Around Town

OP-ED: What Do We Know and What Don’t We Know About COVID-19?

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State Sen. Will Brownsberger

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

We all now know that the coronavirus is loose in the community and anyone could be unknowingly spreading it. We’ve all seen the terrifying exponential growth curves that project need for hospital beds peaking well above available supply. And we understand that by social distancing, we can bend the disease curve down, lower the peak hospital demand and gain time so that the hospital system has more time to prepare. What we don’t know is whether we have done as much as we should to check the spread of the virus and what the benefits of additional measures would be. Tomas Pueyo has written one of the more widely read analyses of our current uncertainties: The Hammer and the Dance. His basic argument is that we should be coming down as hard as we can on social distancing initially to buy time (the “hammer”), and that after a few weeks of maximal social distancing, we can let up some while doing widespread testing, contact tracing, and isolation to make sure we don’t reignite community spread (the “dance”).

Department of Public Works

LETTER: Residents Thankful for Quick Response by Public Works Employees

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A Watertown Department of Public Works snow plow. To the Editor:

We are writing to thank the Watertown Public Works Department, and to commend two of its workers for the outstanding service they recently provided to us. On Sunday, March 22 our sewer line became blocked. We attempted to unclog it with no success. About 6:30 p.m. we called the DPW to see if it would be possible for someone to come by the next morning.

Coronavirus

Council President Discusses Watertown’s Response to the Coronavirus, Steps You Can Take

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Town Council President Mark Siders at the inauguration in 2018. To the Watertown community:

I want to take this opportunity to give you a brief update with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic and how Watertown is managing our response to it. The Town Manager and Administration along with myself and the Town Council are staying on top of all measures being put in place at the state level, in addition to those regulations we have put in place locally. The Town Manager is meeting daily with the Director of Public Health, the Police and Fire Chiefs, and other Department heads to assess the effectiveness of recent state and local regulations, and to determine if other actions may be needed to best protect our community. Communications from the Town Manager are available on the Town’s website and are updated frequently.

Around Town

OP-ED: Cancel It if You Can – Taking Responsibility for Controlling the Pandemic

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State Sen. Will Brownsberger

Will Brownsberger is the State Senator for Watertown, Belmont and parts of Boston:

The pandemic will eventually touch many of us. What matters most is the speed of the pandemic. If the virus spreads too fast and too many of us are sick at the same time, we will overwhelm the health care system. People may not be able to get the care they need – for the virus or for any other health problem.  That’s what is starting to happen now in Italy. Doctors are discussing how to make brutal triage decisions effectively condemning weaker patients to die. We need to slow the virus down and since none of us are immune and there is no vaccine yet, we have only one way to protect our community:  To reduce unnecessary contact.

Infratstructure

OP-ED: Democratic Presidential Candidates — Talk about the Elephant in the Room

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A lot of money was raised and spent on the 2015 Watertown Election. Seven-hundred and thirty billion dollars is an enormous sum, but that is the amount needed to restore America’s infrastructure – to repair our bridges, renew roads and sidewalks, expand transit systems, mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, and much more. And it is the sum that Democrats in the House of Representatives are proposing to allocate for renewal. (Globe, 1/30 “Democrats unveil $760b infrastructure plan”) They hope that Republicans and President Trump will join them in passing legislation to help cities and states address what everyone agrees is a national shortfall. As a City Councilor for the Town of Watertown, I can attest to the need for federal help in funding infrastructure improvements.

Bus

OP-ED: Sen. Brownsberger on MBTA Bus Bunching

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

I often get complaints about bunching and related gaps in service on MBTA buses.  Sometimes you’ll see 4 buses go through together and sometimes you might wait 30 minutes for a bus that is supposed to come every 5 or 10 minutes. Bunching is a perennial challenge for MBTA bus operations, especially on the trolley lines (71 and 73) where buses cannot pass each other.  I recently sat down with senior bus operations managers at the MBTA to get an update on their efforts to keep service properly spaced. Current technology is a major barrier to addressing the bunching problem.  Other than the farebox, everything on the bus is run by a system originally procured almost 20 years ago called “Transit Master.”  Transit Master keeps records on who is driving the bus, displays the route signs on the bus, provides radio communications, makes the stop announcements, counts passengers and, most importantly, tells the driver in real time whether the bus is ahead or behind schedule. When the driver sits down in the bus at the start of their shift and logs in to the system, a schedule is loaded for their whole shift.  That schedule doesn’t change dynamically to reflect traffic conditions.  Congestion is built into schedules, but traffic is not entirely predictable and when traffic is especially bad, buses fall behind schedule.   Even if a bus is running behind schedule and the trailing bus has caught up, the trailing bus driver is being told by the system to keep pressing to stay on schedule, even if that means staying right behind the lead bus.

Development

Councilor Explains Her Decision to Delay Vote on Galen Street Zoning; Info Meeting Planned

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The proposal for properties on Galen Street if requested zoning changes go through. Last week, Town Councilor Lisa Feltner decided to invoke a rule that delays the vote of the Town Council until the next meeting. The issue being considered was the rezoning of some parcels along Galen Street requested by a developer. Below you can read her letter explaining her decision. Feltner also announced that she has booked space at the Watertown Library on Wednesday night to meet with residents, and hear their concerns about the proposal.

Government

OP-ED: Details of Au Pair Ruling, Constituent Meeting

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State Sen. Will Brownsberger

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

For my constituents with concern or interest in the new Au Pair Ruling, I’m holding a discussion meeting: Saturday, December 21, 2019 at 12:30PM – 2 p.m., Watertown Savings Bank Meeting Room, Watertown Free Public Library, 123 Main St, Watertown, MA 02472 (See below for more details on the ruling)

A federal appellate court ruling has created a difficult situation for some families who rely on “au pair” arrangements for their child care. The ruling upheld the application of the Massachusetts Domestic Workers Bill of Rights to au pair arrangements. In an “au pair” arrangement, a young person comes from another country to live with a U.S. family. In return for room and board, they provide child care. In many cases, they are treated very well, often as a family members.