Elections

LETTER: Watertown 350 Mass Action Endorses Candidates for Town Council, School Committee

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Watertown’s chapter of 350 Mass Action, a local climate advocacy group, has endorsed the following slate of candidates for the November election:

Town Council:

District A: Nicole Gardner

District B: Lisa Feltner

District C: Vincent Piccirilli

District D: Connie Henry

At Large:  Anthony Palomba, Caroline Bays, John Gannon and Daniel D’Amico 

School Committee:  Lily Rayman-Read, Jessica Middlebrook, Rachel Kay

350 Mass Action is a statewide organization whose mission is to endorse and support candidates for local, state and national offices who are committed to support and enact policies and legislation to resolve our climate crisis. Candidates responded to a questionnaire  which addressed the need to eliminate greenhouse gases in housing, transportation and the electric grid while protecting families and populations most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. 

People interested in learning more about 350 Mass Action are encouraged to contact Rick Kalish at rkalish54@gmail.com

Richard KalishWatertown Resident

Elections

LETTER: Group of Parents Advocate for School Committee Candidate

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Dear Watertown Residents,

We enthusiastically and unequivocally endorse Jessica Middlebrook for Watertown School Committee. Because of her significant experience as an educator and her commitment to equity and inclusion, she is uniquely equipped to represent and champion our community’s educational priorities. She will ensure that our schools foster environments that care for students’ wellbeing, promote learning, and lay the foundation for students’ success. Jessica would add a vital, empathetic perspective to the Watertown School Committee as our community makes policy decisions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other matters that affect the learning and wellbeing of our students. As a school mental health counselor, we are confident that Jessica not only possesses the knowledge and experience to shepherd our schools through turbulent times, but that her perspectives on the School Committee would strengthen our schools and benefit learners for years to come.

Election 2021

LETTER: School Committee Candidate Would be Voice for Parents & Students

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I met Rachel in the playground and my first impression of her was gentle spoken and genuinely kind. While COVID kept students and parents socially distanced, I got more opportunities to connect with her. As a woman of color and an immigrant who did not attend grade school here, I was always reluctant to share my thoughts with anyone. Part of it because I was not familiar with the system, another part of it was the fear of being viewed as “a trouble maker.” Rachel has been selfless with sharing everything she knows about education scientifically, realistically, as well as encouraging me and other parents to share our voice. I support Rachel for School Committee because we desperately need a voice for parents and students, safe guarding the bottom line of “doing the right thing.” Rachel is transparent about what Watertown is good at, and what we can do better, not limited to the K-12 level, but equipping our children beyond the 12th Grade.

Elections

LETTER: District A Candidate Backed by Pair of Watertown Residents

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We are writing today to endorse Nicole Gardner to become our next District A Councilor. Nicole is the best person to represent us and work for our whole community, and we encourage our fellow East End residents to cast their vote for her on November 2nd! As Watertown residents who have raised our families in the East End, we know many of our neighbors from our work on the East End newsletter, the Greenway bicycle path, the bicycle-pedestrian committee, or the mural in Coolidge Square—or perhaps from saving the East End Post Office, making the CVS a more welcoming building, or establishing the community garden on Nichols Avenue. 

Many more important community issues and opportunities will be coming up in the next few years. We need Nicole’s voice, values, expertise, and experience on the Town Council. We have known Nicole since she first moved into our neighborhood, practically next door.

Elections

LETTER: Couple Supports Group of Candidates Running for Town Council

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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

Election 2021

See How to Watch the School Committee Candidate Forum Replay

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Watch the candidates for School Committee discuss a variety of subjects at the Oct. 14 candidate forum. The six candidates appeared on the virtual forum co-hosted by Watertown Cable Access TV and Watertown News. Watch the forum on the Watertown Cable website by clicking here: vodwcatv.org/CablecastPublicSite/show/1267?channel=1

Also, mark your calendar for Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. when the forum featuring the District Town Council candidates will be held.

Around Town

FY2022 Budget Looks Stronger Than Expected, Next Year’s Budget Includes High School Project With No Override

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Town Manager Michael Driscoll submitted his final preliminary budget to the Town Council on Tuesday before retiring in early 2022. Town Manager Michael Driscoll presented his 29th, and final, preliminary budget to the Town Council on Tuesday night. The Town’s financial outlook is positive, with significant increases in property taxes and from inspection fees. The current fiscal year, FY2022, came in nearly $7 million above the budget approved in the spring of 2021. The majority of the increase, Driscoll said, came from inspection fees, which were $5 million more than projected.