Letters

LETTER: Better Communication Needed When Utility Work is Planned on City Streets

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A letter from Watertown resident Linda Scott to City Manager George Proakis:

Hi George,

I hope that you’re enjoying your vacation. Here’s a picture of what we’re up to here in Watertown. We miss you!! At last night’s City Council meeting, the Council President said that you had long-term plans. Somehow, I imagine if there was something called an emergency rezoning meeting or they were reviewing plans for that “big, beautiful seven story parking garage” you want to plunk, unceremoniously in the middle of Watertown Square, you would have made other plans.

Letters

LETTER: Residents Deserved a More Urgent Response to Trash Strike

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(The following letter was sent to City Councilors on July 5, 2025)

Greetings Councilors:

Welcome to the East End of Watertown! Notice the attached five photographs, showing toters that continue to be positioned; up and down the streets; waiting for curbside waste collection last Thursday, July 3rd. Does anyone seek-out the City Website for community updates? The photographs, taken on July 3rd, between 5:36 P.M. & 6:00 P.M., are depictive of the streets as follows;

Keenan St. Arlington St.

Letters

LETTER: Resident Concerned About Rat Infestation Due to Garbage Strike

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Here we go,

We will be approaching the most serious time for trash accumulation in the next few days. As people get beyond the storage limits of their hard plastic and covered trash containers, some will begin placing garbage in plastic bags outside of their homes. As the temperature really heats up past 90 degrees, the raw garbage will ferment and become magnets for our already abundant rodent population. They will get into the garbage easily and feast. They will feed and breed rapidly from then on until the food source is cut off.

Letters

LETTER: Community Preservation Committee Should Prioritize Senior & Special Needs Housing

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Dear Editor,

The recording of the Annual Public CPC Meeting is not up. I had submitted an email since I could not attend. I thank those on the board who took the time to engage with it. I am part of Housing for All Watertown (HAW), and it is no secret that I am pro dentistry and diversity. However, the email (see below) was written from the lens of someone who deeply cares about persons with special needs and having family age in place with others. 

The call for CPC funds to be allocated to more housing is not new to the CPC board, and it predates the formation of HAW. There are 4 and half pages on housing needs per the board’s 2022 Annual Year-End Report.  https://content.civicplus.com/api/assets/0e2ac721-212a-4561-b2a6-6abdd04c8ebc?cache=1800

As I noted in my email, the Affordable Housing Trust has made the call for more Senior and Special Needs housing. We live in a time when loneliness and lack of community is a scourge on society. Many senior citizens cannot afford to move into a communal residence, nor can their houses accommodate an extended family situation. Who is left to tend to these senior citizens?  Their neighbors, if available and willing. The disabilities community is in worse shape in terms of loneliness and housing. The Commonwealth has great services and people from all over the nation come here for those services. With The Perkins School and other facilities, Watertown, in particular, has been a community that supports persons with disabilities.

Letters

LETTER: City-Endorsed Home Energy Assessment Company Should Not Solicit Tenants

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Greetings Councilors,

By now, I anticipate most residents have received, or seen, the City’s HomeWorks Energy communications. Receipt would have been on, or about Monday, June 23rd. The signatory of the documents is George J. Proakis, Watertown City Manager. Many of you are aware; I do not rent-out the second unit of my East End family property. Therefore, I am very “house poor”.

Letters

LETTER: Former Recreation Director Recommends Changes to Victory Field Phase 2 Plan

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(The following letter was send to the City Council before its meeting on June 24, 2025)

Watertown Leadership,

I hope each of you are well and finding a cool space today. I am expecting the Victory funding to be supported tonight and are hopeful that all the alternates are approved. It is obvious to some of us and will be for the rest of you when Phase II is completed that the Phase II AD HOC plan is lacking in key amenities and / or ignored the core needs of this section of the Victory Field Complex which were clearly identified in the 2014 plan. Not including additional parking (32 spots), including busses, a larger circle for better circulation, a plan to solve the Title IX issue of the field house, ADA violation of the elevator and press box accessibility. Wi-Fi, cameras, phone coverage extenders, appropriately size and located storage units and an artificial turf field is a monumental failure and those responsible for their choice have not acted in the best interest of our residents.

Letters

LETTER: Watertown Should be Proactive, Ban Pet Shops from Selling Commercially Bred Animals

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Currently, Watertown does not have pet shops open for business. However, the large number of new commercial buildings, many with retail space, might be a viable option for a pet shop chain. We are encouraging the city to be proactive and be certain a shop that sells animals cannot open in Watertown. Recently, the City Council asked the Administration to propose policy guidance or an ordinance on limiting pet shop operations. Animal shelters in Massachusetts and nationally are at capacity with dogs, cats, kittens, puppies, rabbits, guinea pigs and other unwanted pets.

Letters

LETTER to City Manager About North Branch Library

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An Open Letter to George Proakis

Dear George,

It is the beginnings of some very lean financial times for Watertown, and one would hope that the City’s selected capital projects would be carefully chosen to reflect these times. In your proposed (now approved) FY26 budget, you listed one and a half million dollars to renovate the North Branch Library. No purpose for the building had been stated. Apparently, that would be determined later, cart before the horse style. In the course of the discussions about the North Branch Library, you noted that you had had an engineering study done to see the feasibility of spending money to do these repairs, and that the study had been quite favorable.