Around Town

LETTER: Mother, School Social Worker Announces Her Bid for School Committee

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Lisa Capoccia

Dear friends and members of the Watertown Community,

My name is Lisa Capoccia and I’m excited to share this announcement of my candidacy for the Watertown Public Schools (WPS) School Committee. My decision to pursue this seat is based on a strong desire to advance WPS efforts to be responsive to the changing and increasingly complex needs of its student population. This decision follows ten years (starting when my daughter began the Lowell pre-K) of collaborating and advocating on behalf of students, families, and staff in the district. I thoroughly enjoy this work which is rooted in my strong commitment to equity and belief in the impact public education has on our collective future. It compliments my current position as a school social worker/adjustment counselor in Newton Schools and past work in public health.

Around Town

LETTER: Petitioner to Change Watertown Zoning Urges People to Speak Up

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Hi Guys,

We’ve got to stop meeting like this! With every Watertown development meeting, every Affordable Housing Trust meeting, and on and on, there we sit. We’re quite a bit smaller in number at actual meetings, but we’ve proven that we have at least 600 Watertown residents that share our point of view. I know for a fact, from conversations with residents who didn’t get a chance to sign the petitions, that there are many more of us! As Watertown residents band together to say, “Save Our Community!” we’ve seen comments that imply that we’re old fashioned, elitist, anti-change or all of the above, trying to portray our concerns as insignificant.

Around Town

LETTER: The Watertown Community Fridge Needs Your Help

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The Watertown Community Fridge is an outdoor refrigerator and small food pantry located at the Belmont-Watertown United Methodist Church, 80 Mt. Auburn St., near Watertown Square. It is maintained solely by volunteers. Operating on the principle: Take what you need, give what you can, the Fridge provides free food to anyone in need, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no questions asked. In this time of high inflation, many people in our community are experiencing food insecurity, and are not able to afford basic necessities, like food and personal hygiene products.

Around Town

LETTER: Former Councilor Shares Memories of Town Manager Michael Driscoll

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Greetings:

Today, we say farewell to a friend and colleague, Michael J. Driscoll. In happiness and sorrow; Michael offered his favorite traditional Irish blessing, from an ancient Celtic prayer. “May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.”

Around Town

LETTER: Medicare Advantage Giving Seniors Worse Healthcare

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Dear, Editor

As I recently read a letter about the advantages of Medicare Advantage, I feel compelled to respond as to why it’s actually harmful to its participants. Medicare Advantage was brought about in 1997 under the neoliberal Clinton administration to basically privatize this public good under the misguided belief that the free market would actually be cheaper and more efficient. As most people know and history has proven, this is a poor way to run a healthcare program. One just has to look at the state of the American healthcare industry to realize how capricious, inefficient, and inane it all is. On average people who are enrolled on Medicare Advantage spend 3 percent more on healthcare while receiving far less care while the insurance companies shirk their responsibilities wherever they can to help fatten their profit margins.

Around Town

LETTER: Medicare Advantage Helps Seniors Stay Active, Healthy

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Dear Editor,

As I recently read in a news article, happiness spikes in our 70s. Seniors are staying healthier and living longer than ever before, and they enjoy their retirement years with lots of free time to spend with friends and family. However, there are health complications that come with age, and that is why it is important for seniors to have quality health insurance. For me and over 30 million other seniors and people with disabilities, Medicare Advantage delivers affordable access to care. My Medicare Advantage plan prioritizes preventative care, so that my older years are spent less frequently in hospitals.

Government

LETTER: City’s Planned Linkage Fee Concerns Regional Chamber

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The following letter was sent by the Charles River Regional Chamber to City Council President Mark Sideris and Planning Board Chair Jeffrey Brown:

Dear President Sideris and Chair Brown:

The Charles River Regional Chamber and the Watertown development community share the city’s commitment to creating and preserving affordable housing and applaud last year’s establishment of the Watertown Affordable Housing Trust. We also support the city’s goal of creating more affordable housing through linkage fees. However, we respectfully caution the city to be thoughtful about implementing the linkage program given the serious economic headwinds — including rising interest rates, material shortages, weakening demand for life science and office space, layoffs in the tech sector, a labor shortage in the building trades and a looming recession — before us. 

Watertown’s linkage fees will inevitably be competitive with fees in Cambridge and Boston. But we fear projects in Watertown will be at a competitive disadvantage to neighboring communities that don’t require linkage payments. We also worry about the impact the high cost of development might have on another one of our shared goals: The revitalization of Watertown Square.

Around Town

LETTER: Former Councilor’s Shares Letter on Development from 2016

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In response to recent projects being approved and proposed in Watertown, former District A Councilor Angeline Kounelis sent out a letter she submitted to Planning Board and City Officials in December 2016 regarding the property at 485-615 Arsenal St. (Arsenal Yards) and the Master Plan Special Permit. She added that she voted against the 2015 Watertown Comprehensive Plan and the 2016 Regional Mixed Use District. Greetings,

SHADOWS FROM THE PAST – 12/14/2016

For many years; many of us have been advocating for: “…balance…for viable development that will blend with less consequence on our community and its residents.” Although some of the then proposed site specifics for Arsenal Yards have changed; the location remains: “a city within a city with amenities galore for its prospective residents.”