Around Town

New Home for Watertown Summer Recreation Program, Registration Open

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Watertown Recreation’s summer program will be in a new location for 2025. See more information in the announcement from the Recreation Department below. We’re excited to announce that the Pequossette Summer Recreation Program will be held at Lowell Elementary School for summer 2025! With Victory Field just a short walk away, plus on-site fields and playgrounds, campers will have even more opportunities for creative outdoor play and activities. We can’t wait for another amazing summer — hope to see you there!

Weather

Weather Forecast: Cold Weekend Followed by Warmer Temps

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After a cold start to the weekend, temperatures will gradually climb as we head into early next week. Friday will bring gusty northwest winds as a coastal low passes southeast of New England. Expect dry conditions through Monday with a steady uptick in temperatures. However, uncertainty remains for mid-week as another coastal low could bring rain or snow to the region. Stay tuned for updates as we track this potential storm.

Around Town

Wada Hoppah Looks to Start Water Shuttle This Spring & Has Bigger Goals Beyond the Charles

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A drawing of the shuttle boat being designed for Wada Hoppah to take people from Watertown to Boston. (Courtesy of Wada Hoppah)

A small version of the Wada Hoppah electric water shuttle may be carrying passengers from Watertown to Boston and back this spring, and the man behind the effort has plans to create a whole e-boat building industry in the Boston area. Drew Rollert’s goal is to have the first shuttles sailing on the Charles River by the time of the Boston Calling music festival on Memorial Day weekend. “We’re gonna do a smaller version while we work on the bigger electric boat, because I’m just sick of not having anything and just waiting for the large thing,” Rollert said. “So we started building (the smaller boat).”

Around Town

OP-ED: Housing Group Recommends Steps to Address Housing Discrimination in Watertown

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Last week, the WestMetro HOME Consortium, a partnership of 13 regional communities of which Watertown is a member, released the results of a fair housing audit study that it conducted from March 2023 to January 2025. The Consortium worked with Suffolk Law’s Housing Discrimination Testing Program to test the prevalence of illegal race- and income-based discrimination in the housing market, pairing an applicant with a white alias with another with a “racially identifiable” Black, Hispanic, or Asian alias, or an applicant who posed as someone offering to pay market rate with one who posed as a housing voucher recipient. The study’s results are sobering, to say the least. In 65 tests of race-based discrimination (conducted across the Consortium’s 13 communities), applicants of color experienced discrimination 22 percent of the time. In 69 tests of income-based discrimination, voucher holders experienced discrimination a whopping 35 percent of the time.

Around Town

Watertown Savings Bank’s 26th Annual Customer Choice Awards Supports Local Non-Profits

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For the 26th year, Watertown Savings Bank invites customers to support their favorite local non-profit in the Customer Choice Awards. See the announcement from WSB below. Watertown Savings Bank’s 26th Annual Customer Choice Awards is underway. Local residents and WSB customers are invited to vote for their favorite local non-profit organizations in Arlington, Belmont, Lexington, Newton, Waltham, and Watertown. As part of this Awards program, Watertown Savings Bank will donate a total of $100,000, with the top prize being $15,000.

Around Town

OP-ED: Stand Up for Great Public Schools for All Kids

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By Shaunna Harrington

President Trump is gunning to weaken our K-12 public schools, and that should outrage all of us in the Commonwealth. Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Education announced all education institutions must eliminate DEI programs in 14 days to maintain federal funding. 

The Trump administration wields DEI as a bogeyman to scare people into believing it is causing grave injustices. But the bogeyman is no longer frightening when we talk about what diversity, equity and inclusion actually mean in our K-12 public schools in Massachusetts. 

Our commitment to diversity means we make sure kids from non-majority groups do not feel invisible, excluded, devalued, or unsafe. It means we celebrate multiple cultural traditions and teach kids to respect people different from themselves. We express our commitment to diversity in anti-bullying policies.

Around Town

Mount Auburn Street Project for Week of Feb. 18-22 Delayed

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UPDATE (Feb. 19) Mount Auburn Street Construction Work Paused for Week of February 18 – February 21, 2025. The Below Work Anticipated to Restart on February 24, 2025

The Mt. Auburn Street renovation continues this week with installation of drainage, a traffic signal, and tree protection, as well as soil testing. See details below provided by the City of Watertown.