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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests
None
Incidents
Sept. 19, 12:03 p.m.: A package went missing from an apartment building on Pleasant Street. The resident ordered a Secret Labs gaming chair for $700. He was notified by FedEx that it was delivered on Sept.
The following announcement was provided by the City of Watertown:
The City of Watertown took the final step on Sept. 21 in forming an affordable housing trust consisting of the new City Manager and six residents with expertise in creating and preserving housing for income-qualified households. The trust, authorized under state law to fund and engage in real estate activities to develop affordable units, held its first meeting on September 22, 2022. “It is important that we start identifying sites where deed-restricted affordable developments can be built,” said City Manager George Proakis. “We plan to do outreach to the affordable housing developers in the area who may be willing to work with the City to provide the kind of housing we need.”
The Watertown Housing Partnership, which recommended forming the trust, will automatically dissolve in 10 days, with its powers and responsibilities automatically transferred.
Watertown Firefighters put out a fire at a two-family home on Copeland Street on Friday night. The fire was reported shortly after 8 p.m. on Sept. 30, said Provisional Fire Chief Ryan Nicholson. “There was a fire in the kitchen of the upstairs unit of a two family. Companies quickly extinguished the fire,” Nicholson said.
Jennifer KavanaughA performance of New Rep Theatre’s “Listen to Sipu” will be part of Watertown’s first Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration. Here Maria Hendricks portrays Sipu during a performance in 2021 at the Arsenal on the Charles. The following announcement was provided by the organizers of Watertown’s Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration:
Watertown’s first celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day will be held on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at First Parish Watertown, 35 Church St., Watertown. The free event will feature Indigenous speakers, a presentation of the New Repertory Theatre play Listen to Sipu, and Indigenous musicians, artists and vendors.
Geri Barney, member of Navajo nation, will welcome participants with flute music followed by keynote speaker Elizabeth Solomon, representative of the Massachusett tribe.
An image from the City of Watertown’s Comprehensive Plan Virtual Workshop website. The City of Watertown recently held a pair of in-person workshops to hear from people for the updating of the document that will shape the future of the City: the Comprehensive Plan. Those who did not attend the meetings can participate in the virtual workshop. The Comprehensive Plan guides the future not just for economic development, but also for housing, transportation, open space and recreation, and sustainability. The original plan was adopted in 2015 and the City is updating it in 2022.
Watertown City Hall
After hearing from residents about not being informed about key meetings about development projects in Watertown, the City Council will discuss ways to improve communications with neighbors of such projects. The City will also work on creating a rodent control plan, and the City Manager will be filling three key positions. On Tuesday, City Council President Mark Sideris said that he heard from residents who were frustrated that they did not know about the proposed project at 148 Waltham St. “We it comes to development we put in place the requirement for community meetings, but one thing that came out, particularly with the Sterritt Lumber site — and I thank Councilor (Emily) Izzo for her efforts — but we don’t have a process with notifying neighbors when a hearing is coming up,” Sideris said. “We do notify the immediate abutters, but we can do a better job.
A City Council Committee has started looking at doubling the maximum delay for demolition of a historic home or building, but also to remove many properties from consideration for the demo delays. The Historical Commission can put a delay on demolishing homes and buildings that have historic significance in an effort to find a way to preserve them, including finding a person or group to buy it and save it. The Commission can prevent a structure from being demolished. The current maximum delay is 12 months. Currently, projects that must be heard by the Historical Commission include any building 50 years old or older.
City of WatertownThe winner of the 2022 Faire on the Square Apple Pie Contest, Carolyn Gritter, and City Manager George Proakis. The Apple Pie Contest returned to the Faire on the Square for the first time since 2016, and the winner tapped into an old family recipe. City Manager George Proakis invited first place winner Carolyn Gritter to City Hall to congratulate her. “She used a recipe that was mother’s — she learned it when she was a child — an old fashioned, all-butter crust apple pie,” Proakis said. “I really wish I had gotten a chance to taste that.”