Letters

UPDATE – LETTER: City Council Should Pass Resolution in Support of Harvard

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UPDATE, June 7, 2025: Clyde Younger has started a resident’s petition to submit to the City Council. The petition is attached at the bottom of the letter. The letter was originally posted on May 29, 2025. Dear Editor,

Upon employment by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), my Supervisor in Los Angeles would quote, “an education can never be taken from you.” This occurred during a period when the U.S. Government did not undertake actions to prevent the general public from pursuing their educational interests.

Letters

LETTER: Thank You to the Community for Joining Watertown Helps Out

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Dear Editor,

The Watertown Community Foundation sends a big THANK YOU to the Watertown Community! You are amazing! Thank you to the more than 350 community and corporate volunteers who volunteered during the 11th annual Watertown Helps Out (WHO), a month of community service organized by the Watertown Community Foundation. We got a lot of stuff done this month! Together, we removed invasive plants on the Bike Greenway, picked up trash on the river and the Sculpture Walk, filled potholes and did outdoor spring clean-up at the Watertown Housing Authority.

Letters

LETTER: Disability Commission Doing ADA Study in Watertown

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Dear Editor,

Last Wednesday, the Disability Commission heard the results from the ADA study which was funded by a grant. The Commission engaged KMA, LLC in Newton to conduct the study and recommendations. 105 residents responded to the survey which is exceptional for a municipality and this study type. City properties comply with a lot in the ADA. However, there are areas needing improvement, such as fixing elevators, resurfacing parking lot and having signage. The Phillips School and Senior Center needed addressing. The non-school polling places were part of the study and there’s room for improvement there. School use in elections will be studied later. The good news is that many improvements can happen programmatically by adding “request for accommodations can be made” to agendas and applications, for example. Advertising accommodation aides would also be helpful An audit of city aides will be performed. It would be beneficial to know what locations have a Meeting Owl for hybrid meetings.

Letters

LETTER: Preserve the Shade Trees on Mt. Auburn Street

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Dear Mr. Micieli:

Removing urban street trees to facilitate so-called road improvements for the movement of pollution-belching behemoths challenges science and common sense in our time of crisis climate change. Scientists have documented the public health harm from tailpipe emissions, which is reduced significantly by the proximity of trees. Consider that urban street trees provide a canopy, root structure, and setting for important insect and bacterial life, an environment for songbirds, and a food source for urban wildlife. The importance of combatting increased temperature from climate change cannot be dismissed. Street trees lower temperature in urban areas where concrete, brick, and asphalt heat islands capture sunlight absorbing it into the pavement.

Letters

LETTER: Demolition Delay Ordinance Needs Revising

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Dear Editor,

I write to express my dismay at some of the testimony at last night’s Committee on Economic Development and Planning. Council President Sideris was correct to bring this to the committee.  This ordinance needs extensive re-writing to remove substantial subjectivity and clarify scope. 

Councilor Piccirilli and Councilor Feltner constantly referred to the fuzziness of the ordinance.  Councilor Piccirilli also pointed out that this board may not have appropriate authority to make such impositions. This observation plus everything from the definition of which type of delay to what is considered historically significant and worthy of preservation points to a poorly crafted ordinance. 

Matt Walter from the Historic Preservation Commission disclosed that there is disagreement within the commission regarding the 50 year look back. I live in a house that was finished in Summer 1977 and there is nothing worth preserving for posterity — erected during the Summer of Sam?? It is so subjective. A 100 years look back, beyond the average human lifespan, seems more reasonable. As the City Manager said, he is no fan of the model ordinance which recommends this 50 year look back. Per the model, a neighborhood of similarly designed/built houses is seen as characteristically unique.

Letters

OP-ED: Watertown Budget 101: Where Does Our Money Come From?

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By Linda ScottWatertown Resident

A Quick Look at Watertown’s Proposed Fiscal Year 2026 Budget

I’ve been looking at ourFiscal Year 2026 Budget. First, I’d like to thank our City Manager for. presenting us with a very well laid out document. These are some of my observations and some questions that I’d like answered as we continue to look at this very lengthy and detailed document. Let’s look at some City departments that actually bring in revenue.

Letters

LETTER: Resident Shares Experience With Mediums

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Watertown resident Fred M. Grandinetti has been writing about popular culture figures since 1983. His recent article takes a different approach. In the March 2025 edition of Paranormal Underground, Grandinetti details his and his mother’s experiences of being read by mediums.

Grandinetti’s piece reads:

The week funeral services were being held for my grandmother Joan Rivers had on her talk show a gentleman who had written a book titled, We Don’t Die. The author was George Anderson, a medium with the ability to communicate to those who have passed on. The Masonic Temple in Watertown, at one time, had medium’s days on Saturday mornings. I read Anderson’s book while having readings. I concluded mediums were like plumbers: some great, others not so much.

Letters

LETTER: Let’s Prioritize Housing Affordability in Our FY 2027 City Budget!

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I was profoundly disappointed that the housing affordability crisis was not addressed in the City Manager’s Budget Presentation at the City Council meeting on April 8. Although Mr. Proakis is open to and advocates for a range of solutions to our housing affordability crisis, during his presentation he did not acknowledge the crisis and did not prioritize housing affordability – as a City and for the new Human Services Director. At the meeting, City Manager Proakis correctly positioned the City Council, the community, and staff to consider how economic uncertainty and likely far-reaching government cuts will impact municipal funding. It will also impact residents’ ability to remain housed. In light of the current economic threats, we should make sure that we’re giving serious thought to priorities for Fiscal Year 2027; and talking to our City Councilors about it.