Underwood Pool Opens for Swimming, Fun Monday at 9 AM

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Photo: It’s open.

After three years of planning, financing and a last-minute rescue, the new Underwood Pool will be open officially for swimming on Monday, Aug. 10 at 9 a.m.

Here are a few facts you should know about the pool:

FEES: (You can make your payment at the pool by check or cash, only)

Season Passes:

2015 Season: $150

Day Passes:

Adult: $10 Child: $5 – a child is considered to be anyone still in high school

Multi Pack: three day passes
Adult: $25 Child: $12.

2015 HOURS:

  • Aug. 10-Sept. 1: 9 a.m. to dusk.
  • Sept 2-3*: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
  • Sept. 4-7*: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
    *Dependent on weather and staff availability Please check the Recreation calendar or call 617-993-2768 for daily information.

PARKING:
Wellington School: When school is NOT in session, residents are encouraged to park at the Wellington School on School St, directly up the hill from the pool. These 75 parking spaces are closer and simpler than much of the Concord Avenue street parking. (Note: The parking lot entrance is on Orchard Street)

Concord Ave Drop Off: There is a new drop off zone on Concord Ave. You can drop off your family and gear at the drop off, and then we recommend parking at the Wellington School.

Cottage Street: Parking is allowed ONLY on the right side of the street. Please be respectful of your fellow residents and DO NOT BLOCK DRIVEWAYS! Drop off is not allowed on Cottage St.

Bicycle Parking: Bike racks are available for up to 36 bikes. Please use the bike racks; bikes may NOT be locked to the pool fence.

STORAGE:
Lockers: Lockers are available for day use only. There is NO OVERNIGHT STORAGE. Lockers will be cleaned out and the contents disposed of each evening.
Locks: You should provide a lock to protect your personal belongings. THE RECREATION DEPT. IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST OR STOLEN PERSONAL BELONGING

POOL, DECK & LOCKER ROOM SAFETY:

Showers: A cleansing shower is required before entering the pool. Please apply sunscreen 30 minutes before entering the pool.
Rubber Pants: Children not yet toilet-trained MUST wear rubber pants in the pool. Pants are available for sale at the pool, $3/pair.

Dangerous Behavior

Running, pushing,  in or out of the pool, is prohibited. Head first diving is allowed only in the diving area. Jumping from the sides in NOT allowed in the family pool.

Water Toys and Equipment

  • Floatation devices (life vests, noodles, etc.), snorkels and masks are prohibited. Fins are permitted while lap swimming only.
  • Water guns are prohibited at all times.
  • Only small toys, like water balls and diving rings, are permitted.

Seating

Towels and blankets may be set up for sunbathing on the grass areas only, not on the pool deck.

General Safety

CELL PHONES MAY NOT BE USED IN THE LOCKER OR REST ROOMS.

Smoking is prohibited at all times on all pool property including grass areas and walkways.

Pool Management has the right to invoke other restrictions if there is a safety risk.

FOOD AND BEVERAGES:

Food and Drinks: Food and drinks are allowed only in the designated eating area. Patrons may bring food from home or order food to be delivered to the pool to be consumed in designated areas only. Coolers or open containers may not be stored in the eating or vending areas or on the deck.

Tables: Tables may not be reserved or held with towels or bags. They are first-come, first-served.

Glass: NO GLASS CONTAINERS ANYWHERE ON POOL GROUNDS.

Phone Scammers Using Belmont Light to Fleece Customers

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Photo: Phone scammers using Belmont Light to fleece customers.

The caller says he is phoning from Belmont Light’s billing and collection service.

He says your account is overdue and unless the bill is settled immediately – he advises making the payment over the phone – your electrical service will be terminated. 

If you receive this call, Belmont Police is telling residents to hang up immediately as it is part of an ongoing scam targeting the utility’s customers.

According to police, “legitimate billing inquiries from Belmont Light come directly from their customer service department and Belmont Light does not take telephone payments or ask for payments via immediate money orders.”

In addition, customers should never give out their financial and banking information over the phone unless they themselves initiated the call to Belmont Light.

To verify a billing inquiry or to alert Belmont Light of a suspicious phone call, please call Belmont Light Customer Service at 617-993-2800.

This Week: Jamberries, Sciencetellers and Jungle Jim Set to Entertain the Kids

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On the government side of “This Week”:

  • The Temporary Net Metering Working Advisory Group is meeting on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 10-12, at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall. 
  • The Community Preservation Committee will be meeting to discuss possible projects for the next funding cycle in fiscal 2016 on Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 5 p.m. in Town Hall. 
  • The Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee is meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 6 p.m. in Town Hall to discuss prioritize challenges the path faces.
  • The Underwood Pool Building Committee will meet on Thursday, Aug. 13 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss final issues concerning the new Underwood Pool that is now open to the public.

• Belmont Public Library’s “Chillin’ with Villains – Marvel Movie Series” continues on Monday, Aug. 10 at 6:30 p.m. with a screening of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” in the Assembly Room.

• Pre-School Summer Story Time at the Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer run library, on Tuesday, Aug. 11 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. 

• Children Movies will be screened in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 11. Bring your lunch and a blanket to eat picnic-style.

• A special evening show of Superhero Training with Jungle Jim takes place on Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the Belmont Public Library where Jim will lead kids of all ages through the rigors of what it takes to be a true superhero.

• Yoga for Everyone at the Beech Street Center from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 6:30 p.m. Join Susan Harris, a registered yoga teacher and associate professor of Nutrition at Tufts University for this Iyengar-inspired class which practices yoga postures slowly and with attention to alignment and safety, adapted to the abilities and needs of individual students. Cost: $15/class. Non-seniors, beginners and experienced are welcome. This is a non-Council on Aging class held at the Beech Street Center. For more information, call Susan at 617-407-0816.

• Head off to a place where ‘super’ heroes exist with the Sciencetellers on Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 2 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library. There will be several exciting, hands-on experiments for kindergarteners and elementary school students. 

• Four Guys in Tuxes will be performing at this week’s Payson Park Music Festival beginning at 6:30-ish p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 12 at the Payson Park Playground, at the corner of Payson and Elm. 

• Local kid rock band Ethan and the Jamberries will perform classic songs along with original tunes on topics ranging from rocket ships to underwear in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public library on Thursday, Aug. 13 at 10:30 a.m.

• Belmont Farmers Market, come rain or shine, on Thursday, Aug. 13, from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the municipal Parking Lot in Belmont Center.

• It’s OTAKUrabu at the Belmont Public Library. Watch anime, do a craft/activity, plan for future events and nibble on some Japanese snacks (while they last – they’ll go fast) on Thursday, Aug. 13, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. in the Assembly Room. Provided free, thanks to the Friends of the Belmont Public Library. Just drop in, no registration required. Email librarian Kylie Sparks at ksparks@minlib.net for information or call 617-993-2873.

• “Love is Strange,” the critically acclaimed 2014 French-American drama staring Alfred Molina, John Lithgow and Marisa Tomei will be screened at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St., on Friday, Aug. 14, at 1 p.m.

Belmont Opens New Pool with Pre-Swimming Ribbon Cutting

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Photo: Belmont Selectmen Chair Sami Baghdady and Underwood Pool Building Committee Chair Anne Paulsen cut the ribbon to open new Underwood Pool on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015.

For Ellen Schreiber, the opening of the new Underwood Pool on Saturday, Aug. 8, was a bit like a dream come true. 

“We’ve been working on this two years and you have a vision in your head of what it’s going to look like, what its going to be. Then to see it come real is … unreal, it’s surreal,” Schreiber told the Belmontonian. 

IMG_0054

Ellen Schreiber (left, with her children) with Belmont Savings CEO Bob Mahoney and Anne Paulsen at the opening of the new Underwood Pool.

“I’ve been coming by the site every other day to watch the progress for months and month, just watching it take shape, from the first holes in the ground to the water filling the pools. It was fantastic,” she said.

Just nine months after a groundbreaking on a blustery and frigid November morning, hundreds of residents took the opportunity to tour the $5.3 million facility with its two pools – one designed for smaller children and the other with a lap lanes and a diving board – a pair of bath houses, a modern pump house, increased landscaping and lot of amenities. IMG_0151

“This will be my slide,” said one young resident as she scaled the top rung of the new twisting slide that will send children (and some adults) into the children’s pool. 

The new pool complex began three years ago through the urging from Peter Castinino, the retiring director of the town’s Department of Public Works. The project was funded with Community Preservation Act funds, money from Town Meeting and a successful debt exclusion in April 2014.

The project nearly collapsed in September 2014 when the original contractor abandoned the project requiring the building committee to raise $388,000 to meet the next lowest bid. It took only 45 days for the committee to raise a little more than $411,000 in October, in large part to the generosity of the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation which donated $200,000 and work by Schreiber who headed a community-wide fundraising campaign. 

“We have a lot to celebrate today as we begin a new life of the Underwood Pool,” said Anne Paulsen, the chair of the Building Committee. 

“It is the hope of the Building Committee that many generations of Belmontians will enjoy a respite on a hot day and lots of children will learn how to swim [at the pool],” she said.

The ceremony was a chance to fete the entire pool community, from town officials and entities such as the Community Preservation Commission to the Town Meeting, the Underwood family which supported the project, the architect (Thomas Scarlata of Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype, Inc.), general contractor (New England Builders and Contractors of Methuen) and the Underwood Pool Building Committee that shepherd the project to a successful conclusion.  

Special praise was bestowed on Belmont Savings Bank’s CEO Bob Mahoney and Schreiber who joined forces to raise the $400,000 shortfall when the first contractor left the project. 

“May I see you next time here with swimsuits on,” said Board of Selectmen Chair Sami Baghdady.

As a mother of two children who will use the pool, a member of the building committee, the person who spearheaded the last-minute funding and a recreational swimmer, Schreiber said the goal of the new pool was to make it a multi-aged pool with lap lanes, the slide, diving board, grass and sprinklers for the littlest kids. 

“There are a few places where I have watched my two children grow up. It was a life saver when my kids were young because I would meet my friends here and have real adult conversations,” she said.  

“With the new pool, we have a place where people can gather again. For me, it’s about community, a place where people can come together and everyone enjoys something,” said Schreiber. 

West Nile Virus Detected in Mosquito Collected in Belmont

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Photo: Mosquito in Belmont.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced Thursday, Aug. 6, that the West Nile virus was detected in one mosquito collected from Belmont.

WNV is transmitted to humans by the bite of a mosquito infected with the virus. While WNV can infect people of all ages, those 50 and older are at higher risk for severe infection.

As always, there are a few precautions people can do to help to protect themselves and their families:

Avoid Mosquito Bites

• Be Aware of Peak Mosquito Hours – The hours from dusk to dawn are peak biting times for many mosquitoes. Consider rescheduling outdoor activities that occur during evening or early morning. Otherwise, take extra care to use repellent and protective clothing.

• Clothing Can Help reduce mosquito bites. Although it may be difficult to do when it’s hot, wearing long-sleeves, long pants and socks when outdoors will help keep mosquitoes away from your skin.

• Apply Insect Repellent when you go outdoors. Use a repellent with DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide), permethrin, picaridin (KBR 3023), IR3535 or oil of lemon eucalyptus [p-methane 3, 8-diol (PMD)] according to the instructions on the product label. DEET products should not be used on infants under two months of age and should be used in concentrations of 30% or less on older children. Oil of lemon eucalyptus should not be used on children under three years of age. Permethrin products are intended for use on items such as clothing, shoes, bed nets and camping gear and should not be applied to skin.

Mosquito-Proof Your Home 

• Drain Standing Water – Mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water. Limit the number of places around your home for mosquitoes to breed by either draining or getting rid of items that hold water. Check rain gutters and drains. Make sure rain barrels are covered or screened. Empty any unused flowerpots and wading pools, and change water in birdbaths frequently.

• Install or Repair Screens – Some mosquitoes like to come indoors. Keep them outside by having tightly-fitting screens on all of your windows and doors.

Information about WNV and reports of WNV activity in Massachusetts during 2015 can be found on the MDPH website at http://www.mass.gov/dph/wnv.

What You Need To Know Before the Special Town Meeting

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From the Belmont Town Clerk’s Office:

All documents that have been distributed to Town Meeting Members are on the Town Clerk’s Town Meeting Information webpage of the Town website. 

Here is a link for your convenience:  http://www.belmont-ma.gov/town-clerk/pages/town-meeting-information . 

Included on the Town Clerk’s website is:

  • Letter from the Board of Selectmen (1 page)
  • Moderator letter on Town Meeting Procedures (1 double-sided page)
  • Warrant for the Special Town Meeting (1 double-sided page)
  • Motion for the Special Town Meeting (1 page)
  • Two plans showing the delta in front of Belmont Savings Bank – one from January 2015 and one resulting from May 28, 2015.
  • Summary of warrant article provided by the sponsors of the Citizens’ Petition (1 double-sided page).

 

 

  • Three documents from Office of the Board of Selectmen in anticipation of Thursday’s Special Town Meeting:
  1. Belmont Center Improvement Fact Sheet (two pages)
  2. Response to Questions (four pages, including three topographical drawings)
  3. Plan Zero (one page drawing).
  • An amendment filed by Roy Epstein (Precinct 6) with three pages including two color drawings.
  • Amendments submitted by Yvette Tenney, Precinct 1, and Donald Mercier, Precinct 8.

The Special Town Meeting this Thursday, Aug. 6, at Chenery Middle School at 7 p.m. 

Letter to the Editor: Moderator Asks Town Meeting To Be ‘Positive and Constructive’

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Town Meeting Members:

In my eight years as Town Moderator I can recall few if any issues that have so aroused the passions of Town Meeting Members as the subject of [today’s] Special Town Meeting. I have taken advice from many people and spent many hours seeking to plan the meeting in order to focus the discussion in the fairest and most civil way possible.

Given the emotions surrounding this issue, I am concerned that the debate could easily deteriorate into accusations and personal attacks. While I will not allow that, I am making a special plea to each of you to keep your remarks positive and constructive. There are opposing opinions, of course, which is the point of a healthy debate, but one can make a strong argument for one’s position while still being respectful of another person and point of view. How we conduct ourselves tomorrow night will be important in allowing us to work together on this and the many important issues facing the town.

I urge your cooperation. Thank you.

Mike Widmer

Moderator

Summer Produce in Abundance at Belmont Farmers Market

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Photo: Belmont Farmers Market.
 
The Belmont Farmers Market welcomes August with all of the summer favorites are available in abundance. Corn, peaches, peppers, summer squash, and tomatoes are ripe and perfect for easy summer dinners. 
 
The market is open from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays throughout the summer and lasting until the final week of October. The market is located in the municipal parking lot at the intersection of Cross Street and Channing Road in Belmont Center.
Schedule of Events:
  • 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.: Tasting by Stone Hearth Pizza located in Belmont Center.
  • 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Storytime.
  • 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.: Art at the Market: Local artist Anne Katzeff will be guiding this perennial favorite market activity for artists of all ages and abilities, especially children. Plenty of art materials will be available, and together we will draw or paint whatever captures our imaginations: veggies, fruits, flowers, people, breads, snacks, you name it.
Monthly and Occasional Vendors: Boston Smoked Fish Company, Coastal Vineyards, Couët Farm and Fromagerie, and Seta’s Mediterranean Food,
Weekly Vendors: Boston Smoked Fish Company, C&C Lobsters and Fish, Dick’s Market Garden Farm, Fior D’Italia, Flats Mentor Farm, Foxboro Cheese, Gaouette Farm, Goodies Homemade, Hutchins Farm, Kimball Fruit Farm, Mamadou’s Artisan Bakery, Sfolia Baking Company, Stillman Quality Meats.
 
Food Truck: Jamaica Mi Hungry.

Opinion: Injecting Small ‘d’ Democracy, Decency to Town Meeting Debate

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Photo: Rendering from the Belmont Center Reconstruction plan.

Just past 7 p.m. on Monday, July 27, I had the pleasure of sitting next to my neighbor, Gi Yoon-Huang, and her five-year-old daughter at Town Hall. We were there to hear the Belmont Board of Selectmen debate and vote on a proposal that Town Meeting is considering regarding plans for a town lawn in Belmont Center. 

Gi is typical of many of the great folks I’ve met in the past month. She’s a relatively new face in Belmont and someone unfamiliar with the town’s politics. But she is passionate about making Belmont a better and more hospitable town for herself and her young children. For Gi, the Belmont Center Reconstruction Project, which is going on right now, representes her hopes for the town. Specifically: the plans approved by Town Meeting in November, 2014 promised a broad, new lawn in the Center where now there is only a traffic island, surrounded by busy streets and automobile traffic. 

Gi will tell you that she and her family walk regularly to Belmont Center to shop from their home in the Winn Brook neighborhood. She had been looking forward to the addition of a vibrant public green space in the Center. She was shocked and confused when that critical feature of the Belmont Center reconstruction was ditched in the face of last-minute protests.  

So there was Gi and I, in the Selectmen’s Hearing Room on a Monday evening with close to 20 other residents who had the same idea in mind; to express our support for that original design, and for a Town Meeting article that asks the Selectmen to reverse their ill-considered vote on May 28 and embrace the original Belmont Center Reconstruction plans. We gathered there just past 7 p.m. for a vote on that Special Town Meeting article ,which was scheduled to take place at 7:25 p.m. 

As it would turn out, we had some waiting to do.  

In no hurry to address the Special Town Meeting article, the Selectmen began with a discussion about changes to the victualar’s license for Moozy’s, the ice cream store. Residents were there to voice their concerns and that ran long. The clock struck 7:40 p.m. and I had to leave. Gi and around a dozen more residents waited … and waited … and waited. 

With a room full of residents waiting for their vote on the Special Town Meeting article, the three selectmen instead convened an executive session just after 8 p.m. and met alone for a full hour. Gi and her five-year-old daughter sat patiently and quietly in the front row of the Selectmen’s Room as the clock struck 9 p.m., and then 9:15 p.m.

The Selectmen returned at 9:20 p.m.and finally took up the Belmont Center agenda. A different board might have noted the hour and the young girl with her determined mom in the front row and taken pity. Instead, in full view of Gi and her daughter, the selectmen spoke uninterrupted for another 20 minutes, voicing their discontent over voters’ decision to ask for a special Town Meeting. 

“The decision makers have the authority,” Selectmen Chair Sami Baghdady said, “This is not the way government works,” apparently confusing democracy with another form of government. 

The selectmen also expressed bewilderment over the discord their last minute changes created. A project that should be uniting Belmont was, instead, dividing, Selectman Mark Paolillo correctly observed. 

Paradoxically, they then engaged in the exact behavior that has caused such rancor, refusing to take comments from the assembled residents and repeatedly denying requests by Gi and other supporters of the Town Meeting motion an opportunity to speak to them directly. 

In the end, just one resident had the temerity to stand the Selectmen down that Monday evening. Joanne Birge, an attorney and a new resident, stood patiently at the mic, refusing to sit down, until the Selectmen permitted her to address them. Speaking calmly and eloquently, Joanne talked about the importance of a more pedestrian-friendly Belmont Center to her as a senior and the key role that the town green plays in making the Center more welcoming to elderly Belmontonians, as well as the young. It was a message – but not the only message – that the selectmen needed to hear. 

There is so much to disappoint in the selectmen’s actions with regard to Belmont Center that it is hard to know where to begin. For me, the biggest disappointment has been this Board’s willingness to stifle the voices of Belmont residents, voters and even Town Meeting members who do not agree with them. By shutting down dissent, the thinking goes, you can force a consensus. But we all know that’s false.  

Thursday’s Special Town Meeting will offer a welcome change of venue and, hopefully, a change of tone, too. For more than 200 years, Town Meetings have been the embodiment of “little d” democracy. I look forward to hearing the voices and opinions of those for and against the original design and the town lawn. In the end, I hope that we can send a strong and unified message to the Selectmen, and that they receive that message with open hearts and open minds, in the best tradition of Belmont politics. 

Paul Roberts

Cross Street, Precinct 8 Town Meeting Member