November 16, 2007
Recently-defeated town councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney has demanded a recount.
(Globe staff photo)
WATERTOWN
With minutes to spare before the deadline, town councilors Marilyn Petitto Devaney and John Donohue today both filed requests for a recount of the Nov. 6 town election.
Devaney's 1,816-vote tally placed her fifth in a race for four at-large seats, a stunning reversal of fortunes for the 69-year-old, who had outpaced challengers by wide margins in previous elections. Donohue, her closest competitor, grabbed the fourth and final seat with 1,821 votes, a slim five-vote margin.
Both are asking for a town-wide recount, as opposed to singling out any specific precincts. If Devaney -- who faces felony charges in a recent confrontation at a Waltham beauty supply store and has been an aggressive critic of town administration -- does not prevail, her 26-year run as a councilor-at-large will come to an end.
Town Clerk John Flynn said that once the paperwork has been certified on Monday, the Board of Election Commissioners will meet at 5:30 that evening to set a date for the recount. The earliest date for a recount would be Nov. 27, Flynn said.
-- Christina Pazzanese
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 05:14 PM
November 8, 2007
Governor's Councilor Marilyn P. Devaney, right, leaves the courthouse with Rev. Emmanuel Metaxas following her arraignment on assault charges in May at Waltham District Court.
(Globe staff photo by Lisa Poole)
WATERTOWN/NEWTON
Watertown residents bid adieu to a long-serving and embattled town councilor and Newton voters ousted a pair of incumbent aldermen in this weeks election, staff writer John C. Drake reports in the online edition of today's City & Region section.
Watertown Town Councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney, who faces felony charges in a recent confrontation at a Waltham beauty supply store and has been an aggressive critic of town administration, came five votes short of maintaining the at-large council seat she has held for 26 years.
Barring a recount, her 1,816-vote tally placed her fifth in a race for four at-large seats, a stunning reversal of fortunes for the 69-year-old, who outpaced challengers by a wide margin in previous elections. Her closest competitor, incumbent John Donohue, finished with 1,821 votes. Devaney could not be reached for comment.
Read more about local election results in today's City & Region section online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 10:46 AM
October 18, 2007
WATERTOWN
A Watertown man is being held on bail after he allegedly went to his ex-girlfriend's home in Hatfield home where he said he wanted "one of the troopers there to shoot him to commit suicide," the Springfield Republican newspaper is reporting on its web site.
Robert L. Nicol, a 49-year-old former Northampton Police sergeant, was arrested by state police early Saturday morning after holding more than a half-dozen police officers at bay and asking them to shoot him, according to a report from state police.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 11:06 AM
October 2, 2007
WATERTOWN/NEWTON
A bar patron who was allegedly assaulted by an off-duty Massachusetts State Police sergeant and two Boston College football players was charged yesterday with punching the sergeant during the altercation.
Sean Maney, 28, a software engineer from Watertown, was charged with assault and battery against Sergeant Joseph J. Boike during a melee July 1 at The Greatest Bar near North Station. Assistant Magistrate Francis X. Cunningham issued the complaint after a hearing in Boston Municipal Court, staff writer Robert Hohler reports today.
Witnesses for Boike supported the sergeant's assertion that Maney started the fight by punching Boike after the sergeant, a part owner of the bar, asked Maney and his friends to vacate their seats to make room for a group of Boston College players.
"This gives the public a much better, clearer view of what really went on in terms of who started the physical confrontation," said Boike's lawyer, Timothy M. Burke.
Boike, 52, sought the complaint after he was charged with assaulting Maney and Christy Osborne, the girlfriend of Maney's brother Brian, during the brawl. State Police have suspended Boike without pay pending the outcome of the court case. BC players Gosder Cherilus and DeJuan Tribble also were charged with assaulting Maney, who suffered a broken neck and other injuries in the altercation.
"We have faith that justice will prevail," his mother, Maureen, said. "Anybody who knows Sean knows he would never do what [Boike] said he did."
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:00 AM
August 21, 2007
WATERTOWN/REGION
The national office of the Anti-Defamation League reversed its long-held position today and acknowledged the Armenian genocide of 1915, saying in a statement that the mass killings of that era at the hands of the Ottoman Turks "were indeed tantamount to genocide."
However, the statement reaffirms the national ADL's belief that the legislation pending in Congress to recognize the genocide is "a counterproductive diversion," staff writer Keith O'Brien reports.
The ADL's statement, released to the Globe and on the group's website this afternoon, came "in light of the heated controversy," which began weeks ago in suburban Watertown, where more than 8,000 Armenian-Americans call home. Days earlier, the ADL's national director, Abraham H. Foxman, fired the regional director of the New England ADL for making a similar statement.
In Newton, Human Rights Commission member Brenda Krasnow called the reversal an interesting development and possibly a "step in the right direction."
For more information, links, and previous stories on the issue, visit the Globe's Local News Updates blog online.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 03:46 PM
August 15, 2007
WATERTOWN
Under pressure from its Armenian residents, the Town Council in Watertown voted last night to rescind its participation in the No Place for Hate program.
Globe West correspondent Christine Pazanese reported today that the council's 8-to-0 vote (one councilor was absent) was a response to objections by Armenian Americans who say the Anti-Defamation League, one of the program's sponsors, refuses to acknowledge what many consider a genocide committed against Armenians by the Turks from 1915 to 1917.
"We cannot join with the ADL when they refuse to acknowledge the [Armenian] genocide," said Councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney, who introduced the proclamation to withdraw from the program.
Watertown, with one of the largest populations of Armenians in the country, was one of 67 communities in Massachusetts to adopt the program. It joined No Place for Hate in July 2005 and reaffirmed its participation in June.
Andrew Tarsy, regional director of ADL's New England office, last night condemned as "distortions and rhetoric" suggestions that the ADL has denied a genocide occurred and has been working against congressional legislation to formally acknowledge the slaughter.
Read more about the Armenian genocide controversy in the online edition of today's Globe.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 01:58 PM
August 1, 2007
WATERTOWN
As far as town proclamations go, the one that declared Watertown a No Place for Hate community in July 2005 seemed like a pretty innocuous one. The goal was to celebrate diversity and challenge bigotry. And the program, in place in 67 Massachusetts communities and hundreds of others nationwide, has generated very little controversy elsewhere.
But that has not been the case in Watertown. In recent weeks, the town that bills itself as No Place for Hate on a sign outside Town Hall is abuzz with anger and frustration, especially among the large Armenian population, reporter Keith O'Brien of the City & Region staff writes in a story today.
At issue is not the program itself, but the group behind it, the Anti-Defamation League, and in particular the ADL's refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide at the hands of Turks during World War I.
"It's kind of the worst hatred to deny genocide," said Nayiri Arzoumanian, a woman of Armenian heritage who has lived in Watertown for eight years. "It's the worst kind of hypocrisy."
Read more about the war of words over genocide in the online edition of today's Globe.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 03:10 PM
July 3, 2007
WATERTOWN
The Coast Guard called off the search for Phillip Stevens at 11 p.m. Sunday, almost 35 hours after he was last seen fishing in choppy water near Brenton Reef.
But members of the Freediving Club were not ready to give up the search for their friend, the president of the Massachusetts chapter and a regular organizer of tournaments involving Rhode Island spear fishermen, the Providence Journal reports today.
“We wanted to do everything we could to recover our brother,” said Robert Marvelle, of Newport, who joined the Rhode Island Freediving Club four years ago at Stevens’ urging. “We were persistent. It was very important to us not to let him just sit out there.”
They discovered his body yesterday at 1:30 p.m. at Prices Point, east of Brenton Reef, after six hours of searching.
Four hours later, a member of the Warwick Police Department dive team recovered the body, and it was transported in a state Department of Environmental Management patrol boat to the Castle Hill Coast Guard station, where the state medical examiner identified the body, according to DEM spokeswoman Gail Mastrati.
Read more here about the search for Stevens.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 12:52 PM
May 27, 2007
WALTHAM/WATERTOWN
The developers of a proposed Lowe's store at 20 Seyon Street want to withdraw their application for a special permit that would allow the home improvement giant to install fewer than the required number of parking spaces for the project.
The letter from Samuels & Associates' attorney Joseph M. Connors, Jr. asks Waltham's city councilors to let Lowe's withdraw the request without prejudice. The attempt to build a Lowe's on a lot overlapping both Waltham and Watertown has drawn criticism from neighbors who say it would attract more traffic than the area can handle.
-- Stephanie V. Siek
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 06:35 AM
May 24, 2007
WATERTOWN
Lisa Williams, who runs the H2OTown blog covering Watertown, walked away with $220,000 from the Knight News Challenge, a contest designed to develop ways to create local communities out of digital media.
Williams (also a consultant to boston.com) will use the money to help further develop her Placeblogger project. She said Placeblogger is the "blogosphere's answer to the AP."
-- Adam Sell
Posted by Martin Finucane at 04:03 PM
May 17, 2007
WATERTOWN/WALTHAM
With a priest by her side, Governor's Councilor Marilyn M. Petitto Devaney pleaded not guilty yesterday in Waltham District Court to felony charges that she assaulted a store clerk last month.
Devaney, 69, of Watertown, is accused of striking Adriana Latif in the chest at Sally Beauty Supply in Waltham with a shopping bag containing a curling iron on April 13, after Latif refused to accept Devaney's personal check without a driver's license.
Latif alleges Devaney flashed her State House identification badge and pointed to state-issued license plates on her 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser in an attempt to use her status to get Latif to cooperate.
In an interview with the Globe yesterday, Devaney said she has been "wrongly accused" and believes she'll be exonerated once she has had a chance to tell her side of the story.
-- Christina Pazzanese
Posted by Martin Finucane at 12:13 PM
April 12, 2007
(Collection of Kathy Alpert, Watertown)
WATERTOWN
Before text messages, before e-mail, before telephones, there was a quick and cheap way to transmit a message: postcards.
Postcards are widely considered the third-most popular collectible -- after stamps and coins -- in the United States, although more for the image on the front than the message scrawled on the back.
On Saturday, enthusiasts from across New England will converge on the Armenian Educational & Cultural Center in Watertown for the Bay State Postcard Collectors Club's 58th annual sale and show.
Nearly 50 dealers are expected to display their cards for several hundred collectors, both serious and casual, organizers said.
The interesting thing about postcards, said Watertown artist Kathy Alpert, is that their value is primarily in the mind of the collector.
"It's not always about rarity, it can be a lot of things, like history, sentimental value, the way some people feel about certain things or places. There's a real emotional element to it."
The Bay State Postcard Collectors Club's 58th annual show and sale is scheduled for Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Armenian Educational & Cultural Center, 47 Nichols Ave. in Watertown. Admission is $2. Parking is free.
-- Erica Noonan
Posted by Erica Noonan, Globe West at 05:02 PM
March 13, 2007
WATERTOWN
VROOOOM! Or, rather, much more softly: brmmm.
A123Systems, a start-up in Watertown, says it has created a powerful, safe, long-lived battery. If the cell fulfills the ambitions of its maker, that softer sound will be the future of automobiles.
-- The New York Times
Posted by Martin Finucane at 03:00 PM
February 24, 2007
WATERTOWN
President Bush peered under the hood of an all-electric sport utility truck and a hybrid car with batteries made by a Watertown firm parked at the White House Friday.
Bush used the occasion to stress that his goal of reducing gasoline use by 20 percent over the next decade is realistic.
"I firmly believe that the goal I laid out - that Americans will use 20 percent less gasoline over the next 10 years - is going to be achieved, and here's living proof of how we're going to get there,'' Bush said on the South Lawn.
Bush's energy proposals, made in his State of the Union address last month, include ramping up the production of alternative fuels such as ethanol made from new, non-corn feedstocks.
"We're going to be driving our cars using all kinds of different fuels other than gasoline, and using batteries that will be able to be recharged in vehicles that don't have to look like golf carts,'' Bush said after meeting with business leaders and scientists who believe there is a market for automobiles that use high-tech batteries.
The hybrid car that Bush inspected had a high-power lithium-ion battery made by A123 Systems of Watertown. It can power the car for about 40 miles and recharge in five hours.
-- AP
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 08:39 AM
February 14, 2007
WATERTOWN
A pedestrian at the Arsenal on the Charles braves blowing snow during today's storm in this picture by Globe staff photographer Essdras Suarez.
Posted by Martin Finucane at 04:19 PM
February 9, 2007
WATERTOWN
School officials and the teacher's union reached a "tentative
agreement" for a three-year contract yesterday, said William
Fratto, the union president.
Fratto wouldn't give salary terms, saying that some details still need to be ironed out. He did say that the increase exceeds the school officials' last offer, which was 8.5 percent over the life of the contract. Fratto said he expects a new agreement to be ratified by month's end.
The union has agreed to accept higher co-pays for health insurance, but staved off an increase in premiums that would have seen their share climb from 10 percent to 20 percent.
The union, which has been working without a deal since August,
represents about 340 employees, including teachers, house
masters, assistant principals, coordinators, and instructional
assistants.
-- Christina Pazzanese
Posted by smaas at 04:05 PM
January 31, 2007
NEWTON / NEEDHAM / WATERTOWN / WELLESLEY
Newton, Needham, Watertown, and Wellesley are among 27 greater Boston communities that are the best prepared to respond to epidemics and natural or man made disasters, a national public health organization has determined.
The cities and towns singled out by the National Association of County and City Health Officials were rated on their their response readiness, planning, workforce competency, and emergency exercises, officials said. Greater Boston was also cited for its overall readiness, one of only six regions in the nation to receive such the recognition, said Newton Health and Human Services Commissioner David Naparstek.
"The bar is set very high for public health groups to meet this standard,” Naparstek said.
-- Connie Paige
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 12:49 PM
January 29, 2007
WATERTOWN
Employees of Ford Motor Company loved their work-sponsored day care centers run by Watertown-based Bright Horizon Family Solutions. But they'll have to find somewhere new to drop off their kids this summer because, in an effort to cut costs, Ford is closing seven of them effective June 29, the Detroit News reports.
"This was the last true benefit that enabled significant productivity by us," one Ford employee told the News. "While collar folks who work long and late -- for no overtime -- could be comforted by the fact that a high quality center was teaching and protecting our children."
-- Adam Sell
Posted by Martin Finucane at 10:49 AM
January 4, 2007
WATERTOWN
‘‘If anybody epitomized the term ‘honorable,’ it was Fred,’’ said Watertown Town Council president Clyde L. Younger.
Frederick Pugliese, a longtime fixture on the Watertown political scene, died suddenly Tuesday night. He was 50.
A wake will be held 3 to 8 p.m. Friday at DeVito Funeral Home, 761 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown. The Funeral Mass is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday in St. Patrick Church.
‘‘Fred was a man of his word. He looked at every issue thoroughly, did his homework, and voted his conscience, even if it wasn’t popular,’’ said Thomas ‘‘Gus’’ Bailey, a friend and former council colleague.
Mr. Pugliese served on the Town Council from 1998 through 2005. Previously he worked for Watertown as town clerk and assistant to the town manager.
Mr. Pugliese leaves his wife, Julie A. M. Ahern, an attorney; and son, Frederick Julian; a sister, Patricia Abramson of Wayland; and Anne Pugliese of Watertown.
-- Christina Pazzanese
Posted by smaas at 06:19 PM
January 4, 2007
WATERTOWN
Watertown blogger Lisa Williams has created a new blog directory that went live recently. Placeblogger.com is a listing of local-interest blogs from across the country.
Williams' own local blog focuses on Watertown, at h20town.info.
The project, Williams tells MarketWatch, is designed to help local bloggers swap ideas on how to keep a local blog, and maybe even make money through advertising.
-- Adam Sell
Posted by Martin Finucane at 03:40 PM
January 3, 2007
WATERTOWN
Police Officer Lloyd Burke has been temporarily reassigned from Watertown Middle School after news surfaced that a former teacher had filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination alleging that he had sexually harassed her.
The former teacher, Victoria Crisp, also claims school officials did nothing to stop the alleged harassment and fired her last April in retaliation.
Burke requested the transfer because he didn't want the matter to be "a distraction'' to students, according to a news release issued by the police today.
Burke has been assigned to the Middle School for 10 years, serving as the school’s full-time resource officer for the past five years.
He declined to comment to the Globe about the allegations.
–Christina Pazzanese
Posted by smaas at 05:26 PM
January 2, 2007
WATERTOWN
Rev. Mike Clark and Rev. Christine Elliott, both of St. John's Methodist Church in Watertown, were joined by Sister Jennifer Pierce of Somerville and dozens of others yesterday in a candlelight vigil against the Iraqi War outside Park St. Station in Boston.
(Globe Staff Photo by Wendy Maeda)
Posted by Martin Finucane at 06:47 PM
December 18, 2006
WATERTOWN
A gasoline pump exploded after an accident yesterday at a car care center, destroying a car, according to the Watertown Fire Department.
A motorist trying to back up at the Belmont Auto Clinic accidentally struck the pump and the attendant's booth when his foot got stuck on the accelerator, Deputy Chief Edward Barrett said.
As the flames erupted, the man and his wife safely fled their car, and the attendant, who was not identified, escaped by breaking the window, then helped another customer move her vehicle to safety.
The attendant was admitted to Mount Auburn Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Barrett said.
-- Globe City & Region staff
Posted by Martin Finucane at 09:16 AM
December 7, 2006
WATERTOWN
Russell Buchanan saluted the colors during Veterans Day observances at the Statehouse.
(Globe Staff Photo by John Tlumacki)
Russell A. Buchanan of Watertown, who was believed to be one of only two surviving World War I veterans in Massachusetts and who also served in World War II, died yesterday of complications following a stroke, a heart attack, and pneumonia at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge. He was 106.
"At 106, Russ was in many ways still serving his country," said Robert Erickson, veterans' service officer for Watertown, yesterday, referring to Mr. Buchanan's recent participation in many veterans' events, his visits to Watertown schools to talk about patriotism, and interviews on national and international media about his service in World War I and World War II.
"The kids gave him a standing O," Erickson said of the school visits.
"Russ was an inspiration to all of us who came after him," Tom Kelley of the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Services said in a Globe obituary today. "We really look up to the men and women of that generation."
-- Gloria Negri
Posted by Martin Finucane at 10:30 AM
December 5, 2006
Watertown teachers staged a protest last night in hopes of jump-starting contract talks between their union and the School Committee.
They demonstrated outside the town’s cable access studios at Watertown High School, just before the School Committee held its monthly meeting inside.
Their contract expired in August.
Bill Fratto, president of the Watertown Educators Association, said though they’ve “made some progress” in the last few months, talks had “gone backward, a little” over the last two weeks.
The protest was an attempt to find a “creative” way to “send a message to the School Committee and get this done,” said Fratto.
He said wages and health insurance cost-sharing have been key issues since the two sides began meeting in March.
–Christina Pazzanese
Posted by smaas at 04:22 PM
November 22, 2006
WATERTOWN
For a small man, John DiMascio certainly has a big mouth.
With his rat-a-tat gift for gab, the 5-foot-tall DiMascio has seemingly come from nowhere over the last two years to become one of the town's most colorful political figures.
DiMascio dispatches taxis at night -- and liberals during the day.
"It began to dawn on me what had happened in the community over the past 15, 20 years. We'd been getting along great, this wonderful, eclectic community, always welcoming everybody. And then a bunch of people move in and tell us there's something wrong with us," DiMascio said.
Read more about DiMascio in tomorrow's Globe West.
-- Christina Pazzanese
Posted by Martin Finucane at 12:12 PM
November 16, 2006
WATERTOWN
Megan Baldwin, who works for the Town of Watertown Health Department, has received a $5,000 grant from the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
The program, which is funding seven community grant projects that aim to reduce the amount of toxic chemical use in the state, announced that it has granted money to the Auto Shops Alternatives Project, headed by Baldwin, to provide training for 45 auto shop owners.
-- Erica Tochin
Posted by Martin Finucane at 02:30 PM
November 11, 2006
WATERTOWN
Russell Buchanan, 106, of Watertown, is a rarity. He's a veteran of World War I. Buchanan, who also served in World War II, was on hand for today's Veterans Day observances at the Statehouse. He salutes the honor guard as they enter the Hall of Flags in this picture by staff photographer John Tlumacki.
Posted by Martin Finucane at 04:00 PM
November 11, 2006
WATERTOWN
Thomas Lee writes in a column in the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis about the trials and tribulations of moving his aging parents out of their house in Watertown to a more suitable abode.
"My childhood home in Watertown, Mass., was a deathtrap. The house, which resembles something out of a bleak Dickens novel, stands about 30 feet above street level with a front porch that's connected to the sidewalk by a steep flight of cracked concrete steps. Mom and Dad were hip replacement operations waiting to happen" Lee writes.
Lee tells about the difficulty of clearing out all his parents' junk -- and his father's decision to hire movers only for the larger items, which meant the rest had to be moved in shopping carts.
"It was surreal. How could my parents have so much, especially since we had spent the past four months throwing away their stuff? And why, oh why, didn't we rent a van? I would have gladly paid for it," Lee writes in the column.
Posted by Martin Finucane at 03:13 PM
November 10, 2006
WATERTOWN
Veterans of World War I are a rarity, just as Civil War veterans were for previous generations.
However, Watertown is proud to be home to one of the few remaining veterans of the "war to end all wars."
Russell Buchanan is 106, and served in the Navy, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.
He also served in World War II, in the Army's "Yankee Division." He credits his long life to staying fit.
-- Erica Tochin
Posted by Martin Finucane at 12:07 PM
November 4, 2006
WATERTOWN
Robert C. O'Reilly considered firefighting the last of the romantic jobs, he once told his son while serving as chief of the Watertown Fire Department, because every time a firefighter leaves the station he's helping someone, no matter the person's gender, ethnicity, or politics.
"He liked that there were no value judgments in firefighting," said Edward J., a former firefighter who worked in his father's department. "You don't know or care who you're helping -- it's just another human being. There's no other job like that."
A third-generation firefighter who worked his way up the ranks of the fire department he had admired as a boy, Mr. O'Reilly was known to rush into burning buildings alongside his men -- sometimes with a lit cigarette in his mouth, his son said -- to check that they were safe.
In his management of the department, he was likened to a conductor. "He was very creative with firefighting," his son said. "You'd think you were doing OK and then he'd bring it to another level. When he showed up, we went from a high school production to a Broadway show."
Mr. O'Reilly died suddenly Sunday at his winter home in Naples, Fla. of what his family believes was a heart attack, his son told the Globe in an obituary today. He was 77.
-- Stephanie Peters
Posted by Martin Finucane at 12:03 PM
November 1, 2006
WATERTOWN
(Kara Voiland gets a sense of a leaf, Globe Staff Photo by Bill Polo)
Kara Voiland must have passed by the towering horse chestnut tree more than a thousand times over the past decade but until a few weeks she had no idea that it was there.
“Ten years I’ve gone by it and didn’t know!” Voiland said, stroking one of its satiny chestnuts, her face beaming with the thrill of discovery.
Voiland, 19,and Deanna Powers, 17, were getting a lesson on trees at Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown.
The Watertown school was established to prepare blind and visually impaired students to lead independent lives, but it sees its role as more than teaching academic subjects and vocational skills.
“An appreciation of nature, plants and flowers is part of the enjoyment of life, for everyone, sighted or not,” said Barbara Castleman, a spokesperson for Perkins, adding that horticulture has been part of the studies since the school moved to North Beacon Street in 1912.
Read more of this story in tomorrow's Globe West.
-- Ann Butler
Posted by Martin Finucane at 05:04 PM
October 31, 2006
WATERTOWN/NATICK
They came as gangsters with toy guns, pirates with fake beards, and Draculas in plastic capes. ...
The Globe City & Region section takes a look today at two Globe West companies, iProspect in Watertown and Cognex in Natick, where employees were allowed on Friday to get into the spirit of Halloween.
(Michelle Stern conferred with Ben Perry, in the role of Dracula, at iProspect. Perry said the Halloween attire lifts morale, Globe Staff Photo by Mark Wilson)
Posted by Martin Finucane at 08:21 AM
October 18, 2006
WALTHAM/WATERTOWN
In a cost-cutting move, Tufts Health Plan will leave its Waltham headquarters next year and consolidate operations in Watertown, where most of the insurer's 1,800 employees already work.
About 500 employees will be moved to ``under utilized space" at 705 Mt. Auburn St. in Watertown, where Tufts occupies 426,000 square feet of a 440,000-square-foot building, the company said. The move comes in the midst of a layoff affecting fewer than 100 employees. The health insurer is also eliminating 50 unfilled positions.
``This is another move that shows us to be effective and cost-efficient," Patti Embry-Tautenhan, a Tufts spokeswoman, told the Globe. ``We are being responsible stewards of our resources."
-- Jeffrey Krasner
Posted by Martin Finucane at 09:14 AM
October 16, 2006
WATERTOWN
So your house is probably worth less because the real estate marketing is softening. Hey, at least your property taxes will go down, too. Right?
"The short answer is no," Daniel Loughlin, who chairs the assessors, told the Watertown Town Council last week. Loughlin noted that the market decline was primarily hitting communities with a large number of homes priced above $1 million.
In addition, he pointed out, his office establishes property values a year before homeowners receive their tax bill. For 2006, homes were assessed based on 2005 sales data, a banner year for real estate prices, he said.
Also, since most of the town's budget comes from property tax, the town would have to cut services and staffing if leaders opted to keep taxes below the maximum allowed under Proposition 2 1/2 tax cap.
Many councilors expressed frustration, saying they've been inundated with calls from residents complaining about their rising tax bills.
-- Christina Pazzanese
Posted by Martin Finucane at 07:11 AM
October 15, 2006
WATERTOWN
In a letter to the editor today, Dan Seidman of Watertown says that, with the election a little more than three weeks away, race could still have a role in deciding the outcome.
The number of voters whose decisions will be at least partially affected by race is fairly small. But it is sizable enough that Kerry Healey can gain points by denouncing the work and mission of the NAACP.
Does Seidman's argument hold water? Is he all wet? Dive into the debate at the Globe West Message Boards.
Posted by Ralph Ranalli at 07:39 AM
October 12, 2006
WATERTOWN
After eight months of talks, the Town Council has reached an agreement with Michael Driscoll under which he will stay on as town manager for nearly three more years.
Council president Clyde L. Younger announced the deal that will keep Driscoll in Watertown until June 30, 2009, during Tuesday’s council meeting.
Last year, the council sought to rein in terms of Driscoll’s severance pay and eliminate a provision that kept him on indefinitely unless the council terminated him.
Under the old deal, Driscoll's contract was automatically extended a year if the council failed to notify him 12 months before the contract expired that he would not be renewed.
If the council missed that deadline and decided to fire him, the town could have been forced to pay up to two years’ salary. The new agreement calls for nine months of severance if Driscoll is let go before the contract ends.
The council also plans to give Driscoll two separate wage increases, which together would bring his base salary to $126,778, up from $121,855.
-- Christina Pazzanese
Posted by smaas at 07:24 PM
October 11, 2006
REGION
Do you feel like you're taking your life in your hands when you travel parts of Nonantum Road?
Tomorrow night you can hear a state consultant's suggestions for the busy road, where three people have died since January.
The consultant recommends re-lining parts of the road to reduce it from four to two lanes. The state also wants to hear the public's ideas for the road, which straddles Newton, Watertown, and Allston-Brighton.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation hearing will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Watertown Library, 123 Main St.
A second public meeting is slated for Oct. 19 at Newton City Hall, 1000 Commonwealth Ave.
-– Christina Pazzanese
Posted by smaas at 02:10 PM
October 11, 2006
The former Coolidge School. (Photo: Bill Polo/Globe Staff0
WATERTOWN
Plans to convert the former Coolidge School into 38 rental apartments for people age 55 and over are progressing, albeit much slower than expected, says Gregory Watson, the town’s director of community planning and development.
Watson told the council this week that developer Bart J. Mitchell has secured the necessary permits and much of the financing for the $10 million project in the city's East End, but is still waiting to hear if he’ll be awarded more than $1 million in various state | 
