Time to Raise the Bar — And the Manholes: Watertown’s First Real Test Begins
Watertown finally made it through another city council election — bruised, noisy, dramatic, and full of the usual North Country theatrics. And for a moment, many of us thought, “Great. Now we can finally get back to the part where we actually fix things.”
Because let’s be honest: the residents of this city aren’t looking for another season of political soap opera. They want roads that don’t break their axles. Sidewalks that don’t turn into ice rinks. A downtown that actually feels alive on a Tuesday afternoon and a Saturday night. They want Watertown to feel like the place it could be — not the place it’s been stuck as.
And the truth is, this city has potential. Not the fluffy tourism-brochure type. Real, measurable, economic potential. We’ve had major businesses sniff around Watertown, even commit interest, only to walk away because the follow-through just wasn’t there. Bringing those employers back — and attracting new ones — would strengthen our tax base in a way that relief programs and temporary band-aids never will. A thriving downtown, with restaurants, nightlife, families, and foot traffic seven days a week, isn’t fantasy. It’s simply unfinished business.
But before we roll out the red carpet for the next big company, maybe we should handle the basics — like the manhole covers on Arsenal Street that sit so low they may as well be potholes wearing metal hats.
Whether it’s the fault of the City of Watertown, the State of New York, or a cosmic prank in the fabric of space and time, the fact remains: these sunken manhole covers are destroying vehicles across the North Country — and yes, yours truly has felt the financial love-tap of Arsenal Street’s subterranean booby traps.
Raising those covers should be one of the first orders of business for this new council. Not because it’s glamorous. Not because it’ll make the campaign flyers. But because it affects literally every resident who drives through the city — which is to say: all of them.
Watertown doesn’t need another year of committees, subcommittees, and “we’ll look into it.” We need momentum. We need decisions that signal, loudly and clearly, that the election is over and the work has begun.
The city can grow. The city can improve. And the city can absolutely become the kind of place that people want to be all week long. But that starts with leadership that’s willing to focus less on who’s to blame — and more on what needs fixing.
If the new council wants a win right out of the gate, they don’t need a ribbon-cutting. They just need a wrench, a plan, and a road crew ready to lift a few hundred manhole covers up to street level.
And honestly? That’d be a perfect symbol for where Watertown is right now:
Time to raise things up — because we’ve been sitting too low for far too long.
About the Author
