Government

OP-ED: Is It Time to Hit the Brakes on Reopening in Mass.?

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State Sen. Will Brownsberger

The following piece was written by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston:

In order to safely reopen our schools, we may need to hit the brakes on our phased reopening of the economy in Massachusetts. The latest numbers are telling us that we may need to reclose some businesses or find other ways to reduce infection. As we manage the reopening of the economy, we need to think more clearly about the trade-offs we are making and the consequences we are willing to accept. The decision to open optional services like casinos, movie theaters, and health clubs may make it impossible for us to safely reopen our schools. There is some guesswork in estimating how each specific business closure or infection control measure will affect the average rate at which people with COVID-19 transmit it to others.

Letters

OP-ED: Call to Dismantle Nuclear Weapons 75 Years After Atom Bombs dropped on Hiroshima, Nagasaki

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Candleboats float on the Charles River in Watertown in memory of those who died in the nuclear bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The following piece was submitted by Jeanne Trubek, Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin, Pam Phillips and Sue LaDue of Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment:

Seventy-five years ago, the United States opened a new era, the Age of Nuclear Weapons. In August, 1945, the US dropped one atomic bomb on Hiroshima and one atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Those two bombs killed 226,000 people — immediately. In the years that followed, the survivors — in Japanese as “Hibakusha” – suffered cancer and chronic disease as a result of the extreme radiation.

Letters

OP-ED: Watertown Group’s Statement on Policing, Systematic Racism

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The following op-ed was written by Watertown Citizens for Black Lives, a working group of Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice & the Environment:

July 2020

Something about the moment we are in – maybe it’s because COVID-19 has made it impossible to ignore the deadly ways race predicts health outcomes, or because our disrupted routines make it possible for a single event to galvanize our shared attention on a huge scale – something made everyone notice the brutal killing of George Floyd. As sickening as his murder was, it was far from unique. Floyd’s name is one in a very long list of Black people killed by police (or by vigilantes with ties to law enforcement), a list that includes Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks, and too, too many others (https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/). Activists campaigning for safe communities have been imploring for years that we reaffirm the individual humanity of each of these lives, and our own, by saying their names, by holding their killers accountable, and by creating conditions such that Black lives are no longer disproportionately the victims of state violence. Since George Floyd’s death, more people, and notably more white people, are finally beginning to reckon with the long history of police brutality against Black, Indigenous and other People of Color (BIPOC).

Government

OP-ED: Mass. Senate Passes Police Reform Bill, Brownsberger Gives Details

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Massachusetts State House. State Sen Will Brownberger provided the following piece:

Early in the morning on July 14, the Senate passed S.2800 — the Reform, Shift and Build Act. We look forward to working with our colleagues in the House of Representatives to finalize soon a joint package to lay before the Governor. The outline below offers a thematic organization of the bill. Links in the outline lead to relevant resources.

Government

OP-ED: Legislation Needed to Fight Systematic Racism

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The following was written by Progressive Massachusetts and is endorsed by Progressive Watertown:

The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, and Rayshard Brooks have served as a tragic reminder of the epidemic that is police brutality in the United States. 

Over the past few weeks (indeed, over the past few years), we keep seeing more and more video examples of how widespread, how dehumanizing, and how fatal police violence is and how disproportionately such violence is used against the Black community. Some say the current wave of protests is a historic turning point; we need to make it one. 

It is important to recognize that the graphic imagery of police brutality is just one of the many violent manifestations of systemic racism and white supremacy. The underfunding of schools in communities of color is a form of violence. The denial of health care access is a form of violence. Exclusionary housing policies are a form of violence.

Letters

LETTER: Why We Need More Trees in Watertown

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The Washington Post yesterday included an article about how climate change is worsening right now during the pandemic. It is not stopping for us to fight the pandemic or for anything else. Despite a temporary clearing of smog, the writer says, “the romantic vision of nature “healing” itself was always an illusion … carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are the highest they’ve been in human history, and possibly higher than in the past 3 million years. The specter of man-made climate change looms all the more ominously over a planet in the grips of a viral pandemic.” The authors go on to talk about “giant plumes of Saharan dust that wafted over the Atlantic …

Letters

LETTER: Families Impacted by 4-Alarm Fire Thank the Many Who Helped Them

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Dear Friends,

As you all know on January 24th, 2020 a 4-alarm fire forced 11 families to move from our homes. There are so many to thank and we all hope that we are not forgetting anyone. Thank you to the young woman who frantically banged on each of the doors to get everyone out of the houses while Watertown Fire Department rushed to the scene. Thank you, all the Watertown Fire Department, as well as the surrounding towns who responded to the call for help. A special thank you to the fireman that went into a home several times to find a scared cat and Animal Control for taking good care of the animals until we got them back.

Elections

OP-ED: Sen. Brownsberger Discusses Voting by Mail in Mass.

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State Sen. Will Brownsberger

The following was provided by State Sen. Will Brownsberger, who represents Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston:

Massachusetts voters will have three options in the statewide elections this fall: They will be able to vote early by mail, vote early in person, or vote in person on election day. The Massachusetts Senate passed a bill providing these options (Tuesday, June 16) and the House has already passed a similar bill. Our hope is that final legislation will be on the Governor’s desk very shortly. The new voting options are intended to reduce the risks of transmitting COVID-19. We hope that many voters will choose to vote by mail and avoid physically appearing at the polls.