Letter to the Editor (for your consideration)
My husband and I are looking for these things in candidates:
vision, kindness, empathy, strong sense of responsibility to the people, dedication to fighting global warming in major ways including decreasing diesel and the lung disease it causes, adding green spaces everywhere possible, equality and inclusion for all, careful planning of traffic flow so loud, speeding cars don’t alarm so many residents (and kill pets) so often, greatly decreasing industrial noise including that of leaf-blowers, banning gas-powered leaf-blowers (essential for fighting global warming) and encouraging use of quieter landscape equipment overall (even electric leaf-blowers can be extremely loud and irritating) and greatly reducing hours such people-torturing noise (and also construction noise) can be made.
We also want to see town support of businesses and people who help to promote sense of community in very real ways, as in opening more coffee shops and cafes, allowing seating on the streets especially at those places, and adding trees, shrubs and flowering plants to those and other public areas that we need both to fight global warming and also (in the case of coffee shops) to slow the growing epidemic of isolation (and the anxiety and depression that often come from it) in American society.
While we don’t know for sure if all of the following four town council candidates would support all of these things, we have talked with them, and feel they will come close to trying to bring greater wellbeing to most people in Watertown in these and other ways (and wellbeing is mostly what we’re talking about with the above list). The candidates are:
• Caroline Bays
• Tony Palomba
• Nicole Gardner
• Dan D’Amico
Sincerely,
Susan Cooke and Victor Preston
A reminder, comments on election stories must be signed with a full name.
We need to have a sense of community that doesn’t involve us ramming radical ideas down each other’s throats. Compromise, compassion, and security.
Thanks to all of our citizens that contribute in many ways, ie … police, fire, teachers, and veterans among many. We are a town with a wonderful history and can continue to work together.
Our chance to lead the next generation is here. Let’s take advantage of it. We can’t solve the global climate crisis and although I do like a quiet leaf blower, it’s not a major issue with many of the challenges we face as a town. Let the polluters in other do that. Pay attention of the smoke screen some citizens try to put up, many of them idealistic. Leaders with pride, energy, and enthusiasm get my vote. Making the tough decisions and moving forward responsibility. That’s who gets my vote
Airasian, Donohue, Mahoney-Fahey, Mello, O’Halleran, among them.
Let’s go Watertown. Make November 2nd a day for the ages!
A reminder, comments on election stories must be signed with a full name. Feel free to resubmit with your full name.
A reminder, comments on election stories must be signed with a full name.
Thank You for your thoughts. If your looking for all of this you should probably be looking to book on a Jeff Bozo’s “blue origin flight” might find what your looking for. Me, I’ll stick with reality so, I’ll also Vote For Airasian, Mello, & O’Halleran
Thank you for this thoughtful message, Susan and Victor. I share your hopes.
It’s kind of amazing to see the comments above that equate a vision of “town support of businesses and people who help to promote sense of community in very real ways, as in opening more coffee shops and cafes, allowing seating on the streets especially at those places, and adding trees, shrubs and flowering plants to those and other public areas” with “ramming radical ideas down each other’s throats”, or as meriting “you should probably be looking to book on a Jeff Bozo’s “blue origin flight”.
Those comments don’t reflect well at all on the candidates those commenters recommend voting for.
To be fair, I wouldn’t blame the candidates for the nonsense some of their supporters spew. I think Watertown has a really great group of candidates to consider this November!
Most of whom did not grow up in Watertown and can’t afford Cambridge, so they bring their less than moderate views to this city.
People like you have been playing the “they didn’t grow up here” card forever. News flash: it doesn’t work here anymore!!
Reminder about signing your full name on election stories. Feel free to resubmit the comment.
Nicole Gardner is running in District A – leaving you one more vote in the at large contest. Cast it for John Gannon, who has done an excellent job so far!
We all have our opinions. To their credit, the writers of this letters are sharing theirs publicly. They didn’t criticize anyone else; they laid out their vision of the kind of community they want to live it, and are recommending candidate who they believe fit that vision. For their efforts, they are mostly receiving snide and quite inaccurate comments in response.
Support the people you want. Frankly, any reasonable person who seeks elected office these days deserves a lot of credit (given the social media nastiness they will face.)
And ongoing thanks to Charlie for standing fast to the requirement that anyone jumping in here must have the simply human decency to identify themselves. As we can see here, that doesn’t guarantee that the comments will be reasonable. But it’s a start!
As stated Paul I said Thank You for their thoughts, I also offered my opinion as to where they may be found, then proceeded with mine, no big deal here one resident to another, no disrespect either can you say that or do that it sure doesn’t show in your condescending comments towards others opinions
Thank you for the letter, most especially pointing out which candidates are supporting a ban on leaf blowers. My vote will now go elsewhere.
Thanks for cherry-picking some of the text in my comments. I have lived in this town for 25 years and love living here.
If wanting a candidate with compassion, compromise and sense of security is spewing, then that’s just laughable. See you at the polls. Good Luck
Fellow citizens please take note that some of these folks are the Defund the police people. I’m spewing get out to vote for common sense candidates. November 2nd
Your words. Sorry that people reading and responding to them upsets you. Good for you that you’ve lived in Watertown for a long time and love it. Guess what…the new people love it too. I don’t live there anymore and I STILL love it!
I usually do not reply to others’ comments. However I would like to know where you get the information about me cutting the police budget.
Tony – you are a vocal and active member of many groups who are looking to defund the Watertown Police Department – maybe its your participation in and support of those groups that would lead people to believe that you, Nicole Gardner, Dan D’Amico and Caroline Bays are the “Defund The Police” ticket.
A vote for anyone in this group is a vote to make Watertown less safe.
If this is not true, say so – I would invite Caroline, Dan and Nicole to do the same.
For those who may be new to commenting, sometimes it takes time for me to get to the comments. Please be patient. Thanks to everyone who is submitting their opinions and signing their names.
Tony apparently it’s guilt by association? Or simply a misrepresentation of your beliefs in the absence of any evidence to support that assertion? Or both 🙁
Thanks Paul – Tony is a member of the group that is advocating for defunding Watertown Police Department.
Is Tony denying he doesn’t want to defund? Maybe he should just say which side he is on. It’s easy to clear this up.
Tony? Caroline? Dan? Nicole? Tiffany? What say you defund or not?
Which group are you referring to? Please provide specifics.