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The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Feb. 2: At 4:45 p.m., a man went into Target and went through the self checkout, scanned some of the items but did not scan about $500 in merchandise. He left the store and got into a vehicle parked on the side of Target, near Elm Street. The driver backed up and struck a parked car before leaving the area.
Watertown-native Despina Najarian will be running the 2025 Boston Marathon for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. A Watertown resident who had not been a runner until two years ago will be running the 2025 Boston Marathon and will raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Despina Najarian said she has always dreamed of completing a marathon, but only recently began running. “I only started running 2 years ago at the age of 29. I joined Orangetheory Fitness Waltham in November of 2022,” she said.
Members of the Perkins School for the Blind Goalball team great Boston Bruins players Parker Wotherspoon and Matthew Potras on Friday. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
A couple of special guests showed up at the Perkins School Friday to join the students in a game of goalball — a popular team sport at the school for the blind in Watertown. Boston Bruins players Parker Wotherspoon and Matthew Potras pulled on the eyeshades so they couldn’t use their sight during the game in which teams of three try to roll a rubber ball across the gym and into the opponent’s goal. The ball has a bell in it, to help defenders locate and block the ball. Students and staff lined the upper level of Perkins’ gym to get a glimpse of two pro hockey players join their very own Towerhawks.
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. City Manager George Proakis presented the Proposed Fiscal Year 2026-30 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to the City Council on Jan. 28. The plan includes a grand total of $273 million, about $57 million more than the FY2025-29 CIP mostly due to the addition of the Middle School project.
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. “It’s a great honor for the City to receive this award!” said Jeanne Ostroff, Watertown’s Digital Media Manager. Watertown’s website, watertown-ma.gov, won in the largest category.
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. During the Jan. 28, City Council meeting, Proakis tried to summarize his presentation at the Jan. 21 special Council meeting on the request to remove the Winter Parking Ban.
Watertown Middle School
A familiar firm has been selected to design the new Watertown Middle School, but members of the School Building Committee had concerns about getting the firm’s “A Team,” and whether the City can afford to build the kind of school they want for the students of Watertown. Wednesday night, the School Building Committee selected Ai3 Architects to do the feasibility study for the new middle school. The firm that designed Watertown’s three elementary schools and the new high school. Ai3 was one of four finalists, and narrowly got the top ranking by the nine members of the committee. Each firm presented ideas for how they would approach building the school.
The following information was provided by the Watertown Police Department. Jan. 18: A Quincy Street resident discovered someone took out an American Express card in the person’s name. The Police Department is working to try to get the resident’s money back. Jan.