MISSING: A WARTIME CITY COUNCIL

News flash #1: The world is in a state of economic chaos and everyone whose head is not buried in the sand, is on edge.

News flash #2: Watertown is not immune.

Who knew that an Iranian controlled choke point, called the Strait of Hormuz, located 6,000 miles away, could be turned into a weapon able to leap over the Atlantic and land on the doorsteps of Watertown residents?

Economist and energy expert Fatih Birol, who heads the International Energy Agency, calls this “the greatest global energy security threat in history — much worse than the 1970s oil crisis, the Covid pandemic or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022” – when regular gas hit $5.00 per gallon right here in Watertown.

According to Mr. Birol, “This conflict has disrupted a bigger share of the global oil and gas trade, and there is no way to quickly fill the gap.”

I asked in a recent blog post: Has The City Taken Your Temperature Lately?

The simple answer is that the city has not taken your temperature because no one in our local government has ever reached out and asked you how you are doing.

Do any of our elected and appointed officials understand that we are in the midst of an economic crisis that has the real potential of getting a lot worse? Most of you reading this blog post did not attend the meeting of April 6 at the Watertown library, where City Manager George Proakis provided an update of the Watertown Square Area Plan.

Sorry for this outdated reference, which will undoubtedly be lost on many of you, but all I could think of when I left that meeting was a classic TV show, where the host, Rod Serling…

…would describe a bizarre episode we were about to see and end that description with: “You have just stepped into The Twilight Zone.” At least a few of those bizarre episodes told a story of people living in a parallel universe.

On April 6, City Manager Proakis proceeded to tell a story straight out of his very own parallel universe, where the world we are living in is just hunky dory.

The story began with his one of his favorite hits – “The Watertown Square Area Plan was based on significant outreach and public process.”

Since a parallel universe can be as bizarre as its creator wants it to be, I should not have been shocked to hear him say that his outreach included “120,000 ‘engagement touch points’ between surveys, public comments, questions, online engagement tools, and more.”

120,000 engagement touch points!

Mr. Manager, please stop! Anyone paying close attention, including many who most support you, knows that your community outreach has been a lot of sizzle and very little steak.

The vast majority of Watertown residents have never been reached by your outreach because that was never your goal. If you really want to find some good “engagement touch points,” you should send staff members to our gas stations and supermarkets to ask folks how they are doing.

And while they are at it, they can tell those folks about your Demonstration Project, where the parking lot behind CVS, along with land currently occupied by adjacent businesses will be replaced by a multi-story parking garage with attached retail space and market-rate residential units.

The Manager’s Demonstration Project is aggressive, ambitious, and looks snazzy on paper. In a different world (or universe) this just might be the crown jewel of his future legacy.

But there’s a problem. Or should I say, three problems?

Our elected and appointed representatives are trying to juggle several large, multi-year capital projects that they’ve correctly identified as community priorities.

They are:

A new or renovated middle school. Who doesn’t want our city to complete its quest for 100 percent school modernization – adding the final gem to its education necklace.

A new senior center. Who doesn’t want this long-overdue quality of life upgrade for our seniors and their families?

A new fire station for the east end to replace the sub-par station that currently serves the neighborhood. Who doesn’t want superior public safety  to be mandatory throughout Watertown?

These are all part of the city’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)—roughly a $273 million 5-year plan as of recent proposals.

Here is the reality: We can’t afford to do them all at once without major borrowing or overrides. And now we have to consider that every single near-future project will come with a higher wartime price tag.

So, who exactly does want the Demonstration Project?

 Who does think it’s a good idea to be shelling out tax dollars to buy up buildings – some through eminent domain – from Church Street to Spring Street to Summer Street for what looks like an ill-timed vanity project?

Putting aside the legal and ethical problems associated with taking property by eminent domain…

Putting aside the retail apocalypse which began between 2008 and 2010 and intensified in the last few years…

Putting aside all the unknown factors, including environmental and utilities issues that could prolong this project and leave a massive hole in the ground for years and make cost estimates seem like nothing more than wishful thinking…

Putting all that aside, the Manager’s community outreachers should try to explain the rationale for beginning the Demonstration Project adventure during an unprecedented energy crisis to the woman at the gas pump trying to figure out how high she should let the price climb until she has just enough gas to get her kids to and from soccer practice and still have enough gas left in the tank to get out of her driveway the next morning.

In reality, I do not blame the Manager for being ambitious, and for wanting to leave his mark on Watertown. In fact, we should thank him. No, I am not kidding.

There is a hole in our government that has now been exposed and his ambition has helped expose It.

We now know that, when faced with an economic crisis, there is no built-in mechanism for swiftly shifting our legislative branch from business as usual into survival mode.

 This change can only happen now if councilors decide, on their own, to take the initiative, to say politely but firmly, George, thank you for being a visionary. Thank you for showing us what our future might be, but get a grip!

What our government needs to do now is to face the economic chaos and the challenges resulting from that chaos that have landed on our doorstep and they need to game this out.

They need to do the what-ifs. What if gas goes to $5, $6, or even $7 per gallon? They need to stress-test their budgets and reaffirm their priorities because what Watertown needs from their leaders, at this moment, in this climate, are practical, realistic goals and strategies.

They should make it clear to the taxpayers and to every on-edge resident, burdened by the endlessly rising costs of living, that adventure projects are officially on hold until further notice.

This is an emergency.

 

Bruce Coltin, The Battle For Watertown