Contract”
See: https://www.watertownmanews.com/2026/06/24/letter-answers-and-questions-about-city-managers-new-contract/
I received quite an array of comments to my letter, “Answers and Questions,” but one very simple response got me thinking. One resident said quite simply when referring to Mr. Proakis’ new salary, “That’s too much.”
I thought, is it? We were told that this “compensation package” fell within the range of other administrators from other municipalities. It was in the middle of the pack. I thought that I’d put that remark to the test.
To my Watertown friends and neighbors:
Senator Will Brownsberger is running for re-election and I enthusiastically support his continued service as our State Senator. Over many years of public service, Senator Brownsberger has earned the trust of our communities through thoughtful leadership, accessibility, and an unwavering dedication to serving his constituents.
I have been especially impressed with Senator Brownsberger’s commitment to improving education in Massachusetts, and in Watertown. The Senator is aware of particular funding challenges that arise in our community. Through his investigation into the highly-complicated funding formula for schools (Chapter 70), he discovered that Watertown was not receiving the money to which we are entitled. Over his 12 years in the State Senate, this has led to nearly $22 million dollars of additional funding coming from the state to Watertown.
Hi All,
I read the agenda for last night’s City Council meeting. As I went to the City website and clicked on the City Council agenda, it “beach balled” forever! Thinking that it was my problem, I tried to open other agendas for that evening and found that this did not happen on any of the other agendas. I called 311, and they could not replicate the problem. (By the way, at the City Council meeting later in the day, I saw that Council President Sideris was having a similar problem).
On June 9, two of us – Watertown residents Bruce Coltin and Josh Rosmarin — spoke at the City Council’s public forum to present our case for the City to commission a polling organization to better determine where residents stand on major issues. Here are the texts of our two-minute comments. From Bruce Coltin:
For almost every local election that I can remember, I falsely believed that that election would be the breakthrough election – the one where voters would turn out in record numbers. In Watertown, non-voters have been an overwhelming majority to the tune of about 75%. In our most recent election, the percentage of non-voters rose to just under 80%.
By Tony PalombaCity Councilor At-Large
As an At-Large City Councilor in Watertown Massachusetts I am acutely aware of the housing storage that Massachusetts is facing – both for those who wish to purchase a home and who would like to rent. We also know that the cost of homeownership and renting is continuing to climb. The burden of these two factors makes it difficult to provide low-income and moderate-income residents with affordable housing. In Watertown approximately half of our residents are renters, 39% of whom are “cost burdened”, meaning that they spend more than one-third of their income on housing. The median income for Watertown renters is $105,360 with many renters having an income of about $77,000.
(Updated June 16, 2026 at 2:24 p.m.)
By Linda ScottWatertown Resident
I want to mention three meetings, one that I attended on June 5th that City Council President Mark Sideris conducted. These meetings are a relatively new concept as a result of our last Charter review. Each councilor is required to have one community meeting a year and invite the public. It’s a good idea. I also want to mention the Watertown Planning Board meeting on June 10th on zoom that I attended (thank you to my friend who kept track of this stuff and mentioned it to me when I was otherwise occupied).