Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/)
A vision of what a new Watertown Middle School could look like created by Ai3 Architects and presented to the School Committee in June 2025.
Architects have started creating detailed designs for a new Watertown Middle School to determine how much a new school would cost, and that information will be used by the City to see whether Watertown’s budget can handle a project expected to cost significantly more than $100 million.
Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Watertown Kingian Nonviolence Trainer Holly Cachimuel, who is a former Watertown teacher.(Photo by Chuck Dickinson)
The death of legendary civil rights icon Dr. Bernard Lafayette on March 5 resonates deeply throughout the city of Watertown. “Doc” first came here for several days in 2016, at the behest of former Watertown Middle School teacher Ruth Henry. Henry had trained in Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Resolution under Dr. Lafayette. Lafayette had promised Martin Luther King, Jr. before his 1968 assassination that he would spread King’s nonviolence teaching and practice around the world.
City Manager George Proakis spoke at the Watertown Business Coalition’s City Update on March 5, 2026. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
Watertown became a magnet for life science companies in the last several years, and City Manager George Proakis said the building boom in that industry may be slowed, but other industries may be attracted to the same things: proximity to Boston and the universities in the area, easy access, and a nice place to be.
Marcia Wilson holds a Eurasian Eagle Owl during the Eyes on Owls event at Mount Auburn Cemetery. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
Mount Auburn Cemetery recently welcomed a couple who have devoted their lives to observing and caring for owls. They have traveled around New England in search of the raptors, from Crane Beach in Ipswich to Rye, New Hampshire, to Nantucket, and have ventured as far as Alaska, Serbia and Nunavut in the north of Canada to catch a glimpse of owls.
The Charles River Regional Chamber will host an LGBTIA+ Morning meetup on Friday, March 20 from 8:30-9:30 a.m. at Fly Together Fitness in Watertown. The event is free and open to LGBTQIA+ members and non-members. See more information provided by the Chamber below.
Grace Chapel in Watertown will host an Easter Egg Hunt with a variety of children’s activities on Saturday, March 28 (Rain Date, April 4th), from 2-4 p.m. See more information from Grace Chapel, below.
The Boston Dance Theater will present public dance classes in Watertown beginning March 26, 2026. See details in the announcement from BDT, below.
Twenty-five people came out to the Indivisible Progressive Watertown No Ice-Citizens Bank Protest in Watertown on March 7, 2026. (Photo by Joshua Touster)
The following piece was provided by Indivisible Progressive Watertown:
On Saturday, March 7th, 25 members and friends of Indivisible Progressive Watertown joined in solidarity with the De-ICE Citizens Bank coalition to protest Citizens Bank’s financing of Core- Civic and the GeoGroup. These two corporations are responsible for building 90% of the private prisons and ICE detentions centers across the United States.
The Customer Choice Awards are back, and Watertown Savings Bank customers and residents can participate. See details in the announcement from Watertown Savings, below.
The following announcement was provided by the City of Watertown:
On March 26, 2026, at 6 PM, Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) staff will present the preliminary results of its testing of potential incentives to promote affordable housing in Watertown.
The Annual Watertown MusicFest is coming up and musicians can now sign up to take part in the event that supports the music program in the Watertown Public Schools. See more in the announcement from the Friends of Watertown Music, below.
By Linda ScottWatertown Resident
This is the second part of three looking at the impacts of the Life Science Industry on Watertown. Part One focused on the impact on housing and the environmental impacts. In Part Two, we looked at the costs to the City of Watertown to maintain safe control over the Life Science industry and its effects on our community.
In Part Three, we’ll look at linkage fees and how they could help our community. We’ll also look at how our community got into a position where in Watertown, a city well known for its fiscal responsibility, residential property taxes could soar to 18 percent higher by 2027.