Rink Design Committee Found Its Architect And Maybe A New Plan To Think Over

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Photo: Ted Galante of Galante Architects has been selected to present a design for a new skating rink

They found their designer and now the Preliminary Rink Design Committee is ready to introduce a familiar face to the Select Board at a joint meeting on Monday, March 14 to advance the project to replace the dilapidated facility affectionately known as “The Skip.”

After interviewing three candidates, the committee gave the nod to Cambridge-based Galante Architects and its principal, Ted Galante. If that name rings a bell, it should as Galante won universal praise for his renovation design of the nearly century old Belmont Police Headquarters and the temporary improvements to the Department of Public Works’ building which both opened last year.

His innovative work at the police station included adding an addition to the existing structure while gut its interior resulting saving the town millions of dollars and a decade if it had elected to build a new headquarters. If selected, Galante will join the owner’s project manager Tom Gatzunis from CHA Corp., reuniting the “Tom and Ted” team responsible for the police and DPW projects.

Galante told Committee member Mark Haley earlier in the week that a “very preliminary” design concept could be presented to the Select Board and School Committee “in the first couple of weeks in April.”

“We’ll have some meat on the bone to talk about,” said Haley, who is heading the committee, at its Thursday, March 10 meeting.

The committee agreed that the preliminary design needs to come as a report to Town Meeting in May so the Select Board can place a debt exclusion for the project on November’s ballot. An 2021 feasibility study of a new rink located by the commuter rail tracks adjacent to Harris Field came in the $20-million price range.

Haley also indicated that he will suggest on Monday the committee sees at least three alternatives plans for the rink:

  • Construct a new rink.
  • Renovate the existing structure.
  • A new alternative in which the rink is either renovated or a new rink is located at the current site, with both plans incorporating the White Field House.

The inclusion of the White Field House in any new design recently became a possibility when the Belmont Middle and High School Building Committee pulled funds for the demolition of the 70-year-old structure (along with money for the renovation of the fields west of Harris) to replenish the middle and high school projects contingency funds after they were depleted by a shock of Covid-related expenses.

Haley confessed there is no long term study for a White Field House addition to the rink, “it’s just what are the possibilities and what are the opportunities for the time.”

At the March 14 meeting, the committee will approach the Select Board to broaden its scope by incorporating the fields west of Harris Field in its design work.

Several members said to come up with the most economical overall design would require expanding the committee’s scope to link the fields and rink “in combination” allowing for a more holistic approach to the project.

And while the committee wants to add the playing grounds to its purview, it will specify to the Select Board that funding for the field will come from a separate source. In addition, members agreed that the total square footage of the field space must not be decreased in the new plan.

“I think people would not be happy with that,” said member Meg Moriarty, who represents the School Committee on the group.

”I think in order to get the best rink design … there are so many factors that we’re dealing with: parking, locker rooms, space for other sports,” said Frank French Jr. “Looking at how the fields will lay out in relation to the most efficient rink design … I think makes sense and is necessary in order to achieve our goal.”

While agreeing with the committee on creating an overall design overview that includes both the fields and rink is the way to go, Gatzunis informed the committee that the Middle and High School Building Committee found that the current site of the rink is “an absolute constraint” in accomplishing the goal of building the “most efficient and economical rink.”

Whether or not the rink stays at its present location as new construction or a renovation or is built where the 2021 feasibility study said is optimal, “[I]t will at least answer the question for the community at large: ‘Did you look at everything that you could? Is there a better way to build this mousetrap?'”

Opinion: My Support For Bill To Allow Drivers’ Licenses To Residents Without Lawful Immigrant Status

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Photo: Sample of a Massachusetts commercial drivers’ license. (Credit: mass.gov/rmv)

By Will Brownsberger

Current Massachusetts law provides that “no [driver’s] license of any type may be issued to any person who does not have lawful presence in the United States.“

A bill currently before the senate would change that sentence to read: “An applicant for a [driver’s] license … who does not provide proof of lawful presence, … , shall be eligible … if the applicant meets all other qualifications for licensure and provides satisfactory proof to the registrar of their identity, date of birth and Massachusetts residency.”

In other words, the bill would give licenses to people who cannot prove lawful presence in the United States, provided they can prove their residence and identity and pass the same tests that everyone else has to pass.

I plan to support the bill.

My fundamental view about immigration policy is that it is up to the federal government. It is not the concern of state and local government. However, one of the top concerns of state and local government is to assure that all drivers know the rules of the road and how to operate a vehicle safely. It is often necessary to drive and we are all safer if more of the people on our roads have the required training and insurance.

Some argue that to discourage illegal immigration, we should make life in Massachusetts as inconvenient and uncomfortable as possible for people without lawful immigrant status. I do not agree with that approach. We hurt ourselves when we isolate people in our midst. We benefit from immigrant labor in many occupations and we should treat all workers as well as we can.

Others express the valid concern that a driver’s license is an identification card and we do not want to facilitate the creation of false credentials. The bill gives this concern careful attention in two different ways. 

First, the bill does not allow persons who cannot prove lawful presence to get a “Real-ID” which would get them into federal buildings and on to planes. Instead, they will get a card that is valid as a license to drive but is not valid for federal identification.

Second, applicants for a license who do not possess United States identity credentials like a U.S. passport will have to provide similarly rigorous foreign credentials — a foreign passport or an identity card issued by their consulate. In addition, they will have to provide a corroborating document like a license from another state or a birth certificate. At least one of the proferred documents must be a photo ID and at least one must include birth date.

Some have expressed the concern that since one can register to vote through the drivers license application process, the new law would allow non-citizens to vote. Again, the law specifically speaks to this, requiring the Registry of Motor Vehicles to “establish procedures … to ensure that an applicant for a Massachusetts license … who does not provide proof of lawful presence shall not be automatically registered to vote.” The law would not take effect for a year, allowing time to assure that these procedures are in place.

While the new law cements the requirement of procedures to protect the voter rolls, procedures are already in place according to the Secretary of State. He states on his website that “The RMV … collect[s] information about lawful presence in the United States and they will not submit names to local election officials of any persons they have determined are not U.S. citizens.” This is not a new concern. Currently many people who are not citizens but are lawfully present in the United States have drivers licenses: for example, a green card holder can get a license.

Similar legislation has been passed in 16 other states. The bill has the support of many law enforcement officers, including the Sheriffs of Middlesex County and Suffolk County, and the police chiefs of Cambridge, Belmont, and Watertown. 

The Massachusetts House of Representatives has already voted for this bill by 120-36. I expect the Senate to take it up and I hope we are able to give it a similar strong endorsement and send it to the Governor’s desk.

Belmont resident Will Brownsberger is a Massachusetts state senator representing the Second Suffolk and Middlesex District that includes Belmont.

Select Board No Fan Of Proposal For Two-Way Traffic On Leonard This Summer

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Photo: One or two-way traffic will be coming to Leonard Street this summer

If there has been one town-led change to the Belmont landscape over the past two years that has received overwhelming approval, it’s been the nearly six months that Leonard Street becomes a one-way avenue through Belmont Center.

Devised by the town and Select Board in the spring of 2020 to allow the center’s eateries enough room to install outdoor dining when the Covid-19 pandemic closed down indoor service at restaurants, the opening of Leonard Street with a single traffic lane from Alexander Avenue to Channing Road created a pedestrian-friendly area that attracted strollers, shoppers and diners to the business district. In 2021, additional parking was created along the street as well as flower pots and new railing as the length of the closure was increased from early May to late October.

”People love it,” said Chair Adam Dash. “The only complaint I heard was why can’t you close both lanes. Get rid of the cars.”

So when the Select Board heard a proposal from the Belmont Center Business Association to temporarily close Leonard Street to one lane from May to October, the board was eager to move forward. That was until they heard from the town on what the business group was proposing. Rather than one lane, the association members was seeking two, narrow lanes with a more limited area along the curb given over to restaurants for al fresco dining.

Since no one from the BCBA attended the meeting, it was up to Town Administrator Patrice Garvin to tell the board that earlier in the day town officials had “some additional conversations” with the association and while it wanted the board to approve the dates for closing the street from May 2 through Oct. 25, the association’s “alternatives”was specifically having two-way traffic along Leonard. So far, said Garvin, the town had not even started any preliminary work such as creating a traffic pattern map or even knowing “how that will work.”

“Roy [Epstein, board member] and Glenn Clancy [town engineer] spent a lot of time on moving spaces around … and that worked pretty well,” said Dash, who said he had not heard about the association’s proposal when he met earlier in the day with the BCBA president Gerry Dickhaut, owner of Champions Sporting Goods.

“I’ve never heard anyone say they want two-way traffic,” said Dash.

“One way layout worked fine, but a two way?” pondered Epstein.

Clancy said the alternative would squeeze two-way traffic lane which would include sharing the lanes with bikes, dining, adding more parking spaces, with less pedestrian areas all in the same program package.

”They see an opportunity with two lanes to be able to provide for more parking for some of the businesses that don’t fully support closing even one lane of traffic,” said Clancy, pointing to office owners and retailers who are demanding “better parking facilities.”

It became immediately apparent the three-member select board saw the BCBA proposal as going over like a lead zeppelin. The three members said they would not vote on anything until they saw some details of any likely alternative.

”We need a plan to vote on,” said Mark Paolillo, who even floated the idea of following other towns which shut off traffic to business centers for certain days of the week such as from Thursday to Sunday.

“I don’t know what I’m voting on so I’m not voting on [the dates],” said Dash.

“The one lane worked. It has robust attendance. Cars seem to be moving slow particularly at night,” said Paolillo.

The board deferred the vote until Monday, March 14.

Belmont Select Board Convey Support For Ukraine And Its People

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Photo: The Select Board express its support for the embattled Ukrainian people as its country is invaded by Russia

Belmont joins a growing number of communities around the world expressing its support for Ukraine and its people as the European nation is being invaded by Russia.

While saying it’s usually not the place of the town’s executive body to venture into areas outside their purview, Select Board member Mark Paolillo said on Monday, Feb. 28, that “all of us have been watching the events in Ukraine and the attack on democracy. Those individuals that are of Ukrainian descent in Belmont, we stand with them and the Ukrainians as they fight off the aggression by someone that’s trying to destroy democracy.”

“We can say that the leaders of Belmont stands with the Ukrainians against the Russian aggression,” said Select Board Chair Adam Dash who noted that more than 100 years ago the paternal side of his family fled Russian pograms to America from Odessa, Ukraine.

”I agree that [the Russian invasion] is completely out of hand and we maybe are on the verge of World War III. It is completely outrageous and I hope this gets resolved,” said Dash.

In addition, Vice Chair Roy Epstein saluted “the bravery of the individual Russians who have stood up against the Russian government and are paying a frightful consequence” including physical assaults and long prison sentences.

“I don’t know what more we can do as a town of Belmont other than stand strong with our Ukrainian colleagues,” said Paolillo.

Town Meeting Dates Set, Warrant Opened For Town Articles/Citizen Petitions

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Photo: The dates have been set for Belmont’s annual Town Meeting

The Select Board set the days the warrant for the 2022 Belmont annual Town Meeting is open. The board voted to open the warrant on Tuesday, Feb. 22 and closing it at 4 p.m. on the Ides of March, the 15th.

”That will give ample time to get articles in the warrant, both from the town and for any citizen petitions that may be coming,” said Adam Dash, board chair.

Under Massachusetts law, residents may place articles before Town Meeting without the approval by the Select Board by petitioning the Town Clerk to insert the article in the warrant. Officially, it only requires 10 resident signatures on the petition to secure a place on the warrant although the Town Clerk’s office suggests obtaining 15 to be on the safe side.)

Town Administrator Patrice Garvin also announced the dates Town Meeting will take place:
• Segment A (consisting of housekeeping articles, citizen petitions, town articles and non-binding resolutions): May 2, 4, 9 and 11.
• Segment B (which deals with the budgets and financial issues): June 1, 6, 8 and 13.

Last Minute Challenger Makes It A Race For Belmont Select Board Seat

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Photo: The Belmont Town Clerk has released the draft ballot for the 2022 town election

A Belmont Center restaurant owner got his nomination papers into the Town Clerk’s Office just under the wire and will make it a race for the Select Board seat at the annual town election in April. Papers were due at the close of business on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Jeffrey Lasseler, proprietor of Jamaica Jeffs on Leonard Street, is challenging incumbent Roy Epstein for the three year position. In the only other race with an incumbent, Julie Lemay will take on new comer Marina Atlas for a three year post on the Board of Health.

The only other competitive race will be for the pair of two-year seats on the newly-created Municipal Light Board where three residents are in the running: Jeffrey Geibel, Michael Macrea and current Municipal Light Advisory Board member Stephen Klionsky.

The town election will take place on Tuesday, April 5.

A list of town-wide offices for election are:

Due to reprecincting, It will be a literal free-for-all in the election of the newly-constituted Town Meeting. In four precincts, the entire 36-member slate will be on the ballot with the 12 members with the largest vote tally appointed to a three-year seat with the next 12 to two years and those coming in 25-36 taking a one-year term. For voters in precinct 8, voters will have 46 candidates to choose from to fill those 36 seats. The three other precincts whose lines were changed – 1 (42), 2 (40) and 6 (42) – will have 40-plus candidates while Precinct 7 will see its legislative representatives completely change as 20 residents will be running against only 4 incumbents for those 12 seats.

You can see who the candidates for Town Meeting on the Town Clerk’s page here.

All On A Page: Warrant Committee Producing Brief Budget ‘Explainers’ For Town Meeting Members, Public

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Photo: The new Belmont High School auditorium where Town Meeting is expected to take place.

With the budget season underway, the Warrant Committee – the financial watchdog for Town Meeting – has begun creating a series of one-page “explainers” on a variety of topics of interest to Town Meeting members and the public as the town prepares for the annual gathering of the town’s legislative body in June when the budget is taken up.

The first of the one-pagers explores the $7.8 million allocation to Belmont from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to be used over the next two fiscal years. In addition, a further $1 million is heading to the Belmont School District from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund III.

The ARPA can be viewed here: https://www.belmont-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6831/f/uploads/arpa_explainer_-_2_8_22.pdf

While how the ARPA funding is parceled out does not require a vote by Town Meeting, Town Administrator Patrice Garvin will present a draft plan for spending the majority of ARPA funds at a Monday, Feb. 14, 7 p.m. virtual meeting of the Select Board, which has already allocated some ARPA funds to the Board of Health for items such as COVID testing.

Direct all questions to Warrant Committee member Paul Rickter at rickter@gmail.com.

Letter To The Editor: Re-Election Announcement From Amy Checkoway, School Committee

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Photo: Amy Checkoway

To the editor:

I am pleased to announce my candidacy for re-election to the Belmont School Committee. I believe my experience, capabilities, and demonstrated effectiveness working collaboratively to meet challenges will advance the excellence of the Belmont Public Schools.

I was first elected to the School Committee in April 2019, and since April 2021 I have had the honor to serve as its chair. My term has been intense, meaningful, busy, and challenging. I care deeply about the future of our schools and feel strongly that I will continue to make a positive impact. If re-elected, key goals for my next term will include focus on continued engagement with our wonderful community and a strong commitment to working closely with the leadership of our school district and the Town.

I ran for School Committee three years ago because of my professional background and expertise in federal and state education policy, experience volunteering in our schools, personal investment in the district as a parent, and deep commitment to public service. In my first term, I have led or participated in multiple subcommittees and working groups that focus on school finance, district-wide policy, curriculum and instruction, educational equity, capital needs, and town-wide structural change to improve efficiency and reduce costs. I also represent Belmont on the board of EDCO, a regional educational collaborative that provides high-quality professional development for teaching staff and special education services at a reduced cost to the district.

The COVID pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to our schools, school leadership, and School Committee. An important focus of my time as chair in the last nine months has been rebuilding trust and confidence in our district, improving communications with all stakeholders, and increasing the level of transparency in decision-making. I have prioritized a welcoming environment at our meetings, including meaningful opportunities for parents and community members to share their views and concerns. I value the strong relationships that I have built with my colleagues on the School Committee, town leaders, and members of the school district staff, which enable me to be a more effective and informed leader.

My priorities looking forward include building even stronger district-family-community partnerships; working toward a more equitable and inclusive educational community for all students and staff; supporting students’ academic recovery and their social-emotional and mental health needs; and strategically managing the district’s financial resources, including one-time COVID recovery federal funds, to ensure that our schools are positioned to provide the kind of educational experiences and supports that our students need and deserve.

There is enormous talent and potential in the Belmont Public Schools. In the coming months, we have an exciting opportunity to work together as a community in constructing a dynamic vision for the future of public education in Belmont as we reconfigure the grades in our school buildings.

Serving in this role is incredibly humbling and consuming. I do not pretend to have all the answers, and we will need the help of the entire community to ensure our schools’ success. For my part, I can – and will – commit to offering my proven work ethic, empathy, critical thinking, even handedness, and constructive problem-solving skills in tackling the many challenges and issues at hand for the Belmont Public Schools. With your support, I hope to have the opportunity to help steer our district to a better place and provide steady and knowledgeable leadership as well as important stability to our community for another term.

Amy Checkoway

Nomination Papers For Town Election are Available; Due Feb. 15

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Photo: Nomination papers at the ready.

Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman O’Brien announces this week that Nomination Papers for Town Offices are available for those who are interested in running in Belmont. All candidates must be registered voters of Belmont.

In addition to many town-wide offices, representative Town Meeting members from each of the eight voting precincts. New in 2022, the Town Meeting created a new elected board, a five-member Municipal Light Board.  At the time of this writing, there are also a couple of partial-term openings for Town Meeting; such vacancies are created by Members moving or resigning.

Annual Town Meeting takes place in the spring, and typically lasts for six evenings, (customarily Monday and Wednesday) in early May and early June for another two to four evenings. Town Meeting makes all of the decisions about the Town’s budgets and local Bylaws. Belmont’s government is a Representative Town Meeting, which means that only Town Meeting Members can debate and vote at Town Meeting, unlike the Open Town Meeting form of government. Video of past Town Meetings is available for viewing on www.Belmontmedia.org.

A total of 36 Town Meeting Members are elected to serve from each of the eight voting precincts, routinely for three-year terms. However, in 2022, Precincts 1, 2, 6 and 8 will need to elect all 36 at once due to Reprecincting requirements caused by population shifts identified in Belmont data from the 2020 Federal Census. Terms of service will be decided by the results. Precincts 3, 4, 5 and 7 will elect the usual 12 members per precinct to 3-year terms.   

Stop by the Town Clerk’s office in Town Hall in Belmont Center to pick up nomination papers; then have your neighbors and friends, who are registered voters, sign your nomination papers and submit the signed forms to the Town Clerk by the deadline, Feb. 15, at 5 p.m.

The Town Clerk’s web pages contain quite a bit of information to help make the decision to seek office at www.belmont-ma.gov  select Town Clerk, then select Running for Elected Office and Campaigning or feel free to call us at 617-993-2603, or email at townclerk@belmont-ma.gov  

Running for election is simple:

  • To be nominated for Town-wide office, signatures of at least 50 registered voters of Belmont are required on the nomination papers. The Town Clerk must certify these signatures so we always suggest obtaining about 20% more just to be safe.
  • To be nominated for Town Meeting – signatures of at least 25 registered voters of your precinct are required on the nomination papers. The Town Clerk must certify these signatures so we always suggest obtaining about 20% more just to be safe.  Some current Town Meeting Members will be asking the voters for re-election but all twelve seats are available in each precinct, plus any partial term seats.

Despite Recent Covid Surge, DPW Sees No Change Clearing Town Roads Of Blizzard’s Snow

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Photo: Rest assured, the Belmont DPW will handle the snow from the blizzard

With 18 to 26 inches of snow expected to arrive during Saturday’s blizzard, the historic spike of Covid-19 infections that swept through the nation will not impact Belmont’s response to the day-long storm, according to the director of the town’s Department of Public Works.

“Covid or no Covid, this is a snow event and the residents of Belmont can be rest assured that its DPW is prepared and ready for it,” said Jay Marcotte.

“We are fortunate that the recent surge has not caused too much disruption, fingers crossed, within the DPW and our contractors. We are prepared and ready for whatever outcome this storm may have,” said Marcotte. “We secured our contractors back in the fall and in preparing for this storm, we have had discussions with them about their staffing and equipment readiness.”

“Everything will be business as usual,” he said, meaning there will the usual complement of vehicles to plow Belmont’s roadways.

“Between our equipment and our contractors we will have 35 to 40 pieces of equipment,” said Marcotte, who arrived in Belmont in 2015 weeks before a series of four storms left a record 110 inches of the white stuff to move. Even before the trucks begin moving snow, the streets will be pretreat with salt and chemicals which Marcotte said is “very effective” in getting the streets ready for vehicle traffic as the storm finally passes.

As for the DPW’s plan to keep streets cleared during and after blizzard, Marcotte said “we plow all the streets equally, some have multiple pieces of equipment.”