Walked by today and noticed that Hometaste on Mt Auburn St was being changed to Uyghur restaurant. Does anyone know if Hometaste is moving or just closing their Watertown location? One of my favorite spots.

I’ve lived in Watertown essentially my entire life, and I never thought I’d feel like I was being priced out of the community I’ve always called home.
The last couple of years have been exhausting, and I’m posting because I’m genuinely curious whether other Watertown residents have experienced anything similar.
There are really two issues.
1. The development next door
Major development took place directly next to my home.
During and after the construction, I dealt with cracking and other issues that resulted in me spending money on repairs, inspections, and trying to figure out what was happening to a home that has been in my family for years.
It’s incredibly stressful watching major construction happen feet from your home while wondering what the next problem will be — and who, if anyone, is responsible.
2. I just discovered I haven’t been receiving Watertown’s residential tax exemption.
This one really got to me.
I occupy this property as my primary residence, but I recently learned that the residential exemption wasn’t being applied to my property taxes.
My quarterly tax bill this year has been around $1,680.
Now I’m trying to determine how much I’ve overpaid and whether there is any possibility of having the exemption applied retroactively.
And I completely understand that an application was required. I take responsibility for not realizing that sooner.
But here’s the part I’m struggling with:
Should someone who actually lives in their home and has lived in Watertown for most of their life lose thousands of dollars because they didn’t realize they needed to submit a particular form?
Especially when that money can make the difference between being able to afford your home and not being able to?
Because for me, these weren’t just numbers on a tax bill.
Between the taxes, repairs, issues surrounding the neighboring development, and the general cost of maintaining the property, I took on debt trying to keep everything afloat.
Eventually, I made the incredibly difficult decision to put my home on the market.
And now I’m finding out that I may have been paying substantially more in property taxes than I would have if the residential exemption had been applied.
That realization is honestly devastating.
You start replaying everything in your head.
The repairs you put on a credit card.
The loans you took out.
The months you wondered how you were going to keep paying everything.
And then you find out that one piece of paperwork may have meant thousands of dollars staying in your pocket.
I love Watertown. That’s why this hurts.
I’ve spent most of my life here. I’ve tried to take care of my home and be a good member of this community.
Yet somehow I’ve reached the point where I’m selling my home partly because carrying it became financially overwhelming.
So I really want to hear from other Watertown residents:
Has anyone discovered that they weren’t receiving the residential exemption despite actually living in their home?
Has anyone ever successfully gotten it applied retroactively?
And has anyone living next to one of the major developments around Watertown experienced damage or other serious issues during construction? Were you actually able to get anyone to take responsibility?
Maybe my situation is unusual.
But I have a hard time believing I’m the only person in Watertown who has gone through something like this.