View or download the January-February 2018 issue as a color PDF here, or read single articles below.

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Articles in this issue:

A Vision for Belmont

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

by Sue Bass

Nearly eight years ago, in the spring of 2010, the town completed two years of work on a comprehensive plan intended to guide the next decade of change in Belmont. Looking back, how are we doing?

The $148,000 plan, called “A Vision for Belmont: Mapping a Sustainable Future,” which was adopted by the Belmont Planning Board and is posted on its website, made nine primary recommendations. Read more.

 

Plastic Bag Ban for Belmont?

Almost 60 Mass Cities and Towns Restrict Checkout Bags

by Terese Hammerle

Our environment is swimming in plastic waste. The Sierra Club and others commonly assert that Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year, or about 360 bags per year for every man, woman, and child in the United States. Massachusetts residents go through about 2 billion bags annually. Read more.

 

Remaking the Hell Strip

Pavement and Policy in Belmont

by Kate Bowen

In 2015, I wrote a story for this newsletter on “hell strips,” those swaths of dirt between the sidewalk and the street, where water-thirsty plants die and well-suited natives thrive. To recall the benefits, these planted strips cool streets in the heat. They provide filtration of fine particulate matter making sidewalk areas healthier. They provide food for birds and insects, and hold snow in winter. And, they delineate the vehicle travel/parking lane from the sidewalk area. This last function has become most important to me. Read more.

 

Bike Trail Progress

Connections to the Belmont Community Path

by John Dieckmann

The community path in Belmont connects or will connect to several existing and future shared use paths in our immediate region. To the east, there is the Fitchburg Cutoff Path running from Brighton Street to Alewife Station, the Linear Park from Alewife Station to Davis Square, and the Somerville community path from Davis Square to North Point Park in Cambridge. Read more.

 

The Bradford Keeps Moving Ahead

But Progress is Slow and Info Is Lacking

by John DiCocco

Would you buy a used car from Toll Brothers?

Trust is difficult when repeated questions go unanswered. Since our last story in September 2017, “What’s The Latest in Cushing Square?”, construction has been slow and information flow has been slower. It’s wise for the town to continually kick the tires and keep having its own mechanic inspect the goods. Read more.

 

Enviro Events

Alewife Corridor Resilience Symposium:

Collaboratively Framing Scenarios

Friday January 19, 6-9 PM & Saturday, January 20, 8 AM–4:30PM

The symposium will convene the Alewife corridor communities of Belmont, Arlington, Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, and Winchester to examine the Alewife floodplain in its entirety, and explore collaborative scenarios for tackling issues of resiliency and climate adaptation. Read more.