Purple Heart Ceremony Set For Wed., Aug. 7 Come Rain Or Shine

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Photo: There could a change of location of the ceremony due to the weather

The Town of Belmont will honor and observe National Purple Heart Day on Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 10 a.m.

Just where will depend on the weather. If the rain expected to arrive around noon stays away, the ceremony will take place at the main entrance of the Belmont Public Library, 336 Concord Ave.

If the waterworks starts early, the celebration will take place at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.

Residents of Belmont, veterans and their family members and in particular all of those who are Purple Heart recipients are invited to attend this special event. 

The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the United States armed forces who are wounded by an enemy and posthumously to the next of kin in the name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds received in action.

Opening Reception For Jones’ Solo Show Thursday At Belmont Library

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Photo: “Commuting” (detail) by S B Jones.

Nope, Mussorgsky isn’t on the bill this Thursday, Aug. 8 at the Belmont Public Library.

The Belmont Gallery of Art at the Belmont Library is holding an opening reception for artist Susan Jones’ Solo Show: Pictures at an Exhibition.

The reception will take place between 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the library’s Assembly Room. Jones will discuss her art: paintings, window pieces and woven multimedia pieces. There will be a vintage stereoscope demonstration and an art project to do yourself. 

There will be light snacks and art-making. The exhibit continues through the summer.

Changes Coming to Online Payments for Belmont Light Customers

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Photo: Belmont Light will soon turn to a new online payment processor.

Starting Monday, Sept. 9, Belmont Light will be switching its online payment processor from InvoiceCloud to NISC’s SmartHub. 

SmartHub can be accessed by following the link on the front page of www.BelmontLight.com or by visiting BelmontLight.SmartHub.coop  To start, customers will need only their account number and the name on the account, which can be found on all Belmont Light and Town DPW Water bills.

Customers wishing to continue or begin paying online for their electric or water accounts after September 9 will need to log in to SmartHub to submit new payment information, including any autopayment information.  Payments will no longer be accepted through InvoiceCloud after that date.

“Having two customer portals – one to view their account and one to pay their bill – has proven cumbersome and difficult for many customers,” said Jim Zocco, Belmont Light’s customer care and enterprise resources manager.  “We heard the feedback from these customers and have worked over the last few years to provide a simpler and more efficient experience.”

Zocco said that he hopes the new system will erase many of the headaches customers have faced since the two-portal system launched. 

Belmont Light will be holding training session this fall for customers who want to learn how to get the most out of SmartHub. Information about these events will be posted on the Town website and the Belmont Light website, as well as other Town media outlets.

More information and a tutorial on how to use SmartHub for payments will be available on Belmont Light’s website shortly.  For any other questions, customers can reach out to Belmont Light’s Customer Service at (617) 993-2800 or email customerservice@belmontlight.com. 

FBE’s Inaugural Apple Run Set For Sunday,​ October 6

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Photo: Let’s run for education.

The Foundation for Belmont Education is excited to announce the FBE Apple Run!

For six years, Belmont residents have honored the late resident and School Committee member Dan Scharfman by participating in a special fall event, the Dan Scharfman Memorial Run. However, as the seventh year of the run approaches, the Scharfman family has asked for this event to focus solely on education in Belmont.

In keeping with the family’s request, the Foundation for Belmont Education is announcing the FBE Apple Run, which will take place on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019.

“We have been honored to celebrate Dan’s legacy,” said Christa Bauge, FBE president. “In six years, we have raised more than $150,000 to help Belmont’s Public Schools invest in professional development for teachers and school technology, two of Dan’s passions as a School Committee member. Going forward, and with the blessing of the Scharfman family, we are going to take these goals and run with them,” said Bauge.

“We’re thrilled with the success our annual, fall run has enjoyed in the last six years. The FBE Apple Run will continue as an amazing opportunity for Belmont and the larger running community to challenge themselves and celebrate public education,” said Paul Roberts, race director of the FBE Apple Run.

In addition to the name change, the FBE has made modifications to the routes of both the 5K race and the new 1-mile race to accommodate construction of the new Belmont Middle and High School. The new route will maintain a scenic route through Belmont, followed by music, fun, and festivities at Harris Field.

Registration for the inaugral FBE Apple Run is now open at fbeapplerun.racewire.com and registration for the FBE Apple Run Couch to 5K Program is also open for sign up when you register for the race.

For additional information about the FBE Apple Run, the Apple Run Couch to 5K Program, and the Foundation for Belmont Education, please visit www.fbe-belmont.org.

Thank you for your continued support of the Foundation for Belmont Education. Together, we are making a difference in the Belmont Public Schools.

The Foundation for Belmont Education (FBE) is a non-profit, independent, charitable organization run by volunteers dedicated to improving educational opportunities for Belmont’s children and teachers. The FBE awards grants for a diverse array of projects—from small grants that benefit a single classroom to large programs sponsored by multiple teachers designed to benefit students in an entire grade or school. Thanks to donations from thousands of Belmont residents and businesses, the FBE donates an average of $250,000 annually to the Belmont Public Schools, granting close to $4.0 million to date.

Belmont Police Relocates to Temporary HQ at 40 Woodland

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Photo: Getting to the temporary location of the Belmont Police HQ. (Belmont Police)

The Belmont Police Department relocated to its stopgap headquarters at 40 Woodland St. on Sunday, Aug. 4.

The temporary station is located at the bottom of Woodland Street just past the Belmont Water Department building.

The entrance to Woodland Street is approximately 800 feet west of the intersection of Thomas Street and Waverley Street and is roughly a quarter-mile east of the intersection of Trapelo Road and Waverley Street.

The relocation is necessary while renovations and additions to the existing building are set to be underway on Aug. 12. The BPD anticipates that it will spend 18 months at the temporary location.

All phone numbers and email addresses remain the same. The building at 460 Concord Ave will have NO police personnel present. If you need to visit us, please proceed to 40 Woodland St.

Opinion: Let’s Keep Soccer Fun For All In Belmont

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Photo: Belmont High School Girls’ Soccer.

By: Adriaan Lanni

As a Belmont soccer mom and former college player, I am incredibly proud of the U.S. World Cup team, which stands up for equality off the field and plays the game beautifully on it. But the inspiration of the Women’s World Cup obscures a troubling trend in American youth soccer—one that has a particularly strong impact on affluent towns like ours.

There is an arms race to produce future World Cup stars that filters down throughout the system. When I drive by Belmont High School over the summer, I often see private coaches leading young kids in one-on-one workouts. My family is not immune; we pay $3,000 a year for my 12 year-old daughter to play on a club soccer team. In a sport which relies on the slow acquisition of uncanny foot skills, club soccer has come to feel nearly obligatory for kids aiming at their high school varsity team. State and national rankings are available for club teams starting with the under-11s. And this competitiveness is tied, inevitably, to anxiety about college admissions. The surest path to a college scholarship is offered by “development academy” teams, which are so serious that players are not allowed to play for their high school (i.e., with their friends). 

This pressure might be OK for kids who have a shot at playing at the very highest levels.  But it’s terrible for everyone else. Regular participation of 6 to 12-year-olds in the U.S. dropped 14 percent between 2016 and 2018, as kids who can’t afford or don’t want to join the arms race quit. Even the club soccer “success” stories come at a price. I played in the Olympic Development Program and was recruited to play college soccer, the Holy Grail for many club soccer parents today.  But the game had begun to seem like a job, and I quit my college team after two seasons.  And this was when the soccer arms race was in its infancy before it sucked in players unlikely to advance in the sport. 

Watching my daughter today, I worry that many kids are missing out on the game’s real greatness.  Soccer is one of the few sports that people of all ages play on a casual, “pick-up” basis.  It is also a game that, unlike basketball or softball, typically requires intricate teamwork to produce even a single goal.  And because a good goal is like a little work of art that we create with other people, there is nothing I know of that brings people together so quickly.  You can see this in what Megan Rapinoe called the “explosion of joy” that often accompanies a goal—and not just in the World Cup.  I met my husband playing soccer, and I have joined pickup games all over the world with complete strangers.  In a world of careful, cultivated relationships, the impromptu fellowship of casual soccer is a wonderful thing. 

Without all the external pressures, and now well into middle age, I have rediscovered my love for soccer. The Boston area has outdoor and indoor leagues for women of all ages and skill levels (if you want to play let me know: I’ll gladly help you find a team or a regular pickup group). This month, Lancaster hosted the Soccerfest, a national tournament with women’s divisions ranging from over-30 to over-70 (!); teams travel from as far as Texas and Hawaii.  I am as excited to play with my over-40 team of local moms as I have been about any soccer game.  Recently I was playing in a pickup game in Lexington, mostly with women of a certain age.  My teammate had the ball on the sideline, and I ran (some might say lumbered) toward her, calling for the ball.  But I had an intuition that another teammate, Jeri, would sprint into the space I left vacant.  I let the ball pass between my legs and Jeri was there, unmarked; she hammered the ball into the goal.  It made our day.  My daughter now often plays pickup with us precisely because of this joy and camaraderie, which often seems absent from competitive youth club games.  

A few years ago, the Belmont Soccer Association started an in-town small-sided coed league for fifth through eighth graders. Affectionately called the “Rogue League,” it’s an organized version of the coed, multi-age, wide-range-of-skill-level pickup games that my brother and I grew up playing at our local park alongside club soccer. My daughter played in the Rogue League this spring and loved it. I highly recommend it.  

Like many others, I am willing to part with shocking amounts of time and money to support my daughter’s desire to become a better player.  But what I ultimately want for her has nothing to do with playing at an elite level.  I want her playing pickup in 20 years, savvy enough to make that run that Jeri made—and to feel that same “explosion of joy” that Rapinoe and all the rest of us feel when you play the Beautiful Game right.

Adriaan Lanni lives on Watson Road.

Planning Board Seeking Two New Members To Join ‘Congenial’ Group

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Photo: The Planning Board’s acting Chair Stephen Pinkerton.

With two empty seats on the group, the Belmont Planning Board is looking to close the gap before the start of a busy fall season, said acting Planning Board Chair Stephen Pinkerton.

“We are reaching out to residents who want to volunteer to serve with a group that is doing some important work for the community,” said Pinkerton, who took over from the previous Chair, Charles Clark, who stepped down after serving nine years on the board.

The board is seeking candidates to fill a full-time vacancy – with the departure of Clark – and an associate member’s position. For both seats, “clearly there’s a need for someone who has strategic or master planning experience,” said Pinkerton.

Those interested in applying for the positions can go the town’s “Talent Bank.”

Created to protect and preserve the character and quality of life that defines Belmont, the Planning Board will face a number of high profile cases coming before its docket in the coming months including a residential and educational development on the two last open parcels at McLean Hospital, multiuse construction along South Pleasant Street and creating bylaws on short-term rentals such as those on AirBnB.

Pinkerton said one area of expertise the board would like to add is someone with legal experience.

“We have a good representative group with planning background so it will be useful to get a lawyer on board,” said Pinkerton who said McLean specifically “will not be an easy one” to resolve as the town and hospital are working within a land management agreement created 20 years ago this November.

While the associate member is not a full voting member, Clark said it’s likely whoever is appoved by the Select Board will be the board’s representative on the 2020-2030 Belmont Comprehensive Plan, which is the framework to guide future decisions and policies governing a wide range of land-use related issues in town.

Creating a new town master plan will “not be a start from scratch” project, said Pinkerton but rather skillfully taking out what has been accomplished since the last revision and help input policies approved by the Planning Board such as the Housing Production and energy plans.

Pinkerton believes a one-time member of the Warrant Committee or the Capital Projects Committee would be ideal for the position.

The Board will be taking its time during August to find the best person to join “a really congenial group. We’re not a fire brand agency,” said Pinkerton.

Temporary Field Lights Proposed For Winn Brook, PQ Grounds Heads To Select Board

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Photo: (foreground) Charlie Conway, president of Belmont Youth Soccer, at a community meeting on field lights at Winn Brook playground.

After a pair of bruising meetings with skeptical neighbors on Wednesday night, July 24, the Belmont Recreation Commission unanimously approved allowing Belmont Youth Soccer to install temporary field lights at Winn Brook Elementary School and Pequossette (PQ) Field for approximately 10 weeks this fall.

The set of four lights will illuminate a 80 yard by 80-yard area for up to two hours until 8:30 p.m. beginning on the first week of September and lasting until early November as part of a pilot program.

“We will bring this [decision to allow lights until 8:30 p.m. weekdays] to the Select Board with the commission’s approval,” said Jon Marshall, assistant town administrator and Recreation Department director.

The commission did place conditions on the proposed permit that echoed resident’s major concerns by prohibiting diesel-generated lights which neighbors to the field considered too noisy and a potential source of air pollution.

In addition, the commission will suggest the Select Board begin a discussion that would lead to the lights being rotated to other play spaces, Town Field and Grove Street Playground, allowing fields to rest and regenerate the grass playing surfaces.

The lights request by Belmont Youth Soccer is an unintended consequence of the new Belmont Middle and High School, said Charlie Conroy, BYS president, who made the presentation to the committee and public at the Beech Street Center on Wednesday, July 24.

Recreation Commission Chair Anthony Ferrante with member Marsha Semuels responding to residents concerns.

With the school’s long-standing practice fields ripped up as the land is being prepared for construction, high school athletic teams will train on town fields and playgrounds (field hockey will be at Winn Brook, Girls’ Soccer at Grove Street and Boys’ Soccer at PQ) from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., dislodging the youth league which has 1,500 players between kindergarten and eighth grade.

The four lights will allow teams of older players, about 40 in 7th and 8th grade, to practice well after dusk. “We will not light up the whole field just a specific part” of the playgrounds,” said Conway.

In addition, said Conway, Youth Soccer is also renting a field at Belmont Day School for $25,000 to supplement the playgrounds already being used this fall.

At both meetings, held consecutively, residents immediately pointed to the impact of diesel-powered lights on the quality of life of the neighborhood.

The fumes from the engines will prevent nearby residents from opening their windows “and that is completely unacceptable,” said Sherman Street’s Linda Matthews, who also pointed to the likelihood of light pollution from their use.

Conway said there are alternatives to diesel generated power sources including solar and electrical. But unlike the diesel machines which can be rented, the alternatives have to be purchased.

“And what we need from the town is a five year commitment to this plan for us to make this investment,” said Conway.

As much as the fumes, residents protested the diesel lights adding “another audio assault,” in the Winn Brook area, said Joanne Adduci of Hoitt Road. “Our chances to sit outside will be gone,” she said from the loud hum of the running motors.

Attendees at both sessions pointed to possible additional traffic, the noise of kids playing past nightfall and the location of the lights along abutters – at PQ it totaled 45 houses and 90 families – homes rather than closer to the center of the grounds.

Rose O’Neil, a Precinct 4 town meeting member from Maple Street adjacent to PQ, said as a member of the Friends of PQ Park, when the playground at the park was being developed this year, lighting was prohibited to prevent constant use.

“There has to be time for the residents … who are not part of league,” said O’Neil, seeking to preserve the park as “a communal place.”

“I love that feel,” she said.

While Conway and members of the commission attempted to reassure the residents that their concerns were being listened to, some in attendance didn’t have the same faith in the responses.

“With all due respect, is this a done deal? Do we get a fair shake,” said a resident.

After the end of the night’s meetings, the commission moved to approve the permit with the conditions against diesel use.

Progress On McLean Barn’s Future To The Lament Of Black-Clad Ninjas

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Photo: The brick barn on Belmont conservation land off of Mill Street.

The future of the long-abandoned McLean Barn off Mill Street adjacent to Rock Meadow and the Kendall Garden neighborhood took a significant step forward with the selection of a facilitator who will begin the public process of determining a best end-use for the two-story brick structure.

“Yeah!,” cheered Ellen Cushman, the chair of the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill which oversees the large swath of conservation land, when the announcement was made at the committee’s most recent meeting in July.

The working barn – whose cows supplied milk for the McLean Hospital – was part of a farm complex built more than a century ago. The 2018 Town Meeting approved $200,000 in Community Preservation Committee funds to stabilize and mothball the deteriorating structure built in 1915.

The facilitator selected by the committee, Kathryn Madden of Madden Planning Group in Watertown, will reach out to the barn’s many stakeholders – several town departments, McLean Hospital, the Land Management committee, the Trustees of the Reservation that holds the conservation easement, and the nearby residents – than group them into focus groups then hold up to eight meetings.

Afterwards, one or more community meetings will be scheduled where the status of the barn will be presented and suggestions on the best use will be presented. Strategies on moving forward with the data and information gathered will be developed.

“I’m extremely impressed how [Madden] is getting these things up and running,” said Cushman.

The future of the building is restricted by an 2005 agreement between the town and McLean Hospital to a small number of uses:

  • Environmental education,
  • the storage of materials and equipment associated with management of Lone Tree Hill or the nearby Highland cemetery and
  • office space for the staff of the cemetery and/or “the Premises.”

Cushman said she anticipates a late fall conclusion of Madden’s work.

One group that will not celebrate the news of a renovated barn is a group of mysterious visitors to the site. According to Cushman, neighbors of the building have seen a group of adults “described as a looking like ninjas wearing black-clad robes” tearing off the plywood covering a first-floor window and entering the building late at night, the latest incident happening over the Memorial Day weekend.

Police who investigated the break-in did not find any illegal activity – the barn is a frequent victim of vandalism – other than lawn chairs left behind.

“We don’t know why the ninjas come other than to hold a meeting,” said Cushman.

Race On To Improve Roads In Underwood/Hittinger Area Before High School Reopens

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Photo: The location of the multi-use path along Underwood.

With about seven weeks before the start of the school year, the town is playing catch up with plans to improve travel along the new travel corridors to Belmont High School as the Belmont Board of Selectmen/Select Board unanimously approved a contract to renovate the streets and sidewalks adjacent to the school.

With the permanent closure of the roadway that ran from Underwood and Hittinger streets to Concord Avenue due to the building of the new Belmont High and Middle School, most vehicles traveling to and from the high school will soon take Hittinger to and from school’s parking lot.

With a significant amount of added traffic anticipated in the surrounding neighborhood, the town sought to provide some relief to the residents and people heading to and from the school which is also an active construction zone.

The approved project – which is the product of recommendations from the High School Traffic Working Group and residents – will include constructing new sidewalks and curbs treatments (including closing 200 feet of the existing curb cut adjacent the Purecoat Building along Hittinger) along neighborhood streets as well as building a multi-use path on the western side of Underwood Street to provide bike and pedestrian access to the high school campus.

The roads under construction include:

  • Underwood Street from Concord Avenue to Hittinger Street,
  • Trowbridge Street from Concord Avenue to Hittinger Street,
  • Hittinger Street from Brighton to Underwood streets,
  • Baker Street from Concord Avenue to Hittinger Street.

And while the Office of Community Development wanted to have all the work done before the school year begins in the first week of September, delays due to a greater number of public hearings and other process issues.

“We had hoped to to be under construction in mid-June so we’ve lost essentially a month just due to factors that were beyond our control,” said Glenn Clancy, OCD director.

The bidding on the job was not completed until the final week in June with the winning bid accepted on July 11 before being presented to the Board of Selectmen/Select Board on July 15.

Only two bids were received and the winning (low) one, $1,080,242, by Belmont-based Tasco Construction, was a significantly higher – by nearly $100,000 – than the $920,000 estimated by the town.

“I was not happy with the final number,” said Clancy, who blamed the timing of the bid – most construction firms have scheduled their work before the summer – and the strength of the local economy.

While there was some talk of rebidding the job in the winter of 2020 to attract more firms, “the reality is that come September [2019] this neighborhood is going to be the entrance and exit for the high school,” said Clancy.

Clancy said the new schedule is for the multi-use path along Underwood to be completed by September 1 while work along Trowbridge and Hittinger will be done in late September/October. Clancy said that Baker Street could be deferred until the Spring if the weather or work on the other streets is delayed.