Power surge, housing rights, farm lease, budget - Channel 781 Headlines 6-28-2023
Channel: Channel 781 Archive
Date: 29/06/2023

Damaging Power Surge / Housing Rights Input Session / Farm Lease / Budget

On Monday 6/19 there was a power surge in Waltham that appears to have caused at least two house fires, destroyed appliances, and left about 6000 households temporarily without power.  Electric utility Eversource said in a statement the surge was caused by faulty equipment at one of their substations which has now been taken out of service. They said other equipment at the substation has been tested and their engineers are working on a redesign of the system. You may recall Waltham had a similar power surge last October. We asked an Eversource representative if that's unusual, and they responded "Isolated incidents can  happen on the electric system at any given time for a variety of  reasons. We understand that two similar instances within a year of each  other may raise questions, which is why we have taken steps to ensure  that  the local electric system is safe and operating reliably for our  customers."

This Monday Eversource representatives met with the mayor and other city officials to discuss the incident. At Monday's city council meeting, the mayor asked the council to consider a new ordinance that would require developers seeking special permits to explain the effect their project will have on the electric grid. On Tuesday, Councilors Bradley-MacArthur, Darcy, and Paz hosted a town meeting for the public to discuss the surges. You can find a recording of that meeting on our Youtube, and it was also covered by several local news stations. Tomorrow Thu. 6/29 Eversource will host info session for people who need help submitting a claim for damage to their property at 4pm and 7pm at 119 School St..

Last Wednesday 6/21 there was a huge turnout for the city council's citizen input session  on the proposed housing rights notification ordinance. As you may recall the ordinance would require landlords to give tenants in danger of  eviction a piece of paper listing their rights and resources available to help them. WATCH CDC, which authored the ordinance, says it will help landlords in addition to helping tenants, because it will allow tenants to access rental assistance funds that allow them to continue paying rent. However many landlords showed up to oppose the ordinance, arguing it will enable tenants to stop paying rent without consequences, and  that it is part of a broader agenda to implement rent control. This week the city council had their last regular meeting before their summer break and they voted to table the ordinance, so it looks like they won't be making a decision on it until the fall. You can find a recording of the input session on our Youtube, and our team discussed it in more depth on our  recent Debrief show.

Also at this week's meeting, the council voted to approve a lease for Waltham Fields Community Farms. You may remember the city put out a request for proposals for a portion of the land WFCF and other non-profits currently occupy at the former UMass Field Station on Beaver St., and WFCF submitted a bid. At this week's meeting Mayor McCarthy  discussed the terms of the lease which is for 5 years at about $9,000 per year. WFCF will be responsible for utilities and all maintenance on the site beyond the environmental clean-up the city has already paid for. That includes additional clean-up of historic greenhouses and a required security system with fences and cameras. The lease gives city employees broad access to inspect the site and requires WFCF to submit financial information about their business to the city. WFCF is hoping to sublet portions of the site to other organizations but each of those sublets will need to be approved by the city council.

At a special meeting on 6/20 the council voted to approve the mayor's recommended budget for fiscal year 2024. Only councilors Bradley-MacArthur and Paz voted no. Bradley-MacArthur said the budget leaves certain city needs unfunded, and questioned the mayor's decision to cut $8M from the budgets presented to her by departments.

No Debrief show this week but if you haven't already, check out last week's Debrief show which has some important updates on Waltham's response to the MBTA Communities Act.

This video includes a clip from a Waltham public meeting recorded by WCAC/MAC-TV for purposes of news reporting and public comment. WCAC/MAC-TV is not affiliated with Waltham DATA/Channel 781 and is not responsible for any opinions implied by our use of this clip. We encourage viewers to check out the full recording of this meeting at wcac.org.