Around Town

Applications Being Accepted for Elderly Housing Project in Watertown

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The following information was provided by the Watertown Housing Authority:

Beginning Monday, May 13, 2024, the Watertown Housing Authority (WHA) will accept applications to establish a waiting list for its Project-Based Voucher Waiting List for 25 elderly units (22 one bedroom units and 3 two bedroom units) at St. Joseph’s Hall, 2 Rosary Drive, Watertown, MA. A lottery system will be used; there is no advantage to being first to apply. The waiting list opening period will end at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 31, 2024, at which time the waiting list will close until further notice. The WHA has not been awarded any additional project-based vouchers, nor are there any vacancies anticipated in the near future.

Around Town

Bosch Fund Gives Trees for Watertown $25K Grant to Start City’s First Miyawaki Forest

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Future site of Watertown’s first Community Miyawaki Forest at Lowell Elementary School. The following announcement was provided by Trees for Watertown:

The Bosch Community Fund has awarded the volunteer group Trees for Watertown a grant of $25,000 toward creation of a special new kind of green space in Watertown: Watertown’s first Miyawaki Forest, to be planted this November on the grounds of the Lowell Elementary School. “TFW’s Forests For Watertown working group (FFW) was just beginning to realize how much funding and support the creation of a Miyawaki Forest would need, when out of the blue came Bosch Community Fund’s invitation to TFW to apply for a grant,” said Libby Shaw, President of TFW. “We are over the moon to receive the Fund’s support for this project!” Bosch Community Fund’s invitation spurred an intense period of further research, site- searching, and collaboration with Watertown!s Department of Community Development and Planning and Department of Public Works, the Watertown Public Schools, and Watertown Community Gardens, as well as outside consultants and members of the wider Watertown community, in order to propose a strong project in time for BCF!s January 31 deadline.

Around Town

Mosesian Arts Exhibit Features Artworks Inspired by Literature, Myths & Fairy Tales

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Adrienne Der Marderosian’s “I, Too America” will be part of the Entwined: Visual and Textual Narratives exhibition at the Mosesian Center for the Arts. The following announcement was provided by Mosesian Center for the Arts:

At Mosesian Arts, artworks influenced by literature, mythology, fairy tales, and personal narratives are exhibited together to form a tribute to the written word. “Entwined: Visual and Textual Narratives” will be on display from May 17 to June 21, with an opening reception on June 6, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

The Mosesian Center for the Arts is excited to present an exhibition that finds inspiration in literature, the written word, folk tales, and tales of all kinds from fairy tales to narratives that are autobiographical or speak of the human condition. Visual arts have been inspired by the written word since antiquity. There are strong connections between literature and visual arts.

Around Town

Check Out Watertown Cable’s New Studios at Business Coalition’s Coffee Connect

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Watertown Business Coalition announced that its next Coffee Connect will be hosted by Watertown Cable Access Television on Wednesday, May 22. If you missed their grand opening you won’t want to miss this Coffee Connect. Or take a closer look if you have already visited. Take a look at the new studio, podcasting area and more! And, of course, network with people from around Watertown. The coffee connect will be from 8:30-10 a.m. on May 22.

Around Town

Watertown Roofing Company Fined for Workplace Safety Violations After Fatal Fall

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The following announcement was provided by the U.S. Department of Labor:

The U.S. Department of Labor has determined that a Watertown roofing contractor again violated federal regulations for fall protections, following a workplace safety investigation into how an employee suffered fatal injuries after falling about 27 feet as they tried to carry materials and climb a ladder jack scaffold at a Brighton work site in September 2023. The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited OJR Construction Inc. in March 2017 and September 2019 for failing to protect employees from fall hazards by complying with required safety standards. “Two previous OSHA inspections made it clear to OJR Construction what protections had to be in place to protect employees from potentially debilitating or deadly falls, but the company chose to ignore its responsibilities,” said OSHA Area Director James Mulligan in Braintree, Massachusetts. “As a result, a worker died needlessly, leaving family, friends and co-workers to grieve their loss and the company to face the consequences.”

OSHA inspectors found the company willfully exposed employees to fall hazards by not providing a safety net or personal fall arrest or guardrail systems, and by failing to have a program to train employees to recognize and address fall hazards. The agency’s investigation also determined that the company exposed workers to falls and other hazards by not complying with OSHA regulations that required: 

Installing guard rails on scaffolds or determining the tipping weight of scaffold planks that extended more than 18 inches over a supporting surface, exposing employees to falls over 15 feet. Guaranteeing ladder side rails extended at least 3 feet above the upper landing surface being accessed.

Around Town

Author, Storyteller Cindy Pierce Performing Solo Show in Watertown

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The following announcement was provided by the Mosesian Center for the Arts:

Acclaimed author, comic storyteller, innkeeper, and educator Cindy Pierce will perform her latest solo show at Mosesian Center for the Arts on Friday, May 17th at 7:30 PM. Keeping It Inn is an intimate, rousing portrayal of her functioning, dysfunctional family. Cindy Pierce wrote, produced, and stars in the show. She plays the role of her mother, Nancy Pierce through six decades of raising seven kids and running an inn. 

“My parents, Nancy and Reg, left suburban Connecticut to run the ramshackle Pierce’s Inn in Etna, New Hampshire for 31 years,” says Pierce. “I created this show through the lens of my mom, who was a wholly unique, no-nonsense, and memorable character, even when suffering from dementia later in her life. With her quick wit and outspoken nature, my mom navigated life with flare and unrelenting optimism, bucking the conventional life expected of her as a woman born in the 1920s.” Much of the show is relatable to all audience members with a major theme of the play being: How do we process difficult emotions and what happens if we don’t?

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LETTER: Watertown’s Road Overhauls Should Include Bus Improvements

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The Watertown Square Redevelopment has provided us a once in a generation ability to reimage the core of our city and while what has been proposed has made great strides in helping meet our housing goal, in my opinion it has dropped the ball when it falls to transit. The current plan outlines a reduction of 3 lanes but does not do enough for those of us that use Public Transportation. I propose the creation of a true busway that would greatly improve ride times and thus encourage more citizens to us public transportation; I know others have suggested thus during the town meetings. Watertown doesn’t need water downed bus lanes that are ineffectual by being painted on the far-left lane only for cars to use it to turn. What we need is a bold vision of what it can and ought to do.

Around Town

Removal of Overhead Wires Begins on Mt. Auburn Street as Part of the Reconstruction Project

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An MBTA bus traveling on Mount Auburn Street using the Overhead Catenary System, which will be removed as part of preconstruction work for the project. (Photo from City of Watertown)

The City of Watertown announced that preparation work for the Mt. Auburn Street reconstruction project will begin this week. See the announcement below. The Mount Auburn Street project team is pleased to announce that roadway and sidewalk construction is anticipated to begin in Spring 2024.