Charge It: Belmont Dedicates New E-Car Charging Stations in Center

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Photo: At the dedication of the new public charging stations in Belmont Center (from left); Interim Town Administrator Phyllis Marshall, Selectmen Jim Williams, Adam Dash and Mark Paolillo, Energy Committee’s Marty Bitner, and the Light Department’s Rebecca Keane and Jim Palmer. 

Belmont Center has become a destination location for owners of  “EVs” as town leaders joined officials from the municipal utility in dedicating the community’s first public charging stations for electric cars on Town Day, Saturday, May 20.

The chargers are located in the right rear section of the Claflin Street Municipal Parking Lot in Belmont Center.

“If you build it, they will come, and so we expect to see people who have electric vehicles in our area to come [here] and visit our business center,” said Selectmen Chair Jim Williams, who was joined by fellow selectmen Adam Dash and Mark Paolillo and interim Town Administrator Phyllis Marshall to help Jim Palmer, general manager of Belmont Light, the town-owned electrical company, plug in the first vehicle – a new Belmont Light electric car – into the station.

“We expect it to be a competitive advantage to benefit the [new] development in the Center,” Williams said. “It’s a win/win situation.” 

Light Department worked with the town’s Energy Committee and town departments including the Department of Public Works. The funds used to purchase the stations and three Chevy Bolt EVs – in use by the Health and Facilities departments in addition to Belmont Light – came from a grant written by Facilities Manager Gerald Boyle and Rebecca Keane from Belmont Light.

“The greatest source of residential carbon emissions [in Belmont] comes from transportation,” said the Energy Committee’s Marty Bitner who is also a member of Belmont Drives Electric, an ad hoc group which promotes the purchase of electric cars with events such as ride alongs with e-car owners and promotions.

“The impetus behind this program is to encourage people to drive electric vehicles and reduce their carbon footprint,” Bitner said, as the town’s commitment to infrastructure such as the chargers provides “tacit support” for residents who are thinking to move to an electric car. 

And it appears an increasing number of Belmont residents are receptive to the message. Bitner revealed that in the past eight months since the Belmont Drives group started its program, Belmont has seen the highest per capita increase in electric cars either bought or leased in the state, jumping from 50 to 88 vehicles. 

“It’s been incredible to watch the Belmont community to come together to support EVs,” said Palmer, noting that 2016 was a landmark year for electric vehicles and with the new stations “Belmont residents are ahead of the curve.” 

Red, Bright and Cool: Belmont High’s PreProm Promenade 2017 [270 Photos]

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Photo: Red twirl.

Stunning prints, flowing gowns and lots of red. Traditional ties vs. the bow variety, muted-color suits and high-polished dress shoes. 

But also tights over a suit coat, jackets of all patterns and texture, and casual footwear. 

The annual Promenade that preceded the Belmont High School Senior/Junior Prom on Friday, May 19, was once again a spectacle of fancy dress wear that ranged from the classic – the black tux and Empress cut party gown – to the slightly daring (high-cut dresses) and those who took an original track on what to wear that evening.

Each couple, group or individual who crossed the Belmont High School auditorium’s stage was greeted with applause from the packed house as the students headed to Principal Dan Richards who assumed his traditional station at the stairs to assist anyone needing a hand.

[Editor: Sorry if I missed anyone in the photos. If you would like a jpg of one of the shots from this past Friday, just send an email to editor@belmontonian.com]

Cushing Square Starbucks To Close Noon, Monday, June 5

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Photo: Farewell, espresso friend.

In the coming fortnight, you’ll have to find any other place to spend a few hours of free wifi and strong coffee in Cushing Square.

The notice has been taped to the front door of the Trapelo Road Starbucks: the final day of operation will be Monday, June 5 at noon. 

Not that the shutdown comes as a surprise to anyone as Toll Brothers, the developer of the 167,000 square foot apartment/retail/parking project once known as Cushing Village before a name change to The Bradford, stated in February of last year the popular hangout for students, seniors, and general layabouts would be demolished soon after construction began.

With the already limited parking reduced to a handful of spaces due to work around the site, the store’s hours were cut in the past few week to where it will be open only seven hours during its final week of operations.

While the building, built as a Friendly’s restaurant in the 1970s, will soon be coming down, like the legionary Phoenix Starbucks will return in just over a year’s time, to occupy a significant space in the residential/storefront building – dubbed the “Winslow” – under construction on the grounds of the former municipal parking lot.

Belmont Girls’ Rugby Will Play in First-Ever State Championship Game

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Photo: Belmont’s Girls’ Rugby Head Coach Kate McCabe.

It’s official: the Belmont High School Girls’ Rugby squad play for the first-ever High School state title after going undefeated through rugby’s inaugural season as a varsity sport in Massachusetts.

The 3-0-1 Marauders will take on Algonquin Regional High School (2-1-1) in the next two weeks at a neutral site, according to Jim Davis, Belmont’s athletic director who sits on the sport’s governing board for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association which oversees high school athletics.

“The girls’ set the goals at the beginning of the season,” said Belmont’s Head Coach Kate McCabe, who started the squad three years ago with a handful of girls, many who are still playing.  

“[The coaches] asked them what they wanted to do and they said we better make state championship. And they came out for each game ready to play,” said McCabe, who is a social studies teacher at the school.

Belmont and Algonquin – which won the state championship as a club side in 2014 and 2015 – drew 12-12 at Harris Field (in front of more than 100 spectators) in early May before Belmont scored four tries in the second half against the host T-Hawks to win 20-5 last week.

Belmont twice defeated the only other team to put out a varsity squad, Lincoln-Sudbury, 35-0 and 10-5.

McCabe, who started for four years at Boston University and was on the Boston Women’s Rugby Club before entering coaching, said she’s not just proud of her team for making the state final, “I’m also really proud for women’s rugby. It’s the first year under the MIAA … for both boys and girls and to see so many people come out to support us is very impressive.”

“We say at the end of practice and games, it’s not perfect, we make mistakes. We just asked them to come out and play rugby, and play for each other which they have every time they took the pitch,” said McCabe. 

Today and ‘Tomorrow’: Chenery’s Musical Presents ‘Annie’ May 19,20

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Photo: Annie and Sandy, dreaming of “Tomorrow.”

That spunky little orphan and her mutt will be singing up a storm this weekend as the Chenery Middle School presents its production of “Annie” the 1977 musical by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meeha. The show has become one of the most popular Broadway shows ever produced, with more than 700 shows performed annually.

Eighth grader Maya Chen-Jones plays the title character, who with her dog, Sandy, get into adventures in New York City during the Depression of the 1930s, all the while singing such Broadway standards as, “Tomorrow,” “It’s a Hard Knock Life,” “Little Girls,” and “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.” 

There are two performances remaining, tonight and tomorrow, May 19 and 20, at 7 p.m. in the Chenery Middle School auditorium. 

Tickets are ADULTS: $10 in advance, $12 at the door; STUDENTS: $8.

Tickets are also on sale at Champions in Belmont Center, and available online at bhs-pac.org/cmsannie.

 

It’s Prom Tonight! Belmont High Promenade Begins At 4 PM-ish

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Photo: How many proms can one young man attend?

Drive carefully through Belmont this afternoon as vehicles will be parked along roadways as residents haphazardly cross the street to get a good look at what’s happening.

Are people staring at the aftermath of an accident? Is a natural phenomenon occurring?

Nope, the gawking today is connected to an annual occurrence in which many teenagers are transformed from ultra casual to totally chic in Belmont’s version of “Fashion Week.”

Today is Belmont High School Senior/Junior Prom. It is also the final day of school for this year’s senior class. 

What is becoming a great annual community event will begin at approximately 4 p.m. as the students  attending the big dance will take part in the Pre-Prom Promenade, in which the high schoolers are “presented” before fawning parents, siblings, friends and the public in the Belmont High School auditorium. Get there early for the best seats.

The students will then head into the high school’s cafeteria for the “once over” by school officials before boarding buses to take them to a ritzy hotel in Newton for a night of dancing and fun.

Marching To Disney: Belmont Bands Heading to Orlando in Feb. ’18

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Photo: Something like this

Heading for the long-awaited visit to DisneyWorld – or possibly your annual trip to see Mickey Mouse in the humidity of Florida – during the winter recess in February 2018? If you’re planning to go, it’s a good chance you will be entertained by a pair of Belmont High musical groups.

Next year, it’s likely the Belmont High “Marching Marauders” and the school’s award-winning Jazz Collective – a bit more than 100 kids – will be heading to DisneyWorld during the winter doldrums on a six day, five-night educational performance tour of the Magic Kingdom. 

The trip – which requires the OK from Belmont Superintendent John Phelan – is one of three Belmont students are taking next year. The other two approved last week by the School Committee (foreign travel requires a vote by the six-member committee to be approved) will be a week in June 2018 traveling, studying and performing community service in Peru for approximately 24 sophomores who passed Ancient World Civilization and a week in April 2018 going and studying in China for 20 students who are enrolled in a Chinese language course or taking Modern World History.

For the band trip – by far the largest next year – the musicians will be involved in two workshops at Disney which will result in a recording session, have an exchange clinic with a local school with an experienced marching program with the highlight of the visit will be performing in the daily parade at Disney Springs, the new shopping/eating “marketplace” (once known as Downtown Disney) just to the east of Epcot.

Bradford [Ex-Cushing Village] Update: Purple Water? That’s OK; Starbucks Winding Down

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Photo: A big purple hole in the ground.

As the digging on the future home of Cushing Vill … sorry, The Bradford is speeding along on schedule, more than one resident who spied into what will become the foundations of the three buildings making up the 164,000 sq.-ft. complex of apartments, stores, and parking in Cushing Square was taken aback by the rather strange purplish hue to the ground water and soil in the pit.

Did the contractor Nauset Construction find something no one was expecting to discover?

One person who did take notice was the Otto Weiss, the project manager for Toll Brothers Apartment Living, the Bradford’s owner/developer.

“[Y]ou may notice that the color of the treated soil and any surrounding water is clearly purple,” said Otto Weiss, the project manager for Toll Brothers Apartment Living, the Bradford’s owner/developer.

What nearby neighbors had noticed was just what the team was expecting to find.

“This is a normal reaction of the treatment process and is not a cause for alarm,” noted Weiss in an email project update.  

“I realize you may have questions and as always I will do my best to answer,” said Weiss, who can be contacted at oweiss@tollbrothers.com

Weiss said the treatment process that was approved earlier this year by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection will take about one more week to complete, at which time the site will undergo several weeks of testing and approvals before the removal of the soil.  

Ongoing air testing and monitoring continues uninterrupted, “and to date we have not seen any results that cause concern,” said Weiss.

The signs the popular Starbucks cafe, located on Trapelo Road in the middle of the active construction site, is winding down operations is literally on its doors. A pair of notices referred customers to big changes to the hours of operations – the store will close at 5 p.m. starting May 22 and at noon a week later on May 29 – and a “thank you” note to customers are located at both entrances and inside the not so busy store.

“Thank you for your patience and understanding as we prepare for this store to close,” said Store Manager Matthew Thompson.

No closing date has been provided. Toll Brothers said a new Starbucks will be opening in the early fall of 2018 in the “Winslow” building which is located on the former municipal parking lot.

Annual Blacker Prizes in Writing To Be Awarded Wednesday

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Photo: The Lillian Blacker Prizes to be awarded Wednesday.

The Belmont High School English Department will present the annual Lillian F. Blacker Prizes for Excellence in Writing on Wednesday, May 17, at 6:30 p.m. in the Peter Holland Library at Belmont High School. 

This year, we will honor seniors Ethan Lai, Lily Tromanhauser, and Calvin Reinhardt-Ertman for their outstanding writing. Belmont residents are cordially invited to attend.

Family and friends established the Blacker Prizes more than 20 years ago in memory of Lillian F. Blacker, a longtime Belmont resident who was active in community affairs and was director of the Harvard Medical News Office. She is remembered by the school and the community as a true lover of literature and language.

The Blacker Prizes are presented each year to three Belmont High seniors for outstanding writing ability on their senior theses. Each senior reads, researches, and writes a lengthy thesis paper investigating a literary topic. English faculty members determine the winners after an extensive reading process.

At the awards ceremony, the prize winners will read from their papers and discuss the evolution of their ideas.  A panel of seniors will discuss their topics and the senior thesis process.  Teachers, parents, administrators, and friends are invited.  Underclassmen are encouraged to attend the ceremony to learn more about the senior thesis process. 

Family and friends established the Blacker Prizes more than 20 years ago in memory of Lillian F. Blacker, a longtime Belmont resident who was active in community affairs and was director of the Harvard Medical News Office. She is remembered by the school and the community as a true lover of literature and language.

Refreshments will be served.

Belmont’s Krafian Hurdling Towards Track Laurels

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Photo: Anoush Krafian

After missing out of a Divison 3 indoor championship by one-hundredth of a second, Belmont High School Anoush Krafian showed she hasn’t slowed down in the spring rain as the junior won the 100 meter hurdles at the prestigious Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association’s Girls Coaches Invitational Track and Field meet held May 13 at Sharon High School. 

Krafian took the win running away from the pack in 15.12 seconds, distancing Wellesley’s Isabelle Winkelman by more than half a second. Her performance was nearly equal to the top hurdler in eastern Massachusetts, Plymouth South’s senior Madelyn Sessler, who won the Andover Invitational in 15.04 on May 13. 

The Belmont native also finished 12th in the long jump at the meet. 

Krafian and her Belmont teammates on Girls and Boys Outdoor Track will now head to the Middlesex League championship Tuesday, May 16 before heading to the Division 3 meet. 

Krafian, who lost to junior Caitlyn Halloran of Hopkinton High in the 55-meter hurdle Division 3 indoor finals by .01 second before finishing a disappointing 7th in the state indoors, could battle her rivals in the outdoor states and possibly the state Heptathlon championship, a seven-event competition. At the indoor pentathlon championships (five events), Krafian took 6th behind both Halloran (3rd) and Sessler (4th).