Opening Reception Friday For Belmont Gallery Of Art’s Annual Holiday Small Works Show

Photo: Poster of the 11th annual Small Works Holiday Show and Sale.

The Belmont Gallery of Art’s 11th annual Small Works Holiday Show and Sale will open its doors with a Festive Holiday Reception on Friday, Dec. 7, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. featuring spirits from Belmont’s Craft Beer Cellar and live music performed by John Fitzsimmons of Concord’s Colonial Inn. Events are free and open to the public.

The show and sale, which runs from Dec. 7 to Dec. 16, will feature special guest exhibitors Indigo Fire Pottery Studio on the weekend of Dec. 7 to Dec. 9. The sale offers original art by 30 local artists in a variety of media including affordably priced original paintings, ceramics, prints, photographs, collage, textiles, and wearable art – as well as jewelry and cards — with gift purchasing in mind.

The gallery will be open special extended shopping hours on Thursday and Friday nights through Dec. 15 and open on Saturday and Sundays through Dec. 16:

  • Mon./Thurs./Fri. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
  • Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
  • Sun. Noon to 5 p.m.

And just a reminder: Shoppers will need to bring cash or checks, since the gallery is unable to accept credit cards.

At this special time of year, many of us focus on finding the perfect gift for family, friends and loved ones. It can often be a challenge to discover something unique and not mass-produced. In response, a number of shoppers seek out holiday fairs, small shops and other places where gifts may be more unusual than those typically found in the malls and large box stores.

For residents of Belmont and neighboring towns, the search for special handmade gifts, including original pieces of art and other treasures, can be found right off Leonard Street in the Homer Building at the Gallery’s Small Works Holiday Show and Sale, offering original art by 30 local artists in a variety of media including affordably priced original paintings, ceramics, prints, photographs, collage, textiles, and wearable art – as well as jewelry and cards — all made by area artists with gift purchasing in mind.

Small Works Special Guests Exhibitor – Indigo Fire Pottery Studio

This year’s Special guest artists from Belmont’s Indigo Fire Pottery Studio. Located at 60 Concord Ave. is a full service pottery studio offering classes for beginners to professionals in a friendly, welcoming environment. Indigo Fire owner and artist Ned Levering was interested in partnering with the BGA on the exhibit to not only showcase work made by its fourteen featured artists, but to also make the community more aware of the clay art being made in Belmont.

Indigo Fire’s artists will be selling a wide range of stylistically, unique pottery at its special Holiday exhibit and sale at the Belmont Gallery of Art. “Buyers of all tastes and preference will be able to find a piece of pottery that’s just right for them,” says Levering.

The Belmont Gallery of Art is located in the Homer Municipal Building, third floor, which is part of the Town Hall Complex, just off Leonard Street at 19 Moore St., Belmont Center — behind Belmont Savings Bank — and across from the Commuter Rail stop. Wheelchair accessible.

For more info on Small Works and other shows, please visit the BGA’s website at www.belmontgallery.org or email director Rebecca Richards at: admin@belmontgallery.org

 

Is Town Government Accessible? Take The IT Committee’s Survey To Be Heard

Photo: The survey by the IT Advisory Committee.

Is Belmont government – Town Hall, Board of Selectmen or the Shade Tree Committee – as responsive as you’d like it to be? What changes would you make to make the process less burdensome and more democratic?

The town’s IT Advisory Committee is now polling Belmont community members about their interactions with town government whether they are elected officials or the many appointed bodies and how the town might improve its interactions with residents and make the work these committees do more accessible.

The link to the survey is: https://goo.gl/forms/bEKdZ0BWPNFKXdA03

The Advisory Committee is looking to have as wide a possible sample size of Belmont residents. The survey only takes a few minutes.

Police Station Renovation Project Passes First Test With Funding Challenge Ahead

Photo: Architect Ted Galante before the Zoning Board of Appeals.

It was smooth sailing as the renovation of the nine decades old Belmont Police headquarters at the intersection of Concord Avenue and Pleasant Street got its first thumbs up as it begins meetings to clear regulatory hurdles and obtain the funding for the historic preservation of the project.

“Step one done,” said Ann Marie Mahoney, chair of the DPW/BPD Building Committee which is overseeing the renovation of the police building and the facilities at the Department of Public Works after receiving unanimous approval from the Belmont Zoning Board of Appeals on Monday, Dec. 3.

“And this [vote] was good and wonderful being unanimous,” she noted.

The committee was before the ZBA seeking approval of a pair of special permits which would allow the circa 1931 headquarters project to bypass town regulations and increase the structure’s height and adding an additional floor to a portion of the building. Architect Ted Galante of The Galante Architecture Studio in Cambridge told the board the additional space would improve the building’s function and allow for a sallyport and revamping of the unsafe holding cells. There will also be a need to reconfigure the entrance to the parking lot from the corner of the intersection to a new curb cut slightly up Pleasant Street. 

The changes will correct complaints of the safety of the cells and meet Americans with Disability Act regulations, said Galante, bringing the building into the 20th century. “We want a building and facility the town can be proud of,” said Belmont Police Chief Richard McLaughlin.

ZBA Chair Nicholas Iannuzzi quipped that as Belmont is a “Town of Homes,” it’s unlikely any of the residents will ever be spending time in the new cell block, only out-of-town “visitors,” to which McLaughlin agreed.

Next up for the project will be a presentation before the Planning Board in January 2019 which will review the project specifically the building’s larger floor area ratio and the landscaping in greater detail. 

Earlier in the day, the committee delivered its final request to the Community Preservation Committee for a $700,000 grant to preserve the historic features of the building. While the majority of the $7 million budget will be paid for via a long-term bond financed by existing town revenue, the brickwork and other repairs to the facade is critical to complete the job.

But the request seeking funding comes during the most competitive grant cycle in the CPC’s short history. Already approved in  the 2019 grant round is $400,000 for the design of an underpass on the commuter rail line at Alexander Avenue while the Board of Selectmen is seeking $1 million to design and conduct an engineering study of a community path from Belmont Center to Brighton Street. In addition, six other requests are pending. The total requested by the nine projects if funded would exceed the nearly $2 million the CPC has to provide. 

“And we really need that money this [cycle],” said Mahoney.

Finalist For Asst. Town Administrator Visits Rec Commission; Everyone Left Happy

Photo: Jon Marshall, the finalist for Asst. Town Administrator’s job.

The lead finalist for Belmont’s Assistant Town Administrator visited the town on Monday, Dec. 3 and impressed the group who he’d be working closely if he gets the nod.

Jon Marshall, the director of recreation in neighboring Arlington came to talk with Belmont’s Recreation Commission at its monthly meeting Monday to discuss his background and ideas if he lands the job to be Town Administrator Patrice Garvin’s right-hand.

While the meeting was billed as “a discussion with the Commission,” town officials noted that Marshall was the only candidate given the chance to talk with the group as he is the frontrunner for the position. 

In a curious aside, Belmont’s former assistant town administrator Phyllis Marshall was appointed Arlington’s town treasurer in October. 

And after talking for about 40 minutes, everyone from Marshall to the commission members were happy with what they heard.

“It was a great meeting with the commission,” said Marshall after the get-together. “I heard their thoughts on the community and things they’d like to see improved. There are things that we both can accomplish and hopefully, I will get the chance moving forward.” 

Marshall’s resume and background appear to match what Garvin said she was looking for in an assistant who would focus most of their time overseeing the Recreation Division, which is part of the Department of Public Works. Marshall has led Arlington’s rec programs since Sept. 2016, after working as the director of the Recreation & Parks Department in his hometown of Natick for four and a half years after being the department’s Program Director for seven years. During this time, Marshall served as the president and legislative chair of the Massachusetts Recreation & Park Association.

Marshall earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from Salve Regina University in Newport, RI, and a Certificate in Public Administration from Suffolk University.

The Recreation Division had undergone changes about 18 months ago in how the department is run and while complaints from residents on the range of services and how many of the programs have “gone stale” over time, “we see this as a work in progress,” said June Howell, recreation programs supervisor.

“We are on the right track but we need help moving forward,” said Howell. Marshall said part of the problem is requiring a small staff to do at times an overwhelming number of tasks.

“Sometimes the ability to take a step back and refocus, then get a view of the landscape of what’s going on in the community and then saying ‘let’s tackle it’,” said Marshall. One area that “really excites me in Belmont” is the opportunity to start non-sports programs as they do in Arlington. 

Marshall has also experience in keeping programs running despite the loss of space as what happened in Arlington. Belmont will soon be under the same constraints once construction for the new 7-12 school building begins in June. 

At times, the discussion appeared as if the commissioners viewed Marshall as the town’s next recreation director, peppering him with questions on how he would revamp the inner workings of the division to attract residents to its variety of programs and facilities.

But Marshall said his job would be to “drive the vision for the department while working to support the staff and the commission to make sure that some of the ideas and thoughts we come up with move forward.”

Responding To An Incident Of Hate At The Chenery

Photo: One of the responses made by a student after racist and homophobic graffiti was discovered at the Chenery Middle School.

On the week before Thanksgiving, a bathroom at Chenery Middle School was tagged with racist and homophobic graffiti in an unprecedented attack of hate speech at the school. In response to the act, Chenery Principal Micheal McAllister conducted a school-wide activity to explain what happened and what students can do to begin the healing process. Below is a question and answer with McAllister before the School Committee meeting on Nov. 27.

Q: In your email to parents after the attack, you said you were “stunned” that such an incident took place in Belmont? After two weeks of reflection and knowing that such incidents are happening every day around the country, do you remained as shocked as when first discovered the graffiti?  

Yes, I do. I have been here for 20 years and to my knowledge, an attack like this has never happened. I’m not that naive that it has never happened, it just never happened quite on that scale. It was really blatant done with a big thick marker right on the wall and the mirror. Now every middle school in the US has the f-word on the wall or someone says an unkind thing to another student, no one is immune to that. But this was on another, disturbing level. 

Chenery Principal Mike McAllister.

Q: Was this incident an example of ingrained racism and homophobia, or was this attention seeking by an immature young teen?

It’s hard to know what the motivation was because there wasn’t a lot of context for it. I have two thoughts on what occurred; that someone was being provocative and writing words they didn’t fully understand and that’s my hope. Or there was real animous to certain students in our school. But it doesn’t necessarily matter what the intent was at some level, it’s more on what the impact is on everyone else. Now that this is out and happened to people, the goal becomes how do you address it.

Where did you turn for guidance to respond to this incident of hate at the Chenery?

Unfortunately, every school is dealing with this, so there were a lot of examples of how schools are approaching the problem. Based on my school committee work in Bedford, Superintendent Jonathan Sills introduced me to the concept of Not in Our Town. It’s based on the Billings’ [Montana] example where the community came together after an act of antisemitism occurred. It’s a school program that says whether you go public or not, you’re making a statement. You’re either tacitly accepting it by remaining quiet or you’re getting out in front of it by saying “Not In Our Town.”

So I think I learned a lot from Superintendent Sills example but I also counseled with friends I have, with certainly my teachers, my assistant principals, and our superintendent [John Phelan]. I never had anyone say, ‘I don’t think you should go public, I don’t think this is a good idea, maybe we should keep this quiet.’

Q. What happened at the Chenery on the day before the Thanksgiving break?

The school has an extended homeroom which is 17 minutes long and on half days we have what we call team days. We asked teachers to set aside for a minimum of the 17 minutes for our response but most teachers gave us almost their entire day. First, we informed students what had happened. Their parents knew of the incident two days earlier so a lot of the children knew. We talked about how we are not the only town dealing with it. We walked them through four different towns in the last week alone that had an incident like ours. We talked about how they felt when they heard about it but also how the targets of this act may have felt and what’s the right way and wrong way to react; what’s helpful and what’s destructive. Finally the concept of Not In Our Town/Not In Our School. We showed them a five-minute clip from Billings about a community not unlike Belmont where something happens to one person and rather just saying, ‘Oh, that’s their problem,’ the entire community stands up and does something.

It wasn’t anything dramatic but it was just a statement that there’s something every one of us can do. And if 1,400 of us in this school does something, that’s better than just one person dealing with the incident.

The most visible activity was student’s writing on squares of construction paper their reaction to the incident.

We gave the students three prompts to write about; how did you feel, the second was what did you want the victims of this to hear, and third, what you want to say to the person who did this. Some kids responded to every prompt, some to one and some just said “I just want to ask ‘why?” Some said the person who did this must have their own problems, and maybe they need some help and our support.

In your email and in the activity, while there is a need for discipline, there is also restorative justice.

There are two types of justice; retributive and restorative. Retributive is the traditional “You did this, now stay after school for detention.” And there is a purpose for that. But there is also a piece of us that says, “When you break it, you have to fix it.” And that requires acknowledging that there’s someone on the other side of what you did. So in this age of smartphones, you might think that you’re only shooting a text message into cyberspace, but on the other side of the screen is a person who receives that. And we have a responsibility to that person. And it’s really easy to forget that for both kids and adults if you look at the trash that’s posted online today.

So we were trying to say on Wednesday was we have a responsibility to each other. Sometimes we make mistakes. We talk with kids a lot about intent versus impact, that sometimes the intent of what you wrote wasn’t clear but the impact was. Intent doesn’t undermine impact. So whether or not you intended to hurt someone, all that matters is that you hurt someone. And now we all have that responsibility to fix it. So that is what we are talking with kids all the time.

I would like to think that someone who wrote that was in school on Wednesday and they wrote something caring. So it was their opportunity to be restorative themselves, in addition, with the help from 1,400 other kids.

Q: What happened that Wednesday was a short-term, a one-day response. What is the long-term solution?

Unfortunately, there isn’t one thing a school can do. The best example to look at is Reading High School which has been dealing with this for a year and a half, especially in the past eight weeks.

For the educators at the Chenery, it’s the continuation of the work that we have been doing. We’ve been talking about culturally proficient teaching that welcomes all cultures into a school. What do we as teachers need to do in order to create an atmosphere where kids don’t leave part of themselves at the school’s front door? So that’s work that has been on-g0ing.

We introduced two tools at the beginning of the school year, the first is called “marking the moment” which is when something provocative or racially charged just happened, you must stop class and address that. It’s no longer acceptable to say to the child ‘be nice because we have algebra to do.’ But sometimes we fail to mark the moment so the second way is the concept called circling back. We can always say to students, “Hey, you said something the other day and it stuck with me and I want to have a chance to talk to you about that.” Because when we don’t say anything, we are still making a statement. 

I don’t think that two years ago I don’t know if we would have responded like this nor would we have teachers who would have felt confident enough to respond like this. So I think on some level we’ve been preparing for this. But the work continues. Every single day there is a mark the moment event.

Vigilance is the answer. Sometimes when you make it public, it actually makes it worse. That doesn’t mean its the wrong thing to do. Sometimes it becomes this game of cat and mouse or copycat. But the goal of going public is more than solely to stop the act of hate. It’s also to let other people know that you’re not going to sit back and let it happen. So it’s worth the risk. It’s just a drag that its happening everywhere.

Obituary: Ernie S. D’Agnelli, A Recreation Department Fixture Who Lived For Belmont

Photo: Ernie S. D’Agnelli.

If you or your children spent any time participating in an activity run by Belmont Recreation, you would have come across the big personality of “Ernie D.” For nearly a half-century, Ernie D’Agnelli was a driving force at the Recreation Division, from running it’s summer programs, maintaining the resemblance of order at the Field House to volunteering to cook the BBQ at the opening of the pool season.

“Ernie loved Belmont. He grew up here, went to school here, was a star on the sports fields and later became a coach for Belmont Marauder teams. More importantly, he was a mentor and role model to so many young people over the years,” said June Howell, his longtime friend and work colleague.

Ernie S. D’Agnelli, who touched the lives of generations of residents with his kindness and wide smile, died on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. He was 64.

The cause was a heart attack, said Howell at Monday’s Recreation Commission meeting. 

For 41 years, D’Agnelli was a physical education teacher at the Maimonides School in Brookline. Known as Mr. D, he was an almost legendary personality at the private Jewish day school. But his heart was in the “Rec Department,” said Howell, where he had worked since he was a teenager. He started as a park instructor while in high school and later developed and ran the town’s first summer programs. He could be found at the Field House organizing games for adults during the week and supervising kids on Thursday nights at Open Gym. If there was a program that needed someone to run it, D’Agnelli was there to take on the task.

“He lived for Belmont,” said Howell on Monday.

D’Agnelli was raised in town and graduated from Belmont High School in 1972, where he was a Hall of Fame athlete. He matriculated and played football at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, graduating in 1976. He was an avid fan of Natick and Belmont sports, and for many years was an intricate part of several Belmont youth sports programs.

“We have missed his presence here in the office since his retirement but we will never forget his smile, his booming laugh or the impact he had on our lives,” said Howell.

D’Agnelli is survived by his wife Lynne M. D’Agnelli and their children Kristin Talarico and her husband Lucas, Kerrin D’Agnelli and Lindsay D’Agnelli. He was grandfather of Jack, Co, a and Colin Talarico. He was a son of the late Ernest and Angela D’Agnelli, brother of Lisa Kazanovicz and her husband John of Reading and Andrea Vona and her husband Kevin of Belmont. Also survived by many nieces and nephews.

Visiting hours will be in the Brown & Hickey Funeral Home 36 Trapelo Rd. in Belmont on Wednesday, Dec. 5 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. A funeral mass will be celebrated in St Joseph Church, 128 Common St. on Thursday, Dec. 6 at 10 a.m. The burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in his memory to the Maimonides School c/o Development Office, 34 Philbrick Rd. Brookline MA 02445.

Santa Is On His Way To ‘Turn On The Town’ Thursday, Nov. 29

Photo: Santa and Mrs. Claus in Belmont!

The Belmont Center Business Association will host its 28th annual ‘Turn on the Town” holiday tree lighting on Thursday, Nov. 29.

The night’s events – including the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus on a Belmont Fire truck, food, singing by the Belmont High School’s  Madrigal Singers and a petting zoo – will take place on Leonard Street between Channing Road and Alexander Avenue from 5:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Santa will arrive and light the tree – located adjacent to the Bellmont Cafe – at 6:20 p.m. He will then ride his sleigh to the Belmont Saving Bank main branch located at 2 Leonard Street to pose for free photos from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Inside the branch, attendees will also have the opportunity to win holiday prize stockings stuffed with goodies provided by local businesses.

Outside the branch, Bank employees will be handing out hot chocolate and offering free train rides on Moore Street. There will also be a petting zoo inside the bank’s garage.

Residents are encouraged to celebrate the season of giving and bring non-perishable food items or unwrapped toys to be donated to the Belmont Food Pantry.

BREAKING: Belmont Savings Bank Acquired By People’s United For $327M

Photo: The headquarters of Belmont Savings Bank in Belmont Center.

Belmont Savings Bank, the town’s largest business with nearly $3 billion in assets, will be acquired by Bridgeport,  Connecticut-based People’s United Bank for $327 million in a stock transaction, according to a press release from People’s United issued today, Tuesday, Nov. 27.

People’s United operates more than 400 branches in Connecticut, southeastern New York State, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire. It is the second largest bank in New England with approximately $45 billion in assets at the end of 2017, one of the largest in the Northeast, and the 46th largest in the US.

While People’s will be introducing its name and management to the bank, “Belmont Savings will be operating business as usual through the closing which is currently anticipated to be in the second quarter of 2019, pending regulatory approval,” according to questions answered by the People’s Corporate Communications Office. In addition, there “are no plans to close any [of the six] branches” including the main branch and now former headquarters in Belmont Center.

The Belmont Savings Bank Foundation, which has been a leading provider of grants to non-profits, community projects and education in its service area, will “remain independent and continue to operate after the People’s United acquisition,” noted People’s. 

“People’s United Bank and Belmont share a rich history in the Northeast and many synergies that will create significant value for both customers and stockholders,” said Bob Mahoney, President & CEO, BSB Bancorp, Inc.in the press release.

“Our customers will benefit from People’s United’s broader array of products and services, enhanced digital capabilities and expansive branch network. In addition, People’s United’s success with in-store locations will allow for the seamless integration of our Star Market branches.”

The acquisition is a stock transaction in which BSB Bancorp, Inc. stockholders – the parent company of Belmont Savings – will receive two shares of People’s United Financial stock for each BSB share. According to the press release, the transaction is valued at $32.42 per BSB Bancorp, Inc. share, based on the closing price of People’s United’s common stock on Monday, Nov. 26. The stock transaction is expected to close by the second quarter of 2019.

BSB stock was trading at 2 p.m. at $31 per share, up $4.14 or 15.4 percent today.

The sale of Belmont Savings is not unexpected as large regional banks such as People’s and Berkshire Bank have been on a long-term acquisition campaign as they seek to break into the lucrative Boston market.

 

Marauders Of The Week: A Global View And A Creative Thinker

Photos: Courtesy photos

This week, the Belmontonian presents two seniors from Belmont High whose achievements and passions have earned them the title of Marauders of the Week:

Crystal Nayiga Magandazi

By Lillian Powelstock

Passionate about education and global issues, Crystal Nayiga Magandazi moved to Belmont her sophomore year from a high school with 24 students in the senior class. Crystal said it took her a while to find her niche.

“It was a little more difficult for me to find a group of people that I related with,” she said. “Just because I was in a specific class doesn’t mean that all of my friends would be in that class with me, which means it depends on which classes they took and which level.”

Despite this, Crystal eventually managed to find not only a group of friends but a level of personal fulfillment in classes such as Modern World History and Global Capstone. She cites Dr. Jeffrey Shea, teacher of Modern World History, as “one of my favorite teachers just because he is so encouraging and I can tell that he’s very passionate about his job.”

Crystal went on to take Global Capstone, another history elective taught by Jamie Shea (to whom Crystal says Dr. Shea has no relation). This class allowed her to focus on a specific subject throughout the year, which in Crystal’s case was global education. This makes perfect sense given that Crystal has made it her mission to spread understanding for individuals with a diversity of experiences.

Crystallk expresses a focus on immigrant and African American narratives, demonstrated by her enrollment in globally-oriented history electives and her heavy involvement in the club, Black in Belmont. Living in Belmont, Crystal describes her experience as very different from that of black students living in Boston, but aims to create more awareness in the form of giving them space to share their stories.

For those interested in Black in Belmont, the club meets every Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in room 134.

Phoebe Derba

By Claire Svetkey

Senior Phoebe Derba is creative, passionate and kind. Her favorite subjects are those that allow for creative thinking, especially chemistry and art because they are the only subjects where she tends “not to be discouraged by failure.”

The teacher Phoebe cites as being the most influential in her time at the high school is, unsurprisingly, the art teacher, Mark Milowsky, whom she has had as a teacher for her four years of high school. She credits him with not only improving her art skills but also teaching her not to take life too seriously.

Phoebe’s creativity extends outside the classroom: she has been the color guard section leader in marching band for the past two years, and this is her fourth year playing bass in the Rivers Youth Symphony in Weston. She is proud of her work in the marching band because “it’s very rewarding to see the success of the band arise in part from [her] own enthusiasm and willingness to help others,” and tries to help keep the environment of the marching band as positive as it was when she was a freshman. She feels that she learns the most about others through their taste in music, which inspires her when she plays bass.

In addition, Phoebe is passionate about movies – she said she could talk about them for “days on end” – and wants to be a filmmaker when she’s out of school. 

Phoebe has two pieces of advice for other students: The first is to not forget to be a kid; in her opinion, a lot of high schoolers waste their time thinking that they’re grown up. She reminds them to “please take the time to jump in a huge puddle.” Phoebe follows her own advice about being a kid; she says that if you hear someone screaming in the cafeteria, it’s probably her and she’s sorry. Her second piece of advice is that disliking a teacher is a waste of time because almost all teachers are trying to pass on the passion they have for their subject.

“If you’re not inspired by a subject, be inspired by their passion.”