Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/category/letters/page/61/)
Our line-up is as unique as ever! This year we feature solos, duos, trios, quartets, quintets, and an octet! Come listen to professional, conservatory, and high school bands and chamber groups. You’ll hear music from Bach to Berklee jazz to acid Blues and even Surf music. Where else can you sample local bands in one room and hear classical cello in the next?
To the Editor:
On Wednesday, the News published a letter protesting a program scheduled for Saturday, March 12, at the Watertown Free Public Library. The author, Julie Cotton, had already sent a version of the letter to the Library Director and Trustees and requested they cancel the program. The sponsoring organization, Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), was founded by parents who believe that certain unproven medical interventions can benefit, even cure, their autistic children. These therapies are controversial and widely believed to be ineffective, potentially dangerous, and supported by flawed research. In 2014, the FDA issued a consumer update on the subject under the headline “Beware of False or Misleading Claims for Treating Autism.”
I sympathize with the Ms. Cotton.
To the Editor,
“I don’t want anyone telling me where to plant my roses”. That was the parting message John Labadini, President of the newly-established Concerned Watertown Homeowners Association at the end of a public meeting at the Library last Thursday evening. That meeting was arranged to acquaint Watertown residents of a new initiative being pursued by the Town’s Planning and Development office. The Department is drafting proposed Residential Guideline regulations setting design standards for the appearance of our homes and for owners who want to, or need to, tear down and replace an existing structure. The Association feels that property designs are ownership property rights, not the Town’s.
To the Editor:
I am writing in regards to the decision by the Watertown Free Public Library to host an event sharing and elevating dangerous misinformation about autism while promoting snake-oil “cures.”
On March 12, an organization called TACA (Talk About Curing Autism) has reserved a room in our library presenting Dr. Theoharis Theoharides so he can share his views on an unsubstantiated and unproven link between autism and “brain inflammation.” To be clear, TACA is an organization that preys upon families of autistic children by promising them a cure through the use of intensive therapies, including a number of highly controversial and dangerous treatments such as chelation therapy. These therapies have never been shown to have any effect on “curing” autism, a neurological condition that cannot be changed, and groups like TACA ensnare desperate parents and mislead them into spending significant amounts of money and potentially harming their children. Among the things TACA encourages, according to their website:
No vaccines or a delayed/selective vaccine schedule, despite overwhelming evidence that vaccines do not cause autism and that vaccines given as recommended are a necessary and critical component of overall public health. Chelation therapy, which is indicated only for removing heavy metals from the body (anti-vaccine proponents believe vaccines impart mercury and other metals into the bloodstream, which is untrue).
First and foremost, no resident of Watertown should ever be made to feel that an issue or event is allowed to “fly under the radar;” a statement that has been echoed on numerous occasions these past couple of weeks specific to this matter. In my opinion, four residents of one street does not constitute neighborhood involvement without broader notification. Especially, when we speak of an event of a very sensitive nature that impacted the entire East End of Watertown, community-at-large and surrounding cities and towns. For the record, a designee of Town Manager Michael Driscoll, Steve Magoon, Assistant Town Manager and Director of Community Development and Planning was present at the Feb. 12, 2016 meeting.
Esteemed Councilors,
I’m a resident of District C, and I’m writing to you today to urge you to register your opposition to the filming of Patriots Day in the Laurel/Dexter Street neighborhood. At the time of the shootout — in which over 200 rounds were fired, one person was killed in a particularly gruesome way and a police officer was injured, I lived in that neighborhood. The garage of the home where I lived was about 75 feet from the shootout. My children still live there half the week, as my former husband and I share custody of them. I want to tell you that it’s not just about recreating a traumatic event with pyrotechnics late at night in the same neighborhood that witnessed these horrible events.
Dear Mr. Driscoll and Councilors Sideris, Dattoli, Falkoff, Palomba, Kounelis, Feltner, Piccirilli, Woodland, and Dushku,
I am writing to oppose the re-creation and filming of gun battle scenes for the movie “Patriots Day” on Laurel Street in Watertown. I live near-by on Boylston Street — close enough that my husband heard the sound of the shootout as it happened, close enough to be woken by the sounds of helicopters over my house that night. When I learned that the five nights of filming planned on Laurel Street within ear shot of my home would be loud, including gunshots until midnight, I felt angry and anxious. I wondered — who would allow this to happen in our town?! As I learned more, I felt the tears fill my eyes.
Hi, Trees for Watertown members and friends:
Eversource (formerly NSTAR) is coming back to Watertown to utility-prune our street trees starting Monday, February 29. Citizen attention can really help to protect our street trees from damaging and disfiguring pruning during this utility pruning cycle. The Problem
Eversource’s official utility pruning standard specifies removal of all tree branches within 10 to 15 feet of high voltage wires. Utility pruning to Eversource’s standard results in canopy removal far in excess of recommended aboricultural guidelines for preserving street tree health. Arboricultural guidelines recommend pruning no more than 25 percent of a young tree’s healthy canopy, less in older trees, and even less — if any — in mature trees stressed by poor soil or confined soil volume and limited moisture access. The majority of trees providing vital canopy over our urban streets fall in this category.