Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/page/370/)
Noah Kahan, from his Facebook page.
Watertown got a shoutout in Noah Kahan’s latest album “The Great Divide.” The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter said he enjoyed the time he spent living in town.
The following announcement was provided by the City of Watertown:
The City’s Parker Building at 124 Watertown Street will be temporarily closed from May 2-12, 2026, to undergo electrical service upgrades in the building.
A study of the Watertown Public Schools’ special education found a number of areas of concerns, including a lack of uniformity, a need for better communication with families, and a distrust among parents of students in the program.
Restaurants in Watertown will not longer be able to automatically include packets of plastic utensils with takeout or deliver orders. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
A new ordinance approved by the City Council prohibits restaurants from automatically including plastic utensils with takeout orders, however customers can request these items when they order or pick up their food.
Watertown residents will be required to clear snow and ice from sidewalks in front of their homes within 24 hours of the end of a storm after the City Council passed the amendment to the City’s Snow and Ice Removal Ordinance. Under the new rules, residents face a fine for repeatedly not clearing sidewalks, but those will not be levied during the current winter.
As part of a plan to reorganize Watertown’s municipal departments, the Health Department will be moving out of City Hall.
The following announcement was provided by the Community Preservation Committee:
The Community Preservation Program is approaching its fifth year of operation. Since the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) adopted the Community Preservation Act Five-year Plan 2021-2025, the CPC has conducted two complete funding rounds. This year, the CPC celebrated the completion of the program’s first two projects. Irving Park got revamped using $372,606 in outdoor recreation funds and the Edmund Fowle House saw its deteriorated wooden gutters replaced using $47,177 in historic preservation funds. While Irving Park is city-owned, the Fowle House Museum, listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places, and built in 1772, is owned and operated by the Historical Society of Watertown.
The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department.
Susan Klaw
By Chuck Dickinson
Former and current members of the World in Watertown Board of Directors were deeply saddened by the passing of their friend and colleague, Susan Klaw. Susan died peacefully at home at age 74 from ALS on December 23, 2023. There will be a memorial service on January 13th at 3 p.m. at the First Parish of Watertown Unitarian Universalist, 35 Church Street, Watertown.
Greetings Councilors:
Many of you already know my thoughts on the proposed 2024 Residential Snow and Ice Removal Ordinance. In 2012, I voted a well thought out and vetted: “No.” I listened to the residents and the many scenarios of circumstances that were brought before the Committees.
My 2023 Thank You’s to Our City Council.
Food on the shelfs at the Watertown Food Pantry, which has seen an increase in the number of people using its services since the start of the Pandemic. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
With her pert Boston accent and indefatigable can-do attitude, Kathleen Cunningham welcomes visitors into the basement of the Belmont-Watertown United Methodist Church. It’s a big open space, with low ceilings, pink walls, some generous storage space and an older industrial kitchen. It’s also very obviously crumbling. Construction tape blocks off part of the kitchen. Seams are visible from when the ceiling fell in one morning in February in 2022. But the pantry is open every week without fail, as it has been for 34 years.