Around Town

Watertown Housing Authority Hires New Executive Director

By |

Jaqueline Sullivan was chosen as the new Executive Director of the Watertown Housing Authority. (Contributed Photo)

The Watertown Housing Authority has a new executive director, after the Board of Commissioners voted to hire Jaqueline Sullivan, who had served as the Deputy Director of the WHA. She succeeds Michael Lara, who left to become the Executive Director of the Newton Housing Authority. See the WHA announcement below. On February 12, 2025, the Watertown Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the hiring of Jacqueline Sullivan as WHA’s new Executive Director.

Letters

LETTER: More Than 100 Join Tesla Takedown Protest in Watertown

By |

The Tesla Takedown in Watertown on March 1. (Copyright 2025 Joshua Touster)

On Saturday morning, March 1st, over 100 people showed up at the intersection of Bridge Street and Pleasant Street near the Watertown Tesla Service Center to participate in a standout targeting Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk. 

The standout was part of a national protest of Elon Musk and his unelected role in the current Trump administration. Known as the Take Down Tesla Campaign, www.teslatakedown.com, the campaign urges people to sell their Tesla  cars and stock and to join the movement to protest Musk and the Department of Energy Efficiency (DOGE). 

(Copyright 2025 Joshua Touster)

Many people who attended were from Watertown and adjacent communities: Brighton, Cambridge, Newton, and Waltham. But some came from as far away as Worcester. There was a lot of support for the protest from those who drove by as several different chants were called out, one that was particularly popular was “Hay, Hay, Ho, Ho, Elon Musk has got to go.” Protest signs referenced the parallels to the rise of Nazi Germany, the current threat to democracy, and the takeover of our federal government in the form of a soft or administrative coup. choosedemocracy.us/what-is-an-administrative-coup

A protest rally that was held later in the day at the Tesla dealership on Boylston Street in Boston drew over 300 participants. The Boston Tesla protests will continue on a weekly basis Starting on Sunday, March 9th, and continuing on Saturdays beginning on March 15th. Stay tuned for a possible future standout in Watertown. 

Tesla Takedowns were held in Watertown and Boston on March 1. (Copyright 2025 Joshua Touster)

Eileen Ryan of Watertown and Janet England of Brighton were the two organizers of the Watertown Standout on Saturday.

Government

City Council Update: Police Removed from Civil Service, Memorialization Committee Approved, Arshile Gorky Honored

By |

The City Council took a number of actions at the Feb. 25 meeting, including purchasing the former Sterritt Lumber site, removing the Watertown Police supervisors from Civil Service, honoring an Armenian artist and immigrant, and approving a Memorialization Committee. See more details in the City Council Newsletter provided by the City of Watertown. City Council Newsletter 

Please see below for the city council’s newsletter for its meeting on February 25, 2025. You can view the video recording of the meeting here. 

Purchase of 148 Waltham Street

The council voted unanimously to approve a purchase & sale agreement of $9.2 million for the property located at 148 Waltham Street.

Around Town

City Manager’s Thoughts on Winter Parkin Ban, Part 2: City Operations & Unintended Consequences

By |

In the second piece on the question of lifting the Winter Parking Ban permanently, Watertown City Manager George Proakis focused on the impact on City operations and possible unintended consequences. See the piece sent out by the City below,

Recently, a group of Watertown residents signed a petition to seek a public hearing in front of the City Council. The topic of the petition and the hearing was our long-term ban on overnight parking that we enforce each winter. The Council hosted this hearing in January. 

Our winter parking ban requires individuals who have a car and a driveway to ensure their car is in their driveway or garage each night. Most residents meet the requirements of the ban by relying on their own driveway, garage or apartment building parking lot.

Entertainment

Small Saves Loves His New Equipment in This Week’s Comic

By |

James DeMarco grew up in Watertown and became a goaltender at age 5. It’s his life’s passion to stand between the pipes and keep the puck out of the net. Combining this with the love of cartooning Small Saves emerged in 1991 and took on a life of his own. “To play goal – then come home and draw Small Saves — is my ideal definition of a good day.”

Schools

School Committee Update: Support of LGBTQ Students & Staff, Possible Budget Shortfall

By |

The School Committee update was provided by the School Committee Chair Kendra Foley:

The Watertown School Committee has had a busy start to 2025, with three meetings in the last six weeks that have been filled with reports, votes, and action items.

In the face of executive orders that threaten the safety, security, health, and humanity of the LGBTQ community, our committee unanimously reaffirmed our 2018 resolution supporting LGBTQ students and staff. Every student and staff member of the WPS community is entitled to an environment that feels safe, respectful, and welcoming, in which they can learn and work free from bullying, harassment, intimidation, threats, and violence. The WPS School Committee is committed to providing such an environment, and it will stand up to actions made by individuals or institutions to threaten, intimidate, or harm transgender and gender nonconforming students and staff. This commitment is grounded not only in our shared values but also in our adherence to Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 76, Section 5, which ensures that “no person shall be excluded or discriminated against in our schools based on race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation.”

Budget season is underway. Initial numbers show that, with the city’s annual 3.5 percent funding increase, WPS would still be on pace for a shortfall of $495,000 to meet a level services budget.