Charity

LETTER: Watertown Group to Help Seniors to Remove Snow This Winter

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Watertown Prosperity, Inc. would like to announce to members of the Watertown community, that for the second straight year, it will be conducting its snow-shoveling program. What is the program? Local volunteers from Watertown schools are matched with elderly and/or disabled Watertown residents to remove snow from their home for the duration of the winter. How does it work? A small group of volunteers is assigned to each home that signs up with us.

Letters

LETTER: Former Councilor Calls for Changes in Budget, Transparency

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Dear Editor,
The November Preliminary Budget Overview presented by the Watertown Town Manager:
Is it a political shell game in order to appear to be an exceptional fiscal manager? How is a budget balanced with a deficit of over $1.5 million each year? Have you ever wondered or considered how we effectively and magically balance our budget year after year? It is very simple! The tax rate has not been established in November!!

Letters

LETTER: Former Councilor Concerned About Process to Choose Police Chief

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Open letter :

I am respectfully requesting that the Town Councillors request that the Town Manager implement the standardized Civil service exam for Chief of Police. Watertown implemented the standardized exam for over 70 years when the Town Manager threw it out and replaced it with Role Playing and Assessment Center i.e. -when appointing Chief Deveau. It is most fair that a chief be chosen from the civil service exam based on Police knowledge. One of the questions asked in the role playing section to the applicants for Chief was : ‘How would you handle a complaint from a member of the Town Council? In fairness to anyone who applies-please request the Manager to return to the Standardized civil service exam that is also objective – not subjective.

Elections

LETTER: Retired Firefighter Announces Candidacy for West End Councilor

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Robert B. McCarthy, a lifelong Watertown resident who resides at 71 Bromfield St., announced that he is a candidate for Town Councilor representing District D.

“I believe it is time for a change. I pledge to vigorously campaign and will listen to the people of Watertown,” McCarthy said. Town Clerk John Flynn notified Mr. McCarthy Friday that his nomination papers have been certified. McCarthy, a Viet Nam Era U.S. Navy Veteran, previously served as an elected Town Meeting Member before the Town voted to change the Town Government and Charter to a Town Manager/Council form of government in 1981. He served for thirty four years in the Watertown Fire Department retiring as a Captain in 2001. He also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts from 1987 to 2011.

Letters

LETTER: Resident Wants Ban on Any Controversial Flag From Public Spaces

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To The Editor:

Recent events indicate that certain flags can divide a community in unsettling ways, to the point where we now have some people in the South ripping small flags from other vehicles, which of course does not help the overall situation. Regarding this, I would suggest the Town Council establishing a town ordinance that would prohibit the public display of any flag on public buildings, bridges, schools, parks, etc., that could be considered controversial, or offensive to any persons or group, such as a Confederate flag, the Gay rainbow flag, religious or political flags, and the flag of any country that may be at war with the USA. This ordinance could eliminate future problems that lately seem to be around every corner and on every news broadcast. Of course this would have no bearing on what citizens display on their own property. A flag should help bring people together, and not divide them.

Letters

LETTER: Ideas for Making Watertown a Happy, Healthy Community

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Dear friends, town councilors, local architects, designers, planners, developers, and other interested individuals,

As a Watertown resident researching ways to increase wellbeing and reduce stress in cities, I believe despite recent conflicts this can still be a happy, healthy place to live. Now is the time for government and planners to make decisions that support wellbeing here. After surveying the research I’m convinced that besides relieving poverty, the best way to create wellbeing is to adopt practices researchers find in the healthiest, happiest cultures. Here are two of the most powerful:

1. Easily available in-person socializing: Many Americans barely know their neighbors and don’t have one close friend.

Government

LETTER: ProgressiveWatertown Hosts Teach-In on Saving the Economy

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You’ve probably heard it from Senator Elizabeth Warren already; “the System is Rigged.” Since the 1980s, all the economic growth in the US has gone to the top 10 percent, leaving nothing for the rest of us. The Tenpercenters don’t need to worry about their future; they have hired an army of lobbyists to advance their agendas, reduce their tax burdens, lighten their risk while underwriting their greed, and increase their wealth for generations. But who are the lobbyists for the rest of us? Unions used to be one of those protections, but the Republican war on unions for the past 35 years has reduced their influence.

Government

LETTER: Former Council President Reacts to Firefighter Contract Dispute

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Editor,

I am writing regarding the Bullet Points [see below for full text] presented by the Town Manager, on June 9, 2015, that was clearly crafted by Kopelman and Paige and accepted by eight of nine of the Watertown’s Town Council regarding the role of the Council. Clearly the Town Council is the duly elected appropriating body of the “City, Known as the Town of Watertown.” Interestingly, either by omission or deliberate, the Town Attorney, or should I bluntly state, The Manager’s Attorney fails to include in the Manager’s discourse that the Town Council is also the elected Policy Making Body for the Town. It is my impression that the Councilors may not be as knowledgeable of the Charter as one would expect and/or are shielding themselves behind a permeable shield that is easily penetrated. In the many years I served on the Council/School Committee, we provided policy guidance and direction to the Town Manager and School Superintendent on matters of collective bargaining with our valued public servants.