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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests
Dec. 6, 8:30 a.m.: An officer at the Watertown Library recognized a man who was wanted on a warrant. The man was placed under arrest without incident. Arvedis Vartanian, 68, of Waltham, was arrested on the warrant from Waltham District Court for larceny.
Ai3 ArchitectsA map of the proposed additions to O’Connell Field, shown in yellow. The white pathways are already in the plans. The athletic fields at O’Connell Field will likely be getting some upgrades as part of the construction of the new Hosmer Elementary School, but some neighbors are concerned about the loss of green space and other issues. At Wednesday night’s School Building Committee meeting, designers presented a preliminary design for upgrades to O’Connell Field, which runs along Mt. Auburn Street in front of the Brigham House and sits next to Hosmer’s playground.
Ai3 ArchitectsAn illustration of what the outside of the new Watertown High School will look like. The final design concept for the new Watertown High School project, and the budget of nearly $200 million, received approval from the School Committee and the School Building Committee on Wednesday night. The schematic design report, including the designs and the budget of $198.39 million, will be sent to the Massachusetts School Building Authority Board to be considered at its meeting on March 2, 2022. The project will be paid for by the City of Watertown through borrowing, but it will not require a temporary property tax override to cover the cost, said City Auditor Tom Tracy. “The Town is carrying $200 million in debt services for the high school project,” Tracy said.
The project design has reached its goal of Zero Net Energy, said Project Designer Jordan of Ai3 Architects, including 1.4 megawatts of electricity to be produced by the solar photovoltaic array at the school.
Charlie BreitroseWatertown City Hall
Some Watertown residents will be moved to a different precinct, and vote in a different location, after changes to the precinct boundaries were approved by the City Council Tuesday night. Precincts are changed every 10 years after the results of the Census are released. The changes were complicated by the fact that Watertown’s House districts also changed, with Precinct 9 moving from the 29th Middlesex (represented by Steve Owens) to the 10th Middlesex (John Lawn’s district). The Council had been scheduled to considered the changes at a previous meeting, but they found that the precincts didn’t match up for state and local elections, said City Council President Mark Sideris. “The first time we tried to do this there was going to be a situation where a constituent would have to vote in a city election in one place and a state election in a different place,” Sideris said.
The following information came from Gore Place:
Gore Place is offering a new audio tour of the 50-acre estate in Waltham and Watertown. The tour entitled, My Farm at Waltham will be available, year-round, free of charge. Accessed by phone, the audio tour describes the information on interpretive panels which can be found on six key points of the property. The panels tell the story of Christopher and Rebecca Gore’s 250-acre farm, the people who worked the land, and the animals they raised. The audio tour and interpretive panels are available dawn to dusk, year-round, except during special events. Check the museum’s website for availability. The audio tour was funded, in part, by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council and Waltham Cultural Council, which receive support from the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Northeastern UniversityJohn Portz retired from the School Committee in December after 16 years. He also served eight years as a Town Councilor. School Committee Chair John Portz oversaw his final meeting earlier this month, ending not only 16 years on the School Committee but more than 25 years serving the residents of Watertown. At the Dec. 4 meeting, Portz’s colleagues paid tribute to his dedication to the students of Watertown, his steady leadership, and for focusing on working as a team.
The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests
Nov. 29, 9:43 p.m.: Two employees at the UPS facility on Coolidge Avenue got into an argument about a woman while in the break room. Their break ended and one of the men headed toward his work station and the second, Jesse Romero Velasquez, followed him. The argument continued and Velasquez took out a pocket knife and made stabbing motions toward the other man.
State Sen. Will Brownsberger
The following piece was provided by State Sen. Will Brownsberger:
We are pleased to announce that the state’s positive financial position combined with additional federal support has allowed the legislature to make new contributions to Watertown’s health, housing, and environmental programs.
We have just approved a $4 billion one-time spending bill, funded from $2.5 billion in federal relief and $1.5 billion in state surplus.
Statewide energy and environmental programs receive $370 million in the package. We were able to additionally allocate $150,000 directly to Watertown to help replace lead pipes that connect service lines to water mains and to conduct a public outreach campaign targeted to all residents and property owners served by lead pipes so that they know to take appropriate precautions, most importantly flushing their faucets in the morning before drinking.
We additionally allocated $250,000 for the construction of stormwater infiltration systems to reduce flooding of the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway in the vicinity of Cottage Street. The Watertown-Cambridge Greenway is the new bike path segment starting on Arlington street in Watertown and connecting through to Fresh Pond. The project was delayed to address drainage issues at several points along the path in both Watertown and Cambridge. The path design had to be modified to include flood control structures, but it is finally nearing completion.
Unrelated to the current bill, but also in the environmental-good-news category, the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation is finally moving forward with a set of sidewalk improvements, river path improvements and landscaping improvements along Charles River Road. This project is funded in part by $500,000 that Simmons College provided as part of its compensation to the state for use of the Daly Field across the river in Brighton.
The bill devotes $1.15 billion to statewide public health and health care systems. Of that amount, $400 million is devoted to behavioral health, including $122 million to help young professionals who commit to the field. Behavioral health and public health remain centrally important as the COVID pandemic continues.
We were able to invest $125,000 directly to support behavioral health efforts in Watertown through the Wayside Youth and Family Support Network. Wayside is the nonprofit which houses the Watertown Social Services Resource Specialist positions as well as the Watertown Youth Coalition.
Of the $617.6 million that the bill devotes to housing and homelessness, $150 million will go to local housing maintenance needs statewide. We were able to additionally allocate $57,000 directly to the Watertown Housing Authority to conduct a feasibility study for the redevelopment of the Willow Park family public housing development in East Watertown.
The bill also devotes $1.578 billion to supporting workers and businesses statewide. It allocates $500 million to support front line workers through premium pay, $500 million to support businesses through relief for their contributions to unemployment insurance and $578 million to a range of other economic development and work force measures.
Finally, the bill provides $271 million for education on multiple levels, including $100 million for HVAC upgrades to protect health in local public schools.
In selecting programs to benefit from the large amount of funding made available by the federal government and the strength of the state’s economy, the legislature solicited input across the state and deliberated at length as to how to most effectively use the funds. We also kept in mind that the funds are available on a one-time basis and cannot be used to fund permanent program expansions.
Watertown stands out for the effective financial management that has allowed it to be very self-sufficient in its public investments, but we are pleased to be able to support and complement those investments and we are grateful for the ongoing collaboration we have with Watertown’s very effective leadership team.
Will Brownsberger is the state senator serving Back Bay, Fenway, Brighton, Allston, Watertown and Belmont. Steve Owens is the state representative serving much of Watertown, and parts of Cambridge.