Local Government Update, March 2025: Moments, Success Stories, and Jingles From the Past Month

I sit down for a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel, the Production, Training, and Equipment Manager at Watertown Cable Access to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories, and important numbers. We also get some insights into the city process with the new Did you know? and What's that thing? segments.

(Click here to listen on streaming apps) (full transcript below)

Links to things mentioned in the episode:
Sign up for emergency alerts: www.watertown-ma.gov/everbridge
Civics Academy
Tree Information and Request Form
Mount Auburn Street Updates
Tyler Glode city engineer talk

City Council Meetings:
City Council - Feb 11th
City Council - Feb. 25th
WCA-TV's general Government channel

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Come celebrate Little Local Conversations’ one year anniversary on March 18th!

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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 https://watertownbusinesscoalition.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. This is a special monthly local government updates podcast where I sit down with Tyler Cote and Victoria Weichel. I'll let them introduce themselves and their roles. We'll sit down and talk about what's going on in the city. We're using some new segments to frame the conversation this time from moments from the past month, success stories, did you know?, where you get to learn about some city procedure. Numbers of the month, to explain a couple stories from this month. What's that thing, where something you might be seeing around town gets explained. Oh, and stick around until the end, for a nice little fun jingle I put together for Tyler's 888-777 campaign. All right, so I'll let them introduce themselves and we'll get into our conversation. Welcome to the Local Government Updates podcast, and I'm here again with Tyler Cote.

Tyler: 0:55

Hello.

Matt: 0:56

And Victoria Weichel. 

Victoria: 0:57

Hello. 

Matt: 0:57

So, Tyler, your title is.

Tyler: 1:00

Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown.

Matt: 1:03

And Victoria, you have a brand new title, so let's hear that.

Victoria: 1:06

I'm Production, Training, and Equipment Manager here at WCA-TV.

Matt: 1:10

Great. So brought you both, well, Victoria invited us both here to have this conversation about what's been going on in the city in the past month, and we're going to try something a little different from our last time. We're going to go through some different segments that might help frame this conversation a little bit. So let's just dive right in. Our first segment here we have is moments from the past month. Tyler, you want to take away with your first moment from the last month.

Tyler: 1:31

Yeah, so the city, we've been working pretty heavily with our Department of Public Works team and then also with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Mass DOT, and Newport Construction to one get notifications out to the community about this ongoing Mount Auburn Street project, which is, you know, a three to four year complete reconstruction of one of the main roadways in our entire city. In the city we totally understand that we have quite a robust business community along Mount Auburn Street as well. It's really important to us that we are communicating as a city out to the community and out to our business community especially about what's going on with the Mount Auburn Street project. And over the last month, myself and members of our communications team, members of our DPW team, our Watertown Police Department and our economic development team all got together to kind of walk through the square, get a sense of what the construction is actually looking like day to day. What are some places that we might be able to put up businesses open during construction signs, which then DPW has now lifted and put up in place within the week that we walked through the square, which is great. That is one step in several that we at the city are looking to take to try and support our businesses during this time. We have the understanding that the construction that's going on, while it's a Mass DOT project, it's not a city project.

Tyler: 2:59

Us at the city are trying to do as much as we can to try and get the word out and try and help our businesses. One step in that process was hosting a meeting with our economic development team out there with some of the business owners directly in the Coolidge Square area, sharing some input into what our economic development team is doing which is always helpful and always great for our businesses to have a full understanding of it, but then also giving them kind of a three to four week outlook on what's going on with the construction in that area. I recommend anybody that's interested to check out MountAuburnStreet.com, which will have weekly updates on what the construction is going on. We send out emails every single week with updates on what the construction is looking like and we always, you know, recommend businesses are staying open during this time.

Tyler: 3:44

While they may have construction in front of their business front, doesn't mean that you can't still access them. We're working with MassDOT and Newport to ensure that there still is that access to our business community. So directly in the Coolidge Square area I will point people towards Wells Ave. We have a metered parking lot back there as well as metered parking. So even if Mount Auburn Street parking is limited, you'd still be able to go over to the Wells street lot, which is parallel to Mount Auburn Street five metered parking there and still be able to easily walk to some of the other businesses that are in that direct area.

Matt: 4:15

Were there any other insights from that conversation you had with businesses or the economic team?

Tyler: 4:20

I would say it was really helpful, I think, for our economic development team especially to one introduce themselves and get a sense of kind of who they are, but then also get a sense of what is it that our businesses are looking for. Us as a communications team we certainly learned that you know there's week to week construction that goes on in these areas and this is citywide, not only with Mount Auburn Street, but the week to week construction might not necessarily change, but we heard pretty uniformly from the business community that they would rather still get that update that the work is not changing in the upcoming week. So there were sometimes we were originally working at the,you know, when we have new news we'll let you know.

Tyler: 4:56

But now we're kind of going at the approach of let's just continue to give you the updates on what's going on here over the course of any given week. And we're trying to get a little bit better about understanding are they only working on eastbound side, westbound side. Trying to get as much granular information as we possibly can, because typically what happens to pull up the curtain a little bit, we get the construction speak updates as to kind of what's going on Like we typically get updates about test pits happening, which we can say, yeah, we have test pits going on between Bigelow Ave and School Street. 

Matt: 05:29

What's a test pit?

Tyler: 05:30 

Exactly. So what we end up doing is saying like, yeah, it sounds great that there's a test pit. What does that actually mean? And really what it is is you excavate the road, you test the soil to try and understand kind of what's the moisture, what's going on below ground, so that you can have an understanding of what the construction's going to look like when you get into that section of the area.

Tyler: 5:50

So that's some of the work that we do in the communications side to try and understand what does this work actually mean. Like, right now, what you'll see a lot of is drainage installation and conduit installation as well, which is essentially like they're putting big tubes that wires run through underground for our streetlights and for our electrical systems. So it's a lot of trying to take some of the complicated updates that we're getting from MassDOT or Newport or whomever, and getting as many of the details that we know are going to be of interest and are going to impact the people that are actually working and living in that direct area, and getting that info out to the community. So I'll speak for our communications team. We can always improve, so if you're seeing work being done that you don't think was effectively communicated, go to Mount Auburn Street dot com and send us a message and let us know. Send us an email and that's easily something that we can connect with the construction team so that we can get all the details that matter to you back out to you once we do those weekly updates. 

Matt: 06:49

Thank you hard hat Tyler for that update.

Tyler: 6:52

Yeah anytime. So when I started this role, I don't know if I expected to get so detailed into construction work, but here we are, so excited to be doing it.

Matt: 7:00

And is there anything for not businesses but just general public to add on there at all about that area?

Tyler: 7:05

I would say continue to go to our businesses, even though there's construction going on. We haven't seen any changes in hours or anything with our businesses due to the construction. We're trying to do everything we can to ensure that that's not something that would have to happen, but continue to go. If you're having trouble finding parking, we're going to be putting up some parking maps on the project website as well so that people can find what may be the easiest parking options, and when we get to the point where you know our sidewalks will be closed, we'll be sure to include all that information as well.

Tyler: 7:35

It's going to be a really challenging time during the construction. We understand that. We're going to start putting up some more information about what is this all leading to, so people can really see the benefits of this work. Eventually, we're leading to a more accessible, more pedestrian, friendly area. That will only benefit a lot of the people in that area, but it's unfortunate that in order to get to that, there's going to be kind of this hardship at the front end of it. So continue to go to your favorite businesses in the East End and all along Mount Auburn Street and feel free to let us know if there's any info that we can do better at getting out to you all.

Matt: 8:09

Great. Cool, let's move on to your first one, then Victoria. So what's your moment from the past month?

Victoria: 8:23

So my moment is during February 11th City Council meeting. The City Council voted on two proposals from the CPC Community Preservation Committee. So the first proposal was for Willow Park redevelopment a $4 million reconstruction of affordable housing units at that location housing units at that location. The second proposal was to cover unanticipated costs from a previous project from the very first round of community preservation projects. The project was for the city paintings preservations. It ended up needing insurance and storage from a delay in the preservation process. The city council voted unanimously on both the projects.

Matt: 8:49

Gotcha. Yeah, so from the city's point of view, any thoughts on the first, we'll touch on the Willow Park side.

Tyler: 8:56

I admittedly don't have a lot to add to it other than just whenever we have projects that are going to benefit our community in several ways, the way that, like the Willow Park project is going to. It's exciting to actually see that movement going forward and we'll continue to let people know and keep people updated on kind of what the progress is with that as well. But yeah, it was exciting to see a proposal actually take steps in the right direction.

Victoria: 9:18

If I'm remembering it correctly, the Willow Park project, first time it applied for CPC funding it didn't go all the way to CPC approval. They wanted some more information that there were some concerns about the site, but this time around it did make it all the way to city council approval.

Matt: 9:34

And for those who don't know, Willow Park, what is it?

Victoria: 9:41

So they're looking to create a group home with a lot of accessibilities. It will be essentially a smaller group home, even though it is affordable housing. It's not going to be a massive apartment building. It's more like a house with only I believe only two stories.

Matt: 9:50

And Willow Park is already an existing thing, so it's not knocking down those buildings, it's adding new ones to it, correct?

Victoria: 9:56

Yeah.

Tyler: 9:56

Yes, so this is a Watertown Housing Authority property. Important to note that as well. 

Matt: 10:02

Anything else to add on the Willow Park.

Victoria: 10:04

I do not.

Matt: 10:05

Okay, then the paintings preservation. You want to talk about that. 

Victoria: 10:08

Actually, if you go to City Hall now, you can actually see the paintings up where they originally were. They look fantastic. That was actually one of the first projects they ever approved. What they ended up needing was they needed some insurance for the paintings to make sure they actually stay the way they are now. And then also there were some delays in the preservation process, so they had to pay for some storage for that as well.

Matt: 10:26

These paintings are when you first walk into City Hall up the stairs through the front.

Victoria: 10:30

Yeah, right in the front. If you are entering from the ground level, you just got to go up one floor. They’re right in the middle in that big lobby in front of the treasurers.

Tyler: 10:37

Yep, right in front of the treasury department, next to our current retirement office as well. Those paintings are gigantic. Very exciting to have them in City Hall. When I started at City Hall back in December of 23, they were not there. So it's exciting to kind of have some added character to an already character-filled building for sure. So, yeah, it's cool to have them back.

Matt: 10:58

What's your favorite painting?

Victoria: 11:00

I was going to say I would say when they brought them down. I went to film them and it was stressful watching them come down because they are very thin and fragile. It was a very careful moment.

Matt: 11:09

Through this process, did they find anything interesting on the backs of them or anything?

Victoria: 11:13

I know they were looking to find a signature and I think they did see possibly something. I don't remember if they took a look at it after. They were hoping to find the artist for it so they can do maybe a plaque at some point, but I don't know at this moment if they actually did.

Matt: 11:26

No, like Nicolas Cage, National Treasure.

Tyler: 11:30

Yeah, not the first draft of the Declaration of Independence.

Matt: 11:34

The Declaration of Watertown is hidden on the back of this.

Tyler: 11:36

Unfortunately not.

Victoria: 11:40

When they were first coming down. I was taking a look at them before they took them down and I believe it was Joyce who was the one who brought up the proposal and was in charge of this project. She mentioned you could see places where people touch often because there wasn't protection over them and you could really see that before the preservation.

Matt: 11:57

That's Joyce at the Historical Society. Anything else to add on that before we move on?

Victoria: 12:04

I don't think so. 

Matt: 12:05

All right, cool. So let's move on to the next segment, which is going to do success stories. So, Tyler, you want to give us a success story from recent times?

Tyler: 12:10

Yeah, this is something that maybe anybody listening may have been following along with, but this certainly predates my time with the city, which I started in December of 2023. But this past Friday, for date purposes would have been the 28th of February, the city of Watertown posted the human service director position, inviting applications for that position. This is a success story because it is a gigantic step forward in what, by my research, is close to a five-year process of community conversations, council conversations, ongoing assessment, all to come down with recommendations, chief among them being the recommendation of creating a human service director position in the city. In my research, I had found one of the first conversations happening back in February of 2021, where the community went to the council wondering if there would be any chance to kind of just review what the need is in terms of health and human services in the city and, after a series of meetings with the council's committee on human services and a recommendation from the city council. They ended up saying let's do a comprehensive assessment, which anybody that's been interested might've been following along over the past year plus of this ongoing health and human service study, which there were 20 interviews done with stakeholders and community members, at least a half a dozen focus groups with community members and professionals in the city, all coming down with kind of nine action items, but that main one being the human service director position, which was finally posted on Friday.

Tyler: 13:44

It's an example of city government functioning and how some things may take a little bit, may take a few years for things to move in seeing kind of that implementation of action. But it's really exciting to have somebody that will be dedicated in the city to managing the community partnerships in this space, looking at things like food insecurities, which are things that the city has been doing, but having now a director level position as well to really add on to the capacity that the city can focus on these issues and these items. It's a fun time to be in the city of Watertown as some of these positions are being created. And as expectation of what the city can take on continues to grow, we're adding in positions, in this case this director position, to kind of take on some of those capabilities and those needs that were identified and some gaps that were identified that the city is gonna be acting on working to fill now as well. So as I see it, this is a huge success story, especially as we look at kind of the long process of engagement both between the community and our council.

Tyler: 14:41

This is, to quote our city manager in a different project, this is the end of the beginning, really. Now it's about really implementing. It's about that, taking action on a plan, on what your hopes are. So this is where a lot of the hard work is going to begin, but it's an exciting time nonetheless.

Matt: 14:57

Yeah, I would say anyone listening go back and listen to my episode with Bevin Croft of World and Watertown, and Sophia Suarez-Friedman from Wayside. We talk about this a little bit in those episodes too, for a little more depth on how this came to be and what those positions actually do in town and touch on.

Tyler: 15:13

Definitely definitely. Highly recommend checking those out. And also keeping kind of an ear to the ground or finger on the pulse as to what all the organizations in Watertown are actively involved in, Wayside, World in Watertown being just two examples of that, the Community Foundation being another. Human services, health and human services is a lot of things. It is everything from transportation to food insecurity, to housing, to accessibility. It is a lot of things. So this position will certainly have a lot. They're going to be going into a field that is quite expansive, but having the position and having somebody to take on that role is very exciting.

Matt: 15:52

I mean it's great to have someone who's kind of overlooking all that stuff, because a lot of this work has been done by all these different groups. But coming together and I know there have been groups that have come together to talk about this stuff but having something that is set in stone, that is their only thing to do it would be really nice to pull it all together.

Tyler: 16:06

Definitely, and just connecting with and collaborating with those existing services is going to be a massive part of what this position is going to be. We're very happy of the human service ecosystem in the city, with our nonprofits and service providers, so this position being able to continue to collaborate with all of them is going to be great.

Matt: 16:26

Yeah. All right. So next we're going to try out a new segment called Did you Know? So, Tyler, what do you got for us today? What's something I didn't know about that works in the city?

Tyler: 16:34

Yeah. So I'll give a very brief kind of look into a little bit of our street program here in Watertown, partially because it comes out of, you know, I do Watertown Chats. If anybody hasn't visited Watertown Chats before, you're highly recommended to come by ask a question. And I have people that come by and say, hey, when is my street going to get redone? And that is a question I've heard multiple times so I think getting a little bit of insight at least into how that works, how that process is done would be helpful. So we have something called our Complete Streets Program which is run by our DPW. It's pretty fascinating and given Mount Auburn Street as well being a Complete Streets project, granted, that's run by the state we have our own kind of local Complete Streets Program as well. But the way that it happens is every like three years or so, our DPW runs this technological street analysis where they almost apply a number to a street as to what the current conditions are of the road, what's the pavement deterioration, and there's literally a data analysis where there's scannings of the streets and everything which is really interesting 

Matt: 17:39

Any test pits?

Tyler: 17:40

So test pits. Yes, great throwback.

Matt: 17:43

I'm so knowledgeable on construction and streets.

Tyler: 17:46

Exactly so. They combine kind of that hardcore data that's pulled from scanning and then combine it with actual, you know, people going and looking at the streets, our engineers going and analyzing the streets as well. And they combine that with what is the utility work that needs to go on, because you don't want to redo a street that's going to need utility done to it next year because what's going to happen is you redo the street and then the utility work needs to rip up the street again. So there's a little bit of like you're making a sandwich that has several different ingredients and they all kind of need to fit together in order to make sense to do that street at that year. So, kind of pulling in all these different elements together, they end up coming up with some sort of plan. Usually our Complete Streets program has anywhere around five-ish streets per year which we'll look into doing complete reclamation and paving, drainage, repairs, curbing getting redone, concrete sidewalks, ensuring ADA accessibility, fully. That's why it's called a Complete Street, because not only is it being rebuilt so that all forms of transportation can be on it a little bit safer for people to walk, to drive, and then our cyclists as well, but also because it is really undergoing that full reconstruction from below ground to everything that you're seeing above ground as well.

Tyler: 18:59

So once they choose those five streets, then there's a conversation that ends up happening directly with our council or a council committee. There's further conversation going on about what those timelines are, and then that is really when you start to see the work. You know there's the whole bid process that has to go out to bid. Construction companies will submit proposals with a cost and all that stuff which we won't get into today.

Tyler: 19:19

But I wanted to give an outline, or at least an overview slightly, of that process so that people have an idea of what goes into choosing what streets are actually being chosen year to year. Our city engineering team works really hard to ensure that they are choosing streets that, you know, use our residents tax dollars to the absolute highest of their ability. Being efficient with that money and then using it in a way that when we're redoing our streets, that they're going to have staying power and they're going to be around for a long time for whenever they come back around on that complete streets program. So yeah, that's a little bit of an insight into how that process works.

Matt: 19:54

Gotcha, street scores, and what's the mayonnaise of this sandwich?

Tyler: 19:59

Yeah, the mayonnaise is communicating directly with our utility companies to make sure that they're on board with everything that we're doing, so

Matt: 20:06 

That's a hard brand sell for mayonnaise. 

Tyler: 20:09 

That's right. Yeah, so that might be more of a miracle whip, but yeah.

Victoria: 20:13

I will add on, usually the complete streets will go to the Committee of Public Works for approval. That should be coming up, I believe soon.

Tyler: 20:21

Yeah, I would imagine soon, and I recommend anybody to go back and check out Tyler Glode, our city engineer, gave a presentation on October 28th of last year. Include it in the show notes with Matt here. People can give a look to what is currently scheduled to happen this fiscal year, and then I would imagine that we'll end up having a conversation about FY26 with our Public Works Committee sometime soon.

Matt: 20:44

Cool, thank you. All right, let's go on to our number of the month. And you both have a number of the month to share, so I guess we've got numbers of the month here. So, Victoria, I'm going to swing over to you. What's your number of the month? 

Victoria: 20:59

So I technically have two numbers. They're related to each other. During February 25th City Council meeting the city manager presented the option of purchasing Sterritt Lumberyard for $9.2 million. The city council approved the initial payment of $500,000 so the city manager can sign the agreement for it.

Matt: 21:18

Gotcha, 9.2, 9.2. Cool and yeah, so, Tyler, do you have some insight into the decision from the city about that purchase?

Tyler: 21:24

I believe that at the council meeting there was a conversation as well to use some of the certified free cash into this decision as well, which is part of the city manager's and council's strategy to use free cash, or certified free cash in these cases, for one-time purchases. That is, for good fiscal management, to ensure that we are using money available to us right now for things that will not be necessarily recurring. So that was an important first step, and I know the inevitable next question is kind of what is this space going to be used for? Those are conversations that will happen in the future, certainly, so I don't have too much insight into that at this time.

Victoria: 22:03

I will say this site was originally bought and purchased for life sciences building. Since those weren't happening in that location as it seemed, there was talks among the community of what could happen there if the city were to purchase it. But for a while the option of purchasing it wasn't an option. The cost was much too high. But now, at 9.2 million dollars, it's more feasible. So there's a lot of studies that will have to go and happen first, see what is possible.

Matt: 22:26

Right, and I think what I read in the Watertown News article was that, like it was just a couple of years ago, they were asking for like what 30 million or something like that. So this has come down quite a bit.

Victoria: 22:36

I believe it was like 30 to 40 million.

Tyler: 22:38

Yeah, and, to give a sense, some of the other free cash that is available that's been certified by our city council will go towards some of the other big projects that are ongoing in the city, including the Watertown Middle School project, which has been an ongoing discussion, which I believe we discussed a little bit in our last episode, as well as some general stabilization, which is always an important thing to consider as the way that we can stabilize our budget in a way that is preparing for whatever might be coming here down the line.

Matt: 23:04

We should point out where, for people who don't know where this Sterritt lumberyard was, where is this located in the city?

Tyler: 23:09

It's on Waltham Street. Depending on when you look it up, it'll pop up as like 146, 148 Waltham Street, but it is right across from Bemis Park, which is on the west end of the city, close to Plumbers Supply Company which is, I believe, right next door. If you go to your Google Maps street view, you'll see kind of a warehouse kind of set back from the street on 148 Waltham Street. So West End across from Bemis might be kind of your best wayfinding.

Matt: 23:39

Yeah, so that gives people some idea to think about in case they have ideas to send Tyler and the rest of the city on what they think should be done with that space. Yeah, all right, let's move on. So, Tyler, what's your number of the month?

Tyler: 23:50

My number of the month is 888-777. Which is the number that I am recommending anybody listening this should text Watertown MA with the message Watertown MA to opt into our emergency alert system. So if you put 888-777 in your to, sending to that number, then the message Watertown MA, you will opt into our emergency alert system. We're moving out of the winter season here. Might feel like this winter season lasted a long time, but we still certainly have other emergency alerts, so we want to make sure that you're subscribed for, so please do that.

Victoria: 24:27

Is this text notifications or phone calls or both?

Tyler: 24:29

Yeah, so if you sign up by texting, then that will be text notifications. To sign up for the phone call and or emails, you can go to Watertown dash ma dot gov slash Everbridge. I'll include that in the show notes as well. Highly recommend setting up as many forms of communication through that as possible. Might feel redundant. However, if there's an emergency alert, you want to make sure that you're receiving those emergency alerts. And it'll ask you to put in your address and if you do that, that would be great. If you sign up online, not through the texting, because if you sign up with your address online then say there's a water main break close to where you are, we will send you a notification that there's a water main break and that your water might be affected. That's the information that would be really helpful for you to know. So text the number 888-777 and then go to watertown-magov slash Everbridge to make sure that you are signed up for our emergency alert system.

Matt: 25:21

I feel like you guys need like a 90s jingle for 88877 I don't know what it is, but you need something?

Tyler: 25:27

Hey, you can help us out with that, Matt.

Matt: 25:30

All right. Well, let's move along then. A couple of things left here. So another question-based segment here. Hey, Tyler, what's that thing?

Tyler: 25:39

Yeah, so we're getting into planting season. This is an exciting time. We in our town love our trees. I don't know if people are aware of this, we plant upwards of like 350 trees a year, which is a lot of trees, especially when we're only planting trees for several months out of the year, but certainly not year round. But as especially as we get into the April time frame is when you're going to start seeing more tree plantings. Then also with our new trees, you're going to see what's that thing being these black bags that are around kind of the base of these new trees.

Tyler: 26:10

These are water bags and they can actually hold up to like 20 gallons of water and we are actually asking our residents to help us out and keeping our trees alive. If you have, you know, an old water bottle that has some water in it that you're not really interested in drinking the rest of, or if you have a new tree that's sitting outside your house that's a street tree, consider going and giving it a little bit of water. It can hold up to 20 gallons, as I mentioned, which is about as much water a tree will need in any given week and month. So it's really, really helpful to the city and to benefit the city as well with kind of increasing our tree canopy to keep some of these younger trees alive. So when you're driving around Watertown, walking around Watertown or riding your bike around Watertown however you might be getting around, if you see a tree with those tree bags got a little leftover water, feel free to drop a little bit of water into those bags.

Tyler: 27:05

It helps keep our trees alive. You know there's the old saying of, the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, but the second best time is right now. So help us keep the trees that we are planting right now alive and we can help impact some of, you know, the heat island effects that were certainly a big conversation during our climate and energy plan and continue to be as our city takes on our climate and energy goals. So help us keep our trees alive and when you see trees with those black bags and maybe some stakes helping them hold them up. That’s a new tree, could use your help.

Matt: 27:37

Yeah, cool. Yeah, I remember I was talking with Matthew Stevens over at Mount Auburn Cemetery. One of his previous jobs, he had planted 1 million trees in New York City and he was talking about, you know, talking with the people in charge there and it's like every one dollar you put into a tree, you get four dollars out for the city. It seems like, oh, it's just a tree, but it helps in so many different ways.

Tyler: 27:55

It does. It really does. And I'll point everybody, we have a tree request program as well. You can request a tree, so I'll include that in the show notes as well. Our show notes are going to be long with many links, but we love planting trees in the city, so this is a great opportunity to get involved in that.

Matt: 28:11

Yeah, cool, yeah. So now we just got our upcoming stuff, so let's wrap this up here then with some things to look out for in the next month or two. Anything upcoming that you want to point out, Victoria?

Victoria: 28:21

I would just say keep an eye on the city's website for subcommittee meetings. We may not know right now when those are planned, but they will be updated on the city website. Those are the best meetings to find out more details. In general, I would just say keep an eye out to see when those meetings are happening. There's a lot in the works right now.

Matt: 28:36

Yeah, and you can always follow along on cable access if you don't want to come out to a meeting, or you can watch the recording later on. How about you, Tyler, what you got coming up?

Tyler: 28:45

I used a lot of our first episode to talk about this, but I wanted to point everybody to since we have released the applications for the Watertown Civics Academy. Applications will be live until March 21st. If you're listening to this and it's before March 21st and you're interested in learning about the ins and outs of your city government and how decisions get made and really interacting with your peers, I would highly recommend you apply at watertown-ma gov slash civicsacademy. It's a great opportunity. We're really excited to bring it to the community. And again, the applications will be live until March 21st and we will be letting all applicants know of their enrollment status before the end of March because the first session will be in early May. So feel free to go and sign up for that and stay up to date always with the city's social media and on our website. And another plug for the Mount Auburn Street Project mountauburnstreet.com, so you can stay up to date there as well.

Matt: 29:40

Yeah, and, like you mentioned, if you want more information about the Civics Academy, listen to our last episode. Tyler explained that a bunch. And, yeah, any other closing thoughts you got from this last month, any jingles you want to share?

Victoria: 29:51

Think you had all the jingles.

Tyler: 29:53

Yeah, we'll come back next week to hear Matt's 888-777 jingle.

Matt: 29:57

Well, thank you both Tyler and Victoria, for sitting down for this chat and helping the information flow around town.

Victoria: 30:04

Yeah thank you for having us.

Tyler: 30:05

Yeah thank you both.

[music 888-777 jingle]

Matt: 31:17

So that's it for my conversation with Tyler and Victoria. Hope that gave you some insight into what's going on in the city and learned a little bit more about how the city views things with those new what's that thing and did you know segments. Put all the links in the show notes that Tyler and Victoria mentioned and head on over to littlelocalconversations.com to find all the normal regular interview episodes where I'm discovering people, places, stories and ideas of Watertown and also find about events coming up.

Matt: 31:43

Big one coming up for me next week is on Tuesday, March 18th, from 5.30 to 7.30 pm at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, podcast anniversary event. It's been one year. Gonna have a live podcast panel. Help raise some money for the Watertown Community Foundation, the Mosesian Center for the Arts. Come on out, should be a good time. 5.30 pm at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, next Tuesday, March 18th. All right, and then just a couple things to wrap up.

Matt: 32:08

I've gotten a grant this year from the Watertown Cultural Council, so I want to give a shout out to them and the proper 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. Find out more about them at watertownculturalcouncil.org and massculturalcouncil.org. I also want to give a shout out to the Watertown Business Coalition, promotional partner for the podcast. They're a nonprofit organization here in Watertown that's bringing businesses and people together to help strengthen the community. Find out more about them at watertownbusinesscoalition.com. They've got some great events coming up too, so check out their website. So that's it. Until next time, take care.