Three Fire Department ‘Newbies’ Brings Belmont’s Staffing to 2009 Levels

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Photo: Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman (from left) swears in Ryan Keane, Andrew Butler and Charles Gerrard as Belmont’s newest firefighters.

Belmont’s Fire Department has three “newbies” among its ranks starting last week.

Charles Gerrard, Andrew Butler, and Ryan Keane were appointed as firefighters on Monday, March 16 by Belmont Fire Chief David Frizzell, and sworn in by Town Clerk Ellen Cushman at the Town Hall in a brief ceremony.

The three new firefighters are also Massachusetts-certified paramedics. After their initial training, they will be sent to the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in Stow to participate in the nine week Career Recruit Training Program. While assigned at the academy, they will study firefighting strategy and tactics, fire ground evolutions, motor vehicle extrication, search and rescue, and hazardous materials mitigation among numerous other topics.

“We welcome the new firefighters and are looking forward to working with them. We wish them a long healthy and safe career with us,” said Frizzell.

These new firefighters are being hired as part of a Federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant to restore lost firefighter positions, bringing the department back to its 2009 staffing level of 57-and-a-half full-time equivalent (FTE) positions.  This level is still 23-and-a-half FTE positions lower than the department’s historic staffing level of 82 full-time employees and two part-time employees.

Major Change Comes in Twos for Belmont Residents who Recycle

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Photo: The town’s recycling policy is changing in a major way next week.

The days of throwing everything – empty cans of tuna, the Sunday New York Times newspaper, the plastic container your earphones came in, and empty craft beer bottles – into the blue or green recycling containers and having it taken away every two weeks are over.

Starting next week, there will be a right way and a wrong way to recycle in Belmont as F W Russell Sons Disposal – the town’s trash contractor – will only collect curbside recycling if it’s correctly sorted into a “dual stream.”

A dual-stream system requires paper and cardboard separated from containers such as plastic bottles and containers, glass and metal cans. Paper, cardboard and containers are banned from landfills and waste-to-facilities in Massachusetts and need to be recycled.

If not separated, the recycling will not be picked up, and scofflaws will need to drag the boxes back to the house.

(Information on how to successfully negotiate the new policy can be found on the Town’s website under the Department of Public Works Highway Division.)

So why the big change from those who already recycle?

According to Belmont’s Recycling Coordinator, Mary Beth Calnan, Somerville-based Russell was told recently by the regional collection facility its contract calls for Belmont’s recycling to be a dual stream.

Calnan said the town’s curbside recycling program began in July 1991 as a dual stream system. For some reason, the first recycling hauler, Laidlaw, didn’t enforce the system and the tradition of throwing all recycling material into the same container became the norm.

When asked how Belmont residents will react to the new rules, Calnan said residents want to do the right thing and the office has received many calls and emails about the flyers that went out in the light bills and on the Town’s web page.

“Most residents want to purchase another bin or have recycling stickers mailed to them so they can put out their recycling correctly,” she said.

“If a resident is confused or needs guidance they should contact me and I will gladly help them,” she said. Reach Calnan at 617-993-2789 or mcalnan@belmont-ma.gov

 

 

With 17 Days To Go, ‘Yes’ Supporters Rally at the Corner to Begin Election Season

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Photo: The traditional site – the corner of Common Street and Concord Avenue – for campaign rallies sees the “Yes for Belmont” group gather to begin the election season in Belmont.

Blame it on the record snowfall, the lack of town-wide contested races or one of a number of other reasons, but so far, there hasn’t been much politicking around Belmont as the annual Town Election fast approaches. Besides some lawn/snow pile signs set outdoors, most of the electioneering in the “Town of Homes” has been taking place inside.

That changed on the first full day of Spring – Saturday, March 21 – as the committee supporting a Proposition 2 1/2 override marshaled its forces to revive the tradition of holding signs and garnering support at the corner of Common and Concord across from the commuter rail tunnel leading in and out of Belmont Center.

Holding large sherbet orange-colored signs proclaiming “Vote Yes April 7,” a wide array of supporters braved a final – hopefully – morning blast of snow to wave both hands and placards at passing motorists.

School Committee member Tom Caputo – who is running unopposed to fill the final two years of the term he holds in the coming election – brought his wife, Sarah, and two daughter, Allison and Jane, to man the site nearest the tunnel.

In the coming years, Belmont schools will face the challenges of dealing with higher enrollment and the costs associated with a top-tier district, “and it’s critical that we recognize that we need the funding of an override to make that possible,” said Caputo.

Preparing for his first-time voting, Belmont High senior Daniel Vernick is also helping garner support among his fellow student for the override’s passage which included holding voter registration at the school. .

“There’s an incredible amount of support at the high school at all [grades] but especially with the seniors because they see how these cuts will [impact] their classmates,” Vernick said.

For veteran campaigner Monty Allen, the primary reason for standing out in the snow is to support the schools that provided his son with “just an outstanding education.”

“It’s not about my son or my family. It’s about everybody else in town. There are some things that you can buy for yourself; there are other things like schools and town services that you can only buy them collectively. I’m for that,” said Allen.

Letter to the Editor: Please, Don’t Vote for Me Precinct 4 Voters

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To the editor:

I don’t know the best way to do this and wonder if a letter to the editor is the appropriate forum. If not, perhaps you can suggest something else. Here is what I want to say:

Dear Precinct Four voters,

My name will be on the ballot in April for Town Meeting member. Due to recent illness in my family, I will be unavailable to attend town meeting. Please vote for another candidate. I hope to have the opportunity to serve on Town Meeting another year.

Christine O’Neill

Agassiz Avenue

Belmont’s ‘No’ on Override Committee Warrants Attention

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Photo: A generic design asking for a no vote.

It has no lawn signs (yet), nor a web site (so far) and is keeping its campaign close to the vest (for now).

But last week, a group of Belmont residents made it official: it will campaign to defeat the $4.5 million Proposition 2 1/2 override on the April 7 Town Election ballot.

But unlike former override opponents who are content with authoring missives that populate the letters page of a weekly newspaper, this ensemble – officially known as the “Vote No on Ballot Question 1 Committee” – carries far more heft than any group in the past.

A cursory glance of those identified as ‘no’ supporters quickly reveals a common core; they are or have been members of the town’s influential Warrant Committee, the Town Meeting’s financial watchdog. The ‘No’ chair, Liz Allison, was for several years its head while ‘No’ treasurer, Raffi Manjikian, is joined by the Warrant Committee’s vice chair Robert Sarno and member Jim Gammill on the ‘No’ campaign.

In addition to his work on the Warrant Committee, Manjikian was one of the prime movers in the successful 2013 effort by Waverley Square residents to pass a general residence demolition delay bylaw protecting single-family homes from the wrecking ball.

To be fair, membership on the Warrant Committee doesn’t lead one exclusively onto the ‘No’ committee. Ellen Schreiber, a leader of ‘Yes for Belmont’ which supports the override, was recently selected to the Warrant Committee by Town Moderator Michael Widmer (The moderator selects residents to the committee) while current Chair Michael Libenson has written advocating for the three-year, $4.5 million increase.

The group – which includes Sarno’s wife, Judith Ananian Sarno, and Dawn MacKerron – has been quietly flying under the radar, collecting email address and putting out the word to those who will vote against the override.

This week, the first arguments from the ‘no’ campaign has emerged in public statements by the group, less than three weeks before the election. A “guest commentary” by Manjikian circulating throughout town via email provided a glimpse at the committee’s chief arguments. (The complete commentary is here: Letters-to-Editor_drafts-2

“As a parent of four children, I try my best to lead by example. Choices sometimes may not be popular, but one needs to stand for up for what he or she believes and at times to call upon others to join in. Voting ‘NO’ on Question 1 is not a vote against the town or the school system; it is a vote against how we have chosen to manage,” writes Manjikian.

In his statement, Masjikian argues the town doesn’t have a revenue problem as stated by the Financial Task Force which recommended the override, “we have a management problem,” specifically in managing expenses, pointing to four projects residents voted to pass in the past year-and-a-half costing taxpayers $12 million.

By voting no, “[we] will open the discourse to a balanced approach toward crafting a multi-year plan that impacts both the revenue and expense side of our budget.”

Manjikian rejected claims by Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan that turning down the override would have dire consequences to the Belmont School District; reducing classes, firing teachers, greater teacher-to-student ratios and forcing more free time onto students.

“We don’t agree that a “NO” vote will have a detrimental impact of education in Belmont,” he said. “We need to put this in perspective – voters are being asked to fund a ‘Mega Override’ of $4.5 million when the draft school budget is looking for $1.7 million,” Manjikian told the Belmontonian.

“If voters reject the override ballot question, the [selectmen], [warrant committee], [school committee] will do what has been done many, many times; identify revenue opportunities and cost saving in the draft budget that will allow the critical needs of the schools to be funded,” he said.

Only then, if a gap in revenue to expenses remains, “a ‘right sized’ override should be called for to support that need,” said Masjikian.

“Going to the taxpayers as a first step is just not right. We need to bear in mind that we will be going to the voters for more tax dollars in support of the numerous capital projects among which is the high school – the  debt exclusion would be $70 million, which could be as soon as [fiscal year] ’18,” he said.

As the No campaign has begun to surface, those supporting the override believe their assumptions simply don’t hold water.

“It borders on shocking that the leaders of the ‘No’ campaign are suggesting another band-aid fix to Belmont’s long-term financial challenges,” Sara Masucci, co-chair of YES for Belmont campaign. 

“In Belmont, we love to complain about the yearly “financial crisis,” yet that is exactly what they are doing – again. Belmont’s voters have an opportunity now to change that; to take a smart, fiscally responsible and proactive approach to town management,” she added.

Masucci said the issue before Belmont voters is not “a management problem” but a culture of short-term thinking.

“Rejecting the override is just kicking the can down the road, they make no proposals to address the real issues and they reject this carefully developed multi-year solution. This reckless approach – throwing around blame and avoiding tough choices – risks Belmont’s children’s futures,” she said.

 

 

And after that evaluation if there still is a gap, a “right sized” override should be called for to support that need. Going to the taxpayers as a first step is just not right. We need to bear in mind  that we will be going to the voters for more tax dollars in support of the numerous capital projects among which is the high school – the  debt exclusion would be $70 million, which could be as soon as FY18.

 

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Town Clerk: Know Where a Political Sign Can and Can’t Be Displayed

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Photo:

Here is a reminder from Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman to all residents who have or are about to display a political sign:

“The Town Clerk reminds residents that all campaign and political signs MUST only be placed for display on private property.

Specifically, the “sidewalk strip” or “tree strip”  in front of your home, as well as the delta islands, playgrounds, school grounds and parks are all public property and no signs may be placed there. 

If a campaign or political sign is being held, the person holding the sign may stand or sit on the public property to display the sign, however the sign may not be left unattended or leaning against a wall or tree awaiting the next sign holder. At no time can a person holding the sign obstruct the public’s access to the public property.

If you are out and about in Belmont and notice a campaign or political sign located on public property, please email townclerk@belmont-ma.gov or phone the Town Clerk’s office at 617-993-2600. We will contact the campaign to have the sign moved immediately or have it removed.”

Citing Precedence, Selectmen Deny Jimmy’s Food Mart Beer/Wine License

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Photo: The owners of Jimmy’s Food Mart, Surinder Kaur Dhaliwal and Parmjit Singh with their attorney, Steve Rosales, before the Board of Selectmen.

Citing a precedence in opposing past applicants which failed a fluid set of criteria, the Belmont Board of Selectmen unanimously denied a license to Jimmy’s Food Mart to sell beer and wine from the store at the corner of Belmont and School streets.

“This is about fairness,” Selectman Sami Baghdady told the Belmontonian after the meeting held on Monday, March 16, referring to the board’s recent denials to a pair of Trapleo Road businesses which failed to meet a benchmark of requirements set when the board OK’ed a full liquor license for the Loading Dock on Brighton Street in May 2014.

“If we denied LC Variety and Trapelo Variety

for not meeting certain community standards, how do we approve Jimmy’s when they also failed to do so? That’s unfair to the others,” he explained.

The board’s decision now places the future of Jimmy’s Food Mart into question.

“I don’t know if we can stay open,” said co-owner Parmjit Singh told the Belmontonian after the meeting.

Singh said he heeded the board’s suggestions made by the board three weeks prior when he and his wife and co-owner Surinder Kaur Dhaliwal, first presented their application for a beer and wine license.

“We did all they asked. Why did they now reject us? The business is changed to what they wanted,” he asked Belmont attorney Steve Rosales, who represented the couple.

In their application, the owners informed the town the store would provide popular and affordable brands of beer and wine, products in demand as the four current beer and wine and full liquor license holders in Belmont are providing selections that are viewed as more selective.

“I don’t know about you, but I like,” said Rosales.

At the meeting in February, the board informed the couple it would view their license application more favorably if they fundamentally changed their business model from a corner store selling the staples and sundries into food preparation and a “market”-style operation. The meeting was continued until this Monday.

Singh and Dhaliwal bought the shuttered site of the former Shore Drug in 2013 and opened it as a convenience store in January 2014. The store is managed by their son and business partner, Jimmy Singh. Since opening, neighborhood reaction has been overwhelmingly favorable, with residents commending the owners for operating a clean and inviting business.

Hannah Haynes, who lives on Lewis Road, said Singh polices the area including keeping the sidewalk clear of snow beyond the business’ boundaries and conveniently staying open into the night.

“For someone who works late, I appreciate the light and activity the store brings to the street,” Haynes told the board.

Since the February meeting, the store has set aside a significant square footage of floor space to accommodate South Asian foods, products and fresh “to-go” foods, transforming the store into an “international” market. Singh said he has not yet created a spot to serve or consume food since he would need to obtain a common victualler license.

While praising the new business plan the board strongly suggested Singh and Dhaliwal adopt, and the owners’ decision to voluntarily end tobacco sales, Baghdady said the business, “still doesn’t feel right to me that you have lottery sales.”

“Honestly, [lottery sales] is inconsistent with your business plan,” said Baghdady, telling the owners they would “do better if you got off the lottery and focused on the ethnic food products.”

Singh told the board lottery sales allows the store to stay in operation, providing the business a small profit to soften the high cost of doing business at the site including a $4,000 a month rent in addition to other fees and taxes he must pay.

“I need the lottery. It’s very hard for me to make my money [from the store alone],” said Singh, noting that similar Indian stores in Somerville, Cambridge and surrounding areas all sell lottery tickets to customers who are from South Asia.

Baghdady would not budge from his and the board’s demand the store abandoned lottery sales, noting the “precedence” set in rejecting two previous applications.

Rosales told the board the precedence from the Loading Dock decision was if an establishment wanted a full liquor license, “then you give up [lottery and tobacco] sales.”

The pleas did not move the board.

“I clearly understand that the lottery is a revenue source, but I don’t think you have it tonight, unfortunately,” said Selectman Mark Paolillo.

In addition, the Board noted traffic issues existed on nearby Lewis Road – running perpendicular to Belmont on the same block as Jimmy’s – which could be exasperated with vehicle traffic from Jimmy’s customers.

While Lewis Road residents were critical of the parking and traffic on the roadway at the February meeting, they were nearly universal in commending the owners in their commitment to operating a neighborhood-friendly store.

“I encourage you to keep working on your business plan, expand your business and when you’re ready, then come back,” said Baghdady, suggesting a return is possible in “eight months.”

“I don’t know how they are not ready now?” queried Rosales.

The board voted to accept Baghdady’s “itemized reasons” for denying the application; “I don’t think the use is capable with that neighborhood, I think a lottery license is incapable with our previous decisions and until the Traffic Advisory Committee does take some action on Lewis Road, I think this affects traffic in the residential areas.”

When asked if the board has established a “criteria” for future beer and wine applicants must follow, Baghdady said the board’s new “guidelines” should be taken into consideration by any business seeking a beer and wine license.

“They should know what we expect from applicants,” said Baghdady.

The presence of an unwritten set of rules applying troubled Rosales, a past member of the Board of Selectmen.

“Let me just say personally, [unwritten guidelines] would have been unthinkable when I was a member of the [board of selectmen],” Rosales told the Belmontonian.

When asked to elaborate, Rosales declined with a shake of the head.

When asked if the board has established a criteria future beer and wine applicants must adhere to, Baghdady said the board’s new “guidelines” should be taken into consideration by any business seeking a license.

“They should know what we expect from applicants,” said Baghdady.

When told of the possible closure of the year old operation, Baghdady said the owners should not have based a business decision on the “hope” they would receive a beer and wine license.

“They should have made opening the business contingent on receiving a license, not the other way around,” he said.

Selectman Candidates’ Question of the Week: Mitigating the Impact of Belmont Uplands

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Photo: Jim Williams.

Every Wednesday leading up the Town Election on Tuesday, April 7, the Belmontonian will be asking a “Question of the Week” to the candidates running for a seat on the Board of Selectmen: incumbent Andy Rojas and Glenn Road resident Jim Williams.

This weekly feature will allow the candidates seeking a three-year term on the board to answer topical questions concerning Belmont and help demonstrate their ability to lead the town.

This week’s question: Over the three-year term beginning on April 8, what will you do to mitigate the expected effects of the 299-unit Belmont Uplands development on town resources and the local environment?

Jim Williams

The proposed development in the Uplands is a situation where we have to prepare for the worst, and collaborate to achieve the best outcome. While it is, of course, disheartening to see the Silver Maple Forest surrounding the Uplands disappearing, there is still much that I, as Belmont Selectman, can be done to ensure that the developer adheres to 40B affordable housing regulations. The environmental impact is also of utmost concern and traffic issues must be addressed. 

We must prepare now for the impact of an additional 299 housing units will have on town resources and our already over-crowded schools.  My plan is to work with the developer and the town with the goal of ensuring the best outcome for the Uplands and the Town of Belmont. 

First, we need to determine the net cost to the town based on the number of units, number of residents, and impact on our utilities. We do not have clear estimates for the number of additional children; nor do we know how traffic patterns and congestion will impact us. It is my understanding that, as of yet, the Board of Selectmen has not run a model nor have they asked the planning board to develop a model to estimate costs of services, and look at any benefits from tax or other revenue. How can we prepare for the strains on our system if we aren’t willing to make projections?

Second, major environmental concerns are two-fold: flooding and pollution. The developer is using storm water data from 1961; when in in actuality the 2011 rainfall statistics shows 150,000 gallons in excess storm water. Not only is there a risk of flooding, the excess storm water also impacts pollution at the site.

Third, the developer needs to proactively fund and put in place certain measures to mitigate traffic. The most practical change we can implement to help with traffic would be to build the tunnel under the railroad at Alexander Avenue. This has the potential to reduce traffic on Brighton Road, one of the roads which would be most severely affected by traffic from the Uplands development.

I believe the most alarming challenge we face with the Uplands development is the sheer increase in population; which means more cars on already less-than-acceptable roads and a further strain on our town services, such as police and fire, and utilities like sewer and water and electricity.  Furthermore, our school system is growing at an unprecedented rate, and an additional rapid in-flux of students into our already overcrowded schools may push us to a breaking point.  

All of this requires fiscal discipline and diplomatic solutions to ensure that we balance the outcome of the Uplands development with our current and future needs. I have a proven track record in ensuring that the best outcomes are achieved within the parameters of our financial constraints and available revenue. My plan shows promise and potentially and optimistic outlook for the Town. Facing our financial problems head-on is the only way we are going to preserve the town we love.

Andy Rojas

As required, because all necessary state permit conditions had been met, the Community Development Department recently issued a foundation permit for the Uplands residential development; project construction will now begin in earnest. The full impact of this project on Belmont will take a number of years to be felt. However, the town must prepare for the aftermath of this unfortunate occurrence and deal with any immediate effects.

  • This is an area where my extensive site development and mitigation experience will be extremely helpful to Belmont.

Since the project is comprised of five separate residential buildings, it is likely that the impact on Belmont’s services — schools, police, fire, etc. — will be felt in waves as each construction phase is completed. However, the primary environmental impacts on flooding and habitat destruction will likely be apparent as soon as the site has been cleared of vegetation in preparation for foundation construction.

Protecting the Belmont neighborhoods most directly affected by the environmental consequences of the Uplands development will be a central theme of ongoing reviews and approvals during construction. I am committed to using my site development and mitigation expertise in helping to protect these neighborhoods.

  1. I will work with the Community Development Department and our construction control team to make sure that all construction activity adheres to the law and to all applicable environmental regulations and best practices.
  2. All environmental impacts relating to water management, stormwater control/storage and natural habitat disturbance will be monitored to make sure that the project abides by approval conditions.
Andy & Smudge Rojas - IMG_0779

Andy Rojas and Smudge.

Accommodating the Uplands’ projected post-construction requirements for town services will be very challenging. Uplands property taxes will not cover costs.

As each project phase is completed, the school-age population will increase; students must be absorbed and placed appropriately. While projections of student numbers are an inexact science, Belmont will inevitably be faced with providing quality education, transportation and perhaps additional mandated services to this larger population. I will work closely with the Schools Superintendent and the School Committee to carefully gauge and accommodate this influx from start to finish.

The Uplands’ other projected demands on town services such as police, fire and emergency response will also require constant monitoring and adjustment; much of this will happen as each construction phase is completed. Given the Uplands’ geographic location, the town departments affected may require additional personnel and vehicles to properly service the completed project.

A police sub-station within one of the buildings is a possibility. While this will be a bigger burden for Belmont, as a community, we must support the life, safety and security of our new residents.

My experience with these departments as well as with my understanding of their capabilities, needs and budgets will allow me to work with them so we can address these challenges effectively.

I respectfully request your vote for Selectman on Tuesday, April 7, 2015. Thank you.

Major Detour on Trapelo Road on Wednesday, March 18

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Photo: A map of the detour in effect on Wednesday, March 18.

If your daily commute runs through Cushing Square, give yourself extra time Wednesday, March 18 as road construction will reduce vehicle and bus traffic on Trapelo Road to a single, outbound lane – towards Waltham – between Common Street and the intersection of Belmont Street beginning at 7 a.m.

The detour will end at 3 p.m.

As a result, inbound traffic towards Cambridge will be sent on a detour at Cushing Square going onto Common Street to Belmont Street, and re-enter Trapelo Road at the intersection of Belmont Street.

The detour will impact a single #73 bus stop, located at 36 Trapelo Rd. near Moozy’s.

Final Day to Register to Vote in Belmont’s Town Election is Wednesday, March 18

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You have two days to register to have your voice heard in the coming town election.

Belmont residents who are 18 years or older and a citizen of the United States can register to vote, but they must be registered to do so.

In order to be eligible to vote in the April 7, 2015 annual Town Election, a voter registration form must be received or postmarked by Wednesday, March 18.  The Belmont Town Clerk’s office will be open until 8 p.m. on the 18th to receive voter registrations.

If you were a registered to vote in another town or state, you’ll need to register as a voter in Belmont in order to vote here.

If for some reason you can not make it to Town Hall to register, a Belmont resident can register to vote in Belmont at any Town or City clerks office in the Commonwealth. But it must be done by the March 18 deadline.

The deadline for registered Belmont voters who need to make changes to party affiliation, name or address (within Belmont) is also March 18.