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.

Government

Congresswoman Clark Secures $500K for Watertown Square Project

By |

The preliminary design for the Four Corners plan to redesign the intersection in Watertown Square. (Courtesy of the City of Watertown)

Watertown will get half a million dollars to help design the streetscape for the Watertown Square redesign. The money was secured by Congresswoman Katherine Clark. See more details in the City of Watertown’s announcement, below. The City of Watertown received $500,000 in Community Project Funding, secured by the Democratic Whip and U.S. Representative Katherine Clark (MA-5) as part of Congressionally Directed Spending, to support the Watertown Square streetscape design project. 

This funding is part of over $12 million secured by the Congresswoman for 15 community projects across Massachusetts’s 5th district.

Government

LETTER: City Government —Trust, but Verify

By |

(Updated April 13: the number of units allowed in the Watertown Square Zoning was corrected to 4,423 (from 3,701) after confirming in the approved Watertown Square Area Plan)

By Linda ScottWatertown Resident

After attending the April 6th meeting on potential changes to Watertown Square and reviewing comments to my Watertown News Letter entitled “How Honest is our Development Process?”, I decided to tackle the issue of government honesty and transparency head on, with real life, current examples. First, I’d like to thank commenters for your thoughtful takes. And for. those who’ve served on City committees like the Watertown Charter Review Committee, I give a special thanks! The few months that I spent on the Watertown Blue Ribbon Commission were enough to convince me that this is a lot of work!!

Development

Draft Plan for Watertown Sq. Project Had 2 Options; Both Have Multi-Story Garage, 247 Housing Units & a Park

By |

A view of the area proposed to be redeveloped in Watertown Square, including the parking lot behind CVS, Baptist Walk, and some privately owned parcels. (City of Watertown)

Detailed plans for redeveloping Watertown’s Municipal Parking Lot in Watertown Square, behind CVS, are included in the City’s draft plan for the Demonstration Project. The 163-page document outlines two options, both of which include a multi-story parking garage, a multi-story residential building (both with retail on the ground floor), and a public green space. City Manager George Proakis gave an overview of the redevelopment of the lot, which would require buying or taking by eminent domain of several properties, at a packed meeting in the Watertown Free Public Library. The presentation did not include many details, however the draft plan includes a ream of information about the options, the cost, and the timeline.

Development

City Releases Detailed Draft of the Watertown Square Redevelopment Proposal

By |

Following Monday’s public roll out of the Demonstration Project, on Wednesday the City of Watertown released the detailed, 163-page draft of the redevelopment project proposed to go on the parking lot behind CVS in Watertown Square. See the announcement from the City, below. Read the Demonstration Project Plan Draft

The City of Watertown has officially released the drafted Watertown Square Demonstration Project Plan for the community to engage with, ask questions, and provide comments. The Demonstration Project lays out a series of strategies, methods, and techniques that chiefly aim to eliminate blight in a given area by offering a new, improved opportunity for development. The area that the Demonstration Project focused on is the public parking lot behind CVS near Watertown Square and a series of the surrounding parcels between Spring Street, Summer Street, and Church Street. We encourage those interested to watch the presentation given by City Manager George Proakis on April 6, 2026, introducing the plan and giving a detailed overview of what is possible in that area of the Square. The Demonstration Project is the first step in a greater Revitalization Plan, which is a legal process, regulated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, that communities undertake to investigate an area and determine the development potential of parcels and the steps required to implement the redevelopment vision.

Development

First Details of Redevelopment of Watertown Square Parking Lots Revealed, Including Garage & Residential Project

By |

Watertown City Manager George Proakis gave some details about a possible Demonstration Project on the Municipal Parking Lot in Watertown Square. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

Monday night, the public got the first glimpse of a possible future for the parking lot behind CVS, the Armenian Museum of America and other businesses in Watertown Square, and it may include a multi-story garage built by the City and a residential building constructed by a private developer. City Manager George Proakis spoke to a packed room at the Watertown Free Public Library. He discussed a variety of topics, including how the Watertown Square planning got to Monday’s meeting, designing the new look intersection, and the main event: the Demonstration Project that would be built on the Municipal Parking Lot. Due to constraints, such as the City of Cambridge’s water supply line that runs under the parking lot, Proakis said the likely layout would be to put the garage on the area in back of the Armenian Museum of America.

Letters

LETTER: How Honest is our Development Process?

By |

Dear Watertown Residents:

Have I written enough about the April 6th meeting at the library? Perhaps, but when has that ever stopped me before?? I received a comment to my last Op-Ed entitled “Calling All Everyday Citizen Heroes for the Watertown Square Meeting.”

See:

OP-ED: Calling All Everyday Citizen Heroes for the Watertown Square Meeting

A reader responded:

“Of all the components of the MBTA Act/Watertown rezoning issue, the urge of some to protect a parking lot and to view construction of a garage as a threat to our way of life makes no sense to me. Building housing and parking in a central spot — and in a currently unattractive downtown area — is a good path forward. (I like Tresca’s by the way; hopefully, they can re-locateto somewhere nearby — the ground floor of the new building going up where the post office was?)”

And here’s my response:

Hi,

I was prepared to write one of my signature long responses to your comment, but then I thought, you’ve cut to the heart of the matter.