Two Controversial Articles at Town Meeting Tonight

Today is Wednesday, April 24. Here are five things you need to know.

1.) Town Meeting members will vote on a bottled-water ban and leaf-blower compromise tonight during a Special Town Meeting.

The bottled-water ban, which was opposed by the Board of Selectmen, would prohibit the sale of single-serving bottled water in town. The ban is being proposed by three Arlington High seniors – Amy Currul, Sonia Zacher and Marina Milan – for environmental reasons.

The leaf-blower compromise, which was crafted by a town committee, looks to lessen the restrictions on gas-powered leaf blowers from the seasonal ban, which was passed at Town Meeting last May and upheld at a Special Election in July and Special Town Meeting in October. If the compromise is defeated, the seasonal ban will take effect beginning May 15.

The Special Town Meeting gets underway at 8 p.m. in Town Hall.

2.) From the town: Cambridge Road Closures Today: The City of Cambridge has provided the Town of Arlington with the following information regarding traffic and road closures today related to the memorial for Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Officer Sean Collier.

These road closures are going to have a significant impact on those who travel from Arlington through Cambridge, and police are asking the public to plan ahead, seek alternate routes and use public transportation whenever possible.

The road closures planning in Cambridge are as follows:

• Starting at midnight last night, Memorial Drive was closed between Mass. Ave. and the BU Bridge.
• Vassar Street will be closed beginning at 6 a.m. this morning between Audrey Street and Mass. Ave.
• Mass. Ave. will be closed from Albany Street toward Boston beginning at 7 a.m.
• The Mass. Ave. Bridge into Cambridge will be closed beginning at 7 a.m.
• ALL roads and bridges will be open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic EXCEPT FOR Memorial Drive between Mass. Ave. and the BU Bridge.
• Police have been coordinating with the MBTA to minimize disruptions to bus routes in the area.

The City of Cambridge is confident that the operations will be complete and all roads reopened to vehicular traffic no later than 6 p.m. this evening.

Information about these road closures is available on the police department’s website at www.CambridgePolice.org.

3.) In case you missed it, the Boston Marathon bombing suspect currently hospitalized and in police custody was involved in an incident last Fourth of July on Paul Revere Road in Arlington, according to a police release.

4.) According to a Boston Globe report, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev admitted Sunday to carrying out last week’s attack with his brother.

5.) It’s expected to gradually become sunny today with temperatures reaching the upper 60s, according to the National Weather Service.