Residents demand explanation for Mayor’s new time limit for Waltham Common events

Since Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy  imposed an administrative order last month limiting the length of Waltham Common events to four hours, residents and organizers have questioned the legitimacy of the new rule and whether the mayor’s reasoning holds up. 

The mayor’s Jan. 15 notice referenced “noise, neighborhood complaints, wear-and-tear, public safety concerns and the number of applicants asking to use the Common” as reasons to cut down the durations of events on the common. However, concerned citizens have investigated the specifics of these complaints and come up empty-handed. 

Waltham resident Kate Fontes submitted a public records request to the city’s Law Department for noise complaints, police reports, repair invoices and permit applications from 2023 to 2025 and received more than 3,000 files. However, Fontes was unable to find “citizen complaints, police incident reports, enforcement actions or other documentation substantiating claims of noise, public safety issues or related concerns cited as justification for the policy,” according to  her Feb. 2 correspondence with the mayor’s office.

“I am strongly opposed to elected officials unilaterally making decisions about public spaces that affect public use. It is troubling that there was no public input, no grandfathering of existing uses, and that the narrative became ‘this is a done deal’ with no recourse,” Fontes said.

City charter puts the mayor in charge

The Waltham city charter gives the mayor the executive power to make such decisions. 

“Oversight of the Common falls within the Mayor’s administrative authority,” said Ward 7 Councilor Paul Katz in a Feb. 24 email to The Times. “The Council does not have a formal role in setting those policies, and we were not (nor were we required to be) consulted prior to the recent decision.”

Executive actions such as this can take effect immediately and do not require prior approval by the City Council. Waltham operates under Plan B of its city charter, laid out by Massachusetts state law. Plan B is often referred to as a “strong mayor” system. In this kind of charter, the mayor is the executive arm, while the city council is the legislative arm – keepers of checks and balances but in situations like these are observers of executive action. The cities of Newton and Boston use the same structure.

As Fontes waits for the mayor or other city officials to produce tangible reasoning for the time limit, she has requested that the City Council place the new rule on a meeting agenda for public discussion. Under Waltham’s city charter, the council can request information from the mayor, pass a nonbinding resolution expressing its view and even attempt legislative action. What it cannot do is veto an administrative action. 

Additionally, according to City Council members, the mayor holds administrative authority over the common. Ward 3 Councilor Bill Hanley told The Waltham Times in a Feb. 24 email, “The city charter gives the mayor the right to administer and permit use of the common. I understand some people disagree with that, but it is what we have to work with at this time.”

The mayor’s jurisdiction over permits to use the common wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, but attorney and Waltham resident Jessica Scherer said unilateral control over anything that happens on the common is less routine. 

“That strikes me as odd,” she said in a Feb. 26 interview. “It didn’t pass my smell test in terms of what I know about basic separation of powers and checks and balances. Legislatures make law, executives enforce law. Assuming she has unilateral decision making power over the common, the restriction itself is unconstitutional.” 

Moreover, Scherer said the time limit rule does not address the issue of noise complaints. As Scherer put it, “There’s also no connection between four hours and ‘wear-and-tear.’” She added that the common is not located in a residential area, and that the noise complaints contained in the public records request were actually in connection with the recent anti-ICE and No Kings protests.

‘Plundered by Time Pirates!!!’

In the meantime, community organizers have felt the blowback from these new restrictions. The Watch City Steampunk Festival has made several statements on its Facebook page regarding the new time limits, telling followers and vendors, “Rest assured that we will look ahead to other options for 2027.” 

Melissa Honig, lead organizer for the Steampunk Festival, said in a Feb. 25 email, “We’re also in search of other events happening in Waltham on May 9th that people can attend after our event is over. We’re hoping that these ‘extra hours’ will give people even more reasons to come to Waltham.” 

Its Facebook page says something similar, although with Steampunk flair, declaring, “Calamity! Catastrophe! Oh, Citizens of Watch City, our dear Watch City Steampunk Festival has been plundered by Time Pirates!!!”

Hanley said in a Feb. 24 email, “I’m hopeful we can come to a compromise and the city can still provide and fund bathrooms, permitting and trash removal.” Councilor Katz agreed, stating, “I hope that organizations that host events on the common are able to continue doing so in a way that maintains that balance, and that any concerns can be addressed constructively.”

However, unease persists among citizens. “It irks me as an attorney to see any government overstep,” said Scherer. “It’s gonna hurt the city culturally and financially.” 

“[The common is] our land, we pay the money to upkeep it, we pay the police officers who patrol it,” she continued. There’s nothing about that space that doesn’t belong to the public. If this were to go to court, the common would be entitled to the highest amount of protection.”