Photo: Yard sale.
Yard sales in the “Town of Homes.”
• 129 Claflin St., Saturday, June 18, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• 16 Garfield Rd., Saturday, June 18, from 8:30 a.m. to noon.
• 25 Loring St., Saturday, June 18, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• 234 White Street: Saturday and Sunday, June 18 and 19: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Photo: Memorial Day redux.
Belmont is holding the Memorial Day celebration that was originally cancelled due to inclement weather. The event will take place at Belmont Cemetery this Saturday, June 18, at 10 a.m.
For more information, contact Bob Upton in the veterans’ services office at 617-993-2725 or by e-mail at rupton@belmont-ma.gov.
Photo: Carey Allard.
According to social media sources, rising Belmont High School junior Carey Allard has verbally committed to play Division 1 NCAA soccer at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, class of 2022.
Allard has been a two-year varsity starter for Paul Graham’s girls’ soccer team, starting her career with a splash, scoring five goals and assisting on another against Watertown in the first game as a freshman. In her sophomore year, Allard was a Middlesex League First Team All-Star.
Allard plays club soccer for FC Boston Scorpions in the Elite Club National League U16.
An honor roll student, Allard is her class secretary.
Photo: The dog park that recently opened in Waltham.
Is it time for Belmont to have its own dog park, join its neighboring towns to provide a separate area to allow pets the chance to play and socialize.
Watertown (2014) and Waltham (2015) have recently opened enclosed off-leash areas that Fido can run like the wind. Arlington his its own park while Cambridge has eight including two near to Fresh Pond on the Belmont line.
A Belmont dog park will be one of several issues brought up on Monday, June 20 at 5:30 p.m. when the Board of Health holds a public hearing on the town’s off leash dog program.
David Alper, chair of the Board of Health, told the Belmontonian no policy changes will be issued at Monday’s meeting.
“We hope to hear from residents on the current policy and listen to any ideas they may have,” said Alper. The long-time chair has said a dog park, which is becoming the norm in communities, is one area that is worthy of discussion.
The current off-leash program in Belmont allows dog owners a large amount of leeway when and where they can run their pets. Owners need only obtain a $40 yearly permit ($30 for the second dog) from the town – which requires the licensed dog and owner meet with Belmont’s Animal Control Officer, for a pet behavior assessment and a review of the regulations.
The couple can then go to six Belmont athletic fields – Belmont High School Fields, Winn Brook, Grove Street, Pequossette Field and Town Field – to run as long as they clean up after their pet and defer to requests from town and school officials on use. Newton has a similar program.
A 2016 Permit Application can be found at the Health Department’s web page.
Photo: The incident (Photo courtesy of Boston’s WCVB-TV)
A Belmont Police officer was taken to a local hospital after being involved in a two-vehicle accident on the Belmont/Arlington town line on Thursday morning, June 16.
In a press release from Belmont Police Assistant Chief James MacIsaac, just before 11:30 a.m., a marked Belmont Police cruiser and a private car crashed at the intersection of Park Avenue and the Concord Turnpike Access Road in Arlington
The officer and the driver of the private vehicle were taken to local hospitals “with what is believed to be non-life threatening injuries,” said MacIsaac.
The Arlington Police Department is investigating this crash.
Photo:
The sad news came way of Twitter – as most news does today – from out in the western suburbs Monday evening. There was an accident between a car and a moose near Route 128:
Confirmed Car vs Moose on River Rd, no civilian injuries PD to handle.
— Weston Fire (@WESTON_FIRE) June 15, 2016
While the driver was not hurt, the same was not the fate of the moose, who had to be put down by Massachusetts Environmental Police.
Car hits, kills moose in Weston https://t.co/0afGem14u4pic.twitter.com/9DTVkhib2H
— WBZ Boston News (@cbsboston) June 15, 2016
It was soon determined that the animal hit by the car was, likely, the Belmont Moose, the female cow that took an early morning stroll on June 2 through Watertown and many locations in the Town of Home that caught the attention of thousands on social media and television from greater Boston to as far as Japan.
The news spread fast, reaching the moose’s official Twitter account with its 319 followers who added “RIP” to the account’s name.
And the reaction among her fans was immediate:
@miratim noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo….. 🙁 @TheBelmontMoose
— Steve Saleeba (@SteveSaleeba) June 15, 2016
Reportedly our beloved moose has passed from this mortal coil. Her social media editor, @miratim, is distraught #RIPhttps://t.co/nIpM3470Yo
— RIP Belmont Moose (@TheBelmontMoose) June 15, 2016
@TheBelmontMoose Such sad news for all who knew & loved her in person & thru Twitter. She lifted our spirits from afar, & we’ll miss her.??
— Laloofah Ⓥ (@Laloofah) June 16, 2016
@TheBelmontMoose We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun…
— Kathleen OKeeffe (@beerwxsports) June 16, 2016
RIP @TheBelmontMoose 🙁 We will miss you roaming the streets of suburbia <3 https://t.co/26qZjHmnf1
— Olivia Arnold (@olivia_arnold12) June 15, 2016
And a final tweet, this one from the administrator of the Belmont Moose account:
We’ll miss you, Ms. Moose ???
— RIP Belmont Moose (@TheBelmontMoose) June 16, 2016
Photo: The pool filled with water on Tuesday.
A few weeks back, a rumor was being spread in the local Starbucks/Dunkin’ Donuts that cracks – described as anywhere between “significant” to “devastating” – were discovered at the bottom of both Underwood pools as the less-than-a-year-old complex was being readied for its first full season scheduled to begin Saturday, June 18.
The people who said they heard the damage would result in the coming swimming season to be:
and would lead to the pool being:
But ask Anne Paulsen, the chair of the Underwood Pool Building Committee, the particulars of the rumors, and she will tell you one thing: “If the Health Department gives us the OK, [the pools] will be open on schedule.”
So if the chemical analysis of the water pumped into the twin pools this week is up to standards, the 2016 season will open to the public at 10 a.m. on Saturday. (Current forecast over the weekend is for sun with the highs in the low 80s).
So, what about the “major” cracks lining the bottom of the pool?
First, Paulsen was not happy to hear two weeks ago there was structural issues, even if they turned out to be hairline cracks mostly located in the shallow pool and on the deck.
“It is less than a year old, so it was disconcerting what was discovered,” said Paulsen, who led the group that supervised the construction of the facility.
According to Department of Public Works Director Jay Marcotte, the cracks – due to the pool walls expanding and contracting as the ground settles and shifts – were superficial and were not affecting the structural integrity of the swimming pool.
“We cleaned out the cracks and repaired it with an epoxy which did the job,” Marcotte told the Belmontonian.
In addition to the repairs, the deep end pool was repainted, said Paulsen.
A few days later, before the Special Town Meeting on Monday, June 13, Paulsen gave members an update on the pool in the coming season. She told Town Meeting that the pool:
For information on the pool, activities and membership, head over the Recreation Department’s website.
Saying that 450 residents have signed up for passes, Paulsen advised the members to get theirs soon, “and enjoy the pool.”
Photo: Construction on Leonard Street begins today.
If you thought the seemingly endless construction in Belmont Center couldn’t make traveling through the town’s commercial hub any worse, the next three days will prove that assumption wrong.
Starting today, Wednesday, June 15 at 7 a.m. and ending – hopefully – on Friday, June 17, Leonard Street northbound will be closed due to road construction up to Alexander Avenue. Construction hours are expected to be from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This means:
In addition, there will be no On-Street parking on either side of Leonard Street from Alexander Avenue to 80 Leonard Street, the Belmont Café during construction hours.
The work will include excavating the existing pavement, placing gravel and grading for new pavement and on Friday, asphalt and pave Alexander Avenue and Leonard Street.
Refer to the Town of Belmont website for additional information or call 617-993-2665 with any concerns.
Photo: Danielle Betancourt.
Danielle Betancourt, a vice principal at the Brophy Elementary School in Framingham, was named on Monday, June 13, as the next principal of the Butler Elementary School. She will arrive in the district July 1, said Belmont Superintendent John Phelan at Monday’s Town Meeting.
She replaces Michael McAllister who moves to the Chenery Middle School as its new principal.
Betancourt, who has lived with her family around the world, including Moscow, Philadelphia, London and in Massachusetts for the past 12 years, will take charge of the district’s most diverse school, with students coming from two dozen countries and speaking more than 35 languages.
Betancourt matriculated at Fordham University where she was received a Bachelor’s Degree in Russian Studies, a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from Boston College, and a Master’s of Education in Organizational Management from Endicott College.
Betancourt was named a vice principal at the Brophy in June of last year. Before her appointment in Framingham, she spent an 18-month principal internship at the Horace Mann Elementary School in Newton, where she has been a teacher in a full-inclusion classroom since 2011.
Prior to the Mann, she served as an elementary teacher in the Boston Public Schools for four years including as a first-grade teacher at the John Winthrop Elementary School in Dorchester.
Additional experiences include co-chairing the PTA at a primary school in England, serving as co-president of the Wharton Kids Club in Philadelphia, and teaching at the Samantha School for English in Russia.
Photo: The Waverley Station.
It’s not used by many riders, it’s difficult to get around and it’s in need of a great deal of maintenance. And that’s what the MBTA says about Waverley Station, which runs the commuter rail station in the heart of Belmont’s Waverley Square.
But it now appears that all of Waverley Station’s shortcomings are the major factors which will allow the Fitchburg Line stop to remain open for the next decade, according to Belmont State Sen. Will Brownsberger.
In an e-mail announcement dated Tuesday, June 14, the state’s Architectural Access Board – which in 2014 deemed the station a liability for people with limited access to use the facility – has given the MBTA a 10-year time variance before needed repairs or a new station is required to improve accessibility for riders.
The announcement came after nearly a year in which the MBTA actively sought to close down the nearly century-old station and create a new stop along South Pleasant Street. That plan was deemed unacceptable by many residents surrounding Waverley Square and the MBTA dropped that plan earlier in the year.
In its decision, the AAB in a letter to the MBTA noted that since the Waverley Station has some of the lowest ridership numbers in the system – only 117 daily passengers arrive or depart from the stop – the board is placing higher priority on improvements at 69 stations and bus stops with much higher use. It also cited a cost of $15 million to $30 million to bring the station up to AAB standards
“[D]ue to the low ridership and high cost to create access, Waverley Station is not considered a ‘priority station’,” read the letter from the AAB to the MBTA explaining the 10 year variance.