Government

LETTERS: Town Council Candidate Statements and an Endorsement

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Dear District A Voter,

As someone who was born and raised as a third generation resident in Watertown‘s east end, I am extremely proud and honored to run for the office of District A Town Councilor. My experience as a department manager for the Town of Watertown for 15 years gives me a unique perspective in the functioning of town government, having produced yearly budgets and collaborated with all of the departments. As a Boston College Business School graduate and technology professional, I am positioned to address any and all technology concerns both now and the future. My priorities:

Development – responsible development, good fit for the neighborhood, support the hiring of a Transportation Management Professional
Education – funded properly, increase STEAM and coding classes at earlier levels
Senior Citizens – support additional assistance programs to improve quality of life
Housing – affordable, available
Open Government – responsive to citizen’s concerns, insure that an annual report published every year as required by the Watertown Home Rule Charter (one has not been published for 2014 as of now and perhaps earlier years have also not been published)

As a veteran, I served my country. As the Watertown Veterans’ Service Officer I served my home town.

Government

LETTERS: School Committee Candidates State Their Case

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To the Editor,

Four busy years have passed in what seems like the blink of an eye. Looking back, we have accomplished a lot in the school system and started other initiatives that will continue for many years. Now as we approach Election Day I would like to focus on some of the accomplishments I have been involved with over the past four years. As Chair of the Buildings and Grounds sub-committee, we accomplished a lot and laid the foundation for future improvements in our schools. Here are some of the things I was directly involved in:

Learning gardens were installed at every elementary school and made a part of the curriculum for all grades.

Election 2015

LETTER: New Resident Struggles to Find Out Who’s Running

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To the Editor:

I moved to Watertown early this year, and am interested in participating in the election. Where does a new resident turn for information about candidates? Naturally, the Town website should have some information … right? I have moved around a lot since graduating college, but it has never been so difficult to simply find out who the candidates are for my neighborhood.

District A

District A Council Candidates Respond to East End Neighbors Issues

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The East End Neighbors group submitted the following responses from the candidates for District A Town Councilor. District A has two candidates running for District Councilor in Tuesday’s Nov 3 Election. Angie Kounelis, Current District A Councilor and Bob Erickson, former town Veteran’s Agent. We asked East Enders for questions they would like to pose to the candidates and consolidated these into 5 questions. Candidates answers are on the following pages.

Election 2015

LETTER: Parent Supports Two Candidates for School Committee

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(Watertown News will accept Town Election related letters until Oct. 31)

Editor,

I have two kids in elementary school. We have had great experiences with teachers, our own school and the Watertown school system in general. I support Watertown teachers and schools absolutely. However I see something like the not so great results received by Watertown schools in the MCAS science tests this year and I am concerned.

Election 2015

LETTERS: Candidates Write In About Campaign and Non-Election Items

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(Watertown News will accept Town Election related letters until Oct. 31.)

Dear Watertown,

I ask for your vote for School Committee on November 3, 2015. I am a firm believer in public education—it is the mechanism societies use to prepare children to flourish in a modern world. Public schools are one of the best possible economic investments a community can make. Everyone benefits by investing in schools because communities with excellent schools are safer, better connected, attract more economic development, and have higher property values than communities with weak schools.

Government

Find Out About the Candidates for Watertown District Councilor

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Three of the four districts in Watertown have races for Town Council. Find out more about the people running for Council seats in the Nov. 3 Town Election. District Councilors are elected by voters living in their district. Watertown has four districts made up of two precincts each: District A is East Watertown; District B is Common Street/Spring Street east to School Street plus the are south of the Charles River; District C is the area west of Common Street/Spring Street to Lexington Street; and District D is the Westside of Watertown.

Government

District A Councilor Candidate Q&A: Bob Erickson

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Bob Erickson is running for District A Town Councilor in the Nov. 3 election. Watertown News asked candidates a series of questions. 1) What is the biggest issue for your district, and how would you seek to address it? The biggest issue for District A is development and the attendant concerns about traffic, height of project and size, congestion, air pollution, parking, impact on daily living, future impact Watertown should seek to attract the best developers, as it is a very desirable community at this point, so it is very important to encourage development, however they must abide by the guidelines in the adopted Comprehensive Plan and the adopted Design Standards

I would support only development that is a good fit for the neighborhood and minimizes collateral issues which would negatively impact the quality of life.