Around Town

Check Out Watertown Cable’s New Studios at Business Coalition’s Coffee Connect

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Watertown Business Coalition announced that its next Coffee Connect will be hosted by Watertown Cable Access Television on Wednesday, May 22. If you missed their grand opening you won’t want to miss this Coffee Connect. Or take a closer look if you have already visited. Take a look at the new studio, podcasting area and more! And, of course, network with people from around Watertown. The coffee connect will be from 8:30-10 a.m. on May 22.

Around Town

Watertown Roofing Company Fined for Workplace Safety Violations After Fatal Fall

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The following announcement was provided by the U.S. Department of Labor:

The U.S. Department of Labor has determined that a Watertown roofing contractor again violated federal regulations for fall protections, following a workplace safety investigation into how an employee suffered fatal injuries after falling about 27 feet as they tried to carry materials and climb a ladder jack scaffold at a Brighton work site in September 2023. The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited OJR Construction Inc. in March 2017 and September 2019 for failing to protect employees from fall hazards by complying with required safety standards. “Two previous OSHA inspections made it clear to OJR Construction what protections had to be in place to protect employees from potentially debilitating or deadly falls, but the company chose to ignore its responsibilities,” said OSHA Area Director James Mulligan in Braintree, Massachusetts. “As a result, a worker died needlessly, leaving family, friends and co-workers to grieve their loss and the company to face the consequences.”

OSHA inspectors found the company willfully exposed employees to fall hazards by not providing a safety net or personal fall arrest or guardrail systems, and by failing to have a program to train employees to recognize and address fall hazards. The agency’s investigation also determined that the company exposed workers to falls and other hazards by not complying with OSHA regulations that required: 

Installing guard rails on scaffolds or determining the tipping weight of scaffold planks that extended more than 18 inches over a supporting surface, exposing employees to falls over 15 feet. Guaranteeing ladder side rails extended at least 3 feet above the upper landing surface being accessed.

Around Town

Author, Storyteller Cindy Pierce Performing Solo Show in Watertown

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The following announcement was provided by the Mosesian Center for the Arts:

Acclaimed author, comic storyteller, innkeeper, and educator Cindy Pierce will perform her latest solo show at Mosesian Center for the Arts on Friday, May 17th at 7:30 PM. Keeping It Inn is an intimate, rousing portrayal of her functioning, dysfunctional family. Cindy Pierce wrote, produced, and stars in the show. She plays the role of her mother, Nancy Pierce through six decades of raising seven kids and running an inn. 

“My parents, Nancy and Reg, left suburban Connecticut to run the ramshackle Pierce’s Inn in Etna, New Hampshire for 31 years,” says Pierce. “I created this show through the lens of my mom, who was a wholly unique, no-nonsense, and memorable character, even when suffering from dementia later in her life. With her quick wit and outspoken nature, my mom navigated life with flare and unrelenting optimism, bucking the conventional life expected of her as a woman born in the 1920s.” Much of the show is relatable to all audience members with a major theme of the play being: How do we process difficult emotions and what happens if we don’t?

Around Town

LETTER: Watertown’s Road Overhauls Should Include Bus Improvements

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The Watertown Square Redevelopment has provided us a once in a generation ability to reimage the core of our city and while what has been proposed has made great strides in helping meet our housing goal, in my opinion it has dropped the ball when it falls to transit. The current plan outlines a reduction of 3 lanes but does not do enough for those of us that use Public Transportation. I propose the creation of a true busway that would greatly improve ride times and thus encourage more citizens to us public transportation; I know others have suggested thus during the town meetings. Watertown doesn’t need water downed bus lanes that are ineffectual by being painted on the far-left lane only for cars to use it to turn. What we need is a bold vision of what it can and ought to do.

Around Town

Removal of Overhead Wires Begins on Mt. Auburn Street as Part of the Reconstruction Project

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An MBTA bus traveling on Mount Auburn Street using the Overhead Catenary System, which will be removed as part of preconstruction work for the project. (Photo from City of Watertown)

The City of Watertown announced that preparation work for the Mt. Auburn Street reconstruction project will begin this week. See the announcement below. The Mount Auburn Street project team is pleased to announce that roadway and sidewalk construction is anticipated to begin in Spring 2024.

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Recycle Styrofoam, Mattresses, Shred Paper and More at Watertown Recycling Event

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The following announcement was provided by the Department of Public Works:

There is a Watertown Recycling Event on Saturday, May 18, 2024 from 10AM-2PM at the Boston’s Jewish Community Day School Parking lot, 57 Stanley Ave. in the parking lot. Please bring a Watertown ID or proof of residency. Mattress Recycling

HandUp, a mattress recycler, will be offering a discount on mattress and box spring recycling. Each unit will be $20.

Around Town

Eversource Reliability Project Starting Construction in Watertown, Other Areas in May 2024

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Eversource provided the following announcement:

Start of Construction Expected in May 2024 in Waltham, Watertown, and Brighton

Starting soon, as early as the week of May 27, 2024, Eversource and its contractors will begin working in local streets in Waltham, Watertown, and the Allston/Brighton neighborhood of Boston to install a new transmission line by way of reconductoring. Reconductoring is minimally invasive, does not require full in-street excavation along the entire route and mainly happens at manhole locations. The entire project is expected to last roughly 24 months and people and businesses near manhole and piper repair locations can expect to see Eversource crews intermittently throughout the life of the project. To learn more about the project, call 1-833-836-0302 or email ProjectInfoMA@eversource.com. You can also sign up to receive routine email updates by visiting https://bit.ly/WW-B.

Around Town

Watertown VFW Post 1105 Celebrating 100th Anniversary

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The Burnham-Manning Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1105 will Celebrate its Centennial Anniversary on May 24. The Post provided the following information. History of Burnham-Manning VFW Post 1105

The sign out of the former location of VFW Post 1105. The Watertown, Massachusetts faction of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Burnham-Manning Post No. 1105, was instituted on May 14, 1924.