This Weekend: Stings and Ivory in Concert Saturday – But Call First

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Photo: the Arneis Quartet on the move.

It could be quite snowy on Saturday so please call before heading out to these events.

• The Arneis Quartet will make its Belmont premier as part of the Belmont Public Library’s Music on Saturday concert series being held on Saturday, Jan. 24, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., in the library’s Assembly Room. The string quintet, made up of violinist Heather Braun and Rose Drucker, violist Daniel Dona and cellist Agnes Kim, is the faculty ensemble in residence at the Dana Hall School of Music. The concert will include:

  • Gardel: Por Una Cabeza
  • Wallace: pale reflections …
  • Dvorak: String Quartet in F major, Op. 96, “American”

Music on Saturday concerts are free to all thanks to the sponsorship of the Friends of the Belmont Public Library. Call 617-489-2000 for information.

• The First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist will hold its 20th annual Piano and Organ Celebration Concert at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24 at the church, 404 Concord Ave. Proceeds will be used to continue the restoration and maintenance of First Church’s Steinway grand pianos and the pipe organ in the sanctuary. Tickets are $10 at the door. Call 617-484-1054 x 206 or email alfajoy@uubelmont.org for more info. The snow date will be Sunday, Jan. 25. at 7 p.m.

BREAKING: Financial Task Force Endorses $4.5 Million Prop 2 1/2 Budget Override for April

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After a year of meetings and extensive research, the town’s Financial Task Force voted provisionally to recommend the Belmont Board of Selectmen to accept a $4.5 million Proposition 2 1/2 budget override to stabilize the town and school budgets over the next three years.

The recommendation by the 13 member group will be presented to the Selectmen at its scheduled Monday, Jan. 26 meeting in Belmont Town Hall at 8 a.m. The first date the Selectmen can accept the task forces’ proposal and set a date to vote on the measure at its Feb. 2 meeting.

Mark Paolillo, the task force chair and a member of the Board of Selectmen, said the override vote should “absolutely” be on the Town Election ballot on Tuesday, April 7.

“We want the most residents voting on the measure,” Paolillo told the Belmontonian Friday.

A more detailed article on the proposed Prop 2 1/2 Budget Override will be in the Belmontonian on Monday morning, Jan. 26.

If successful, the property tax bill on a house valued at $844,000 – the “average” value of residential property in the town – will increase by approximately $675, according to Town Treasurer Floyd Carman.

The most recent attempted override in Belmont was in June of 2010 when a $2 million measure was defeated 3,431 to 3,043 with 40 percent of eligible residents voting. The most recent successful override measure occurred in June, 2002 when voters OK’ed $2.4 million for operating costs, 2,938 to 2,728.

“This is not an easy request,” Paolillo said of asking residents to find the money to meet a shortfall in revenue.

The need for an override is due to “a perfect storm” of limited current sources of revenue set against mounting expenses and the needs of future capital projects, he said.

The most significant cost drivers facing the town is within the School District as exploding enrollment numbers – more than 300 children have entered the district in the past two years – and skyrocketing expenditures associated with Special Education and other state mandated programs show no end to their rapid increases, Belmont Superintendent John Phelan told Friday’s meeting.

(Read about the current $500,000 budget deficit the school district is facing here.)

While expenses increase, the task force found “there are no magic bullets” to fill the expanding gap between what’s coming into Belmont’s coffers and the money rushing out, said member Paul Lisanke.

With 80 percent of the town’s revenue coming from property taxes and a significant 9 percent from state aid which has been decreasing in real terms for the past three decades, the areas to find extra cash are limited and not significant enough to raise the money needed.

In addition to the operating budget, the town must be prepared to sink some big bucks into capital projects and repairs, according to Task Force member and Capital Budget’s Chair Anne Marie Mahoney. These include a new police station and Department of Public Works facility, preparing for new High School and increased money for roads and sidewalks.

“We are now talking about safety issues because we haven’t spent the money we should have,” said Mahoney.

According to the Task Force, the town will find itself in a cumulative fiscal chasm of $4,448,000 by fiscal 2017.

A successful override will allow the town to provide funds to the school district to meet the increase in enrollment, meet special education actual costs and maintain Belmont schools as a first-rate educational community. It will so provide funds for sidewalks and streets as well as make capital improvements neglected in the past years.

“We can’t look to the state or external measures to fix our problem,” said Paolillo. “We are clearly in a deficit in fiscal ’16, ’17 and ’18.”

Snowy Saturday: Winter Storm Watch Issued for Belmont

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Snow in January? Don’t panic!

The National Weather Service in Taunton has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Belmont and most of the western suburbs of Boston, for most of Saturday as heavy snow is expected to fall on the region.

As of 4 a.m., the NWS is predicting between 4 to 8 inches of snow with a trace of ice starting in the wee hours of Saturday, Jan. 24. The precipitation may change to rain mid-day before changing back to snow for the evening.

Belmont is likely to be on the lower end of the snow fall projections as Boston and Somerville are expecting only 3 to 5 inches due to warmer costal weather.

Because the snow will be wet, large branches and wires could be brought down.

And don’t fly your private plane as visibility will be a quarter mile or less at times.



Sold in Belmont: It’s What’s Inside the Bungalow That Counts; Watch the Oak (Ave) Fall
 

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A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”


• 45 Choate Rd. #1. Townhouse condominium (1938), Sold for: $590,000. Listed at $629,000. Living area: 1,644 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 210 days.


• 2 Dalton Rd. #2. Ground-floor condominium (1920), Sold for: $465,000. Listed at $549,000. Living area: 1,290 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 132 days.


• 93 Walnut St. Framed bungalow (1920), Sold for: $695,750. Listed at $699,900. Living area: 1,757 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 75 days.


• 65 Oak Ave. Two-family (1913), Sold for: $895,000. Listed at $1,075,000. Living area: 2,976 sq.-ft. 12 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2  baths. On the market: 133 days.


• 124 Sycamore St. #1. Ground-floor condominium (1900), Sold for: $410,000. Listed at $385,000. Living area: 996 sq.-ft. 5 rooms, 1 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 70 days.


When I think bungalow, I remember the northern neighborhoods of Atlanta where this wonderfully regional example of  residential architecture inhabits. These low-hanging homes, with their porches and woodsy appearance, just screams of someone reading “Gone with the Wind” barefoot on a swinging couch with a glass of Bourbon sitting on the floor as twilight nears.


The house at 93 Walnut St. near PQ park isn’t so romantic. In fact, it appears a developer needed squeeze something less than a Colonial onto a small lot. In 1920, you could still order a bungalow – and East Asian phrase for “a house in the Bengal style” – from the Sears catalogue as they were still a quite popular example of the Arts and Crafts-style. So in it went.


What’s missing here is the prominent, deep front porch typical of the style (A great example of a first-class bungalow in Belmont is located at 72 Cushing Ave. c. 1905, completely renovated in 2007) because the house sits practically on the edge of the sidewalk. Where could you put it? Good-bye, Scarlett.


What it does have is a wonderful recess dormer pointing to a loft space on the second floor.


And it is the interior that reveals the strengths and attraction of this homes. The interesting architectural features go on and on: the pair of columns leading into the “parlor” to delineate common from family space, wooden floors, period molding, a great fire place with a hardwood mantelpiece, built-in hutch and storage and the smart use of space on the second floor.  There are some modern turns – the kitchen now has granite tops (shutter!) and the second bathroom has one of those “shower stalls,” so you can be reminded your at the gym.


OK, it’s not what goes for an “average” sized house in town, but it’s quite cosy if you are starting a family and want a first house. All-in-all, a wonderful house.


		
		


• • •


If the residential two-family at 65 Oak Ave. just off Trapelo Avenue was being sold on “The Price Is Right,” host Drew Carey wouldn’t have to worry about disqualifying either of the contestants for bidding too much for the property as it appears only two people in the world, the seller and their salesperson, believe the house is valued at more than a million dollars.


Not saying the house isn’t nice; it’s a great late-period Victorian (so it has high ceilings) with a new paint job, new windows and roof along with surviving architectural details such as built-in cabinets and old-fashioned molding. But a million dollars for it?


So when the seller listed the price of the house in the seven figures, they neglected hearing the marketplace yelling “TIMBER!” Here is the grizzly fall of the Oak:


Original List Price:


Sept. 4: $1,075,000


Sept.10: $995,000


Oct. 1: $975,000


Oct. 14: $955,000


Nov. 14: $925,000


Jan. 15: $895,000


A $200,000 plunge from list to actual sales price in just over four months. Ouch.


 


Belmont’s MLK Breakfast: Act for Change to Make All Lives Matter
 

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Emperor Phillips is a big 17-year-old – about six-and-a-half feet tall – who doesn’t look like much would intimate him.


But Phillips, a Belmont High School junior who lives in Boston, admitted he was “real nervous” as he stepped up to speak to an overflow crowd at the Martin Luther King Birthday Breakfast held at the high school’s lunch room.


Brought up by storyteller Sumner McClain, Phillips just wanted the chance to “speak from the heart.”


“I realize I have a lot to be thankful for,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for Martin Luther King.”


Three years ago, Phillips attended a high school in Boston where “you entered through a metal detector, and it wasn’t very safe.”


Now at Belmont High School, “I have a solid education,” Phillips said, praising the program established by the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) – which McClain has been a longtime staffer – giving Boston children the opportunity to attend suburban school district.


METCO’s purpose is tied to King’s legacy of equal opportunity in all aspects of life, “and I’m really grateful for,” he said.


Phillips one wish was “that more of my friends could come here and get a good education,” he told the Belmontonian.


Monday marked the 21st annual celebration of the civil rights leader’s birthday, hosted by the Belmont Human Rights Commission and Belmont Against Racism, a commemoration highlighted by the expressions of hope and action during the best attended MLK event in recent memory.


Along with songs, acknowledgments and speeches, it was Phillips and the morning’s keynote speaker, WGBH Senior Investigative Journalist Philip Martin who spoke to the audience’s hopes for the future.


“What if we do nothing” in the face of institutional racism, Martin asked the audience. In a nation that “is sweltering with racial tension in the height of winter” after a year in which several African-American men and teenagers were killed by police officers across the country, “what if we absolutely nothing as the fires rage around us as children ask, ‘Do black lives matter?'”


Martin told the assembled crowd that a public consensus has grown in the past week that “it wasn’t the best way to demonstrate that black lives matter” for more than two dozen protestors to promote their cause by blocking highway I-95 in Boston or Medford to the chagrin of commuters and the public.


“But a young woman I corresponded on Twitter says, ‘What if they did nothing?'” asked Martin. Would anyone, even those commit to changing the system, be discussing black lives in mid-January if not for that direct action?


“And indeed, all lives do matter. No doubt most people believe this sincerely. But subconsciously, some lives matter less than others,” he said, referring to his reporting on the worst of humanity; those who exploit children and women “of all colors and poor” in the slavery known as the human trafficking trade.


Too many times Martin has heard exploiters said the woman “is just a prostitute” while others explain it away since “these people don’t value life at the same level [as we do].'”


“How is it that some lives are valued less than others and what if we do nothing about this?” Martin said, pointing “we lament lives lost in Paris very differently … than in Nigeria.”


A Thai father whose daughter is returned to her home after she was rescued from sexual bondage, “shed tears real and emotional stirring than any in Belmont, as any tears in New York or … Detroit.”


Speaking of Pope Francis’ conversation with a crying 12 year old in Manila who asked why does God allow children to suffer as sex slaves, Martin paused, taken by the emotion of the moment, then said Frances spoke to her with compassion and love.


“He said her life mattered. He humanized the situation. And what if we did nothing about it?” he said.


While all lives matter, Martin said there are attempts to diminish black lives with the “crucibles of imperfection,” that those victims of fatal police shootings were drinking, committing minor illegal acts, not listening to commands quickly enough.


“This crucible … is often what makes white Americans hesitant to take to criticize or take issue, to disagree with what others see at least as questionable behavior,” he noted.


While many communities and individuals in law enforcement “do the right thing, it is the system that has to be re-examined and reworked. And it is up to all of us to decide what to do in our own capacities,” he said.


“If all lives mattered, act like it matters. Behave like it matters. Legislate like it matters, Adjudicate like it matters. Black lives matter only if they truly matter,” he said.


What if King or generations of civil rights leaders had done nothing if it had settled for the normalcy of the time, Martin asked.


“Would there be a [former Gov.] Deval Patrick, a [President] Obama, the young man who was speaking from the heart earlier today?”


And if the consensus is to accept this new normalcy and wait for problems of justice and the judicial system to work themselves out, “tensions will increase and undermine our sense of nation,” he said.


“Do something to make sure that all lives matter.”


		
		


Belmont Fire Log: Just Add a Little Stove Top Grease While Cooking
 

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‘Nuff said.


Jan. 11 – At 10:11 a.m., fire units were sent to a Common Streeet house for an outdoor water leak. Turned out, as the official fire log reported, the problem was due to a “frozen outside cock.”






It was Sunday


Jan. 11 – Just before half past 11 a.m., members of a Belmont church’s congregation asked Belmont Rescue and Engine 1 to check on a fellow member who didn’t show up for services. Firefighters discovered the congregate had simply overslept.






Second-hand smoke alarm


Jan. 15 – Seconds before high noon, Engine 1 and Ladder 1 were sent to a business on Common Street in Cushing Square due to a fire alarm having gone off. Turns out an employee of a neighboring business had overheated his lunch in the microwave. The smoke circulated through the air vent and activated the smoke detector in the store next door.






Just add a little stove top grease


Jan. 15 – At three minutes past 5 p.m., fire crews were dispatched to Gordon Terrace for a reported kitchen fire. And it was just that; a stove top accident confined to the pot. Engine 1 disconnected power to the stove and it was red tagged for service. A possible piece of evidence: fire fighters noted a long-term, heavy buildup of grease around the top and sides of the stove. In addition, the Belmont Housing Authority was informed that the apartment’s fire alarm was not working. But the occupant said it was beeping away but she ventilated the area which caused the alarm to stop.








Belmont Schools Deficit Hits Half-Million Dollars Due to Rising Enrollment, Special Ed Costs
 

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Belmont School District Superintendent John Phelan said the ballooning budget deficit facing the district could be explained by rewording a statement made famous by Bill Clinton’s political advisor, James Carville.


But mindful of the cable audience watching at home, “I won’t say it on television,” said Phelan at the Belmont School Committee’s meeting held Tuesday, Jan. 20.


But it wasn’t hard to decipher what Phelan wanted to say:


“It’s the enrollment, stupid.”


The exploding number of new students – 317 in the past two years as of Oct. 1 – entering Belmont’s six public schools is not just straining the system’s physical assets with classrooms busting at the seems but now is disrupting its balance sheet. The district is struggling to handle a half-a-million dollar deficit in the first six months of its fiscal 2015 budget ending on Dec. 31, according to Anthony DiCologero, the district’s finance, business and operations director.


And there is every indication the red ink the district is wading in has not stopped rising.


Looking at a worksheet DiCologero presented to the committee, it’s easy to identify the single largest budget busting item as costs associated with special education – including tuitions, salaries and transportation – which is running behind the fiscal ’15 budget projections by nearly $1 million, at $945,000. While other line items have seen increases, special ed expenses are by far the budget’s most significant cost driver.


For Phelan, the growing budget imbalance is traced straight back to the skyrocketing student enrollment figures “that is front and center” the towering issue facing the district.


And while the number of children entering the system is rising, the percentage of students requiring mandated student support – subgroups including those not proficient in the English language and SpEd students – is outpacing that number, Phelan told the Belmontonian.


A year ago during the formation of the fiscal ’15 budget, the district forecasted between 81 to 85 SpEd students in Belmont. The current number is 95 students, many requiring a wide array of individualized teaching and learning assistance.


And those expenses are staggering; a look at one-line item, Special Ed tuitions, relays the expenditure pressures in front of the district. A certain number of Special Ed students are placed in an educational setting outside the Belmont and the other municipalities within the multi-town collaborative (LABBB) the district is a member. Those tuitions are a mandated cost the district is required to pay.


Due to the increase in Special Ed students now living in Belmont, a deficit of $125,000 at the end of September has risen to $384,000 in just the subsequent three months, a jump of $269,000 in unanticipated expenses.


Yet effectively predicting future special ed costs is like capturing smoke. School Committee member Laurie Graham said while the actual percentage of student’s needing some special education services have remained relatively level at 13 percent, the actual number has not just risen but is such a moving target that budget planners are making best guesses on how many students will require services.


DiCologero said the current level of students requiring services has been fluctuating on the high end of the estimates and could fall back in line with previous assumptions in the next years.


Nor is there any assurance the deficit has stabilized; in fact, Phelan said the district could see an additional five students requiring special education entering the system in the near future.


The impact of the exploding cost of special education expenses has placed the district “on the razor’s edge” where the shortfall could soon impact teaching, said Phelan.


“It is starting to hit the classroom a bit,” he said.


Phelan said he and DiCologero review every purchase order from teachers and administrators requesting material with the aim of only signing those requests that impact direct classroom instruction.


“We are saying ‘no’ to most $20 requests,” said Phelan.


The tightening will also force the district not to stockpile projections for the district’s interactive SMART Boards – which were brought into all classrooms by a multiyear initiative from the Foundation for Belmont Education – but rather order when they need replacing which could force some classrooms to be without this standard learning device during the wait. In addition, computers will likely be kept for seven years instead of being replaced in five along with other measures limiting technological purchases.


That diligence, along with, not filling sone teaching and staff positions, cost cutting, and other expense controls, has saved the district about $250,000 in the second quarter alone. If not for those efforts, the deficit would have been closer to three-quarters of a million dollars at the end of December.


Moving forward, Phelan and DiCologero said the district will continue with its belt-tightening, knowing that unexpected expenses – a colder than expected winter heating season or emergency repairs to buildings – and more students entering the system will not be offset by any cushion in the budget.


The effort to hold the line on funding is hampering Phelan’s ability to lessen the burden on teachers who have, in both the elementary schools and at the Chenery Middle School, been forced to teach to classrooms with nearly 30 students.


“I believe it is not acceptable to have 25 children in a first-grade classroom. That is the most important grade,” said Phelan, projecting to the 2015-16 school year when this level of students will likely occur.


Speaking to the Belmontonian, Phelan said restrictions on basic supplies and materials along with added requirements for new assessment evaluations and ever increasing student/teacher ratios, “has made the job of teaching much more pressurized and we are seeing that.”


Belmont Girls’ Basketball Puts Up A Pair of Wins to Reach 6-3
 

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After consecutive road losses to powerhouse teams in the Middlesex League, the Belmont High School Girls’ Basketball team last week reeled off a pair of victories to see its record jump to 6-3 overall and 5-3 in the league. 


On Thursday, Jan. 15, Belmont outscored an undermanned Waltham High School team 28-10 in the third quarter to sail by the Hawks, 67-49, at Wenner Field House. 


Tied 28-28, the Marauders’ used its quickness and ball hawking skills on defense to tire the nine-man Waltham squad, sparked by freshman point guard Carly Christofori who in a final three minutes of the third put on a one-woman show, pouring in 8 of her 12 points, stealing the ball on back-to-back plays, rebounding and caused two fouls to be committed against her aggressive play.


On one play in the sequence, Christofori ran down an errant pass and lunged to keep the ball inbounds and then scored on the subsequent foul.


“I was just trying to help the team by playing hard,” said Christofori. 


Playing her best game of the season on both ends of the court, senior center Linda Herlihy put in 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and 3 block shots while junior guard/forward Irini Nikolaidis hit for a career high 19 points, going 9 for 11 from the charity strip.


On the next night, the Marauders’ got by a one-win Winchester High team, 47-32, in a game an assistant coach of Head Coach Melissa Hart described as “one that you are not going to write home about.”


The quick turnover saw Belmont struggle to get any rhyme or reason to either the offense (no player hit double digits in scoring as Herlihy threw in 9 for the team lead) and defense for the night. It took the insertion of junior guard Samari Winklaar to lift the team’s defensive presence while scoring some much needed outside shots (4 of her 5 points in the quarter) to propel the team to a 10 point lead (24-14) at the half.


“I go in and do what ever [Hart] asks me to do; that was shooting and play strong on defense,” said Winklaar, who said she is becoming more comfortable with her teammates “as I get to know how they play and where they are [on the court.]”


With the game in hand after the Marauders scored 15 points in the third quarter while holding the Sachems to 7, Belmont was able to empty the bench, allowing several players significant minutes on the court. And out there, junior Sara Lyons put in a runner in the paint for 2 points, junior Ani Maroyan stroked a three from the outside, sophomore Mary Kate Egan battled for her 2 points and freshman Gretta Propp hit a jumper and three free throws before leaving the game with a lower-leg condition.


		
		


		
		


Fire Heavily Damages Two Family on Russell Terrace, Occupant Taken to Hospital
 

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A two-alarm fire heavily damaged a 105-year-old two-family house at the end of Russell Terrace, sending an elderly occupant to the hospital this afternoon, Tuesday, Jan. 20.


Flames and smoke were billowing from the first and second floor windows of the wooden Colonial when the first fire crews arrived at the dead end street off of White Street near the Watertown line, Belmont Fire Chief David L. Frizzell told the Belmontonian at the scene.


The call came into Belmont dispatch at 12:06 p.m. and was quickly upgraded to a second alarm, said Frizzell.


A haze hung over a blocked off White Street as firefighters worked inside the building to douse flames that worked their way into the awes. The exterior was blackened by the blaze.


A Russell Terrace resident who did not want to be named said her husband saw smoke coming from the second floor window just after noon.


“He yelled at me to call 911. I’m surprised I didn’t have a heart attack running to the phone,” she said.


Frizzell and the resident told the Belmontonian an elderly occupant was seen exiting the building’s rear extension as the fire department apparatus arrived. The man was picked up by a fire fighter and placed into an ambulance and was taken to an unknown area hospital.


It took firefighters an hour to knock down the fire which destroyed the front right of the building and melted the aluminum siding of the neighboring house.


Frizzell said it was too early to determine what started the fire. He said while heavily damaged, about two-thirds of the structure did not suffer fire damage so it would not immediately be seen as a total loss.


Mutual aid came from Watertown, Cambridge, Arlington, Waltham and Weston.


The 2,228 sq.-ft. house, built in 1910, was assessed at $142,000 with the total property valued by the town at $430,000. 


		
		


This (Short) Week: Visit the Savannah and Journey 100 Feet in a Movie
 

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• On the government side of the week: The Belmont School Committee meets on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School to discuss among other things, budgets; present and future. The Belmont Water Advisory Board will talk about this year’s and next fiscal years capital projects on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 10 a.m. at 35 Woodland St.


• Remember that street side trash and recycling has been delayed one day due to the MLK Holiday.


• Tuesdays are story time at both of Belmont libraries. Pre-School Story Time at the Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer run library, at 10:30 a.m. Stories and crafts for children age 3 to 5. Parents or caregivers must attend. Siblings may attend with adults. Registration is not required. The Benton Library is located at the intersection of Oakley and Old Middlesex. Over at the Belmont Public Library on Concord Avenue will be holding two sessions of Story Time for 2’s and 3’s, at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. 


• U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark’s staff will be holding office hours on Tuesday, Jan. 20, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Beech Street Center. 


• Join Earthwatch volunteer Mark Hopkins for a photographic visit to the savannahs of South Africa, and his hikes through scenic Thornveld landscapes accompanied by an armed Zulu ranger, counting wild rhino, giraffe, buffalo, elephant and a dozen other large mammal species. The journey takes place on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 1:15 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.




• The Belmont Garden Club will hear from Suzanne Mahler on “Architectural Plants for the Summer Garden on Wednesday, Jan. 21 in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. Light refreshments will be served at 10 a.m. with the program beginning at 10:45 a.m. 


• The Belmont Book Discussion Group will discuss Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson on Wednesday, Jan. 21 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the library’s Flett Room. Everyone is welcome to attend. Copies of the book can be requested through the library catalog or call the library Reference staff at 617-993-2870.


• The Beech Street Center will be screening the film, The Hundred-Foot Journey, on Friday, Jan. 23, at 1 p.m. The Golden Globe award-winning comedy stars Helen Mirren, and produced by Stephen Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey. An Indian family opens a restaurant directly opposite Mirren’s Michelin-starred establishment in France. Culinary and cultural “wars” ensue.


• The Belmont Public Library’s OTAKUrabu program, which is meeting on Friday, Jan. 23 from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the library’s Assembly Room, lets teens from 7th to 12th grade meet up to watch anime, talk manga and games, do a craft/activity, and plan for future events. Japanese snacks provided free while they last. Just drop in, no registration required. Sponsored by the Friends of the Belmont Public Library.


• The Belmont Art Association and unCommon Finds, 432 Common St., is holding an artists reception on Friday, Jan. 23  from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., in conjunction with The Spirited Gourmet, 448 Common St., wine tasting (from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.) for BAA artists, Dennis Kavanagh and Namoi Ellenberg-Dukas. A coupon for dessert (with two entrees purchased) at Savino’s Grill will be available at reception.