Side By Side For 26 Miles: Habelows Push 3 Dozen Belmontians Over Marathon Finish Line

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Photo: Melissa (left) and Eileen (right) Habelow at the finish of the Boston Marathon. 

Monday’s BAA Marathon was no walk in the park for the Habelows from Belmont. The pair – mom Eileen and eldest daughter Melissa – ended up battling daylong drenching downpours, a steady headwind and temperatures in the 40s for nearly seven hours before crossing the finish line in Boston’s Copley Square just before 6 p.m. 

And during the entire six hours and 22 minutes in the rain and cold, mother and daughter did it together, side by side, hitting every checkpoint at the same time. 

“It was brutal and amazing in the same day,” said Eileen. “We have trained for almost 20-weeks (physical exertion is nothing new as both Habelows were stellar field hockey players in college) so to have that kind of weather on Marathon Monday was a bit disappointing, but we still got to run the Boston Marathon!”

Three dozen Belmont residents completed the 122nd edition of the marathon run during epic weather conditions. The town’s resident marathoner, Becca Pizzi, broke the finish line in 3 hours and 35 minutes while Belmont High’s Girls’ Basketball Head Coach Melissa Hart strode in four hours and 39 minutes.

The day’s payoff for the Habelows was just that, raising almost $18,000 for Boston’s Beth Israel Cancer Center where Eileen was treated for breast cancer beginning in the fall of 2016. They will continue to raise funds until April 30 (read their story here) as they strive to reach their goal of $20,000. 

“The fundraising and our donors was a big motivation to keep running yesterday,” said Eileen.

And while they pulled up the rear of the pack – remember, they’re field hockey players – they did find something at the end of the race.

“We finished in time to get medals, which made us very happy!” said Eileen.

Times of Belmont :

  1. Alfonso Marquez  3:07:47
  2. Tony Luongo  3:23:18
  3. Emily Cody  3:31:28
  4. Sarah Poplawski  3:32:50
  5. Laurie Nahigian  3:35:13
  6. Becca Pizzi. 3:35:55
  7. Lisa Engler  3:37:01
  8. Seth Waterman  3:37:58
  9. Konstantin Tyurin  3:40.36
  10. Sam Gross  3:49:44
  11. Peter Tagge  3:49:48
  12. William Marinell  3:50:29
  13. Mike Ascione 3:50:31
  14. Carrie Mallozzi  3:57:18
  15. Meredith Plault  4:00:18
  16. Katie Brace  4:00:22
  17. Jana Montoya  4:10:13
  18. Chris Poli  4:11:30
  19. Edward Amer  4:12:50
  20. Christine Bowe  4:18:24
  21. Richard Newton. 4:18:51
  22. Melissa Hart  4:39.16
  23. Satomi Kato  5:00:26
  24. Andy Schreiner. 5:00:55
  25. Sarkis Chekijian  5:05:13
  26. Peter Thomson 5:15:39
  27. Rabie Angadi 5:26:00
  28. Peter Walker 5:26:47
  29. Meaghan Rocha  5:27:27
  30. Carol Berberian 5:31:25
  31. Maria Martins 5:44:17
  32. Kai Saukkonen  6:01:42
  33. Stephen Najarian  6:03:40
  34. Richard Horgan. 6:14:53
  35. Deb Rooney  6:19:18
  36. Eileen Habelow  6:22:13

‘Dockless’ Bike Share Comes To Belmont This Summer

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Photo: Dockless bike share in Washington DC (Credit: Washington Post)

By early summer, Belmontians will be able to grab a bike for a buck and ride off to travel around Belmont and 14 nearby towns. When they’re done, the riders need only to park it at a centralized location and that’s it.

Welcome to bike sharing, Belmont-style, as the Board of Selectmen voted on Monday, April 9  to sign an agreement to join a regional bicycle-sharing program that is unlike the Hubway Bike Share program used in Boston (since 2011), Cambridge, Brookline and Somerville which require docking stations which municipalities need to invest thousands of dollars at several locations. Under the new “dockless” program, there is no cost to Belmont. 

“This will help take cars off the street,” said Spencer Gober, Office of Community Development staff planner, who has been working with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) which brought together a group of 15 communities to join in a joint request for station-free proposals. In addition to Belmont, Watertown, Arlington, Lexington, Waltham, Bedford, and Concord and other cities and towns in Metro Boston are interested in joining the system.

About a year ago, several bike-sharing companies were seeking to establish relationships with individual municipalities when the MAPC took the lead to find the two vendors which were recently chosen to supply up to 2,000 bikes over the member towns and cities. The new dockless bike share system is taking off with Seattle and Washington launching programs using thousands of bicycles.

The service brings bikes with locks on their wheels that are opened by using the company’s app on their smartphone. Users can use the app to find locations of bikes which have GPS locators. The bikes will be located at designated public locations around town, including business centers and transportation hubs. Between 35 to 50 bikes – which may also include e-bikes, electric pedal-assist bicycles – will be located in Belmont with the cost per ride at $1, said Gober. Riders can cross town lines without leaving the network. 

Belmont World Film Proves ‘Streaking’ Is Alive And Well In Switzerland

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Photo: Streaker

A high school teacher bets his school’s athletic field money on a fixed soccer match to raise money to build a museum celebrating his favorite Swiss poet Gottfried Keller, only to see his scheme crash when the winning goal was stopped by a streaker on the field.

In his attempt to get back the school’s money and still build his museum, the teacher decides to take bets on how long a streaker can stay on the field. The more bets he takes, the more streakers he needs to recruit and train. Soon, the entire Swiss soccer league is turned upside down awash in streakers!

“Streaker” (“Flitzer”) will have its East Coast premiere tonight, Monday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Belmont World Film 17th annual International Film Series at Belmont’s Studio Cinema, 376 Trapelo Rd. The 2017 feature is in Swiss German and German with English subtitles.

 

Upper Concord Avenue Closed Vacation Week, April 16 – 20

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Photo: Can’t go here!

A major portion of one of the main roads to and from Lexington will be closed for most of the day this coming week.

Upper Concord Avenue from Pleasant to Mill streets will be shut down from Monday, April 16 to Friday, April 20 due to infrastructure construction related to the Belmont Day School. There will be a police detail at either end of the road to enforce the closure. 

The work schedule is:

  • Monday, April 16: 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
  • Tuesday to Friday, April 17-20: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Through traffic from Lexington to Belmont will be detoured down Mill Street, onto Trapelo Road and onto South Pleasant Street where it will connect with Concord Avenue at the Belmont Police Station.

Those excluded from the ban will include Concord Avenue residents and members of the Belmont Hill Club. 

Sophomore Shows The Way To Become A Belmont Idol [VIDEO]

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Photo: Mia Hallet, winner of Belmont Idol 2018.

For Mia Hallet, being up on stage performing is “where I’m supposed to be.” 

The Belmont High School sophomore proved that statement was on point as she wowed the audience and judges at Belmont Idol 2018 to walk away with the title on Friday, April 6. 

The dance ensemble Dance the Music made up of Yolei Chen, Dinara Mardanova, Kamila Mardanova and Nitya Sharma placed second with three-time contestant Krasma (Stefan Ingesias, Eamon O’Connor, Andrea Russi) coming in third. 

Performing solo accompanied by her gorgeous orange-stained Gretsch Electromatic Hollowbody guitar, the long-time singer let loose a rendition of BØRNS’ “Electric Love” to the receptive audience in the High School’s auditorium and three judges made up of local professional musicians.

With a father was in a band in his younger days and she has been singing since elementary school, Hallet first picked up the guitar two years ago with the idea of playing first before her classmates and then a wider audience. 

“My goal is to perform on stage, to make a living as an artist,” she said. “And this is a step towards that.”

The Yellow Room Set To Bring Color To Second Friday Coffeehouse On Friday

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Photo: “The Yellow Room” (Facebook)

Second Friday favorites “The Yellow Room” aka Heather Quay and Jon Svetkey headline this month’s Second Friday Coffeehouse on Friday, April 13, from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the First Church Belmont situated at the intersection of Common Street and Concord Avenue (404 Concord)  just outside Belmont Center.

Quay and Svetkey have been singing and strumming together for nearly 20 years. Their original songs combine elements of classic pop, folk and country music while showcasing their love of two-part harmony and fun. As one half of Quay & O’Conor, Heather performed at colleges and clubs throughout the Northeast, including Columbia University, CBGBs and Club Passim, and released an album of original music. Jon, and his band, The Loomers, have performed at venues such as The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, The Hatch Shell in Boston, Club Passim, Caffe Lena, and Fenway Park. He co-headlined writers-in-the-round nights with folks like Kristian Bush of Sugarland, Dar Williams, and Ellis Paul. Jon has released 10 albums of his music and his songs have appeared on CBS, Cinemax, The CW, MTV, NBC, and PBS.

As a special added bonus, Jeff Isen will join them for a few songs.

  • General Admission: $12
  • Students and Seniors: $8

Belmont Hires State Bureau Director To Run Town/School Facilities

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Photo: Stephen Dorrance.

Belmont has been on a hiring spree since the beginning of the New Year with a new Town Administrator, Light Department director and a principal for the Wellington all coming on board.

And this week, the town welcomes a new facilities director who comes from the ranks of the state bureau of facilities.

“We finally found someone,” said Town Administrator Patrice Garvin as she introduced Stephen Dorrance – an hour later than expected – to the Board of Selectmen at its Thursday night meeting, April 12. Garvin said Dorrance was one of four finalists and his qualifications rose to the top.

Dorrance comes to Belmont having worked for the past four years as a multi-site facilities director for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, responsible for the building management and maintenance, regulatory compliance and environmental services at four hospital campuses – Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children, Tewksbury Hospital and Western Massachusetts Hospital – that houses 45 buildings, 800 beds, high pressure boiler/power plants, 10 miles of roadway, 1,000 acres of land, and 20 acres of parking.

“I’m looking forward to this. I’ve been a member of the National Trust for Historical Preservation for 20 years and love the character of Belmont,” Dorrance said, and will seek to “make these old, beautiful buildings even more beautiful.” 

Dorrance, who has a BS from Suffolk and a Master’s from Harvard, is now responsible for maintaining more than one million square feet of buildings and grounds under the control of the Board of Selectman and the School Committee since the operations merged seven years ago.

Concord’s Assistant Director Selected To Head Belmont Light

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Photo: Christopher Roy.

Christopher Roy, the assistant director of the electrical utility in neighboring Concord, was selected Monday afternoon by the town’s Light Board.

Roy “is a rising star in the field. He’s got a vision, a drive and the ability to take Belmont Light to the next level,” said Light Board Chair Adam Dash as the board voted unanimously for Roy who was interviewed by the board, April 9, along with the other finalist, acting Belmont Light General Manager Craig Spinale.

According to Rick White from Groux-White Consulting who facilitated the candidate search, Roy will be hired once a successful negotiation of a contract is finalized, The contract will be from three to five years with a salary ranging from $140,000 to $180,000. 

Tall and confident, Roy carries himself like the athlete he was a 6’4″, 240-pound tight end playing for Tufts back in 2004. In fact, Roy said he values the discipline and respect that a sports background provides him.

The assistant director in Concord for the past five years, Roy said he comes to Belmont knowing the way municipal utilities are structured today may not fit that same way in the future.

“The role of the general manager is to oversee your operation and make sure the utility is growing. In the short term, it’s personnel” with career paths and succession plans while long term, it’s rate adjustments and implementing the greenhouse gas reduction programs” in 2050. “But you have to establish a foundation today.” 

Rates in Belmont, Roy said, are poised to provide revenue for progressive initiatives … “everything is there, the potential is there. It just has to be unlocked.”

The board struggled with the decision saying the decision was “a close call; it would be a tough choice” noting how Spinale took over the general manager’s position in September after “a very difficult and tumultuous time,” said Dash, while also taking up the task of decommissioning the town’s three retired substations.  

I don’t know what more [Spinale] could do and he has done a really, really great job,” said Dash.

If there was one area that impressed the board was Roy’s ability to break down an issue and produce a solution. The members each pointed to Roy’s answer of one of the interview questions which required each candidate to make a seven-minute presentation on Belmont’s electric rates which are higher than surrounding communities and how to maintain or lower them as residents demand energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases.  

Member Mark Paolillo – a self-professed “numbers guy”  – was “fascinated” how Roy dug deep into the Belmont data with an “in-depth analytical analysis of the rates” that showed many areas where Belmont could make great savings. Dash said Roy looked through the numbers and “saw the issue and called it out … and that shows some level of sophistication and then took the numbers and ran with it.” 

Roy also stated while under state general law he has the ability to set policy apart from the board, he would always first look to town government and residents priorities in a collaborative manner rather than strike out on his own. 

“He’s someone who is focused on building a team, the importance of cultivating that team … and a keen idea of making it succeed,” said new board member Tom Caputo. 

“Chris seems really passionate by public power and where he wants to go,” said Paolillo. 

Rinse, Repeat: Belmont High’s Principal Search Back To Square 1 With Interim Head For Next Year

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Photo: Belmont High School

They got the candidates they were looking for but like the belle of the ball, everyone wanted to dance with Jonathan Bourn to Belmont’s chagrin. 

While Wellington Elementary has found the right person to lead the school, the search for the educator to succeed Dr. Dan Richards at the helm of Belmont High School – and lead it possibly into its new building in 2022 – goes back to square one as Bourn, the current principal of Norwood High School since 2015 and sole candidate selected by the search committee turned out to be a popular candidate for many communities other than just Belmont. With a good reputation as a youngish educator who can connect with staff and students (but who also rubbed some school committee members the wrong way when he pushed and succeeded to move the school from the Bay State to the Tri-Valley athletic conference), Bourn was sought after to become high school principal in both Medway and Braintree, where he was the only candidate selected from 25 finalists.

Something was amiss when Mary Pederson, the district director of human resources, sent an email on Tuesday, April 10 an “update … on the status” of the high school principal’s search rather than an announcement on a new hire in the opening paragraph.  

Bourn, who resigned as principal of Norwood High School in mid-March, met with Belmont High students, staff, parents and administrators on April 2. But despite passing over a number of qualified candidates to only go forward with Bourn, Pederson said, “after a thorough review and thoughtful consideration of all information gathered through this rigorous process, the decision has been made not to move forward with Mr. Bourn as the next Principal of BHS.”

Coincidently, Braintree announced on Tuesday, April 10 that it would be reopening its search for a new principal as Bourn would not be coming to the South Shore town. Bourn is one of three candidates for the Medway position, which is close to his Walpole home. 

With the ability to hire a principal to manage a highly successful program before the new school year all but nil, Belmont District Superintendent John Phelan is starting a two-pronged approach to run the school. The first is redo a full-fledged candidate search beginning early in the coming school year in the fall of 2018.

But with the reality that Belmont High will not have a permanent leader on board until July 2019 at the earliest, Phelan will appoint by June 1 an interim principal for the 2018-2019 school year from the ranks of retired principals, an internal candidate, or other qualified educational leaders. While interim leaders are in the unenviable position of being a short-term fill in, one needs only look at Belmont’s last interim head, superintendent Dr. Thomas Kingston, whose three-year tenure was celebrated as bringing stability and professionalism to the district. 

Somerville’s Franke Selected Next Wellington Principal

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Photo: Allison Franke (Linkedin)

Wellington Elementary has found its new principal.

“I am happy to announce that Allison “Alli” Franke has accepted the position of Principal of the Wellington Elementary School. Her work in the District will begin on July 1,” said Mary Pederson, the district’s director of human resources. 

Franke takes the school’s reins from Amy Spangler, who left after five years at the school.

Franke is an assistant principal of Somerville’s Capuano Early Education Center, a pre-K, and Kindergarten school, for nearly four years, after working for four years as a literacy specialist at the Franklin Elementary School in West Newton. She’s held numerous posts in and out of elementary education – including two years as a teacher at Boston Renaissance Charter Public School – after starting her career as a kindergarten and second-grade teacher in the Los Angeles schools for nearly four years beginning in 1998.

A DC native, Franke graduated with a computer science degree from Amherst, earned an Ed.M in Language and Literacy from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, and a masters in organizational management from Endicott.