My Guiding Principles

Increasing Housing Affordability, Short/Long Term Planning

At the current moment Massachusetts is projected to have a housing shortage of over 200,000 units with the greater Boston area having the greatest demand for housing in the state. So, its important Watertown takes bold steps to help chip away at this deficit. Below is what I am proposing, broken into short-term and long-term plans.

1. Considering a large chunk of our housing is already two-family units I would like to push for the approval of triple Decker’s to be built as by right to gently increase density in Watertown.

2. I would encourage the city to petition the state legislature to allow rent control to help stabilize rapidly rising rents that are squeezing working and middle-class families.

3. Begin a city-wide zoning review on parking minimums and push for their elimination especially for properties that are a 15-minute walk from public transit. For properties outside that area the city should pursue a policy of parking maximums of .5 per unit this to reduce car dependency as well as to help reduce construction as parking can increase construction costs by up to 30%.

4. A long view consideration I would like the city to study and pursue would be the Red Vienna model of housing specifically the pre-2004 reform version. This would mean the city would buy land and keep it in perpetuity, building mix income housing as the developer to maximize the profits/control over this housing to ensure low rents can and will be offered. It would help decommodify housing from being an investment into a consumable.

Improving Public Transportation

Watertown is a growing city that has for far too long has gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to public transportation that is fast, reliable, and dignified. Which is why the city must pursue a policy of self-reliance in terms of funding transit projects as we cannot wait for the T to consider its Fiscal position which currently isn’t the best. Especially in a time when we are zoning more housing in the square, what is needed is a bold vision of transit in the area.

A partial busway that stretches from Watertown Yard to St. James Armenian Church would greatly improve bus through puts but also offer the opportunity to improve station quality throughout the route. The improvements could be paid for by creating a special tax district for Watertown Square where new developments would pay a fee into a pot that would go towards the improvement of public transit for Square.

We must reimage our current bike plan, which in my opinion is rather lackluster when compared to neighboring cities such as Cambridge, Boston or even Newton. Too many road projects that the city has pursued have missed the opportunity to build out our bike network and when we have, they have been highly lackluster at best. An example would be the painted bike lanes on Arsenal St. by the mall provides little to no protection whatsoever. What we currently need is a bike network that is safe, expansive, and interconnected.