A Quarter Century In the Making: Selectmen OK Recommended Community Path

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Photo: Chris Leino, chair of the Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee.

After more than a quarter century since the idea was first introduced, the concept of a pedestrian and bike path running through the town took a major step forward as the Belmont Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to recommend a proposed $27.9 million route advanced by the five-member Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee at the board’s meeting held Monday, Dec. 4 at Town Hall. 

“In my view, this is really an amazing opportunity for Belmont. I think the community path if constructed would be a fantastic crown jewel for [the town] … and an amazing resource for Belmont and surrounding communities,” said Russell Leino, chair of the Advisory Committee which spent nearly three years both devising a process and then leading a year-long feasibility study which analyzed countless byways which would connect Belmont with a proposed 104-mile Mass Central Rail Trail running from Boston to Northampton.

“This is the path we need to endorse,” said Selectman Mark Paolillo, the committee’s liaison to the committee.

“It has gone through endless public meetings, a significant amount of input from all stakeholders … we have reached an answer that this board needs to support as a way forward,” said Paolillo. 

The unanimity of support from the town’s executives was the validation Leino was seeking as the project now moves forward to the critical funding phase. 

“I’m really excited because this is an important step forward for this project. [T]his vote is really the end of the beginning and now we need to move forward on both funding and construction,” Leino told the Belmontonian after the meeting.

The committee’s timeline for the roughly two-mile project includes funding for preliminary and final design in 2018, secure construction funds from state and federal agencies by 2019 and construction in 2020 and 2021.

The suggested route – running from the Waltham line outside Waverley Square and connecting to an existing travel path at the Cambridge border – was not a surprise as it was unveiled early in November during the final meeting of the 10-step feasibility study process run by PARE Consulting that spent more than a year conducting meetings, walking tours and public forums.

“Our consultant [PARE’s Amy Archer] did an incredible job. Her comprehensiveness and demeanor was exceptional and made the process successful because she was so good at engaging the public and listening to feedback and reacting to it in a calm and reflective way,” Leino told the Belmontonian. 

“There weren’t any knee-jerk decisions and the way the [recommended] path [was evaluated] was done in a very deliberative way by going over the criteria over and over again,” said Paolillo.

Selectman Adam Dash successfully proposed adding language in the declaration that will allow the board and town to “tweak” the recommended path when the project encounters “the inevitable” unexpected delays and possible disputes with landowners.

One area that will need to be negotiated is in Waverley Square where developer Joseph DiStefano is proposing constructing commercial space along Trapelo Road – to be revealed in the first quarter of 2018 – that will be adjacent to the bike path. DiStefano, who attended Monday’s meeting, said he is willing to begin discussions with the town on accommodating each other’s interest.

Belmont Parent To Talk On Risk Of Substance Abuse Tuesday, Dec. 5 at Chenery

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Photo: Poster for Tuesday night’s event.

On Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the Chenery Middle School Auditorium, Belmont parent Jasen Boyle will be giving a talk on the health crisis of our time, the prescription opioid epidemic that kills 15,000 Americans per year by overdose and destroys lives and families regardless of family background or economic status. And the time when many are introduced to these drugs is during the middle school years.

Boyle’s presentation – titled “Kids, Teens and Substance Use: Understanding the Risks and How to Respond” – is part of the Belmont After School Enrichment Collaborative’s 4th annual Parent Lecture Series sponsored by Belmont Savings Bank, Belmont Media Center and the Foundation for Belmont Education. 

A licensed private practice mental health therapist who specializes in treating substance use disorders in young adults with additional coaching for families of those struggling with addiction, Boyle’s lecture will focus on helping families understand what puts children at risk, what parents can do to help prevent substance abuse, and strategies to address substance-related problems.

A Moment of Sportsmanship Earns Belmont Ruggers Top Award From State Athletic Group

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Photo: Grace Christensen, Amanda Hanley and Molly Goldberg at the championship game.

It was just past 4 p.m. on a hot, humid June Saturday in Beverly and the girls of Belmont High’s Rugby squad were sky high, having just made history winning the first-ever state championship in the sport, coming from behind to defeat Algonquin Regional High, 17-14.

In the midst of the celebration, three Belmont players – Grace Christensen, Amanda Hanley, and Molly Goldberg – looked over to Algonquin’s bench and saw a player standing with an ice pack on her lower left leg, finding it difficult to join the awards presentation which was about to take place.

“We saw her and thought she shouldn’t miss getting [a medal],” said Goldberg as she, Christensen and Hanley went over and escorted the injured player to the center of the field to be with her teammates

A photo taken by the Belmontonian of the instant was seen by a representative of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, the governing body for high school sports in the Bay State. On Nov. 17, the trio of Marauders and their coach Kate McCabe were invited to the 24th annual MIAA Sportsmanship Summit at Gillette Stadium to receive the “Sportsmanship Moment of the Year” award for their collective demonstration of fair play and understanding. 

Belmont High was recognized a second time at the meeting as the school was honored with an Athletic Sportsmanship Award within its MIAA state district for demonstrating overall sportsmanship throughout the 2016-17 school year.

Both groups accepted the awards from John Maguire, president and CEO of Friendly’s and Rob Pearl, MIAA Sportsmanship Committee Chair and Medway High School Athletic Director.

The Marauder Empress: Belmont High Alumna (’81) To Become Consort in 2019

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Photo: A current photo of the royal family; Masako (left), Naruhito, and their daughter, Princess Aiko.

It was inevitable but now the world knows for certain; Belmont High School alumna Masako Owada will become the Empress consort of Japan on April 30, 2019.

A member of the graduating class of 1981, Owada – who was named Masako, Crown Princess of Japan, when she married Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993 – will gain the consort title in 17 months after the announcement last week of the scheduled abdication of Naruhito’s father, 83-year-old Emperor Akihito who is stepping down from the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Owada’s journey to Belmont was not that uncommon for a child of a diplomat as her father, Hisashi Owada, was sent by the Japanese government to Moscow and New York before coming to Massachusetts as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School for two years. Living on Juniper Street with her parents and younger twin sisters, Owada spent her junior and senior years at the Concord Avenue school where she was a member of the French Club and Math team. After graduation, Owada didn’t travel far for college, attending Harvard. 

Belmont and Owada would next intersect in 1993 when her engagement to Akihito’s eldest son was announced. A short blast of interest in Owada’s former hometown from Japanese tourists occurred only to subside just as quickly. 

Vote on New Town Administrator Moved Up A Week To Tuesday, Dec. 5

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Photo: The two candidates are still in the game.

The Belmont Board of Selectmen has discovered the demand for qualified professionals to manage town affairs is far exceeding the supply as the board was forced to move up by a week the vote to pick Belmont’s next Town Administrator.

The board decided to push forward its vote to Tuesday, Dec. 5, the same day the two finalists – Patrice Garvin, the town administrator of Shirley and Maynard Town Administrator Kevin Sweet – will be interviewed each for an hour by the board with a limited number of questions from the public. After announcing the finalists last month, the original schedule had the board waiting a week until Monday, Dec. 11 before making its selection. 

The switch in days, made at a hastily convened board caucus after a joint meeting of the board, the School and the High School Building committees on Thursday, Nov. 30 at the Wellington Elementary School, was due after one or both candidates were being pursued by other communities seeking to fill administrative positions. Already this year, Garvin has been a finalist in three towns, Leicester, Upton and Easton while Sweet was considered for the job in Scituate.

“Right now we have two very good candidates which we have to select. And we would like to have one of them on board soon,” said Selectman Mark Paolillo.

V-Day Belmont Participating in ‘A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer’ Dec 12, 13

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Photo: Poster for the event.

An event to support women and girls safety, “A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer” (MMRP) will be presented by V-Day Belmont in collaboration with the Haley House Bakery Café. The reading will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 12 and Wednesday, Dec. 13 at the Haley House Bakery Café, 12 Dade St., located in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood.

Tickets are available at the door and cost $10 each.

MMRP is a collection of essays solicited by Eve Ensler and Mollie Doyle that tell the stories of women who have experienced violence and abuse. The stories were written by well-known writers, journalists, and published authors and will be performed by local residents from both Belmont and Roxbury.

V-Day is a global movement that’s mission is to stop violence against women and girls. The designated beneficiary for the proceeds from this performance will be New Beginnings Reentry Services Inc., a program for women leaving prison, based in the Boston area. It’s the first of its kind in Massachusetts and will offer a fully comprehensive residential program with services.

V-Day Belmont and New Beginnings Reentry Services have become strong partners in working towards the goal of raising funds to purchase a facility to house 15 women and begin to offer a full range of services and implement this unique program model. For more information contact New Beginnings Reentry Services founder Stacey Borden.

This will be the third production of “A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer” for V-Day Belmont. In August 2017, V-Day Belmont collaborated with Haley House Bakery Café and performed “The Vagina Monologues” at the Café. It was a tremendous success and plans are being made to bring it to Belmont in February 2018.

For more information, contact V-Day Belmont by email at socialaction@uubelmont.org

From the Headlines: Belmont High Performing Arts To Stage ‘9 to 5’ As Spring Musical

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Photo: The poster for the show.

It is a show ripped from today’s headlines; The Belmont High School Performance Arts Company’s Spring Musical will be “9 to 5: The Musical” with shows performed from March 22 to 24, 2018. Based on the hit 1980 movie, ‘9 to 5’ features music written for the show by Dolly Parton.

“It is upbeat, funny, full of great singing & dance numbers and delivers a message about empowerment that is relevant and important today,” said Ezra Flam, Belmont High’s Theater Specialist and Performing Arts Company Producer/Director.

“The plot centers around three women in the workplace who get fed up with being harassed by their sexist boss and decide to stand up for themselves and turn the office into a place where fairness and compassion prevails. The educational opportunity to have timely and relevant conversations about these issues with so many students is very exciting,” said Flam.

“It’s also a very fun show, with songs that run the range in style from pop to rock to country to contemporary musical theater. It definitely has something for everyone,” he said.

And PAC fans can expect another 

“Auditions are happening now, and this is already shaping up to be another big show for the PAC, with over 80 kids coming out to audition,” said Flam.

Wellington Principal Search Starts In January As Steward’s Named Interim

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Photo: Annemarie Stewart, newly appointed interim principal of the Wellington.

Rather than rush the process of finding a leader for one of Belmont’s elementary schools, Belmont School District Superintendent John Phelan has named Wellington Assistant Principal Annemarie Stewart Interim Principal of the Wellington Elementary School, beginning her new role as of Jan. 1, 2018.

She is replacing Amy Spangler who is leaving the Wellington after five years in charge.

The permanent position of the new principal will be posted at the end of January, and a screening committee comprised of staff and parents will be formed after the winter recess. The finalists will be interviewed by the school’s staff and the public before a finalist is selected, with an effective starting date of July 1. 

Stewart matriculated at Villanova earning a BA in elementary education. She holds Masters degrees in education from Lesley and Endicott. Stewart spent nearly 11 years as a special education teacher in the Brookline district before coming to Belmont in September.

Letter to the Editor: Selectmen Personal Preferences Sunk Pay As You Throw

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Photo: Logo for pay as you throw trash collection.

To the editor:

In a Nov. 16th public pronouncement, Jim Williams provided his reasoning as Chair of the Board of Selectmen on their recent trash decision. I appreciate his clarifying the factors that informed the decision to pursue only one option for the trash and recycling Request For Proposal (RFP). What is evident from his letter and from the September meeting where the Selectmen made their decision, was that cost, environmental impact, and convenience were not important considerations, if at all.

The Board of Selectmen broke precedent and procurement best practice by selecting only one option in the RFP. Without any basis for comparison, there is no meaningful way to know the comparative impact their choice will have on the Town’s finances. Generally, having cost information quickly narrows the choices so having multiple options means it would be easier to achieve consensus, along with informing us about the pros and cons of each option. For instance, the last time Belmont went out to bid its trash contract, an automated collection was more expensive than manual pick-up which was apparent when bids for both options were compared.

The Pay As You Throw (PAYT) option was rejected as an option for five years, (the length of the contract as stated in the RFP) not because of costs, or for lack of support (Town Meeting voted 62 percent in favor of evaluating this option). The majority of Selectmen viewed PAYT as just a financing scheme, even though proponents advocated a revenue-neutral approach, whereby the Town would give back all fees to households. This included rebating households on their monthly electric bills. Yet repeated misstatements by Mark Paolillo and Williams and Department of Public Works showed they preferred to characterize it as a tax and something that would interfere with raising funds in the future. Yet no evidence was presented to support this belief, and no public outreach was done. The irony is that the option the Selectmen chose will likely put more pressure on the need to raise taxes with more than $500,000 additional funds needed to buy and maintain barrels and automated trucks.

The experience of 147 communities in Massachusetts has demonstrated that PAYT saves them money by reducing trash sent for disposal and significantly increases recycling.

Judging from the public meetings on trash, there was no consensus on the 64-gallon bin with automated collection option. So it’s difficult for the Selectmen to claim they were acting in the majority interest of town residents.

While it’s not explicit in Mr. Williams’ letter, personal preference may have been what drove his and Mr. Paolillo’s decision. While it’s natural elected officials have their own preferences, these preferences include blind spots–something we all have. To help guard against blind spots, officials can seek out reliable information from a variety of sources. For instance, the Solid Waste and Recycling Advisory Group (I was a member) studied many choices for Belmont’s trash for over a year and recommended four options to include in the RFP. Town Meeting voted by a strong majority to compare “all options including PAYT.” Both citizen bodies provided valuable information about the Town’s preferences and viable options.

Over-reliance on one source of information can create blind spots. This was evident when Williams at the Sept. 25 public meeting stated, “DPW are the experts, we should follow their recommendations.” Yet DPW was not a neutral provider of facts. They have expressed for years their desire to implement 64-gallon carts with automated collection. In addition, in a trash audit they procured and widely publicized, the sample used for their recommendations was so distant from Belmont’s averages, it didn’t even come close to representing our trash and recycling patterns. For instance, the sample claimed the average household set out 46 gallons a week of trash. Yet the Town’s annual average is about 28 gallons, according to data from DPW. The audit also claimed households had 50 percent more recycling than they achieved on average. The Selectmen were told of these errors on several occasions, but they did not change their views or ask for a revised analysis. DPW acknowledged the audit numbers were not to be used in the RFP. The inflated estimates for total waste and recycling tonnage in the audit were apparently useful in swaying the Selectmen, but not good enough to use for the bids.

The role of Belmont’s elected officials is to provide oversight and curb attempts – accidental or intentional – to mislead the public and Town Meeting. It’s not easy to challenge the administration of the Town that we depend on for many key services. Yet, without oversight, citizens can’t ascertain that the Town has their best interests in mind when making decisions. The governance of the Town depends on this trust so using unchallenged misleading information erodes trust–something that is needed when Belmont is facing a $4 million deficit and a new high school.

To squash any questions which might check blind spots, Williams recently changed a long-standing tradition of citizen’s raising questions for five minutes prior to Selectmen’s meetings. Williams required that questions be submitted two days prior to the agenda was published, and therefore before the public knew what to comment on for approval by the Chair. At least four citizens have tried to raise questions about the trash RFP two days before recent meetings but were denied.

Where do we go from here? Adding another RFP with additional options that could potentially save money might help restore confidence that the Selectmen care about costs, convenience, and environmental impact and finding consensus as they procure services. They might also support the PTO/PTA Green Alliance’s plan to divert food waste from school trash (it represents 75 percent of school’s waste) and save the Town over a hundred thousand dollars annually. Or add curbside textile recycling that would actually earn Belmont money. There are a number of other creative options for reducing waste and saving money in Belmont if the Selectmen and DPW would work with interested citizens.

With an improved process where the Selectmen reckon with the costs and other features of different options, they can demonstrate they have heard what many have requested, provide good oversight and help restore trust in how the Town is governed. As it stands, we are left with the clear conclusion that the Town wants to implement a more expensive option – without considering other choices, in direct contradiction to the will of Town Meeting and the desires of many residents. We are going in the wrong direction, especially when the taxpayers will be asked to fund an override in the near future.

Kim Slack

Taylor Road

Garden Club Holding Holiday ‘Greens’ Sale Saturday, Dec. 2

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Photo: Nancy Haley of the Belmont Garden Club.

Nancy Haley has been a member of the Belmont Garden Club for “all of three months” but that didn’t put-off the long-time Belmont resident from showing off her wreath-making skills at the Belmont Public Library this week. 

Haley joined more than a dozen fellow enthusiasts preparing for The Belmont Garden Club’s annual Holiday Greens Sale on Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Belmont/Watertown United Methodist Church, 421 Common St.

The sale will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Handmade greens designs will be available along with a Bake Sale of delicious home-baked goodies and a Green Elephant Table with an assortment of items to fill your home with holiday joy.  

Come early for best selections.