Guest Column: Let’s get downtown right

Mayor McCarthy and I agree that Waltham’s downtown is in a state of disrepair and requires immediate attention. Unfortunately, the path to get there is where we disagree. The mayor recently asked the council for $1.9 million, in addition to the $4.5 million previously appropriated over the last 12 months, for a downtown streetscape improvement project, the details of which are changing and fuzzy at best. This endeavor started as a $3 million project last spring, designed on the back of an envelope, and has ballooned into a $6.4 million project before the first shovel hits the ground. Sidewalk bricks being removed are now being replaced. Expensive decorative street light poles are now being cut five feet and moved. Read full article.