Photo:
Four Belmont High School student/athletes signed National Letters of Intent (NLI) to compete at the NCAA Division I or Division II level:
Photo: Belmont Police is stepping up patrols in the Winn Brook neighborhood
Suspected suspects in a previous house break in the Winn Brook neighborhood were spotted Wednesday by surveillance cameras, according to Belmont Police.
On Nov. 11, at approximately 5:05 p.m., two individuals were observed on video cameras in the backyard of a home on Eliot Road. The pair matched the description of two suspects who were captured on video at a previous house break in the same neighborhood.
Belmont Police immediately began a search of the area for the two. Officers’ located evidence connected to the two suspects in a backyard. At approximately 5:53 p.m., a “Reverse 911” call went out to neighborhood residents advising them to shelter in place while the search for the suspects was under way.
Belmont Police received mutual aid assistance in the search that included police officers from neighboring communities, the MBTA Transit Police and the Massachusetts State Police including its Air Wing. At 8 p.m., a second “Reverse 911” call went out to the neighborhood residents lifting earlier advisory.
Most of these breaks are occurring in the area of the Winn Brook Elementary School. The Belmont Police have responded by increasing directed patrol activity in that area and our detective division is working full time on these cases.
The majority of these breaks occur in the late afternoon or early evening. In recent breaks, entry is being gained through the back of the house. The suspects are targeting expensive jewelry, electronics and cash. If possible, place these items in a safe deposit box or a hidden area other than a dresser or closet.
We are urging residents to please call 9-1-1 IMMEDIATELY if they observe any activity which might be suspicious at your house or a neighbor’s house.
What to look for:
1. Someone parking in front of your house and then walking down the street or around the corner.
2. A stranger walking around your or your neighbor’s house or in &through their back yard.
For investigative information only, please contact the BPD Detectives at: 617-993- 2550 for all other concerns, please call 617-993-2501
TIPS: Criminals will often watch resident entry/exit patterns and often strike while people are at work during the day or away on vacation. The Belmont Police suggest residents take the following steps to help protect your home from burglary:
Photo: Questions to the DPW concerning cardboard collection spike during the holidays
Will Belmont residents have to pay to get rid of the glut of cardboard coming their way this holiday?
That was the suggestion from the Department of Public Works as it came before the Select Board on Monday, Nov. 9, to discuss setting dates for the annual holiday season collection of cardboard by the town’s Department of Public Works.
Saying the subject of cardboard produces the largest number of calls to his department, DPW Director Jay Marcotte said the town is scheduling a handful of cardboard events in the next few months to collect the excessive amount of corrugated material many residents collect especially during the holiday season.
(Cardboard drop offs is a relatively new event, starting after the introduction of automated trash pickup in 2018 when residents discovered they “had no space in their new recycling bin” to place the excessive amount of cardboard they were acculating, said Marcotte.)
And if past events are the norm, Public Works is expecting upwards of 300 hundred vehicles jam packed with cardboard along Waverley Street and C Street attempting to enter the DPW Yard originally scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 5.
But as Select Board Chair Roy Epstein said during Marcotte’s presentation before the board there is “a new wrinkle” to upcoming events: a fee.
The call for a “pay as you throw” scheme for cardboard stems from this spring when the town froze overtime spending due to the reduction of town revenues associated with COVID-19 pandemic.
Marcotte said cardboard can’t stake itself in the five truck-sized containers ready to be filled. The DPW needs a crew.
“We usually have one foreman with three to four workers along with one of the administrative assistants working between five to eight hours,” he said. Add to that expense the likely need for a police detail – yes, cardboard drop-off is like holding a rock concert in Belmont – due to the expected overflow of participants for the upcoming event.
“I’m anticipating that high number for this event because we did not have any drop offs during the spring. Usually by now we would have had two to three events,” said Marcotte. After speaking with the town’s Health Department, the DPW will need additional staff to take down contract tracing information due to the pandemic.
By the end of the day, such an event is expected to cost the DPW up to $2,400 for a Saturday event running from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Without overtime, “this will have to be a self-sustaining event, said Epstein. The cardboard will bring in $400 so the net expense to the town will be in the order of $2,000. A quick back of the envelope calculation came out to approximately $8 to $9.
The initial plan was for residents wanting to drop-off cardboard to head over to the Recreation Department page on the town’s web site to sign up with their contact info and prepay the fee as the event will be cash-free due to COVID-19 and just the ease of making everyone pay online.
“That will probably be the biggest hurdle, getting the documentation,” said Marcotte.
But the fee proposal quickly earned pushback from Board Member Tom Caputo. “I get the principle when it relates to overtime but I also wonder if we are … creating a great deal of resident frustration,” Caputo asked. By forcing the public to pony up for a previously free service on top of requiring them to use a new payment system in the knowledge that many will show up having not paid the new fee “[i]s going to generate a great deal of ill-will,” he said.
A compromise, suggested Caputo, would be to hold the event on a weekday and thus taking overtime out of the equation, a solution fellow board member Adam Dash was amenable to try.
“The whole cost of $2,352 … is such small money that your going to get $2,300 worth of trouble charging $5 or $10 for this,” said Dash, saying that many residents will note the town passed an override a quarter century ago to establish free curbside pickup.
“I’m not happy taking $2,000 away from something else for a repeated event because we’ll have to do it two more times. That’s $6,000,” said Epstein.
And a weekday solution would create its own issues, said Epstein, with long lines of vehicles likely to impede traffic on a busy roadway, annoy the neighbors and clogging up the Town Yard during a busy work day.
While proposals such as drop-offs on consecutive Friday and Saturday one-paid and the other free were bantied about, Marcotte told the board his department simply could not conduct the service “if we don’t charge. I don’t have a budget for it.”
While Caputo said he understood Marcotte’s frustration, “we’ll have to be creative in how we can enable this. Can we try [drop offs] a couple of times during the week and see how that works.”
It was Town Administrator Patrice Garvin who broke the logjam by injecting “I think it’s worth at least a try,” followed by Marcotte saying “I’m open to that.”
Garvin added a caveat of significant outreach to residents along Waverley and C streets on the time span and traffic mitigation for the event now set for the week of Dec. 1.
“We’ll figure it out,” said Garvin.
Photo: Veterans saluting the raising of the flag of the country.
Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938.
Unlike Memorial Day, Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead—but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.
What’s Closed:
MBTA: Operating on its regular weekday schedule. See www.mbta.com for details.
What’s Opened:
• Retail stores
• Coffee shops; Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts are serving coffee
• Supermarkets
• Convenience and drug stores (CVS) open regular hours
• Establishments that sell beer and wine are also allowed to be open.
Photo: The Skip has opened for the season.
On the day the town opened the 40-year-old plus Viglirolo Skating Rink for the season, the Select Board heard that a long sought after replacement for the current dilapidated facility came to a close after the only candidate to reply to the ambitious proposal could not make the project financially feasible.
“I wish I had better news to report,” said Tom Caputo who was the Select Board’s liaison to the town’s effort to create a one-and-a-half ice sheet rink to the west of the current facility known as the “Skip.”
“But the consensus of the group [of town and school officials] who worked on this is we don’t have an economically viable public/private partnership at this point,” said Caputo during the board’s ultramarathon of a meeting [four hours and 26 minutes] held Monday, Nov. 9
This comes as Recreation Department personnel who run the rink state that it is only a matter of time before a catastrophic mechanical failure involving the pipes and compressors – some original underground equipment from the 1970s that are no longer being manufactured – will require the facility to be closed for good.
“It’s running. That’s the key every year, we just hope it gets up and going,” said Recreation Director and Assistant Town Administrator Jon Marshall.
“But in the near future, we’re not going to be lucky. That’s the challenge,” said Marshal.
First proposed in September 2015, a long sought-after new rink was envisioned to be private/public partnership in which the school department would lease a portion of its land west of Harris Field to a private developer/rink manager at not cost for at least 25 years. In exchange, the Belmont High ice hockey teams would practice and hold games for free as well as allow for free recreational skating while the rink manager would rent the space to hockey leagues and private functions.
A detailed request for proposal was developed with input from the school committee and district, the town and neighbors during at times laborious negotiations. While there was some interest in the proposal, only one team headed by Belmont Youth Hockey put their hat in the ring to move to more substantial discussions with the town.
A tall order that failed
According to Caputo, what doomed the talks directed at replacing the ancient rink was how the RFP “was pretty highly constrained” to the developer. Not only was the town seeking for them to fund, construct and operate a multi-sheet facility, it required more than 100 parking spaces that would be linked to the high school and construct three high school playing and practice fields while providing aforementioned free playing and game time for varsity and junior varsity teams.
“That was a tall order, to say the least,” acknowledged Caputo.
While the two sides negotiated over the summer and resolved many conflicts facing the proposal, at the end of the day, the Youth Hockey team could not made their proposal work financially if it had to meet the space requirements in the RFP, especially the parking component, as well as providing a large chunk of no cost ice time to the school department.
“We just could not come up with an economically viable project that would work for the applicate that they could get funded and be confident to make payments on,” said Caputo. In fact, the town believes as currently written, the RFP as outlined and as constrained is such that there is not a viable project that will work.
Under the column titled Next Steps, Caputo said there is interest in adjusting the long list of town requirements for the project and modify the RFP.
“This is not unusual … to have a couple of rounds with the RFP before you get it right,” said Caputo. “There is creative ideas around parking and maybe not have free access to ice time that can be explored.”
But Caputo admitted that some of those creative adjustments that are “kicking around” is that “they are so far from the RFP that was created that they are probably outside the bounds of what we can reasonably negotiate.”
In addition, Marshall has begun the first steps in better understanding what it would take to renovate or rebuild the current location.
Select Board Member Adam Dash said that many of the required changes needed in the RFP to spark interest from a private developer would be “no gos” on the town side as the RFP required a great deal of negotiations with the school district and residents.
Dash also derided any thoughts of refurbishing the “Skip,” describing it as a “disaster.”
“What would it cost to build a one sheet of ice rink? God knows when we could get the money to do it,” said Dash. “This one is gonna die probably before we can get there. It’s not a good situation.”
Photo: Brianna Normile, who earned her professional status from the school district she attended for her entire elementary and secondary education, including graduating from Belmont High School.
Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan said this year’s celebration on the granting of 26 educators’ professional status was special for him on a personal level. One of the educators who were honored on Oct. 27 at a virtual meeting of the Belmont School Committee was a student he knew a decade ago when he was an assistant Middle School principal.
“I won’t call her out,” said Phelan, but said it was so rewarding to have taught her and now seeing her as a teacher.
Under state statute, a teacher who has served in the public schools of a school district for the three previous consecutive school years is deemed to have earned “professional teacher status,” which is sometimes referred to as tenure.
Included in the group includes Brianna Normile, who earned her professional status from the school district she attended for her entire elementary and secondary education, including graduating from Belmont High School.
Noting that the keepsake given to him 17 years ago when he earned his professional status as a teacher at the Chenery Middle School is on his desk, Director of Human Capital Mike McAllister, gaining professional status is no small accomplishment as it not only means each teacher, specialist and leader met expectations but will serve the larger mission: to educate the children of Belmont and prepare them for the future.
This year’s teachers and educators include:
Photo: Commuter rail service will see cuts in 2021
With the COVID-19 pandemic essentially keeping workers at home and away from crowded public transportation, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority announced it will be making significant reductions to the level of service in the next year.
For Belmont residents, the reduction will be felt by those who travel on the commuter rail out of Waverley and Belmont stations, while those who take buses are being spared at this time.
There will be a virtual meeting on service cuts for the region Belmont is in on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m.
“In order to protect essential service for those who depend upon it, we need to reduce service where there are fewer riders,” said the MBTA in a press release on Monday, Nov. 9.
The cut in service will impact the Fitchburg line of the MBTA’s commuter rail service. Currently, the commuter rail trains are running at 10 percent of pre-COVID-19 ridership levels, according to the T.
Starting sometime near May 1, 2021, the commuter rail will:
While Belmont two stations have some of the smallest ridership numbers, they were not on the list of six stations that will be closed due to passenger reductions.
While bus ridership has seen a reduction of 40 percent since March, the MBTA will continue all bus lines running in Belmont with only the 554 (from Newton Center to Waverley) will be “shortened.”
All other routes that travel throught Belmont – 67, 73, 74, 75, 78, – could see possible reduction of service levels if ridership continues “below baseline.”
Starting in summer 2021, the T is planning systemwide changes to buses:
For Belmontians who use the Alewife and Harvard Square subway stations, the subway system will see all service ending at midnight and a reduction of overall service by 20 percent.
Photo: Back to green for Belmont in coronavirus cases
After a week in yellow, Belmont has returned to the state designated safer green level of COVID-19 infection, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in its weekly coronavirus update on Friday, Nov. 6.
The total number of positive cases in Belmont increased by 24 to 308 total cases (since March 13) in the past two weeks, according to the MDPH, resulting in a 4.4 average daily incidence rate per 100,000 over the same period which lies within the state’s green level, which indicates a low risk of infection within the community.
In the view of the state, Belmont has seen “No Change” in the number of new cases occurring over the current two-week period ending Nov. 5 compared to the previous two-week period.
In the first week of November, the Belmont School District reported five new cases at its six schools.
On Nov. 2, two members of the Belmont High School community (they can either be staff or students) were confirmed to have COVID-19. Both individuals were remote (not in the building) and unrelated to each other. In addition, each did not have contact with others in the district.
Three cases were reported on Nov. 5, one at Belmont High School and two at the Chenery Middle School. While the person at the high school and one of the cases at the middle school were not in the buildings and not in contact with others, the second middle school case was at the school and was in close contact with others. Those who were in contact with the person are in quarantine for the next two weeks.
Photo: Drop off Halloween pumpkins this Saturday
Let’s keep all those Halloween pumpkins away from the landfills!
The Great Pumpkin Rescue – sponsored by Belmont Helps along with the Butler School and Winn Brook School PTA’s – will take place Saturday, Nov. 7, between 11 a.m. to noon.
Drop off your pumpkins and gourds at a pair of drop off choices:
Please wear face coverings and maintain six-feet social distancing during the drop-off. Drivers should open their trunks so volunteers can remove pumpkins and any donations.
In addition and optional, we will be collecting spare change and financial donations for Belmont Helps to use for families in need of groceries and resources.
Cash, check or Go Fund donations are welcome.
Photo: Election workers
Dear Neighbors and Voters of Belmont:
While many Americans are focused on the results of the Nov. 3 Presidential Election, I call special attention to our fellow Belmont neighbors who served as election workers to guarantee the rightful exercise of our treasured right to vote, even in the midst of a global pandemic. They did a fabulous job and need to be recognized for their work:
The Official Election Results for Belmont have not yet been finalized, but the official results will be certified by Nov. 18.
Exactly 81.99 percent of Belmont’s voters cast ballots in the Nov. 3 election. That’s 15,038 people – of whom more than 12,100 voted during the fourteen days of the In-Person Early Voting period or Voted by Mail. The conclusion: a vigorously active electorate and even more amazing election workers and staff. We enjoyed expert assistance from many town departments, but most particularly the Police, Public Works, Fire, Library, Council on Aging, School Department, Facilities, Treasurer, Information Technology, Community Development, Select Board’s office, Health Department, Emergency Management and others. Lastly, the members of the press/media covering Belmont, each of our media outlets, got the word out to our residents to let them know the details of voting which really made a difference.
More than 200 election workers were trained and ready to go; 116 actually wound up working during the Early Voting Period or on Election Day itself along with the fantastic, hard-working staff of the Town Clerk’s office :
We are extremely proud of the work these folks accomplished to make Belmont’s election a huge success with accurate results and we thank them sincerely for their efforts, their attitude and their willingness to participate so wonderfully in this open election process.
When you see them around town, we encourage you to thank them in person.
With thanks and in awe of:
| Alana | Aubin |
| Annah | Abrams |
| Bruce | Alger |
| Katherine | Anderson |
| Angela | Carini |
| Claus | Becker |
| Jessie | Bennett |
| Irina | Berlin |
| Woody | Bishop |
| Irene | Bocella |
| Sarah | Boyle |
| Liane | Brecknock |
| Carol | Burt |
| Catherine | Byrne |
| Laura | Caputo |
| Laurie | Carlson |
| Heather | Charron |
| Alyson | Conover |
| Elaine | Crisafi |
| Liam | Cushman |
| Angus | Davison |
| Margaret | Decker |
| Amy | DeDeo |
| Hildy | Dvorak |
| Brenda | Dzierzeski |
| Naomi | Ellenburg-Dukas |
| Anya | Epstein |
| Renee | Eurdolian |
| Eileen | Farrell |
| Ernie | Fay |
| Debby | Fenn |
| Jared | Fernandez |
| Lynn | Findlay |
| Angelo | Firenze |
| Jenna | Flanagan |
| Harris | Foulkes |
| Virginia | Grant |
| Suzanne | Greenberg |
| Ilana | Gut |
| Viktoria | Haase |
| Brian | Hanley |
| Kaleigh | Hannigan |
| Jane | Haverty |
| Kelly | Higgins |
| Stephen | Hodgdon |
| Priscilla | Hughes |
| Brian | Iler |
| Melissa | Irion |
| Audrey | Jerome |
| Barbara | Johnson |
| Gary | Kelly |
| Maura | Kelly |
| Janice | Knight |
| Julia | Kostro |
| Andrew | Kramer |
| Pam | Larson |
| Chuck | Laverty |
| David | Lind |
| Larry | Link |
| Warren | Logan |
| Rosemary | LoRusso |
| Geoffrey | Lubein |
| Paula | Lyons |
| Katharine | MacIsaac |
| Zenda | Mancini |
| Kristen | Masoud |
| Beth | Maury |
| Camille | Mayeux |
| Gretchen | McClain |
| Marshall | McCloskey |
| Karey | McKenna |
| Glen | Mohr |
| Robin | Moore |
| Paulina | Muratore |
| Holly | Muson |
| Kent | Newton |
| Laura | Noerdlinger |
| Rachel | November |
| David | Nuscher |
| Laurel | Obermueller |
| Christine | O’Neill |
| Diane | Orfanos |
| Charis | Palandjian |
| Christopher | Piccione |
| Andrea | Prestwich |
| Kathy | Quirk |
| Sarah | Richards |
| Ann | Rittenburg |
| Judy | Rizzo |
| Ilyse | Robbins-Mohr |
| Phil | Rossoni |
| Kathleen | Rushe |
| Brian | Saper |
| Dennis | Simenson |
| Barbara | Skelly |
| Caroline | Sokol |
| Sharon | Sprague |
| Clare | Stanley |
| Heidi | Steinert |
| Holly | Stratford |
| Scott | Stratford |
| Matthew | Sullivan |
| Joyce | The Voice |
| Susan | Titus |
| John | Umina |
| Paula | van Horn |
| Ann | Verrilli |
| Mark | Wagner |
| Jen | Waldron |
| Marjorie | Wayne |
| Michael | Wissner |
| Ian | Wright |
| Joe | Zarro |
| Roseann | Zelny |
| Victor | Zelny |
| Erica | Zidel |
Town Clerk’s Staff Members
| Dan | Cane |
| Nancy | Casale |
| Meg | Piccione |
Ellen O’Brien Cushman, Town Clerk and Fellow Members of the Board of Registrars of Voters: Robert McGaw, Paul Minor and Stephen Shestakofsky