Cool and Dark: Belmont High’s New Court Design Unveiled

By Leave a Comment

Photo: The new basketball/volleyball court at Belmont High School will be ready for the volleyball season in September. 

Stone gray and midnight blue will color the new varsity court at the Wenner Field House as Belmont Athletic Director Jim Davis unveiled the new design to the School Committee at the final committee meeting of the school year on Monday, June 22 at the Chenery Middle School.

Replacing the long threadbare 20-year-old vinyl court will be a padded, modern synthetic court displaying the school’s mascot in the center circle and “Belmont” “Marauders” on either end. Construction will begin in late-July and be completed at the end of August.

The darkish color scheme will complement Belmont’s home “white” kits.

Along with the new court, the rims on the varsity court will be repaired or replaced.

The new court – which will be inaugurated with a game by Belmont High’s Volleyball team in September – was financed by a $100,000 appropriation from the Capital Budget Committee and private funds, chiefly from duel $35,000 contributions from the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation and the Belmont Youth Basketball Association. An additional $5,000 was raised at a fundraiser at Hopkinton Country Club.

Originally the focus was just the varsity court but a substantial contribution of $15,000 by the Belmont Boosters will allow the the surface surrounding the court, out to the inner track, to be completed.

The adjacent junior variety court will be completed in the summer of 2016.

Severe Thunderstorms, Damaging Winds During Afternoon Rush Home

By Leave a Comment

Photo: “Running Before the Storm,” (c. 1870s) Unknown artist, in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

A rash of severe thunderstorms accompanied by potentially damaging winds is “likely” to pass through Belmont and most of eastern Massachusetts just before and during the evening rush hour, Tuesday, June 23, according to the National Weather Service. 

There is even a “very low risk of an isolated tornado” and a potential of “golf ball-sized” hail along with torrential downpours and localized floorings, according to the service. 

In a Hazardous Weather Outlook forecast issued at 3:40 a.m., the NWS stated the fast-moving storms, with “damaging straight line winds gusts of up to 70 mph” capable of knocking down trees and power lines, will arrive over Belmont between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. 

The severity of the storms will depend on how much sunshine the area will see in the morning and just past noon as more sun will heat up the air causing stronger storms as a cold front comes rumbling through the area. 

Arrivals, Departures and ‘Great Urgency’ to Solar Power Debate

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Solar power in Belmont.

Last Tuesday’s meeting of the Municipal Light Board resembled Terminal A at Logan Airport: a place for arrivals and departures all in the same place.

Landing into the contentious debate to create a long-term solar power policy for the town-owned utility Belmont Light, the Light Board (which consists of the members of the Board of Selectmen) announced the formation of a new committee at their meeting held at the Chenery Middle School, on June 15.

Christened with the somewhat unyielding moniker of the “Temporary Net Metering Working Advisory Group” – or TNMWAG for short – the charge of the new three-person body will provide the Board that will be “somewhat independent view” on developing a policy which will “promote solar” in a “responsible” way, according to Light Board chairman Sami Baghdady.

The group, which include three voting members and two alternates “is a balanced group” to accomplish the board’s goals, said Baghdady

While the new group’s arrival was expected – it was negotiated on the floor of Town Meeting earlier in the month – the Light Board’s next move was a sudden, seismic change to the influential Municipal Light Advisory Board as Baghdady announced the board would not reappoint the current chair and vice chair of the influential group when their terms expire at the end of the month.

Chair Ashley Brown and Vice Chair Robert Forrester have each served for more than a decade on the committee. They also have been the leaders of those seeking to limit the size of the tariff that would benefit solar power users, contending that Belmont Light customers

After the meeting, Brown sternly addressed Baghdady after the meeting in a somewhat heated –albeit quiet – conversation centering on why the Light Board had requested both Brown and Forrester submit applications for re-appointment just last month. Brown contended their removal was political in nature, rather than a need to put “new blood” in the MLAB system.

The MLAB departures were in start contrast with the arrival of the appointed group. The body, which will take six-to-eight weeks to review and analyze a new net metering policy, was need as past attempts to structure a framework had created “this massive mistrust” among all factions in the solar power debate in town, Baghdady said.

The three voting members – with two non-voting associates – have heavyweight credentials, starting off with Henry “Jake” Jacoby, the William F. Pounds Professor of Management, Emeritus at MIT Sloan School, a leading expert on national climate policies and the structure of the international climate regime who Baghdady called “a big policy person and someone with a big-picture view” on the subject.

Joining Jacoby in the group will be Stephen Klionsky, an attorney with Northeast Utilities, and an alternate member of the Municipal Light Board Advisory Committee. Klionsky has a law degree from New York University and a Masters in Planning and Public Policy from Harvard.

The final appointed voting member is Roy Epstein, a long-serving member of the town’s Warrant Committee who is an economic consultant (PhD from Yale) and an adjunct professor of Finance at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management .

Attending the meetings as associate members will be Tony Barnes and Robert Gallant.

The appointment of the new members drew a wary eye from the dozen or so solar power proponents sitting in attendance. One solar power supporter questioned the political nature of the selections, pointing to Epstein’s public statements opposing a robust subsidy being advocated by proponents of great solar use in Belmont.

The supporter pondered if Epstein ever took money from oil companies in his employment as an expert witness, unaware Epstein was sitting behind him. The long-time Warrant Committee member took considerable umbrage to the accusation of being a “hired gun” for the petroleum industry.

For the proponents, the new committee will only stall an already delayed policy which, on its face, will affect a small number of users and costing the town – which they contend is overwhelmingly supportive of solar power usage – “pennies.”

“Why such Sturm und Drang” on supporting solar power, asked Claus Becker of Poplar Road.

Light Board member Jim Williams said solar proponents has crafted their proposal evaluated by a research firm for its fairness to non-solar ratepayers. Further delays will only promote uncertainty among solar panel installers that have written off Belmont as a viable community for their work.

“Just do it now,” said Williams, urging his fellow board members to support the solar proponents proposal that focuses on a series of charges, buybacks and tariffs that would subsidize residents use of solar power.

While his two colleagues were willing to make small changes to the existing policy, they did not appear ready to abandon the TNMWAG they just created.

 

Letter to the Editor: Fact Checking the Belmont Center ‘Bait and Switch’

By 12 Comments

To the editor:

A lot of ink, digital and otherwise, has recently been spent asserting that the Belmont Center Reconstruction project has been usurped by a small “faction” of influential residents, pulling a “bait and switch” on Town Meeting, and undermining the democratic process in town. The only recourse, it is claimed, is to force the Selectmen to recant and reinstitute the original plan, which was perfect as it was and universally agreed to.

Moved by this tale of overreach, corruption, and eleventh-hour backroom “politicking,” many Belmontians have signed a petition demanding an end to this blot on democracy.

It is a morally uplifting tale. But is any of it true?

Unfortunately, a look at the actual content of November’s Special Town Meeting and the process since then will make clear that the current story of the derailment of the democratic process is unfounded. The outraged narrative has “truthiness” to be sure, but it is false at its core.

First a distinction. Well-intentioned citizens may disagree about the merits of “Plan A” versus “Plan B,” but this is not what is fueling the recent petition and uproar, or in any case what is being discussed here. Rather, the fact that people have been told that an anti-democratic coup has occurred, and that they feel justifiably upset about this and have pledged themselves to see the right restored, is the issue here.

Fortunately for the town, what they have been told is simply untrue. Unfortunately, you would not know that from what is still being shouted from the rooftops.

Let’s take it piece by piece.

First of all, it has been asserted that that there was a complete plan (“Plan A”) in place at the time of Town Meeting. This is not true, a point raised as an issue on Town Meeting floor by several members at the time, including the very first comment on the main motion:

MR. MCGAW: We’re authorizing some money to be issued, but it says appropriated for the Belmont Center Reconstruction Project, and my only question is what is defined to be the Belmont Center Reconstruction Project? Is it the pictures we’ve seen tonight? Is it provided somewhere because already tonight we’ve heard some tweaks to things on the screen. So what is “the project”? … I notice people are discussing “the project,” but we don’t have a reference to “the project.”

Right from the outset, then, there was unclarity about what the project consisted of. But it wasn’t merely that some Town Meeting members had not yet seen the final plan. As Glenn Clancy, Director of the Office of Community Development, noted:

MR. CLANCY: … We have construction drawings [on the website] that are about probably 90 percent complete. I would tell you that the Belmont Center Reconstruction Project is — you know, ultimately will be the set of construction drawings that will represent this project. I don’t know how to answer it better than that.

In other words, there was no “final plan” yet; at the time of voting, the plan was incomplete. Other Town Meeting members also expressed their concerns about this.

Regarding whether feedback was still welcome, the interchange between Belmont Selectman Sami Baghdady and Town Meeting member Joe White, who was suggesting that the vote should be put off because the plan was incomplete, is illuminating on this point:

MR. BAGHDADY: Joe, with all due respect, okay, the plans are at 90 percent completion phase. If you have a design comment … I think you can come to Glenn after this Town Meeting, raise your point. It will be looked into, and if it’s valid, it will be incorporated. The purpose of this Town Meeting is appropriation — … We are here to appropriate funds for a project. If there’s fine tuning that’s needed … it can take place after.

Thus the notion that the plan was set in stone at the time, that everyone agreed on what it consisted of, and that it was not subject to further revisions, is simply false.

As to the merits of retaining the access road, this was discussed at length by a variety of Town Meeting members. Most notable was the concern of losing ease of access for elderly patrons:

MR. SEMUELS: Is there any possibility that the travel lane next to the Belmont Savings Bank can be saved rather than the amount of green space. I’m in favor of green space. I, for the most part, approve of this, but these are the concerns that I’ve heard from a lot of people who are seniors and are disabled people who may be driving, still driving.

Another member drove the same point home, noting in passing that the proposed new configuration required drivers to get enmeshed in the overall traffic.

The point here is not whether the access road should be retained, but that there was general recognition on Town Meeting floor that the access road component was a complex issue that merited further discussion. And while it is true that the removal of the road was part of the conceptual plans shown on slides at Town Meeting, the response of town representatives and elected officials to feedback about this feature was not to assert that the plan is inviolable, but rather to explicitly say that, as stewards of the interests of the town as a whole, of course they were open to feedback:

MR. CLANCY: Now, that doesn’t mean that I want a parade of residents coming through my office and changing every little aspect of this project, and several thousands of dollars in design goes out the window, and members of the Traffic Advisory Committee that are sitting here in front of me, all their hard work goes out the window, but I do feel we have an obligation to respond where we think it’s appropriate.

Thus, while infinite tinkering was reasonably discouraged, it was the general sense that there would be an opportunity to opine on this difficult issue of the design, an opportunity where citizens could meet and discuss the options in an open public forum. The Town Meeting vote was about funding, not about the final design.

When several months passed and work was begun in the Center, but no public forum had yet been scheduled to address the design issues raised in Town Meeting, numerous concerned citizens brought this to the attention of the town.

Finally, the opportunity for this feedback came in the spring. The Town Clerk duly informed Town Meeting of a meeting at the Beech Street Center, and a large number of citizens attended. The positive and negative elements of the options were civilly discussed, and the Board of Selectmen took all this feedback, and no doubt much other feedback from the months preceding, and made a difficult decision that they believed balanced the various needs of the town.

The town leaders were acting on their best footing as stewards of the public good: they responded to citizen concerns, they offered revised proposals, and they provided an opening for input in a fully open publicly announced forum.

Of course, it is understandable that some townsfolk were disappointed by the results of the recent meeting. They may legitimately encourage the Selectmen to reverse their decision.

But it is a completely separate issue, indeed a wonder, that so many citizens have been misled into believing and supporting the false notion that the town leaders have committed a massive perversion of justice by these actions. That an open meeting addressing citizen’s concerns could be so thoroughly misconstrued is rather astounding.

The merits of Plan A and Plan B are worth discussing even now, but the accusation that town leaders sidestepped democracy in this case, and indeed colluded with a “faction” of select influence peddlers, is completely unfounded.

Certainly it must be morally satisfying to be outraged at this fictitious slight, but it doesn’t make it any more true.

If citizens wish to re-open the case of Plan A versus Plan B, that is understandable, but they should not do so under the false pretense that an offense against democracy was committed. It wasn’t.

Kevin Cunningham

Town Meeting Member, Precinct 4

A Little Rain Equals Fast Times At Brendan’s Home Run 5K

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Nine-year-old Gillian Palmer runs across the finish line with David Palmer in 35 minutes and 50 seconds in the 14th annual Brendan’s Home Run 5K.

While the steady warm rain may have kept the total number of runners at the 14th annual Brandan’s Home Run 5K race down from previous years – 301 runners finished the race Sunday, June 21, as opposed to nearly 425 last year – it also helped those running the Father’s Day tradition set fast times.

Leading the way was the shirtless Zack Schwartz, a 26-year-old former Brandeis cross-country and track racer, who stormed over the 3.1 mile course in 14 minutes and 44 seconds, smashing the course record of 14:59 set by Ryan McCalmon in  2012. Also breaking the old record was Eric Speakman, the 24-year-old 2015 Stony Brook University graduate, who followed Schwartz by eight seconds.

“This is my best race by far,” said Schwartz, who works at MIT and “am trying to run as much as I can.”

The woman’s race nearly duplicated the men’s as 37-year-old Northbridge-resident Stephanie Reilly finished in 17:22, within five seconds of breaking the women’s record of 17:17 set in 2013 by the woman came in second in Monday’s race, Karen Roa, 24, who finished in 17:48.

Complete race results can be found here.

And while the race – sponsored by Belmont Savings Bank, Fitness Together, and Belmont Dental Group – featured those running in the front of the pack, those participating were enjoying the inclement weather leaving them drenched and dodging puddles as they race by themselves or with friends and family.

The real winner of Sunday’s race was The Brendan Grant Foundation, dedicated to enhancing youth development, and has been instrumental in the support of key initiatives that perpetuate the best core values of healthy parent-child relationships.

 

Trapelo Road Cheese Shop Seeking Beer/Wine License

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Co-owners Jen Bonislawski and Artur Nergaryan of Art’s Specialities on Trapelo Road.

Artur Nergaryan said his customers – from first-timers to his regulars – keep asking him the same question.

“People will go around and pick up a salami, some cheese and bread and then ask, ‘Where’s your wine?'” said Nergaryan, the co-owner with his wife, Jen Bonislawski, of Art’s Specialities at 369 Trapelo Rd.

That consumer demand has prompted the couple come before the Belmont Board of Selectmen on Monday, June 22, seeking a license to sell beer and wine from their new speciality food store, located across the street from the Studio Cinema near the corner of Beech Street.

But the application does not mean the couple is seeking to change the tenor of the store’s character or focus.

“[Beer and wine] is not our main business; it will be complementary to what we are already selling,” said Bonislawski. The couple hopes to carve out a small section of the store near the checkout counter to sell a select number of moderately-priced wines and popular craft beers.

“It will provide that extra something that [customers] said they want,” said Nergaryan.

The Watertown couple opened the speciality store three months ago in the former location of Diver’s Jim. The 1,700 sq.-ft. store front sells an large array of regional cheeses, olive oils and balsamic vinegars, herbs, charcuteries (prepare meats including bacon, ham, sausage, pâtés and confit) as well as loose seeds, tea and nuts. It has begun stocking some prepared foods and is the only store in Belmont where you can buy your pickles – five varieties – straight from the barrel.

IMG_9308

But the couple will be coming before a board that has not awarded a retail beer and wine license in years. In the past 18 months, the board has rejected applications by three Trapelo Road stores – each within a few blocks of Art’s – and from Jimmy’s Food Mart at the corner of Belmont and School streets which was denied a license in March. The business has since closed after a fire destroyed the location. 

The former board that rejected the earlier bids criticized the nature of the businesses – quick-visit variety or convenient stores – which sold lottery tickets and tobacco products, fearing they would quickly evolve into package stores.

But unlike the previous applicants, Bonislawski contends Art’s Specialties – which does not hold a lottery license or sells cigarettes – will remain true to its current business plan.

“Sometimes when a store receives a liquor license, they begin pushing the alcohol. That’s not the case here,” said Bonislawski.

For the working couple – Nergaryan is a bank manager in Belmont and Bonislawski a librarian in Cambridge – Art’s is an opportunity to break into retail trade with what Nergaryan is familiar with (he grew up making cheese after coming to the US from Armenia).

“We love being here, and we’ve received a good reception from other businesses and residents,” she said. “They said how much we’re helping change the neighborhood.”

This Week: Meetings Before Summer, Final Day of School, Housing Lottery

By Leave a Comment

On the government side of “This Week”: 

  • The Belmont School Committee will meet at 6:15 p.m., Monday, June 22, at the Chenery Middle School. A crowd is expected. 
  • The Belmont Light Board will meet at Belmont Town Hall on Monday, June 22, at 6:30 p.m. to discuss net metering and the a buyback tariff. 
  • The scheduled meeting of the Board of Selectmen takes place at 7 p.m., Monday, June 22, in Town Hall. While the schedule includes an application for a beer and wine license and other routine items. it’s expected a petition with nearly 500 signatures will be presented concerning recent design changes made to the Belmont Center Reconstruction project that was approved by the board earlier this month. 
  • Municipal Light Advisory Board  will meet Tuesday, June 23, from 7:15 p.m. to 9:15 p.m., at Town Hall.
  • The Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee will meet to discuss going on a walking tour of potential paths while identifying future challenges. The meeting takes place at Town Hall on Wednesday, June 23, at 6 p.m.

The Belmont Public Library will be closed Monday, June 22, as new floor tiles will be installed. The building will reopen Tuesday, June 23, at 9 a.m.

Pre-School Story Time at the Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer run library, this morning, June 23, at 10:30 a.m. Stories and crafts for children age 3 to 5. Parents or caregivers must attend. Siblings may attend with adults. Registration is not required. The Benton Library is located at the intersection of Oakley and Old Middlesex. 

Tuesday, June 23 is the final day of the 2014-15 School Year. Summer recess begins before noon. Several schools will have “moving on” ceremonies; for 4th graders heading off to Middle School and eighth graders going to Belmont High in the fall. 

Join Clarence Richardson for a presentation to find out what estate planning documents you need and why on Tuesday, June 23, 2015, at 1:15 P.M. at the Beech Street Center. Participants will leave the presentation with a better understanding of documents you may have heard of like Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, and Health Care Proxies. Richardson will discuss why he thinks everyone should have some of these documents, but not necessarily all of them.

Yoga for everyone at the Beech Street Center on Tuesday, June 23 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.: join Susan Harris, a registered yoga teacher and associate professor of Nutrition at Tufts University for this Iyengar-inspired class which practices yoga postures slowly and with attention to alignment and safety, adapted to the abilities and needs of individual students. Practice is done with bare feet; mats and props are provided. Cost: $15/class. Non-seniors, beginners and experienced are welcome. This is a non-Council on Aging class held at the Beech Street Center. For more information, call Susan at 617-407-0816.

The Belmont Housing Trust will be holding its Homebuyer Assistance Program GAP Lottery on Tuesday, June 23, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Flett Room of the Belmont Public Library. The random selection of the three households of the eligible applicants will give them the opportunity to search, select, and buy homes in Belmont with financial assistance from the program, funding by the Community Preservation Committee Fund.

Belmont Stormwater Working Group meets in the Flett Room of the Belmont Public Library on Thursday, June 25, beginning at 7 p.m.

Belmont Yard Sales: June 20–21

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Yard sales in Belmont.

Yard sales in the “Town of Homes.” 

• 82 Bay State Rd., Saturday, June 20, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• 36 Hurley St., Saturday and Sunday, June 20-21, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• 7 Leslie Rd., Saturday, June 20, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• 27 Leslie Rd., Sunday, June 21, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

• 17 Sycamore St., Saturday, June 20, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• 60 Washington St., Saturday, June 20, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

• 133-135 White St., Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Lightweights? Hardly as Arlington-Belmont Crew Light Fours Score Second at Nationals

By Leave a Comment

Photo: The A-B Crew light fours which came in second in the Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Fla on June 14. 

They took four boats and two dozen high school rowers 1,400 miles to Sarasota, Florida to compete against 1,700 of the best young rowers at USRowing 2015 Youth National Championships held last weekend in the Sunshine State.

And the Arlington-Belmont Crew Club didn’t travel all that way last weekend without demonstrating its rowing prowess against some of the most established schools and clubs from across the country.

In only their second trip to the nationals, the club – in only its tenth year – returned home with some impressive silverware in their carry-on. 

In the finals held Sunday, June 14, the A-B crew’s Lightweight Varsity Boys Fours with cox win came in  second, signifying being the second best boat in the country, trailing only the Cincinnati Junior A’s as the quartet traveled the 2,000-meter course in 6 minutes and 43.1 seconds.  

IMG_1812

Arlington-Belmont Crew’s Lightweight Fours; (from left) Trevor Corning, Brendan Mooney, Coach Mark Grinberg, Andrea Abanto (cox), JD Tiffany and Eryk Dobrushkin.

The Mark Grinberg-coached boat included cox Andrea Abanto, Brendan Mooney, JD Tiffany, Eryk Dobrushkin and Belmont’s Trevor Corning.

In addition to the light fours, Arlington-Belmont crews made impressive showing against dozens of teams from across the country: 

  • Lightweight Varsity Girls Eights finished 11th (Ellie Cayer (cox), Catherine Tiffany, Callie Abouzeid, Sara Hamilton, Sarah Osborn, Abi Judge, Alena Jaeger, Lizzie Ferrante and Julia Blass),
  • Lightweight Varsity Boys Eights was 13th (Julian Green (cox), Dylan Ryan, Trevor Brown, Owen Niles, Tony Chen, Steven Chen, Anthony DiFranco, Devin Bemis and Adam Cronin) and
  • Heavyweight Varsity Boys Fours was 14th (Brenna Sorkin (cox), Alexander Gharibian, Liam Lanigan, Adrian Tanner and Max Halliday).

This Weekend: Score a Home Run Sunday, Book Sale at the Benton, Summer in the Gallery

By Leave a Comment

Photo: The start of the Brendan’s Home Run.

• The 14th annual running of “Brendan’s Home RunTM” 5K Race & Walk will take place on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 21, at 10 a.m. at the Belmont High School’s Harris Field. The walk begins at 9:30 a.m., the race at 10 a.m. with youth races for kids a few minutes after the runners leave the field. The annual event raises funds to enhancing youth development, and has been instrumental in the support of key initiatives that perpetuate the best core values of healthy parent-child relationships. The race is sponsored by Belmont Savings Bank, Fitness Together Belmont and the Belmont Dental Group.

• The Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer-run library, is holding its monthly Saturday Book Sale, this Saturday, June 20, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Bring the family and make selections from our recently acquired sale books; all proceeds benefit the library. Borrow from the collection. Use our Wi-Fi. The Benton is open on the third Saturday afternoon of every month.

• “02478” is the summer exhibition of the Belmont Art Association is now being shown at the Belmont Gallery of Art, located on the third floor of the Homer Building which is in the Town Hall complex off Moore Street. The gallery is open Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The show offers an opportunity to meet many of the artists—both amateur and professional—who live and work in our community. Showcasing work by BAA members, the exhibit includes work in a wide variety of media from painting, drawing, printmaking and collage, to sculpture, ceramics, textiles, and photography. Founded in 2013, the Belmont Art Association’s mission is to “create a community of and for Belmont-based visual artists by sharing information and resources and creating opportunities to display their work.” For more information about the organization visit its website.

Screen Shot 2015-06-19 at 11.41.49 AM