Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/page/19/)
Rebuilding Watertown Middle School is the largest addition to Watertown’s five-year capital plan, and funding the $84 million project will require moving other projects to future years. The plan also includes projects that occur year after year, such as street and sidewalk repairs.
A screenshot of the City of Watertown’s website.
The City of Watertown received a Municipal Website Award at the recent Massachusetts Municipal Association conference.
Watertown City Hall
Following the multi-hour meeting about Watertown’s Winter Parking ban, City Manager George Proakis updated the City Council about next steps and urged residents to sign up for the City’s alert system. Also, Council President Mark Sideris requested a review of Watertown’s Demolition Delay Ordinance, and Proakis provided information on Federal grants received by the City.
The Watertown City Council Newsletter for the meeting on Jan. 28, 2025 was provided by the City Council.
Residents can view the recording of the January 28th meeting here.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Council President Mark Sideris began by reading a proclamation honoring Ingrid Marchesano on her retirement after over forty years of dedicated service to Watertown. You can read the full proclamation here. Ingrid has also served Watertown on several committees including the Watertown Arsenal Yards Development Committee, the original Public Arts and Culture Committee, and numerous other city efforts. Ingrid shared that she continues to reside in Watertown and looks forward to continuing to see the people she has come to know over the course of her career.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Massachusetts provided the following announcement about the New York man arrested in the parking lot of the Watertown Home Depot for allegedly selling drugs to a federal informant. Members of the Watertown Police assisted in the operation. See the announcement below.
Watertown’s overnight winter parking ban will be temporarily lifted starting the week of Christmas. See more information in the announcement from the City of Watertown, below.
The City of Watertown announced the hiring of a new Assistant Director in the Recreation Department. See the details, below.
I am returning from an extended vacation and a visit from COVID with a very Christmas-themed Watertown weekend, my apologies for missing the Chanukah party last weekend. This weekend Watertown is digging into Christmas seriously with both a movie and a live performance of the Nutcracker. The performance at the Mosesian Center is a ballet that takes a different twist on the story. The film of a traditional ballet performance is at the Majestic 7. At Grace Chapel on Sunday afternoon, there is a kid-focused Christmas party, and at Arsenal Yards, a cool pop-up market for buying sustainable locally made gifts. In order to replace the jingle bells in your brain with some relaxation vibes, on Saturday head over to Artemis Yoga for a special yoga class focused on the solstice.
Some of the toys collected for the 2024 Sonny Whooley Foundation. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
The mission given to 40 Watertown police officers and firefighters Tuesday morning was to fill boxes full of gifts, and then deliver them to more than 150 families around the Community.
Elan Rohde
Podcast host Matt Hanna spoke with the woman behind one of Watertown’s favorite cookie makers, and also caught up with the executive director of Watertown Cable. Find out more about these episodes of Little Local Conversations.
Watertown will experience a chilly stretch from December 19 to 26.
City Council President Mark Sideris speaks at the 2024 Inauguration. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
Watertown City Council President Mark Sideris recently wrote a letter to the Boston Globe asking for recognition of the City’s effort to allow housing, going above and beyond the state’s requirements.