r/Waltham

The school committee booked a venue that is far too small for the graduating class. Now, seniors are stuck on a ticket waiting list with absolutely no guarantee they can even attend.
Even worse, students who managed to get a ticket can't secure one for their dates. Families have already spent hundreds of dollars on dresses and tuxedos, and now these kids face missing out on their milestone milestone event.
This planning failure is just another example of an administration that can't get out of its own way—especially following the recent state report ranking Waltham High in the bottom 10%.
The school committee needs to act immediately, expand the capacity, and fix this for the Class of 2026!

Waltham Times: State Report Card Ranks Waltham High in Bottom 10 Percent
#WalthamMA #WalthamPublicSchools #WalthamHighSchool #ClassOf2026 #FixTheProm

TL;DR is that the Waltham Post Office scanned a Priority Mail package as delivered because they "ran out of time" to deliver on Monday. I was PROMISED it would be delivered Tuesday. As of this evening on Wednesday, no package.

Suggestions?

Tracking shows this Priority Mail package took 10 days to travel from Texas to Waltham. USPS no longer guarantees Priority Mail delivery times, so there's nothing that can be done about that.

On Monday, the tracking initially said the package would be delivered between 1:30 and 3:30 PM. Then, by 6:00 PM. After 6:00 PM, it just said that it was out for delivery.

At 8:09 PM on Monday, the tracking changed to the package having been delivered to an agent and handed to an individual...in a different zip code other than the one in which I live. The delivery zip code was 02451, which is where the post office is located. The vendor for this item offered multiple shipping options. I picked USPS Priority Mail direct and not an option that hands parcels over to a third party for delivery.

I called the Waltham Post Office on Main Street first thing Tuesday morning after 7:30 AM - no answer. So, I called the 1-800 number for USPS after their phone lines opened and opened a case. On Tuesday afternoon, I called the Waltham Post Office again. The young woman who answered said a supervisor was unavailable on site but provided another number to call for the supervisor.

When I called the supervisor's number the first time, there was no answer. Interestingly, when I blocked my number from the caller ID via *67, he answered. He reported that he had handled my package that morning because it was accidentally scanned the previous evening as delivered. He said the delivery person ran out of time to deliver that evening but he promised that I would get the package on Tuesday.

The manager for the Waltham Post Office also returned my call to the 1-800 number later in the afternoon on Tuesday. He also promised the package would be delivered on Tuesday.

No package on Tuesday but there were some thunderstorms in the afternoon. Because the package is no longer being tracked, I called the 1-800 number this morning and escalated the issue. No return calls. It's now after 7:30 PM and no package has been delivered.

I informed the vendor of the issues on Monday evening. On Tuesday, they emailed that they double checked and the package was sent USPS Priority Mail direct - not via another method that hands off to a third party for delivery.

I understand the politics of making USPS inefficient but I still have to warn that they are doing a terrible job and you may want to use a private carrier if possible.

Is contacting Katherine Clark's office a waste of time?

Edit: Grammar.

You are a black and white cat that used to live in an apartment on Moody Street. I was one of your many fans who passed by from time to time, slowing down to see if you were enjoying the day in your cat tree. You had a sign in your window that said your name was Moonshine, but now the sign is gone and the apartment is empty. I hope you have a new sunny window to sit in and watch the world from. Know that you were a bright spot in our day!

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Waltham is taking out a 9 million dollar loan to buy the Buttrick building and no feasibility study?????

What?

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Hdq7eYm6o/

If your name is Elizabeth and you lost your wallet it’s at the Costco service desk.

Just wanted to let other parents know a new daycare center in Waltham just got their licenses and opened this week - Montessori Kids Universe Waltham. They are in the Plaza by Bertuccis and across from Costco / Home Depot. They do infant - pre school.

We toured all the daycare centers in Waltham and were not super excited about any of them until we found MKU.

We felt like a lot of the other daycares were really transactional, not super personal, not very responsive to our concerns, really pricey, and/or had small or tight spaces they were filling to max capacity. MKU feels so well designed, bright open spaces, thoughtful, responsive / amazing communication, and reasonably priced by contrast - (cheaper than the Waltham and Lexington Bright Horizons).

Would definitely recommend other parents set up a tour! I was stressing for months about finding the right center, reading every review, touring every daycare only to be hit with $3500+ for monthly care after the tour was over - so wanted to let other parents know about them.

They also were (maybe still are) doing ongoing discounts for founding families!

It’s unfortunate that the most outdated sections of the City website appear to be the City Council committee pages themselves.

A few examples:
• Public Works & Public Safety Committee — latest posted minutes: Nov. 3
• Ordinance & Rules Committee — Nov. 17
• License & Franchise Committee — Nov. 3
• Long-Term Debt Committee — Aug. 4

This is the issue Councilor Katz tried to address last December with his resolution calling for departments and boards to review and update their pages on the city website.

We shouldn’t have to wonder whether public records are current or missing. And is the city not adhering to any law stipulating how quickly minutes must be posted?

This seemed relevant given that we have been Flocked by our mayor and city council.

Live in a first floor/garden level rental near the Newton line and have had nothing but bug problems since I moved here. I had ants (flying ants, but do not know the correct terminology) last spring and summer, along with silverfish. An exterminator came and sprayed around but I was also told that in layman terms that I will have ants, and I cannot call asking for treatment every time I see one (they were there from day one and it was several more than 'just one').

I now have weevils and 'house centipedes,' and some ants and silverfish. I told the landlord, and an exterminator came and sprayed my unit and in the building two weeks ago. It was determined that the insects/pests are not coming from my unit but would not disclose where they are coming in from and why it is only my unit that appears to have a problem. I have photos and videos. I set up several sticky traps that get filled up in days and need to be replaced at least twice a week.

I guess I am looking for advice of what can I do ? I am not sure if I can cancel my lease over a peristent bug problem in the building. I am losing sleep over this and have spent a lot of my own money and traps and sprays that seem ineffective.

I just feel any inspection the exterminator did and any 'reccomendation' he wrote out has been ignored. I was told by the LL this happens at certain times of year (which is partially true), but I also think there is something that I am not being told.

I'm mostly curious in terms of meeting people and making good friends, especially for people in their 30s. Most of the groups I find are once a month at most.

For those of you who frequent The Outer Limits, Steve Higgins has officially announced that a buyer has been found to take over the shop after his retirement, so it will not be closing! Post is on Facebook

Looking for opinions here. I pulled in this am to my driveway at like 7 am and someone had their dog peeing in our yard. Was I wrong to ask them "can you please not let your dog pee in the yard in the future?"

Here's my front yard:

1. Outlined with one of those metal garden fence things that's like 2 feet tall.

2. Potted plants lining our walkway

3. Front yard had toddler toys

4. Three signs that are pretty clearly visible saying no dog pee

Where they were, the dog had to climb over the fence thing and was in the middle of the yard.

Saying all this recognizing 1) I love dogs and want one 2) I have owned dogs and it's fairly easy to move them to a different location to pee 3) there are plenty of medians and abandoned looking areas in this neighborhood where they could pee without ruining someone's attempt to make a small patch of grass for their toddler to play on

looking for trivia spots in the newton/watertown/waltham area! not tommy doyle’s, because i’m currently using a knee scooter and i’ll die trying to navigate around there, and not tempo, because that’s already on the list