Arsenal Yards

LETTER: Arsenal Yards Developer’s Amendment for More Height Not Opportunistic

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Editor:

I am writing in response to Mr. Bockian’s open letter regarding the proposed zoning amendment at Arsenal Yards. I agree with Mr. Bockian that maintaining the integrity of Watertown’s Planning Board is extremely important. However, I don’t believe that BP’s [Boylston Properties] proposed zoning amendment constitutes a threat to local governance, and nor do I believe that the proposed increase in height constitutes a threat to the Watertown community. 

Mr. Bockian writes that the zoning debate has been “reopened quickly and opportunistically.” In fact, the RMUD zoning has been in place for over two years, and when it was initially approved BP stated publicly that they had accepted the zoning as a compromise and planned to reconsider it further along the line. Legislators across our nation use this tactic to make timely progress on issues while looking ahead to future achievements. For instance, Massachusetts legalized “civil union” partnerships as a compromise before finally legalizing gay marriage a few years later.

Development

LETTER: Resident Writes in Favor of Taller Building at Arsenal Yards

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Editor:
We read Jon Bockian’s letter in the Watertown News and want to take exception to several of his comments as he doesn’t speak for ALL Watertown residents. First and foremost, the proposed changes Boylston Properties is making to the Building G plan are very beneficial to the overall development, increasing open space and providing better access to the Park.  
Mr. Bockian further states that one option Boylston has is to reduce the footprint and keep the height at 130 feet. He knows that this is impossible as Boylston was very clear that reducing the footprint in exchange for height needs to be done for economic reasons, they need to build 188,000 SF. Mr. Bockian also avoids speaking in terms of affordable housing, which would be severely impacted by the overall reduction in SF and thus unit count. Losing affordable units should not be an option.

Elections

LETTER: Watertown Republicans Announce Endorsement for Congressional Race

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The Watertown Republican Town Committee is thrilled to announce that it has unanimously endorsed Republican John Hugo of Woburn to be the Republican Nominee for United States’ Congress in the 5th Congressional District.We believe that Hugo’s strong embrace of the Republican platform, makes him the best choice for voters in the Sept. 4 Primary. Further his energy and commitment make him the best candidate to take the fight the Katherine Clark, whom Hugo describes as “out of touch with needs of the district” adding: “She missing in action and I doubt if she’s ever read the Constitution … if she has, she’s developed a habit of ignoring it!”

“In world full of scripted career politicians like Katherine Clark, John Hugo is a breath of fresh air. He’s a regular working class person that happens to be civic minded and a true patriot” said John DiMascio, the Watertown Republican Committee Chair. “It’s an honor for us to endorse him and a bigger privilege to call him a friend.”

John Hugo has sacrificed much and worked tirelessly to get himself on the ballot.

Development

LETTER: Planning Board, Town Council Should Reject Amendment to Allow Taller Buildings

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Editor:
I can understand that a Planning Board or Town Council member might be tempted to say, there’s no harm in approving Boylston Properties’ (BP) proposed zoning amendment which would allow BP and other developers to ask for one or more 197-foot buildings. The officials might say, approving the height amendment doesn’t approve any specific building, we can decide about a specific building at a later time, when we see plans, etc. I disagree there is no good reason to amend the zoning, on the contrary there are good reasons to reject their proposal, and there is harm in changing the ordinance. At BP’s request, the Town changed its zoning two years ago to meet almost all of BP’s needs at Arsenal Yards except BP’s proposal that there be no limit how tall a building the Planning Board could approve. After lengthy and at times heated debate a compromise was reached to allow 130 feet, taller than is allowed in any other part of town.

Government

OP-ED: End of Session Crunch in the State Legislature

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State Sen. Will Brownsberger (D – Belmont) who also represents Watertown and parts of Boston, provided the following piece:

It has already been a productive legislative session, but negotiations underway have the potential to make it especially significant. In April, we enacted  a transformational set of criminal justice reforms. Last month, we settled a major package to reduce economic inequality — raising the minimum wage, providing paid family and medical leave and also resolving a dispute over the sales tax. Several measures that have significant resonance in the current national political climate have crossed or should shortly hit the Governor’s desk: Extreme risk protective orders to reduce the risk of gun suicides, automatic voter registration and the repeal of archaic anti-abortion laws. Another measure that resonates nationally is still up in the air — “safe communities” legislation that would assure that local police focus on maintaining order and protecting residents rather than doing the immigration enforcement work of ICE. The safe communities measure is pending as part of the state’s budget for fiscal 2019which is now a couple of weeks late.

Letters

LETTER: Proposed Road Projects Will Hurt Neighborhoods, Small Businesses

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The DPW and Planning Department have been working on improving the traffic flow through Watertown Square, as well as making it and Mt. Auburn Street friendlier to bicyclists and pedestrians. However, as usual, they are not considering neighborhood integrity, nor the needs of small businesses. It is funny to me that they are touting “complete streets,” which simply means designing for more modes of transportation than cars. Cities in Europe have been doing this type of design for over 60 years, but we have just “discovered” it here in the U.S., and we don’t do it well yet.

Bicycling

OP-ED: State Sen. Brownsberger Pushing to Make Roads Safer for Bicyclists

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(The following piece was provided by State Sen. Will Brownsberger (D – Belmont) who also represents Watertown and parts of Boston)
When I cycled across the country in 2011, I saw a lot of roadkill. I was constantly aware that all it would take was one mistake by me or by one of those caffeinated guys in big rigs and I’d look about the same. On the open road, I developed a profound gratitude towards the tens of thousands of drivers who did not hit me. The Senate just approved a safety package that would require a clearance of at least three feet for vehicles passing vulnerable road users like highway workers, cyclists and pedestrians.  It would add an additional foot of required clearance for each ten miles per hour of speed.