Around Town

New Stone & Tile Store Open in Watertown; Does Kitchens, Bathrooms and More

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Charlie BreitroseUltimate Stone Surfaces opened on Mt. Auburn Street in late May. Ultimate Stone Surfaces recently opened a showroom in Watertown where customers can take a look at samples and get help envisioning their dream kitchen or bathroom. Paul Pereira and Douglas Goncalves have been installing countertops for years, but recently decided to start their own business, said Juliana Freitas-Silva, who runs the showroom located at 694 Mt. Auburn Street.

Arrests

Police Log: Moped Thief Caught Nearby, Driver Faces OUI Charge After Striking Hydrant & Tree

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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests

June 6, 12:34 a.m.: A vehicle went off the road on Pleasant Street and struck a street sign, a fire hydrant, and a tree. Police responded and found a 2002 Honda Accord on a grassy area near the Watertown Mews apartments. The only occupant of the vehicle was standing outside the car. He was checked for injuries but had none.

Around Town

Civil War Veteran Gets Long Awaited Headstone in Time for Memorial Day

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Bill McEvoyThe new grave marker for James Fleming, a Lt. Colonel who served in the Civil War. Local historian Bill McEvoy applied for the long delayed grave marker this year. When the veterans buried in Watertown were honored during Memorial Day week 2022, one of the graves at the Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery had a gleaming white headstone, but the veteran buried there died more than 150 years ago. The grave belongs to James Fleming, who served in the Civil War and died in 1869. He has been buried in the cemetery, which sits at the end of Cottage Street in East Watertown, but it did not have a marker.

Affordable Housing

Council Seeks Payments from Developments to go to Affordable Housing

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Watertown officials will request special legislation to be approved that would allow the City to charge a fee to new commercial developments with the money going to a fund to create affordable housing. The City seeks what is known as a linkage fee, which is based on the impact of commercial development on the demand for affordable housing, acting Deputy City Manager Steve Magoon told the City Council on Tuesday. The special legislation will have to be approved by the State Legislature. “Non-residential projects are creating demand for affordable housing for people who work in Watertown,” Magoon said. “We have done a study to look at that impact and adjusted it by the nexus between that demand being created by projects and the cost that it represents to us as a municipality, and a fee that would be charged.”

COVID Grant

Watertown Plans to Start Universal PreK With COVID Relief Grant

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Watertown School officials plan to use some of the money from the federal COVID school assistance grant to offer full-day PreK classes to more children in the City. The Watertown Public Schools will receive more than $2.86 million from the third round of the federal ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) grant, and Superintendent Dede Galdston told the School Committee she wants to use $370,000 of the funds to start the effort to create universal PreK. Other uses for the funds include expanding extended day and summer programs, credit recovery summer classes to help prevent dropouts, salaries for two assistant principals, and to create a teachers-in-residence program. The ESSER funds would be used to move the district toward universal PreK, Galdston said. The money would be used to pay for half the salary of PreK teachers and instructional assistants in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget.

Around Town

Shares Available for Charles River Co-op, Group Looking to Create New Food Buying Alternative

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Since the closing of Russo’s market in September 2021, a group of people has been working to create a new option for grocery and food shoppers in the Watertown area. On June 15, the Charles River Food Co-op formally kicks off the sale of shares in the planned store. The co-op had a soft opening in early June, and has already sold more than 70 shares, said Nick Quaranto, interim board president of the Charles River Food Co-op. The money raised by the shares, which cost $200 each, will go toward planning and building a store in one of the communities on which the co-op is focusing: Watertown, Waltham, and Newton. Shareholders will also be able to participate in co-op elections and will receive discounts after the store opens.

Arrests

Police Log: Untraceable Pistol Recovered; Suspect Sought for Spray Painting Spree

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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Arrests

May 30, 3:41 p.m.: Police received a complaint about a solicitor in the area of Holt Street and Bridgham Avenue. The man was going door to door trying to sell Mass Pro Steel Coating, but he had not followed proper protocols to check in with the City Clerk’s Office or the Police. When officers spoke with him they found that there was a warrant for his arrest from Waltham District Court for traffic offenses. Geno Harrison, 20, of Waltham, was arrested on the warrant.

Around Town

Boston Tea Party Participant from Watertown to be Honored

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Boston Tea Party Ships & MuseumA grave marker for participants in the Boston Tea Party will be placed on the burial site of Watertown’s Samuel Barnard. It will look like the one placed at Paul Revere’s grave in Boston’s Granary
Burying Ground in 2018. On Dec. 16, 1773, Watertown’s Samuel Barnard joined the group that took part in one of the key moments leading up to the American Revolution: The Boston Tea Party. He will be honored this month with the placing of a marker at his gravesite commemorating his place in American history.