Government

LETTER: Why Watertown Should Not be a Sanctuary City

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I would like to take this opportunity to pass along my thoughts regarding the possibility of making Watertown a sanctuary city. As a lifelong resident of Watertown, I find this suggestion very troubling, totally illegal, and totally unnecessary. I am proud to be a second generation of Italian immigrants who came to make a better life in Watertown. My grandfather came to America in 1909, and the first thing he did was apply for my grandmother to come to this country legally. She was able to join him in 1913, legally, and they began living their dream.

Government

LETTER: Council Would Overstep its Authority by Making the Town a Sanctuary City

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Open Letter to Honorable Watertown Town Council President and Councilors,

I’m writing to weigh in, as a Watertown Citizen, Taxpayer, and Voter on any possible measure that would declare Watertown a Sanctuary City or in anyway and or any measure that uses the Watertown Town Council as a partisan vehicle to make statements about Federal Immigration Policy. The Town Council is elected to govern Watertown. That being the case, its role is limited to municipal issues. While Public Safety and the actions of our Police Department fall within the purview of the Council’s authority, anything remotely connected for Federal Immigration Law or National Security is far beyond the scope of the Council’s Authority. Further passing proclamations, resolutions, or ordinances that make political statements, in order to appease partisan special interest groups, is nothing short of an abhorrent abuse of the Town Council’s time and the Town’s resources.

Letters

LETTER: Councilor Believes New Developments Not Causing School Overcrowding

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I want to preface this article by saying that there will always be more work to do when it comes to improving our schools and class sizes in general. I don’t believe there is a definite line we could ever reach where I would say there is no more work to be done. I think that is simply true as we are part of an ever-evolving and changing world.  With that being said, the standards I use to measure our class sizes and school population are both comparative and historic. I write this because almost every action taken by the Town and/or School Committee comes back to a widely held belief that our schools are overcrowded and class sizes are too high. Part of that belief is that development in town is the main cause of this.

Government

LETTER: Resident Disappointed by How Decision to Remove Trees Was Made

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Dear Mr. Driscoll,

As a resident of Watertown, I am writing to voice my strong displeasure, disappointment, and shock by the recent news that the City of Cambridge has decided to remove several decades-old trees along Linear Park in Watertown, as recently reported in the Watertown Tab {and Watertown News}. These trees, as you no doubt know, provide immense economic, social, and emotional benefits to the residents of our town as well as valuable green space for wildlife. I am not only saddened by the loss of these trees, but am deeply concerned about the way the decision-making process to remove these trees has unfolded over the past several years as Cambridge approached Watertown to inform us of their intent. Local stakeholders were not adequately informed and a clear and community-engaged process was not laid out. My understanding is that the 100 year old water pipe is dug quite deep and is not in danger of tree root infiltration.

Government

LETTER: Watertown Tree Group Opposes Removal of Trees Along Path

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The existence of substantial shade trees on Cambridge property along Watertown’s Linear Park may not have been planned, but the positive environmental and community contributions of these trees to Watertown are very real and quantifiable.  Using the USDA Forest Service’s program i-Tree, a large healthy urban tree is typically assessed at many thousands of dollars in cumulative services and benefits. Regarding Cambridge’s asserted necessity to take these trees down, we must question how likely it is that shade tree species which typically have a maximum root depth of 18 inches can damage a water main that is reportedly as many as 8-10 feet underground. Cambridge is undertaking takedown of these trees, and official Watertown is acquiescing, with no public acknowlegement of the extent of negative impact this large-scale degradation of green infrastructure will have in the heart of Watertown:  damage to wildlife corridor, elimination of cooling summer shade for neighboring homes, the loss of natural interest and calming beauty which these tall trees have provided for pedestrians taking this quiet path through the congested center of Watertown. On the Cambridge City Arborist website as well as on Cambridge streets, we see evidence that Cambridge increasingly recognizes and invests in the valuable infrastructural role urban trees play in managing stormwater and in cooling urban hardscape in summer, as well as in providing beauty and a restorative connection with nature for its citizens – within its own city borders. Does Cambridge equally recognize the value of preserving shade trees on their property in Watertown?

Citizens Police Academy

OP-ED: Watertown Citizen Police Academy an Eye-Opening Experience

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By Ruth Thomasian

“Understanding through Education.” That’s how Chief Michael Lawn announced the reintroduction of the Watertown Police Department’s Citizen Police Academy in the fall of 2016. Two decades ago Watertown’s first Citizen Police Academy began, and ran from 1996-2008, with Capt. Ray Dupuis as its Director. Well over 200 Watertown citizens enrolled in those 10-week classes, held in the old police station’s makeshift classroom. It was entirely funded with federal grants. Students gave it rave reviews, but when funding ended, so did the Academy.

Letters

LETTER: What’s Goes Crash in the Night – Snow Plows!

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For the first time since my husband and I moved here in 2009, snow plows at night are keeping us awake, and during the last two storms did so for ​nearly four hours after we tried to go to sleep. We’re not sure what made them so loud. They seemed to be moving fast around our intersection (we’re one of the corner houses). We and some others have bedrooms very close to the street, and most of the houses are close to the street in general, so the noise is close to many people. We watched the plow for awhile (it was clear we wouldn’t be sleeping for some time) to try to determine just what it was crashing and banging against – curbs, sewer grates, potholes?