Letters

LETTER: And the Plan for a Five Story Parking Garage in Watertown Square Marches On!

By |

By Linda ScottWatertown Resident

This is in response to the very thoughtful letter by the Watertown Business Coalition, a group that has the difficult but rewarding task of working with all local businesses, the city government and the public at large to be a partner in shepherding Watertown into a successful future. Coalition members, I read your letter, and there’s lots to agree with, but there are lots of things to be concerned about. First, I like your trademark positive approach to the work ahead, and I echo your call for more data:

Improved traffic flow:

You list improved traffic flow, and yet our City government is unwilling to take the time to test out some of the changes before making them permanent. Haste makes waste. Why not take the time to test these road concepts, as has been done in other communities, before spending our increasingly dwindling municipal money on what could be potentially a failed concept?

Letters

LETTER: Continued Support for the Watertown Square Area Plan & Comments on Central Parking the Square

By |

To Our City Council and to our Watertown neighbors and community at large …

The Watertown Business Coalition (WBC) is writing to express our continued support for the Watertown Square Area Plan (WSAP) as well as the concept of improved centralized parking behind Main & Church Streets. As an organization which serves businesses of many sizes, non-profits and the community at-large we are constantly thinking of ways to connect people and to advocate for pragmatic approaches which serve as many stakeholders as possible in our community. The Watertown Square Area Plan has many goals, but paramount among them are characteristics and goals that “take back” a downtown that has seen regional planning shaping roads and corridors that are ours. Since the introduction of an Exit off the Mass Pike and the removal of the Green Line more than 50 years ago, our downtown began a slow progression towards becoming a “pass-through” versus being a destination. A Vision for Revitalization

As we think about the parking questions in front of us, let’s review the goals of a “New” Watertown Square.

Development

City Council to Hold First Discussion of Watertown Square Project, Including a Parking Garage

By |

The proposed Demonstration Project in Watertown Square — which includes a parking garage, a residential building, retail space, and green open space — will be discussed by the City Council on Aug. 10 at the Watertown Library. See more information provided by the City of Watertown, below. The City Council, sitting as the Redevelopment Authority, is hosting a hybrid meeting to have an initial discussion regarding the Demonstration Project plan. We encourage you to join and participate in the meeting.

Business

City Manager, Council President Answer Questions About Watertown Square Garage

By |

A rendering of what could be built in and around the Municipal Parking lot in Watertown Square, including a garage and residential building on the parking lot. The image is from the City of Watertown’s virtual open house. One of the biggest topics of discussion around Watertown, these days, is the parking garage proposed to go on the lot behind CVS in Watertown Square. People ask how big, what will it look like, how much will it cost, who will pay for it? There is a key question that needs to be answered first, City Council President Mark Sideris and City Manager George Proakis said in a recent interview with Watertown News: Should the City build a garage?

Government

Setback in Effort to Bring Post Office Back to Watertown Square

By |

After signs of progress toward a Post Office branch returning to Watertown Square, City of Watertown officials recently received some bad news. City Manager George Proakis told the City Council Tuesday night that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) informed the developers working on the project at 104-106 Main St. that they do not plan to open a branch in Watertown’s downtown. “Recently, the USPS informed O’Connor Capital Partners that they no longer wish to explore adding locations as part of a wider strategy shift, despite the willingness and interest from the parties involved,” Proakis said. “My understanding is they canceled multiple in-progress conversations about opening retail storefronts far beyond just Watertown.”

Government

Detailed Plans for Watertown Square Project to be Presented at Open House

By |

Save the date for the Open House on Watertown Square Implementation on May 20, 2026, from 3-8 p.m. at 9 Galen St. See more details in the announcement from the City of Watertown, below. Join the Open House! The City of Watertown invites you on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, between 3-8 PM to 9 Galen Street for the Watertown Square Implementation Open House!Stop in anytime between 3-8 PM to visit stations that will inform you more about the Demonstration Project and the Urban Revitalization Plan. 

Topics that you can engage with at the Open House include:

A detailed outline of the drafted Demonstration Project Plan, as presented by City Manager Proakis in April. Guided tours of Demonstration Project area with members of the project team.

Letters

LETTER: Numbers, Numbers and is a Parking Garage Coming to the Square?

By |

By Linda ScottWatertown Resident

Is a Parking Garage in Watertown Square’s Future? But first, a Development Timeline, or watch the “magic numbers” grow

If you have already read my previous letter, “City Government – Trust, but Verify,” this letter might seem superfluous. What I’ve tried to do here is reason through what happened to the numbers in the Watertown Square Plan. Then I tie it into plans for a parking garage. Follow along, if you’re interested.

Letters

LETTER: Prioritize Affordable Housing Over Parking

By |

(UPDATED April 20, 2026, 9:20 a.m.: The authors corrected the percent of renters and homeowners “burdened by unsustainable and rising home costs.”)

Last Monday night, City Manager George Proakis presented a draft proposal to redevelop the parking lot behind CVS in Watertown Square. There was a lot to like. 

Redevelopment of the parking lot, along with several adjacent private parcels of land, would add 200-300 new units of market rate housing, including 30-45 new deed-restricted affordable units through our inclusionary zoning ordinance. And it will add a new public space to the Square in the form of a park or plaza. But this proposal also spends one of our city’s most precious resources — public land — on a construction project that doesn’t make residents’ lives more affordable, doesn’t make financial sense for the city, and that the city’s own reporting says we don’t really need. Housing for Cars Watertown? 

The centerpiece of the Manager’s proposal is a parking garage on city-owned land that contains roughly two hundred metered spaces over first-floor retail.