Environment

LETTER: River Clean Up Removed Trash, Items Already Re-accumulating

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To the Editor:

Two weeks after the Annual Charles River Cleanup, April 29, I went back to the area behind the Stop & Shop, 700 Pleasant Street.  On the day of the Cleanup, members of Watertown Citizens for Peace Justice and the Environment hauled from the banks of the river bags and bags of trash, including a large car part identified as a catalytic converter. By noon the area looked immaculate. On my follow-up visit, trash had started to re-accumulate. Back again along the banks were scatterings of sanitizing wipes and advertising flyers.

Letters

LETTER: I-Cubed Program Would Bring $25 Million in State Funds to Town

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Through a state financing tool called the Infrastructure Investment Incentive Program, or “I-Cubed,” Watertown could see a total of $25 million of funding for improvements to public property surrounding the Arsenal on the Charles campus. Representatives from Watertown, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and athenahealth are excited about their participation in the I-Cubed Program and the public-private partnership the Program creates between the Commonwealth, Watertown, DCR, and athenahealth. Here is how the Program works: The I-Cubed Program earmarks general state funds for local public infrastructure improvements surrounding an applicant’s site. Before state approval is final, an applicant must demonstrate that those public infrastructure improvements ultimately support the company’s job growth at the site, which in turn pays off those improvements. More than two years ago, the Patrick Administration granted preliminary approval for $25 million in state funding based on collaboration between representatives of Watertown, DCR, and athenahealth.

Letters

LETTER: Resident Wants to See a More Responsive Town Government

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As I watch this town struggle with intense development pressures, what I see is a town government wholly incapable of dealing with the momentous decisions being made daily. Basically, we have nine elected officials, who get paid practically nothing, have little expertise in most of the matters before them, less time to learn, yet are pressured to attend meeting after meeting every night where they have to decide on big issues. They are stymied by the Open Meeting laws to the point where they don’t even seem to be able to discuss anything. I see a Town Manager who is buried in spreadsheets, who keeps us in the black, but provides no leadership. I see a Head Planner who was made Assistant Town Manager, which seems to be a conflict to me and should never have been approved.

Letters

ESSAY: A Man’s Game of Tag with His Son, Others at a Watertown Playground

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Playground, by Dean Berlin

So this is it, huh? A lifetime of building a reasonably fit body and observing predator-prey strategies, and here I am: chasing a 5-year around a playground. I’m playing my Son’s favorite game, which is just a variant of tag. Over the years, I’ve introduced increasing subtleties into the game (no tag-backs, a base, a point system, etc.), and for that I’m very proud. Still, here I am, an adult male capable of whatever my LinkedIn says, lurking beneath a blue plastic slide for a child to find me.

Government

LETTER: Council Should Not Appoint Community Preservation Committee

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Editor,

In a recent letter, Patrick Fairbairn suggests an ordinance be created wherein the Town Council would interview, vet, and directly appoint the citizens who will make up the Community Preservation Act Committee while omitting some very important details and facts. To set the record straight, here are the facts and here are the issues. The draft ordinance Mr. Fairbairn referenced was created with the input and recommendations from Invest in Watertown. This group consists of the staunchest supporters and most active advocates for the CPA’S passage. This begs the question: Does prevailing on passage of the CPA Tax automatically make one an expert on the who, what, when, where, why and how our CPA money should be spent?

Illegal Immigrants

LETTER: Resident Urges Support of Police’s Stand on Immigrants, Protecting All Immigrants

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Editor,

Of all the issues that are being roiled politically in this most contentious of times in all my 70 years, I believe that Immigration Detention and Deportation initiatives must be given the utmost attention and consideration. The President has stated that these are priority measures vital not only to the safety of national security, but also to the financial well-being of our national economy. I have tried to see both sides of this issue, and I have been swayed by the view that immigrants both legal and undocumented have been a vital factor in the growth of our nation throughout all of our history. And in times of stress due to war, recessions/depressions, and external threats, they are the first to be scapegoated. More importantly, any interactions that one may have either socially or through one’s work or church activities reinforce the observation that people are basically good.

Letters

LETTER: Council Should Consider CPA Committee Proposal from Citizens Group

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To the Editor:

With reference to the article in Watertown News dated 22 March 2017 entitled “Subcommittee debating who should be on the CPA Committee”, I recommend that all concerned attend the next meeting of the Rules and Ordinances Committee for a more thoroughgoing discussion. At the above mentioned debate only the draft text presented by the committee chairman was distributed for public review. Another draft ordinance exists (see below), prepared by core members of the group who successfully promoted adoption of the Community Preservation Act in Watertown. Its text draws on concepts and practices that have proven effective in neighbor towns, with confirmation of best practices from the statewide Community Preservation Coalition. With the benefit of more information and further discussion preparatory to the Committee’s next meeting, all those attending the session can expect to be constructive participants.