After Decades Of Wishful Hopes, First Portion Of Community Path Hits Milestone With Board’s Approval

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Photo: The Belmont Select Board signing the documents to begin the construction phase of the first portion of the Belmont Community Path with a completion date in late-summer 2029

For more than two decades, the idea of a Belmont Community Path, a bike and walk way running through town from Cambridge to Waltham, was seen as a far-fetched hope of advocates and town officials, its reality being far off on the horizon.

That changed this week.

Monday. Aug. 10 was the red-letter day for the long-awaited path as the Select Board signed five documents that open the door for the state to seek bids next month to begin construction this time next year.

“We’re gonna have a path!” said Select Board member Matt Taylor, who has been the board’s representative on the Community Path Project Committee and has been heralding the path for years. 

With the final approvals in hand, the project has a tentative opening day for Phase 1 sometime mid-summer of 2029.

Phase 1 of the Belmont Community Path runs from the Fitchburg Cutoff Path at the Belmont and Cambridge line to the Clark Street Bridge off Pleasant Street. A major component of the first phase is a pedestrian tunnel at Alexander Avenue and St. under the commuter rail track to allow access to Belmont High School and Concord Avenue.

Monday’s main task was acquiring the property rights to do the work formally … to be certified to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and to be funneled to the Federal Highway Administration. 

“The Town’s job is to acquire rights of way, work with the engineers to make sure that the project is planned out, and then the funding gets unlocked through the state government,” said Mina Makarious, Belmont’s town counsel, who presented the documents to the board.

The five acquisitions and uses the Board approved Monday included:

  • Final MBTA lease for Phase 1 along the commuter rail line.
  • Permanent and temporary easements on private property with compensation determined by an independent appraiser.
  • Accepting the donation of land along the commuter rail from the Belmont Citizens Forum.
  • License to use Department of Conservation and Recreation property.
  • Vote for use of School Committee land.

“Taken together, it gives you the acquisition rights for all things you need for the path,” said Makarious. 
“With the unanimous vote, the state will put the path project out to bid on Sept. 5.”

With the approvals and funding in place, a project timeline has been released.

  • Jan. 2027: State puts out bids in early September 2026. It will select a winning bid before the start of 2027.
  • Jan. 2027-Sept. 2027: Construction submittals, including data, drawings, or physical samples provided to architects and engineers for approval before buying or installing materials. 
  • June 2027-June 2028: The procurement process will start including hiring specialized trade subcontractors and ordering material that have long lead times to deliver. 
  • July 2027-August 2028: Preliminary path construction.
  • August 2028: The construction of the Alexander Ave. pedestrian tunnel, which will take one week, during which commuter service on the Fitchburg line will be suspended.
  • August 2028-July 2029: Finishing the path’s construction.

“There’ll be a lot of coordination with drawings, site visits, and walks, and plan review for much of the first six months of 2027,” said Taylor, 

It’s has been a long and dedicated process since the summer of 2019 when Nitsch Engineering was selected to design the Belmont portion of the 104-mile Mass Central Rail Trail that began when its first segment was opened in West Boylston in 1999.

In July, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation approved the town’s $48 million request in the current state Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The community path is part of a rolling five-year capital plan (2027 to 2031) that includes all highway, road, bridge, and transit projects scheduled to receive federal funding within a specific regional planning area.

According to Taylor, putting the final pieces of the community path puzzle in place before a July deadline was dicey, as calculating the easements was conducted late in the process, and this year’s annual Town Meeting, which, as Taylor noted, “was kind of the roller coaster ride” as members were presented a surprise $1 million bill for the easement of a small spur of Alexander Avenue to provide access to the pedestrian tunnel. 

If any of the appraisals and easement determinations were not completed on time or funded by Town Meeting, it was a certainty federal and state funding would have been denied and the path – despite having finished construction blueprints – would have had to restart the process, which would have been a death knell for a future path.

But a late push resulted in the appraisals being completed in July and letters of just compensation to property owners being sent on July 9th. And Town Meeting showed its overwhelming support for the path by digging deep and funding the Alexander Avenue spur.

Sitting in the boardroom Monday was Holly Muson, chair of the Community Path Project Committee, which has overseen the project’s progress. After saying it was an important accomplishment to move a part of the project into the bid process, Muson noted the second phase – from the Clark Street Bridge through Waverley Square to the Waltham city line – will need to go through a similar process with a greater level of complexity in terms of design and obtaining right-of-way easements. 

“But today shows that we keep moving forward,” said Muson.

Belmont’s New Police Chief’s First Hires Upshot From Soaring Applications Coming Outside Civil Service

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Photo: Flanked by her mother and father, Belmont’s newest Police Officer Emily Ricci has her picture taken at her swearing in on Aug. 3 at Belmont’s Town Hall.

The Belmont Police Department welcomed two law enforcement veterans into the department in a Monday, Aug. 3 ceremony. 

Emily Ricci and Robert Ludwig were sworn in by Assistant Town Clerk Meg Piccione in the Town Hall auditorium with Belmont officers, Belmont elected officials, town staff, and family and friends in attendance.

Robert Ludwig (left) and Emily Ricci at their swearing in to be Belmont Police officers on Aug. 3

Four additional police hires began 22 weeks of Recruit Officer Courses, a basic training curriculum overseen by the Municipal Police Training Committee at its Randolph Police Academy. 

“The swearing in is a time-honored tradition that affirms the dedication of a public servant to the protection of the community,” Belmont Police Lt. Paul Cowing to begin the ceremony. “A solemn vow to serve the people based on the law, the Constitution, and what is best for Belmont.

“… [T]his ceremony will mark their commitment to a new community and the start of a new chapter in their professional lives,” said Cowing.

Ricci and Ludwig are lateral/post-certified officers transferring from their previous posts.

A Bedford native, Ricci began her law enforcement career in 2020 with the Richland County (SC) Sheriff’s Department after graduating from the University of South Carolina with a degree in psychology. She was a dispatcher with the Belmont Police Department for the past two years. Ricci joins her brother, a Burlington PD detective, as an officer in Massachusetts.

With Ricci and a candidate at the Academy, Belmont will soon have eight female officers.

Belmont Assistant Town Clerk Meg Piccione issues the oath to Emily Ricci and Robert Ludwig to serve as Belmont Police officers

After serving in the US Air Force, Ludwig began his career with the Dracut Police Department in 2014 before joining the Carlisle Police Department, where he was both a firearms instructor and a patrol officer. He matriculated at UMass Lowell, where he earned a degree in criminal justice. 

This group of a half-dozen successful applicants are the first hires by Belmont’s new Police Chief Shane Smith. 

“It’s such a milestone for me personally,” said Smith. “This was a very competitive process … and these two stood head and shoulders above everyone else.” 

Unlike past police chiefs, Smith was not constrained by the state’s Civil Service system in which applicants take a competitive examination, and those eligible candidates are then rank-listed. Due to Civil Service’s strict adherence to ranked lists, departments are prevented from hiring high-potential or diverse candidates lower down if scoring thresholds interfere. 

“We were having trouble recruiting applicants, given the restraints of Civil Service,” according to Town Administrator Patrice Garvin. In the final four years under the system, Belmont received less than a dozen applicants: four candidates in 2020, three in 2021, two in 2022, and just a single candidate in 2023. 

Belmont Police Chief Shane Smith

The resulting impact was an undermanned department and large yearly budget payouts in overtime, said Garvin. In 2024, Belmont’s Town Meeting voted for the police department to leave the state-run program. 

And this year, the number of applicants has exploded.

“We received 53 applicants to fill the vacancies, and I think it’s a direct result of bringing [Smith] on board,” said Garvin, who praised his ability to use more recruiting avenues “to make sure we have the best applicants.”

“Coming from the agency that never had civil service in New Hampshire, you have to go out and recruit people,” said Smith. Because so many local police departments depend on lists of applicants, they don’t have a culture of actively finding and attracting hiring new people for a job, he said. For Smith, it was second nature.

“I took basically the blueprint that I had from [Salem, NH] that was very successful, and I brought it to Belmont,“ said Smith.

With younger people using apps, Smith focused on PoliceApp.com, a popular law enforcement job site.

“We paid a small fee, which also allowed the site to push Belmont to the top and also push us out over social media. We did our own pushing out as far as Instagram and Facebook and had people share it.” Smith said one of the six who was selected – a recent graduate from the University of New Hampshire – reached out to him on LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned business and employment-oriented social networking service.

“I said, ‘Are you interested in being a local law enforcement officer?’ because he had a degree in Homeland Security. He said, ‘Absolutely, I am.’ So through a wide array of social media, we get an educated college athlete who is one of your people who will be studying August 3rd in the academy in Randolph.”

“I was beyond pleased with the people who came in for a chief’s interview at the end, and I was blown away by the candidates who were before me. Educated, articulate, well-rounded, from various backgrounds,” said Smith.

And the large number of applicants allowed Smith to be selective about who he wanted in the department.

“I had several certified officers apply. I did not select them. I would only take the best. I’ve learned in my career that if you settle for what’s out there, bad things will happen. Maybe not now. Maybe not in my time here. The last thing I want is a future chief to say, “I cannot believe that Chief Smith hired this person.”

Letter To The Editor: Brownsberger, ‘A True Public Servant’

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Photo: Will Brownsberger

To me, Will Brownsberger is the definition of a public servant.

I first met Will in 2017 over a bill I was deeply concerned about. Of all the elected officials I spoke with, he was the only one who truly understood the issue despite the prevailing narratives. 

As an immigrant new to this country, I was self-conscious—not just about my English, but about everything. Will was incredibly encouraging and became a mentor to me. Since then, we’ve worked together on several projects, most recently on dental care coverage for head and neck cancer survivors.

Will is compassionate, thoughtful, and a man of his word. When he says he will do something, he does it. In an era when many people are frustrated by politicians who make big promises but deliver little, Will stands out because you can trust that he means what he says.

I’ve never seen another elected official publish a personal cell phone number in a full-page local newspaper ad, inviting constituents to reach out directly. Even more remarkably, he replies to every email and text—and quickly. I often wonder how he manages to do it.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the local Asian community hosted a cultural celebration. Will was the very first guest to arrive, well before anyone else. It genuinely surprised the organizers and made all of us feel seen and honored.

Will is transparent. He regularly updates constituents through his blog and writes thoughtful analyses on various policy issues. I remember one reader challenged him to read a book presenting an opposing viewpoint. Will accepted the challenge and wrote back with his thoughts. That openness has earned him respect, even from many people who disagree with him.

Will has earned my vote again in Sept. 1.

Ye Zhang Pogue 

Lewis Road

School District Holding Info Forum Monday, Aug. 3 To Answer Residents Questions After Staffer’s Arrest

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Photo: Belmont Middle School

Belmont Public Schools is hosting a hybrid community forum on Monday, August 3, at 4 p.m. in the Town Hall auditorium, a week after the arrest of a long-time educator for the possession of images of child sexual exploitation.

At the Aug. 3 forum, district leadership and members of the Belmont Police Department will answer questions and provide any additional information on the incident.

Leon Dyer, who had been an educator at Belmont Middle School for approximatley 19 years, pleaded not guilty to two counts of possession of child sexual abuse material on Monday, July 27 in Cambridge District Court. Dyer posted bail and was released on Monday.

Residents who want to participate remotely can attend the forum via ZOOM at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89006941103
WEBINAR ID: 890 06941103

“The safety and well-being of our students will always remain our highest priority,” said Belmont Superintendent of Schools Jill Geiser, “Although we do not yet have a complete understanding of this matter, we will continue to share what information we have when we can.”

Town Changes July 4th Cooling Center From Beech Street Center To Public Library

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Photo:

The Morrissey Hall Community Room of the Belmont Public Library, 336 Concord Ave., will be open to provide air-conditioned relief on Saturday, July 4 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The

The library location replaces the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St., as the cooling location in town. In addition, the Underwood Pool, adjacent to the library on Concord Avenue will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat watch because of a prolonged period of dangerous heat and humidity. Dangerous heat continues into the Saturday holiday with heat indexes reaching 98F to 115F.

Persistent exposure to high heat and humidity may cause illness. All residents are encouraged to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned buildings, avoid direct sunlight, and check on relatives and neighbors. 

What’s Open/Closed On July 3 And Independence Day

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Photo: John Trumbull’s painting, Declaration of Independence, depicting the five-man drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence presenting their work to the Congress.

Saturday, July 4, the country observes the 250th anniversary (that would be the semiquincentennial) commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 (The document was signed on July 2nd). 

Massachusetts’ own John Adams, who signed the Declaration and was the nation’s second president, said the Fourth should be celebrated the day with “Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” 

Saturday also marks the 200th anniversary of Adams died on July 4th, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the document’s adoption. It also marks the bicentennial of the death of the declaration’s chief author, Thomas Jefferson, the third president.

Here is what’s closed and open on the 4th of July.

Open on July 3rd

  • Massachusetts state government offices and the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV). Unlike federal employees, the state does not observe Saturday holidays on the preceding Friday, so normal weekday state operations proceed.

Closed on July 3rd

  • Belmont Town Hall, the public library, Benton Library, and town offices.
  • Federal government offices.
  • US Postal Service: Both Belmont post offices are open.

Open on the the 4th of July

  • Underwood Pool: Open to members and those purchasing day passes.
  • Retail stores: Open at owner’s discretion
  • Supermarkets: Star Market on Trapelo Road in Waverley Square is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., but the pharmacy will be closed.
  • Coffee shops: Starbucks and Dunkin’s on Trapelo Road will operate regular hours. The Dunks on Pleasant and Church will also be open.
  • CVS: 89 Leonard St. (Belmont Center) Store 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Pharmacy 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • CVS: 264 Trapelo St. Store 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Pharmacy 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Closed on the 4th of July

  • USPS offices in Belmont.

For those who will be traveling using public transportation, the MBTA is running on the following schedule on the 3rd and the 4th

  • Subway will run on a modified Saturday schedule until 3 p.m. After 3 p.m., the subway will run on a weekday schedule.
  • Bus and the RIDE will run on a Sunday schedule.
  • Commuter Rail will run on a weekend schedule. After 8:30 p.m., bikes will not be allowed on board on trains. The last train from Boston’s North Station on the Fitchburg line, which serves Belmont and Waverley commuter stops, will depart at 11:40 p.m.
  • There is no fare after 8:30 p.m. on all lines.

Where to see fireworks celebrations near-ish to Belmont:

Belmont Farmers Market Reduces Hours Thursday, Closing At 4 PM

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Photo: The Farmers Market will close easly this Thursday due to the expected high heat temperatures.

The extreme heat wave blanketing Belmont and most of the US east of the Mississippi River will force the Belmont Farmers Market to cut its Thursday operating hours in half for the safety of vendors, volunteers and patrons.

The market will open at its usual 2 p.m. time and run until 4 p.m., closing two-and-a-half hours early.

Temperatures are expected to hit highs in the 100s F and high 90s F on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Due to the heat, there will be no activities at the Events Tent.

The Farmers Market takes place every Thursday at the Belmont Center parking lot, 10 Claflin St.

Belmont Under Heat Advisory Until 4th Of July; Cooling Centers Opening In Town On Wednesday, July 1

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Photo: In the summertime when the weather is high

Belmont will be opening cooling centers after the the National Weather Service issued an extreme heat watch for eastern Massachusetts for the first four days of July.

The NWS indicated a prolonged period of dangerous heat and humidity from 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 1 and lasting through 8 p.m. on Saturday, the 4th of July with peak heat conditions during the afternoon on Thursday, July 2 and Friday, July 3.

  • Heat index values may reach in a range of 96-112 degrees F.
  • Overnight relief from the temperature will be poor.
  • Persistent exposure to high heat and humidity may cause illness.
  • All residents are encouraged to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned buildings, avoid direct sunlight and check on relatives and neighbors.

Belmont will open two town buildings as cooling centers over the four days:

Cooling Center Locations and Hours July 2026

Breaking: Belmont Fire Chief DeStefano Leaving Post In September

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Photo: Belmont Fire Department Chief David DeStefano

Belmont Fire Department Chief David DeStefano has submitted his resignation, according to Belmont Town Administrator Patrce Garvin who made the announcement at the Select Board meeting on Monday, June 29.

Garvin said DeStefano’s final day will be Sept. 6.

The announcement was made after an executive session meeting which the Select Board discussed “next steps” in finding a replacement.

“More to come,” said Garvin.

DeStefano began his career in 1989 at the North Providence (R.I.) Fire Department, becoming Belmont’s top firefighter in March 2021.

Giving Is An Art: BHS’s Revamped Arts Honor Society Transforms Wall To Mural At Sancta Maria

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Photo: Finishing touches being applied on a mural at Sancta Maria Nursing Facility by members of the revamped National Arts Honor Society

Cans of paint laid open in a corner of a community room at Sancta Maria Nursing Facility as seven Belmont High School artists spent a May Friday afternoon – a Friday! – placing the finishing touches on transforming a drab wall into a striking mural within the walls of the Cambridge facility that straddles the Belmont town line.

The cool blue, green, and beige color scheme depicts sunbeams and a breaching whale, transforming the once large blank canvas into a vivid and calming spot for the hospital’s patients within the memory loss unit.

“It’s a lot of work from the artists. But we’re now seeing how the preliminary design is coming along and can see the final work. It’s great to see,” said Alexis Zhang, a BHS sophomore and one of the project leaders.

“This is a great location, a great spot to do it,” said Belmont High arts teacher Milo Milowsky when viewing the work.

The project was devised and created by members of the reemergent National Arts Honor Society, which was reestablished at Belmont HIgh School in 2025. The charter originated 20 years ago but did not generate much support at the time.

“We were really surprised that we didn’t have this [in Belmont] because a lot of surrounding schools, like Lexington and Winchester, have a national arts honor society charter, and we have such a busy arts program,” said Zhang. 

With the help of Milowsky as faculty advisor, the chapter revived student interest, with more than 40 current members. Once the charter was back up and running, the students began performing small activities such as selling caricatures at the Belmont Farmers Market. Soon after the Honor Society’s reemergence, it began looking at larger venues to bring the group’s talents, starting with nearby spaces. The two began just emailing nonprofits, health centers, and public spaces with a proposition: can we create a mural for you?

“We want to use the talents of all the students to uplift the space, as there was not any art here,” said Zhang.

It didn’t take long for the group to receive an answer from Sancta Maria. 

“I learned about this a couple of months ago,” said Chief Executive Officer Alvin Lim. “They approached us and they wanted to do something for the community.” Saying the hospital wanted to support a group that gives back to our community, “[w]e’re like, ‘yeah, why not? Why not support the arts program?'”

“They were completely open, because in the past no one had reached out to them before,” said Zhang. The staff told the students there was available a room used by nursing and care staff and the Alzheimer’s and dementia patients that was ripe for a change.

The project’s design and color select wasn’t literary throwing ideas on the wall. Approximately half of the club’s 40 National Arts Honor Society members contributed to the planning process by providing feedback to the design.

“We didn’t freelance it,” said Zhang, as students formed small work groups to brainstorm concepts. “We had a lot of rough sketches, and then we combined it all on a large sheet of paper. It was during the process the artist focused on the whale “because it symbolizes kind of the energy that we want to convey, like longevity. We also like the ocean and the clouds because of their expansiveness and this ability to fill up the space,” said Zhang.

Milowsky came through for the student by connecting them with Hillside Gardens/Ace Hardware on Brighton Street for donated paint and material. “[Hillside Gardens] was really exciting; they were really welcoming,” said Zhang. “We’re artists and students as well, so we don’t have any of the funding for it.”

For successive Fridays from January to June, the students put in several hours prepping and painting as staff and patients would stop at the windows into the room to watch as the wall metamorphosed from a blank wall to a brilliant seascape.

On June 5, the room was filled with hospital staff and all the students who had ideas and applied paint to celebrate the completion of the Honor Society’s first (“but not last,” said Zhang) endeavor at public art.

For Sancta Maria’s Lin, when he was first presented the project, “[m]y expectation was I wasn’t sure how this would end up.” But then he saw the finished mural “my mind’s blown. This is unbelievable. I couldn’t be more proud of these students. I’m so grateful that they would do this for [Sancta Maria].”

He said the spectrum of colors provides a cheerful image that makes the unit’s dementia and Alzheimer’s patients “really happy. They make them feel calm. It makes them feel like they’re home.”

Long-time educator Milowsky said he hadn’t seen this level of commitment and execution in 15 years. 

“I think it’s great for the community and it brings awareness to the arts. For them to venture out again and do things for the community is remarkable. It shows them how good of artists they are and how they can give back.”