Local Government Update, April 2026
Listen to the latest conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel from WCA-TV to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories, and important numbers.
Released April 17th, 2026
(Click here to listen on streaming apps) (Full transcript below)
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Links mentioned in the episode:
Watertown Square Implementation Update (Recording)
Watertownsquareimprovements.com (Website)
Massachusetts Recreation and Parks Association Award for Arsenal Park
Check out recordings from city meetings and find info on upcoming workshops at: wcatv.org
Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter to know when new episodes are out and keep up on everything Little Local Conversations.
Thanks to podcast promotional partner the Watertown Business Coalition, a nonprofit organization focused on connecting local businesses and strengthening our community. Check them out at watertownbusinesscoalition.com.
Thanks to promotional partner Watertown News, a Watertown-focused online newspaper. Check them out at watertownmanews.com.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Transcript
Matt 0:07
Hi there. Welcome to the Little Local Conversations Podcast. I'm your host, Matt Hanna. Every episode I sit down for a conversation to discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown. This episode is a local government update that I do monthly with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel over at WCA-TV. And this episode is for the month of April 2026. So let's dive right in.
Matt 0:32
Welcome to the local government update. I am here, as always, with Tyler.
Tyler 0:37
Hello.
Matt 0:38
And Victoria.
Victoria 0:38
Hello.
Matt 0:39
We're here to talk about stuff for the month of April 2026. So let's jump right in with moments from the past month. I'll let Victoria start this one.
Victoria 0:48
So moment from this past month was the school budget, which was a heavy topic over the course of March. During March 23rd’s school committee meeting, Superintendent Dede Galdston presented her recommendations on the FY27 budget for the Watertown School District. Throughout the month of March, WPS held public hearings on the budget. So the budget this year did have a $2.5 million shortfall. The proposed budget closed that gap as well as having a $700,000 surplus. The proposed budget included reinstating athletic slash extracurricular fees. There are also increases in bus fees and community education. The only staff positions that are being removed are the ones that are not currently being filled.
Matt 1:32
Any interesting points in that conversation as those decisions were made?
Victoria 1:36
I think it was mostly focusing on making sure no current staff positions were being cut. That was a main concern.
Matt 1:43
Gotcha. And why did we have this shortfall in the budget to begin with?
Victoria 1:47
In general, rising costs, everything's going up in the current economy.
Matt 1:51
Story old as time. Yeah. How about you, Tyler? Got thoughts on the school budget?
Tyler 1:56
No thoughts in particular to the school budget, but I think it's a good time, because I don't think I'll have anywhere specifically within my talking points for this episode to talk about it. But the city manager, George Proakis, will be presenting his recommended budget to the city council on April 14th. So by the time that this episode is posted, the budget will have been presented to the city council, just to give a sense as to what that process looks like. On the 14th, the city manager will present sometimes like an hour-long presentation of what his budget is for FY 2027, which FY 2027, fiscal year 2027, begins on July 1st and runs through June 30th, 2027. And that presentation, once it is completed on the 14th, there is no further discussion at that council meeting. So he presents what the budget is. All the councilors and the community are offered with a chance to look through the budget. And then what happens is we, we being the city, post public hearing dates. And each public hearing date will be focused on a different department in the budget or an enterprise fund in the budget for there to be discussion. And that is when both the community is able to ask questions or give comment. And then also the city council can ask questions, get further information about why something is funded or learn a little bit more about a certain program that is funded in the budget.
Tyler 3:25
So usually there are two to three, three to four hearings, and they're able to do a handful of departments in each hearing. So when those hearings get posted, there will be an explanation with the agenda that gets posted of what departments are included. And only those departments are discussed on those days. Both from an open meeting law perspective, we need to make sure that, you know, when we post them, if we're saying we're talking about the city manager's budget that day, we are talking about the city manager's budget that day. We can't say, never mind, we're going to kick that one, and we're actually going to talk about this one that we were going to talk about in two weeks' time. So just something for the community to keep an eye out for, and you'll be able to get a sense of what is going to be in this year's budget by watching either live. I hope people did that by the time they're listening to it. But if not, then you can certainly go on WCA-TV. They will be covering the budget presentation as they do all city council meetings. Can give a watch to the city manager's presentation and future hearings. I'm sure I'll have more to share on that once we get into May.
Matt 4:28
Do you have any idea where the school specific one would be in those hearings?
Tyler 4:32
I don't have the hearing schedule right now, but the school budget is one of the larger budgets that we have. The strategy in previous years has been, there's some budgets that are smaller. Typically, some of the smaller budgets are comboed with a very large budget, for example. So you have a large budget and a couple smaller ones where there may be fewer questions. The school budget typically has questions and can sometimes go a little bit longer. DPW is another one where it's another big budget, questions tend to come up. So typically what happens is you have those early on in a single hearing session, and then some of the smaller budgets after that that may have fewer questions that are associated with them. And then if for whatever reason there's a department that is unable to get to in a given hearing, it might get pushed back into a hearing in the future, but you won't see a situation where a department gets moved up. You know, we said we were going to talk about it at the end of May, but now we're talking about the end of April. That won't happen.
Matt 5:27
And where should they go to look to see where the hearings are listed?
Tyler 5:30
Those are going to be posted on the city's website. You can just go to watertown-ma.gov on the homepage. You can scroll down to the agendas tab. It's usually about one good scroll down our homepage. First thing that'll pop up is the calendar on the right side of the screen. Typically, those will be posted there as well. But if you go to the agenda side, you'll be able to access the agenda, and that is where you'll be able to see which departments are going to be talked about on which day.
Matt 5:56
Great. All right. We'll move on to you, Tyler, for a moment from the past month.
Tyler 6:00
Yeah. So the Watertown Square area plan implementation is ongoing. I know I've talked about this in previous episodes as just a, hey, things are happening, here's a little bit of the background of what's going on. But really, one of the first big community meetings that we've held in a number of months now was held on April 6th. Watertown City Manager George Proakis presented for about two and a half hours on the 6th. About 90 minutes of that was a presentation overviewing a number of ideas, a number of strategies, a number of things. He spoke a little bit about the streetscape design, which I've spoken about on several occasions, I believe in this podcast and in other areas as well. Simplifying the intersection in our downtown from the five-way, five and a half way intersection as it currently is to a simplified, safer four-way design. It's named the four corners design. So if you hear me refer to four corners, that is what I'm talking about, the simplified design of that intersection. And then really what this presentation was focusing on was the demonstration project plan and the revitalization plan. Those two plans, the demonstration project and the revitalization plan, are directly related to each other. The demonstration project is the first step in a greater revitalization plan. I'm going to focus this discussion on the demonstration project plan, which is like the first step that's being taken by the city.
Matt 7:31
If this were a sandwich, which step would this be?
Tyler 7:34
Yeah, this would be putting the bread down.
Matt 7:35
Okay.
Tyler 7:36
So setting the groundwork for the sandwich per se. And what the city manager presented was a strategy, an idea about what to do with the demonstration project area, which is a smaller area within the square that is aiming to execute the vision that was endorsed by the city council back in 2024 in the Watertown Square area plan. This demonstration area is this area between Church Street, Spring Street, Summer Street, and a little bit of Baptist Walk as well, which is the outlet onto Mount Auburn Street from the CVS parking lot. So if we can kind of orient our way behind the CVS in Watertown Square, there's a parking lot there. And what this demonstration project plan, the idea that it presents out, and what City Manager Proakis has presented, was building a parking garage on that site. And then some of the surrounding parcels in that area, which does not include the church or the drive-through Watertown Savings Bank, that is outside of the area, just for reference. But all those other areas, which some are publicly owned, like the parking lot, some are privately owned. There's, I believe, an office building that is on Summer Street, if my memory is serving me correctly. Of course, there's the building where the laundromat and Tresca's is as well. Those areas are privately owned.
Tyler 8:59
So this presentation presented an idea that the city aim to build a parking lot and then partner with a public-private partnership with a developer to execute the vision that you saw in the plan of bringing retail and housing to this area as well. This was a very complicated and complex presentation. And that's part of the reason why we held the meeting was because it's a 200-page document, this demonstration project plan, or close to it, and felt that it was important for us to apply some context and also share what is being presented in that plan with the release of it. We want to introduce everybody to what this is in lead up to an open house that we're going to host in May. Now we haven't set a date for that open house quite yet or location. I anticipate it's going to be in the square area. It's going to be downtown somewhere, but we'll have a date and time, hopefully sometime soon, along with a location. And that's going to be even more of an opportunity for people to come and share ideas or share perspective, ask questions directly of staff and of the team at Innes Land Strategies, who are the consultants doing the revitalization plan and the demonstration project plan.
Tyler 10:15
So there's a lot going on here. There's conversations about acquiring land, there's conversation about like what fits where. There's conversations about all the challenges that are on that site, too, which is a big reason why this plan is being done because there are times that there are limitations on sites. In this case, when I say limitation, there are things that are keeping private developers from going in and building something. Sometimes that is because the soil is contaminated. There's a good chance that that is the case because there are old railway tracks underneath this area. There are cases where a neighboring city and town's water system runs directly through the parking lot, which Cambridge's aqueduct runs directly through this area. And then there's topographical changes in this area, which makes it sometimes challenging. All those together can sometimes present challenges to developers to not really want to take on projects in a given area. So that's where the city looks at some potential strategies, and in this case, the demonstration project, to maybe increase the potential for the development that is envisioned by a city and envisioned in the way that it is in the Wartown Square area plan.
Tyler 11:24
So ultimately, all the decisions, what happens here, lays with the city council, both as the governing body of the city, but also the redevelopment authority of the city. There is a lot of discussion that's still to be had, both at the open meeting, and then there's going to be public hearings as well. You know, we're on minute like 15, and this is maybe the 10th time I've said public hearing, but another public hearing, which will be an opportunity to share perspective directly with the city council in an official format in a council meeting. So there's going to be plenty of opportunity to have further discussion with this. And I highly, highly, highly recommend residents who are listening and just listeners in general, resident or not, to visit WatertownSquareImprovements.com. There you'll be able to go and see the plan, the demonstration project plan that I referenced. Be able to see the presentation recorded by WCA-TV. We're very grateful for their coverage of the long community meeting that was held. Be able to see these 60 questions that the city manager answered during the meeting as well. And then also we have an online form where people can submit comments or questions directly to staff, which then our staff is reviewing those comments for ensuring that are being taken in by the staff that's working on it. Questions, we're going to be updating the FAQ page that's on the Watertown Square project website as well.
Tyler 12:45
So we're grateful for everybody that does engage. We're grateful for the 200 people that came out to the library on April 6th to hear the city manager's presentation. There's still so much more to come in this project, and even just in this specific little part of the project, the demonstration project. So please stay tuned. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. It's really important to all of us in the planning department and then in the city manager's office and the council that people have an understanding of where this project is going, what the thought process is around it. And we're trying to do everything that we can. And then we will also be hosting another podcast here, the Watertown Square Improvements podcast that I do with Director of Community Design, Erika Oliver Jerram, where we'll be discussing this meeting in the upcoming open house in a little bit at some point here, ideally in April, as we approach May into when that open house will end up being. So that is that. I feel like I've spoken a lot on the project, and there's still so much to share, but I'll leave it there in case either of you have any questions.
Matt 13:48
Lots to take in there. One thing I just want to ask was there one question or perspective that came up from that event that was interesting to you?
Tyler 13:55
Yeah, there were some questions in particular about, with a parking garage, is there a chance to build a parking garage that can in the future be retrofitted into housing? That was a question. And is there an opportunity to build a parking garage that goes underground? Those were both questions that popped up. Retrofitting a pre-cast garage, which is like a concrete garage essentially, into housing is incredibly expensive. And sometimes it's just less expensive to tear down and build housing on that same site. And then going underground, that's where we really start getting expensive. There's a lot more expense that comes with that as well. So we want to make sure that we're building something that is beautiful and also fits the area and serves the area and is an option that can bolster people coming to our downtown and wanting to spend time in the square while also keeping an eye on, we want to make sure that we're doing this fiscally responsibly as well. And there have been no decisions made. I want to make that abundantly clear. There is nothing signed. There's no plan that's been rubber stamped in any way of like this is final. We are building a garage. That's by no means happened. This is up to the city council. The presentation that the city manager gave was very much a hey, here's a plan. This is an idea. Let's hear feedback and then allow the city council to take it from there.
Matt 15:24
Yeah, I think we can end that one there and we'll revisit it in coming months, I'm sure.
Tyler 15:29
We certainly will.
Matt 15:30
All right. Let's move on to success stories. Tyler, what is your success story?
Tyler 15:35
Yeah, I just want to give a shout out to our recreation department, public works, community development and planning, conservation commission, a lot of our departments in the city for all their work on Arsenal Park. I know we covered the reopening of Arsenal Park when it finally reopened last summer. But in March, the city received an award from the Massachusetts Recreation and Parks Association as the 2026 Agency of the Year Design of Facility Award for Arsenal Park. This is an award given out to cities and towns for very innovative designs, innovative, creative, advancing designs for parks. And we were awarded that award this year for Arsenal Park.
Tyler 16:17
Arsenal Park dates back to the early 1800s as an U.S. Army site, finally opened as a park to the public in 1979, I believe it was. So there was a long time that it was closed off. And starting in 79, being open up to the public and conservation commission really taking oversight of that space. This new design is trying to blend a lot of that environmental stewardship that the conservation commission especially pays a lot of attention to and focuses much of their work on with some of the community recreational needs as well. Kind of blends those two together. And it's always good to see the people that put in all the hard work to actually get the recognition. It's really great. So we had a team go out to Springfield for an award ceremony, receive the award. So it's getting time to be that weather where people are spending more time in our parks. So be sure to go down to Arsenal Park along Arsenal Street behind Arsenal Yards. There are several different entryways and parking options and bike facilities that you can park your bike or walk there, whatever it may be. So go down, enjoy the courts, the playgrounds, the fields, the pavilions, whatever it might be.
Matt 17:24
Oh yeah. Hear from other parents that's already been packed this year. So it's being well used already.
Tyler 17:29
Love to hear that.
Matt 17:30
Are they gonna build a trophy case for that park?
Tyler 17:32
It's a good question. Yeah, I'll have to check in with recreation to see what their plans are for that trophy.
Matt 17:37
When I first interviewed Ernie last year when he first came on as head director, he was like, I want to win some awards. So, you know.
Tyler 17:43
Well, hey, didn't have to wait long.
Matt 17:45
First of many.
Tyler 17:46
Yeah. Love to see that.
Victoria 17:47
Need a place in City Hall to display all of Watertown's awards.
Tyler 17:49
Yeah. Yeah.
Matt 17:50
Now we're talking. Or we need like a secret room where you can press a button and the walls slip away and it's all lighted.
Tyler 17:56
Well, we have all these vaults in City Hall. I wonder if we can, you know, like a public vault area that people can do a walkthrough history of awards and whatnot right at City Hall.
Matt 18:06
Now we're talking.
Tyler 18:07
Now we're, this gets the creative juices get flowing on this podcast.
Matt 18:13
You know, that's what we're here for. We're just here to give you ideas, Tyler.
Tyler 18:17
Yeah, I'm grateful for it.
Matt 18:18
All right, so let's move on to our next section. Did you know? What do I need to know, Tyler? What's your creative fact today?
Tyler 18:25
Did you know? Did you know that you can donate clothes at the Watertown Free Public Library and at Roche Bros in Arsenal Yard right now? Running until April 24th for a clothing swap that's going to be happening at Watertown Eco Fest this year, taking place at the Commander's Mansion on May 9th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Our sustainability team is collecting clothing donations to have this free secondhand shop, for lack of a better word, at Eco Fest. So if you have any clothes that you're looking to donate to add to this collection of the soon-to-be shop at Eco Fest, you can donate in either location. You do not need to donate to go shopping either. So it's an important note. If you didn't donate anything, but you want to go see what you can use secondhand. Highly, highly recommend to head to Eco Fest this year.
Tyler 19:19
They have a lot of really cool stuff planned. Hatch will be there as well, doing a mending station where you can learn some of the basics of hand sewing some goods so you can make your clothes last a little bit longer, which is always great. I think sometimes we forget that, that phrase to be eco-friendly, everybody always runs to the recycling side, but actually it's reduce, reuse, recycle. This is really focusing in on the reduce and reuse. Those first two are so important. And it's a creative way to strive towards our climate goals. There are obviously the changing the tech side of trying to be more sustainable, doing EV cars and solar power, whatever it might be. But there's also just some of these simple, hey, I'm looking for a new pair of jeans, and you can go down and get a lightly used pair right at Eco Fest this year. So highly recommend anybody that's able to donate, contribute towards the swap shop, please do. But if you're not and you want to go down, I still highly recommend that you go down to Eco Fest this year in May.
Matt 20:19
Nice. All right, let's move on to questions we get a lot. Tyler, what is a question you're getting a lot?
Tyler 20:25
Well, we're getting a lot of questions right now. Why is there paint on the sidewalk outside of my house? A little spray paint, a little orange paint situation. We are entering into planting season. We are actively in planting season right now, actually. So as we get into planting season, typically what happens is our arborist team, our tree warden, they're going around and where they're going to be planting trees for this year, they need to mark out where those trees are actually going to go. Typically do a little temporary spray paint situation, let themselves know for the most part, like this is where we're going to be planting a tree, and also get an idea of what some of those surrounding utilities are as well. So if you are walking along your sidewalk and you see some random orange spray paint on the ground, most likely the reason is because that may be an area that we're going to be planting a new tree this year in the public right of way. You can always reach out to our 311 team if you're still uncertain what's going on there. But our forestry team is out in full force this year and they take a lot of pride in adding to our tree canopy to stay kind of in the same theme of being eco-friendly and finding ways to achieve our sustainability goals. But you can reach out if you have any more questions to our 311 team and learn the ways that you can actually request a tree as well, which I know I've spoken about on a previous episode. But don't be too alarmed if you see DPW tossing down some spray paint on the ground. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to be doing construction directly in that area. It might just be that they're getting ready to do some tree plantings.
Matt 21:53
Is there any specific mark? Because shout out to another podcast, 99% Invisible. They had an episode about what all the markings mean. I know, like, so blue is potable water and is there any specific marking for the tree planting?
Tyler 22:05
I'm sure there is, that I am just not 100% aware of.
Matt 22:10
Yeah. I had to look out for white because white is like a proposed construction area. If you see white, you're like, oh no, they might be doing construction. Yeah. I can't remember them all, but I remember they all had a meaning, the colors. And so I wonder.
Tyler 22:19
That’s interesting.
Matt 22:20
If you find out, let me know.
Tyler 22:21
Yeah, I will report back on this podcast.
Matt 22:24
Because as a walker, I like looking at the markings like, oh, so that's where that pipe is. Oh, that's Verizon. That's what VZ means. Okay. Yeah.
Victoria 22:31
Gonna be looking at the sidewalks more often now.
Matt 22:33
Yeah. All right. Now we get to a fun one here. Number of the month. Victoria, you have a particularly large one here.
Tyler 22:40
Very large.
Matt 22:41
Of four million. Do I have a good guess for this? Four million. I don’t know did we get some type of insect coming out with spring that's, you know.
Victoria 22:49
Oh no, I hate bugs.
Matt 22:50
What about butterflies? Butterflies. Come on we can be happy.
Tyler 22:53
Four million butterflies in March. That still sounds like a lot of butterflies.
Matt 22:57
I don't know. I was trying to make it hopeful. Four million birds.
Victoria 23:01
That sounds more terrifying.
Matt 23:02
What is four million, spring, that could be good. Four million flowers?
Tyler 23:06
Yeah, that's better.
Matt 23:07
Okay. Yeah. What's your four million really mean, I guess?
Victoria 23:11
So four million is the surplus amount left over from the elementary school projects. During March 24th City Council meeting, the council approved transfer of the surplus from the elementary school's projects funds into the high school building project and middle school feasibility study accounts. 1.8 million will go into the high school, while 2.25 million will go into the middle school feasibility study. So the money was moved into the feasibility study instead of the stabilization fund so they can continue to do more studies and get more accurate cost estimates to what the middle school could potentially cost. The high school is currently on budget. Moving some of the money over to the high school fund will allow a buffer while the city waits for grants that the high school building is eligible for to come in. The high school is expected to have some more surplus when the high school is actually finished.
Matt 24:01
Gotcha. All right, Tyler, your number, 1,042. Very specific with the 42, not just a round number. 1,042. I always like to guess something bowling with you first. And I'm like, is that like pins you knock down in a season or something?
Tyler 24:18
That'd be a disappointing season.
Matt 24:20
Okay, yeah. I'm thinking, yeah, so maybe your weekend high score or something, you know, a tournament high score.
Tyler 24:26
Potentially close. That's good.
Matt 24:27
So citywide, let me think of something city. So let's see. Any other animals I haven't mentioned? No. You got any guesses, Victoria, for 1,042?
Victoria 24:36
I do not.
Tyler 24:37
Well, 1,042. It's not a complete number, even though it sounds so specific, but it is an estimated inventory of the number of veterans who have passed in the cemeteries here in Watertown. And the reason I bring that up, we are, of course, approaching Memorial Day. We're still a little over a month away on May 25th this year. But I wanted to use this as an opportunity to bring people's attention to a couple of different things that we have going on. One of which, of course, is the Memorial Day Parade, which we do each and every year. This year we'll start at noon, going along Main Street, past City Hall, up Waverly to Orchard, and then ending over at Victory Field.
Tyler 25:18
Then the other thing I wanted to mention was that the Watertown Community Foundation, they host every May something called Watertown Helps Out, which is an opportunity for community members to volunteer towards projects for nonprofits in the city. One of the projects that will be available for people to sign up for this year, as we do every year, is the opportunity to plant American flags for veterans that have passed in the cemeteries across Watertown. So if you're interested in participating in that, you can go to the Watertown Community Foundation's website. I'll make sure to add that link in the show notes as well. But it's a good opportunity not only for that project, but for many projects across the city, whether they're related directly with the city of Watertown or with other nonprofits in the city to participate in something that is very much a community building, bringing people together, participating and furthering people's engagement with other neighbors as well. So it's a good opportunity, but that is an opportunity also for me to share a number that people may not be fully aware of. Thank you to the Historical Society of Watertown for doing the research to have that. Of course, that number is changing, but that is the most recent estimate that I have. And we hope that you're able to participate in the Memorial Day based events that we have coming here in May as well.
Matt 26:34
Nice. And I'm actually should be releasing an episode on Watertown Helps Out in the next couple weeks too. Awesome. Well, let's move on to our department committee spotlight here. So who are we shining a spotlight on today?
Tyler 26:48
I want to bring attention to our Commission on Disability today. And part of the reason is because I've worked very closely with this commission. So I've seen a lot of the work that they have done. And I want to just talk a little bit about some of the things that they are doing, they've done in the past for people to get a sense as to kind of what their mission is. They're a board that focuses on compliance and coordination with concerns related to people with disabilities and their families in Watertown. Of course, the city also has an ADA coordinator that works on the day-to-day side for the city, which I am our temporary ADA coordinator. So people that have any questions with relation to ADA concerns, they can always reach out to ADA at watertown-ma.gov.
Matt 27:29
Do you call yourself the ta-da?
Tyler 27:31
Never thought of it, but again, the creative juices are flowing. So I've worked with this commission directly and indirectly over my two and a half years in Watertown. So I know a lot of the stuff that they're doing. And they assist with the development of policies and procedures for the city with relation to the Americans with Disabilities Act, which I'll refer to as the ADA for the rest of this conversation, and the practices being done by the city. And then also they really are promoting increased accessibility across the city. Not only are they working on issues related to city programs and city buildings, but they're also connecting with local businesses to find ways to make their entryways more accessible, to find ways for people to get access to programs that organizations in the city are running. We've seen it in the past where private organizations reach out saying, hey, we would really love to have American Sign Language interpretation at our event. Would you be willing to help us? And they have actually footed the bill to bring in an ASL interpreter for that event to ensure that it has increased accessibility.
Tyler 28:33
So they're fantastic. They're a board of nine. They are appointed, and there's one city councilor that is appointed by the city council president that's on it as well, which is currently councilor Feltner. And a majority of the members must be a person with a disability. And one member must have a member of their immediate family with a disability. So that is the way that the board takes form. It's good to have that breadth of experience and perspective when speaking about these issues as well. And then our ADA coordinator, so myself is the liaison to that board currently.
Tyler 29:06
When you join these meetings, typically there's a list of items that they're checking on. Some things are things that they'll give to myself to go and connect with members of City Hall to find ways that we can make a tax bill more accessible. Or something very recently, we started an iPad program at City Hall where people can come in and we can get an on-demand ASL interpreter on an iPad right away. They, a member of the commission, was going to come unannounced so that I could not prepare for their arrival. And they showed up, we got the iPad out, started working with it, and it worked great. Ended up getting an ASL interpreter right on the iPad right away, was able to communicate directly with them. So that's some of the stuff that they're doing just day to day, both advising the city on things and then also connecting with local partners.
Tyler 29:52
They had a direct hand in the KMA report, which I've spoken about in the past, which is the self-evaluation and transition plan, which was reviewing buildings and programs in the city to make it more accessible. There were multiple presentations to the Commission on Disability about that plan, and they were able to ask questions, give further perspective and what their hopes were for that plan, which is always great. They’re advocates ensuring that sidewalks are accessible. They're advocates ensuring that a specific new resource is accessible for people to access in any form. So not only are they focusing just on ADA compliance, but they are really advocating to go above and beyond when it comes to accessibility. Just because something abides by the ADA doesn't mean that we shouldn't go an extra step. That's everything from somebody reaching out at some point asking about a door that they were unable to get into where there was a business. And sure, it may have fulfilled the ADA requirement for door pressure, but reaching out to the building owner and working with them to make that even easier for people to actually get that door open. Like it's okay to go above and beyond. And the Commission on Disability is a great resource for ensuring that we are doing that in the city in some form.
Tyler 31:02
They meet on the third Wednesday of every month. Recommend joining in, learning a little bit about the items of concern for them. I am going to be on the meeting this Wednesday, which we will have a presentation from the organizers of the Watertown Community Fridge and a discussion about the ways that we can make the community fridge more accessible. So these conversations are going on all the time. We're grateful for the work that the commission is doing and their advocacy and advisement and help from the city side, and then also just going community-wide. So that is a little spotlight into our Commission on Disability.
Matt 31:38
Yeah. Now I noticed that the library has new hand waving open instead of pressing a button. Was that spearheaded by this or was that a separate thing?
Tyler 31:45
So I believe that that was actually separate, but that's a good example of the city thinking about accessibility at the beginning of something. The best form of accessibility, you know, when things go before the Commission on Disability, sometimes that means that it's because the conversation wasn't happening yet. So it's always great whenever people are having that be a part of the initial conversations whenever we're implementing a new program or thinking about a new building, things like that.
Matt 32:13
Is Kim still the chair?
Tyler 32:14
Kim Charlson from Perkins is still the chair. You can listen to her episode, I believe.
Matt 32:19
Yeah, I was just going to mention I did an episode with Kim Charlson last year.
Tyler 32:22
Yeah.
Matt 32:22
But she's got an incredible story too with her background. So she's got quite a wealth of history on the subject.
Tyler 32:28
Yeah. And she's been the chair of the commission for a long time. She runs a good meeting. I always appreciate her running those meetings as the liaison. So yeah, she's great.
Victoria 32:39
I'll just say WCA-TV records all the Commission on Disability meetings. They're also personally my favorite meetings to watch. They're just very informative. I just get so interested on like little things. I'm like, oh, I didn't know that.
Tyler 32:50
Yeah. And thank you, Victoria, for always helping me ensure that everybody has the correct access on those meetings as well, especially because we have CART captioning on all Commission on Disability meetings. So you can get live CART captioning at those meetings. And then if you need ASL interpretation to participate, you can always reach out to myself or just to the ADA at watertown-ma.gov email and we can ensure that we'll have an ASL interpreter on the meeting whenever we need it.
Matt 33:16
Awesome. Well, I think we've chatted about a lot of stuff as always here. So let's wrap up with some upcoming. Do you have anything upcoming to talk about, Victoria?
Victoria 33:25
I'll just say if anyone listening is interested in our youth summer workshop, sign-ups are opening very soon. You can email me about when to get on the wait list for when the signups open, and I'll send you the link when it's open.
Matt 33:39
Awesome. Tyler, I see you have a few things listed here. What do you have coming?
Tyler 33:42
Yeah. Some of these I've already mentioned, but I just want to do a quick sign-off on them. EcoFest, May 9th at the Commander's Mansion from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on that Saturday. Highly, highly recommend. Please come on down. It'll be a very fun event. The budget presentation happening on April 14th, which is the day after we're recording this current episode. So it'll already be out by the time that you're putting this episode in your ears. Highly recommend going to WCA-TV to watch the recording of that and to tune into future hearings. And then keep an eye out to the Watertown Square open house that we will be hosting in May. We will be making an announcement on that here sometime soon. Make sure that you're going to Watertown Square Improvements.com, checking out the city calendar, checking out our social medias in the home page of the website where all those announcements will be made. WatertownSquareImprovements.com is the website. We have been doing a lot of work on that site, ensuring that it's staying up to date, putting announcements there, resources, all that stuff.
Matt 34:37
And where you can listen to Tyler's second podcast.
Tyler 34:40
Yes, yeah, coming soon. So please give it a listen. Give us feedback. Not as natural as Matt when it comes to both the hosting duties, and I'm very grateful for Sarah Burns, who's been editing and is a member of our city manager's team. It is, I didn't realize how much work went into it. It is quite quite impressive. So I'm very grateful for you for doing these episodes every month.
Matt 35:02
Yeah. Awesome. Well, uh, I don't think I have anything really to share. Do I?
Tyler 35:07
Porchfest?
Matt 35:08
Yeah, no, we do have Porchfest coming up this year, too. So that's on May 16th. Yes, I organized Porchfest the first two years, but there's still a strong committee and it should still be a great day. So May 16th. And there's I feel like there's just a ton of stuff going on in May and June in the city. So just look everywhere.
Tyler 35:22
Yes, definitely. And I'll just note one thing. Please save the day for July 18th. I know that we're still a few months away, but Treaty Day 250, 250th anniversary of the first international treaty signed in the United States, was signed here in Watertown. It's called the Treaty of Watertown. Very cool. We have an entire day of events planned on July 18th at the Mosesian Center for the Arts. I'm very excited about it. I hope you're excited about it as well. There's going to be just an entire day of really exciting, really insightful, very educational, overall very fun opportunities to engage with the city, members of the state, and of course the delegation coming from Maine and Canada, the Mi’kmaq and the Maliseet nations, who were the signees of this treaty. Again, the first international treaty acknowledging the United States as a nation, here in Watertown. Very, very cool. So please save the date, July 18th.
Matt 36:17
Sure, we'll get more info as that gets closer.
Tyler 36:19
Oh, yes, you will.
Victoria 36:20
I know our news producer Dan Hogan has been working on us off since last July for this. So keep an eye on WCA-TV for that as well.
Matt 36:28
Nice. Well, let's wrap it up. So thank you, Tyler.
Tyler 35:32
Thank you.
Matt 36:33
Thank you, Victoria.
Victoria 36:33
Thank you.
Matt 36:34
Thank you, listeners.
Matt 36:36
So that's it for my conversation with Tyler and Victoria. I'll put links in the show notes to things that were mentioned. And if you like the podcast and you'd like to hear more episodes, you can head on over to LittleLocalConversations.com. There I have all the episodes, you can see upcoming events, and you can subscribe to my weekly newsletter to keep up to date with everything going on. Again, all that's at LittleLocalConversations.com. And I want to give a few shout outs here to wrap things up. I want to give a thank you to the Watertown Cultural Council who have given me a grant this year to help support the podcast. So I want to give them the appropriate credit, which is, this program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. You can find out more about them at WatertownCulturalCouncil.org and MassCulturalCouncil.org. And a couple more shout outs to promotional partners. First, the Watertown Business Coalition. Their motto is Community Is Our Business. Find out more about them and their upcoming events at WatertownBusinessCoalition.com. And lastly, Watertown News, which is a Watertown focused online newspaper. It's a great place to keep up to date with everything going on in the city. Check that out at WatertownMANews.com. So that's it. Until next time, take care.
