Letters

LETTER: Former Councilor Calls for Changes in Budget, Transparency

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Dear Editor,
The November Preliminary Budget Overview presented by the Watertown Town Manager:
Is it a political shell game in order to appear to be an exceptional fiscal manager? How is a budget balanced with a deficit of over $1.5 million each year? Have you ever wondered or considered how we effectively and magically balance our budget year after year? It is very simple! The tax rate has not been established in November!!

Letters

LETTER: Resident Wants Ban on Any Controversial Flag From Public Spaces

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To The Editor:

Recent events indicate that certain flags can divide a community in unsettling ways, to the point where we now have some people in the South ripping small flags from other vehicles, which of course does not help the overall situation. Regarding this, I would suggest the Town Council establishing a town ordinance that would prohibit the public display of any flag on public buildings, bridges, schools, parks, etc., that could be considered controversial, or offensive to any persons or group, such as a Confederate flag, the Gay rainbow flag, religious or political flags, and the flag of any country that may be at war with the USA. This ordinance could eliminate future problems that lately seem to be around every corner and on every news broadcast. Of course this would have no bearing on what citizens display on their own property. A flag should help bring people together, and not divide them.

Letters

LETTER: Ideas for Making Watertown a Happy, Healthy Community

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Dear friends, town councilors, local architects, designers, planners, developers, and other interested individuals,

As a Watertown resident researching ways to increase wellbeing and reduce stress in cities, I believe despite recent conflicts this can still be a happy, healthy place to live. Now is the time for government and planners to make decisions that support wellbeing here. After surveying the research I’m convinced that besides relieving poverty, the best way to create wellbeing is to adopt practices researchers find in the healthiest, happiest cultures. Here are two of the most powerful:

1. Easily available in-person socializing: Many Americans barely know their neighbors and don’t have one close friend.

Government

LETTER: ProgressiveWatertown Hosts Teach-In on Saving the Economy

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You’ve probably heard it from Senator Elizabeth Warren already; “the System is Rigged.” Since the 1980s, all the economic growth in the US has gone to the top 10 percent, leaving nothing for the rest of us. The Tenpercenters don’t need to worry about their future; they have hired an army of lobbyists to advance their agendas, reduce their tax burdens, lighten their risk while underwriting their greed, and increase their wealth for generations. But who are the lobbyists for the rest of us? Unions used to be one of those protections, but the Republican war on unions for the past 35 years has reduced their influence.

Letters

LETTER: More than 80 Watertown Residents Participate in Peace Walk

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A broad coalition of community members from Watertown participated in the 2015 Mother’s Day Walk for Peace in Dorchester. According to the Rev. Amy McCreath of Good Shepherd Church and the Rev. Mark Harris of First Parish Church, 85 people, including a large number of middle school and high school students, filled two school buses that departed Watertown Square at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 11th. We marched as a group we called “Watertown Walks for Peace” in the hopes of building bridges across difference here in Watertown and supporting the wise work for justice led by others in the Boston area. We also walked to speak out about the needless and senseless violence in our schools, on our streets, and in our neighborhoods. The group raised over $2,675 to support the vital work of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, which helps families who have lost loved
ones to violence.

Development

LETTER: Developer Makes Case for a Hotel on Elm Street in Watertown

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There will be a Special Meeting of the Watertown Planning Board on Thursday, May 21, 2015, in the Town Council Chamber of Town Hall, 149 Main Street, Watertown, to hear a proposal to build a new business class five story hotel on the site formerly occupied by Atlantic Battery. The developer, Cherag Patel, from the Chicago area has owned and developed hotels for the past sixteen years. Mr. Patel said “We are excited about the opportunity to bring another marquis hotel to Watertown. We feel that Watertown’s location is superior to Cambridge and Waltham because Watertown has the unique ability to offer guests both an urban experience like Cambridge, and a suburban experience, like Waltham. Our market research firmly establishes that there is so much demand for hotel rooms from Watertown businesses such as Athena Health, Tufts Health, the Perkins School for the Blind, and the many other thriving businesses in Watertown, that a second hotel in Watertown will flourish.

Environment

LETTER: Watertown Residents Can Join Neighborhood Solar Program

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Dear Friends and Neighbors,

It is with great pleasure that Neighborhood Solar II is launched. Green Cambridge is partnering with Neighborhood Solar to help promote this program in Cambridge. Right now, Massachusetts has excellent solar incentives and the federal government is giving a 30 percent tax credit through 2016. The goal of Neighborhood Solar is to combine these incentives and tax credits with the best solar prices and the best solar quality and craftsmanship. With this in mind, and based on the success of Neighborhood Solar I, SunBug Solar has agreed to be the installer.

Letters

LETTER: Heathy Technology Series Educating Parents & Kids

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{This is the first in a series of three articles about the Watertown Lecture Series focusing on children and technology.}

In today’s hyperconnected world, the way adolescents “learn, play, and interact has changed more in the past 15 years than in the previous 570 years. In 2010 U.S. adolescents spent an average of 8.5 hours per day interacting with digital devices, up from 6.5 hours in just 2006. Thirty percent of the time they are simultaneously using more than one device, bringing daily total media exposure time to 11.5 hours.”

This past Wednesday, we launched the Healthy Technology Speaker Series thanks to a generous grant from The Watertown Community Foundation. The series is a collaborative effort between local parents, Watertown Public Schools, the Watertown Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SEPAC), the Watertown Boys and Girls Club, Wayside Youth and Family Services, the Watertown Youth Coalition, Live Well Watertown, the Watertown Education Foundation and Families for Depression Awareness. The first event featured Laura Indigo, who led us through mindfulness activities for adults and children, and Jon Mattleman, who framed the problem of the hidden and emotional consequences of the internet and digital space. Mindfulness activities help us—whether we are 5 or 95—reconnect to our feelings, thoughts, and bodies.