Letter to the Editor: Vote Yes on April 7

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To the editor:

Vote “YES” on April 7th

The need is clear: rising enrollment and costly mandates necessitate additional funding if we are to continue to offer our children a quality K-12 education. The statistics are compelling: 

  • the total number of students has risen by 317 in the last five years.
  • Belmont High’s Class of 2014 had 270 students; there were 350 Kindergarten students last fall.
  • two sub-groups of students with higher needs and costly mandated services have increased rapidly: 
    • the number of English Language Learners has climbed from 95 to 222 in the last six years
    • the number of students needed specialized schooling outside the district has increased from 81 in June 2013 to 97 in January 2015 (the average annual cost for an out-of-district placement is $65,000). 

Patching the school budget with one-time funds as we’ve done in recent years is no longer a solution.  If we don’t pass an override to meet these new realities, the steps needed to balance next year’s budget and beyond will without question degrade the quality of Belmont’s Public Schools, including fewer teachers, increased class size, and cuts in programs and electives.

Passing the override will enable us to maintain our existing programs and address the enrollment increases. The override is designed to stabilize the budgets for at least the next three years; and the School Department and School Committee have every incentive to continue to work hard to control costs so that stable and predictable budgets extend well beyond that horizon.

Operating overrides are in Belmont a rare occurrence; and continued tight cost control will be necessary to preserve a stable and predictable budget outlook so that we can retain top teachers, key electives, and reasonable class sizes in the years ahead.

Please join me in voting “YES” for the override on April 7.

Laurie Slap

Long Ave. 

(Note: Slap is the chair of the Belmont School Committee.)

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

 

 

This Week: ‘Anything Goes’ Gets Going, Candidates’ Night Thursday, Shhhhhh Wednesday

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Photo: BHS/PAC’s “Anything Goes.” 

Two highlights “This Week”

• The Belmont High School Performing Arts Company presents its spring musical, Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” on Thursday, March 26 and Friday, March 27 at 7 p.m. and two shows on Saturday, March 28, a 1:30 p.m. matinee and at 7 p.m. Tickets: Adults: $15 in advance/$18 at the door; Students: $10; Chenery 8th Grade Students: $5. Buy tickets online: Buy Tickets and at Champions Sports in Belmont Center.

• The Belmont League of Women Voters is holding its annual “Candidates’ Night” on Thursday, March 26 at 7 p.m. in the Chenery Middle School auditorium.

The schedule is:

  • 7 p.m.: Meet your Town Meeting Members at their precinct
  • 7:30 p.m.: Town Meeting Members introduced themselves in order of precinct number 
  • 7:45 p.m.: Unopposed town-wide candidates will speak to the audience.
  • 8 p.m.: The candidates for Belmont Board of Selectmen will answer questions.

The Proposition 2 1/2 ballot question will be address, if necessary.

On the government side of “This Week”

  • The Capital Budget Committee will review its fiscal 2016 budget on Tuesday, March 24, at 5 p.m. in Belmont Town Hall.  
  • The Belmont School Committee will discuss the 2015-16 school year budget (including a request to add a religious holiday) and the latest application from the School District to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for a grant to help pay for a new Belmont High School. It all takes place on Tuesday, March 24, at 7 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School.
  • The Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee is meeting on Wednesday, March 25, at 6 p.m. in Town Hall where the committee will discuss the challenges to each possible path and the systematic approach to review those challenges.

Tuesday is story time at both of Belmont’s libraries. 

  • Pre-School Story Time at the Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer run library, 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.
  • The Belmont Public Library on Concord Avenue will be holding two sessions of Story Time for 2′s and 3′s, at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. 

• Mel Simons will be presenting Everything’s Coming up Irish at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St., on Tuesday, March 24, at 1:15 p.m. The popular homegrown radio personality, author, and entertainer is back with an all Irish show in honor of St. Patrick’s Day (a little bit late). Irish songs, Irish jokes, Irish trivia; all Irish all the way.

• The Belmont Book Discussion group will discuss The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon in the Belmont Public Library’s Flett Room on Wednesday, March 25, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend.  Copies of the book can be requested through the library catalog or call the library Reference staff at 617-993-2870.

• Quiet Belmont will be holding a community meeting Belmont Public Library’s Flett Room on Wednesday, March 25, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Quiet Belmont is a citizen’s advocacy group fighting the airplane noise increase over Belmont. You can reach the group at quietbelmont@googlegroups.com

• The film, The Iron Lady, the biography of Margaret Thatcher which actress Meryl Streep received the Academy Award, will be screened for free on Friday, March 27, at 1 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.

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.

This Weekend: Hoop Shoot-Out, Puppet Band, Belmont World Film Begins

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• Malaria is preventable yet claims a life every 60 seconds in Sub-Sahara Africa. On Saturday, March 21 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., you can help stem the disease’s tide by participating in the annual Imagine No Malaria’s Hoop Shoot-Out at Belmont-Watertown United Methodist Church at 421 Common St. Anyone eight-years-years and older can join in on the fun: come ready to shot as many foul shots you can make in two minutes pledging any amount of money per made basket.

The funds raised will buy bed netting which will protect a family of four from infected mosquitoes. All shooters and sponsors are welcome. No registration is needed; make your own pledge sheet and just show up. Enter through the rear doors off the parking lot. 

• Toe Jam Puppet Band will be performing at the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room on Saturday, March 21, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

• The 14th annual Belmont World Film International Film Series, “Secrets and Lies,” begins Sunday, March 22 at 7 p.m. in a new location – the West Newton Cinema at 1296 Washington St. – with the New England premiere of Ghadi, a good natured satire about bigotry and redemption that was the 2015 Oscar entry from Lebanon for Best Foreign Film. Get in contact with BFW at 617-484-3980 or egitelman@belmontworldfilm.org

The screening is preceded by a reception at 5:45 p.m. at the theater featuring Lebanese cuisine (a separate $15 admission) and is co-presented by American Friends of SESOBEL, which helps improve the quality of life and supports the families of children with mental and physical disabilities in Lebanon.

 

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

Sold in Belmont: An Overpriced Cape Required Owner to Take a Haircut

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Photo: A nice Cape in Winn Brook, but is it worth $789,000?

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 208 Grove St. Center-entry Colonial (1940). Sold: $782,000. Listed at $729,000. Living area: 1,750 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 125 days.

• 76 Hoitt Rd. Cape (1951). Sold: $700,000. Listed at $789,000. Living area: 1,659 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 129 days.

• 100 Lexington St., Condominium (1977). Sold: $230,050. Listed at $219,900. Living area: 756 sq.-ft. 3 rooms, 1 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 37 days.

Is there an unwritten rule in Belmont that says home sellers and salespeople are required to suspend all reality when pricing real estate?

For example, a simple, clean, classic Cape on Hoitt Road, a block from the Winn Brook. A past owner made a terrible mistake by knocking down a wall to supposedly create an open floor plan – sorry, but it looks like a VFW function hall with that pillar in the middle of the room – but all-in-all, an OK place.

So what were they thinking originally listing it at $789,000? Really? Did the salesperson take a good look at the 80s kitchen, the 70s bathrooms and the 50s upstairs bedrooms? You are asking someone to pay out nearly $3,500 a month in mortgage payments (5 percent down, 4 percent mortgage) for 30 years (!) to live in a house with less than 1,700 square feet? That comes out to $450-per-square foot. That’s nuts. The town assessed the house for $632,000 last year.

That price was so out there one has to believe the seller is thinking they are living in Belmont, California where the medium house price is greater than a $1 million.

And once again, the broker/seller had to swallow hard and admit a mistake was done after potential buyers too a step back when they heard what it would cost them. And they swallowed $89,000 to a far more reasonable $700,000.

Why not price all homes at $1 million and see where it goes.

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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‘Lights’, ‘Camera’ … Belmont’s Studio Cinema Returning to ‘Action’

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Photo: The Studio Cinema in Belmont.

The interior lobby just got a recent coat of gray paint. The concession counter has a new top. There are LDC billboards hung on the wall displaying ticket prices and show times. And there are posters proclaiming coming attractions such as the 2015 Academy Awards winning film “Whiplash.”

Belmont’s 96-year-old movie palace, the venerable Studio Cinema, is ready for her latest close-up.

After closing just before the New Year and after months of speculation, owner Jim Bramante said the landmark on Trapelo Road will soon be back in business.

“I’m very close to being back in operation, in about a week or two,” Bramante told the Belmontonian on Wednesday, March 18.

For the past two-and-a-half months, the future of the building at 376 Trapelo Rd. was in doubt as Bramante and a handful of Belmont town departments including fire and inspectional services sought to resolve existing structural and safety issues at the century old building. In mid-January, the outlook for one of the few remaining single-screen movie houses in the country appeared bleak as the two sides came to an apparent impasse.

But Bramante said an agreement was reached in February and work has been progressing to allow the Studio to reopen.

“I’m waiting for another final inspection,” Bramante said, saying there had been a delay in getting the operation going “as there has not been a lot of coordinating within town departments.”

While the cinema is returning, the same can not be said for Cafe Burrito, Bramante’s Mexican-inspired storefront next door to the theater that opened in September 2012 serving “Mission-style” burritos and espresso drinks.

“After a great opening, business got slower and slower until the first of the year, I decided to just shut the door,” Bramante said, noting the business climate “has been one of the worst I’ve ever seen.”

Bramante has not yet decided what to do with the site.

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.”