mm – Page 17 – Belmont Citizens Forum

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Lydia Ogilby Remembered

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Mar 022020

By Neal Winston Lydia Phippen Ogilby passed away on November 1, 2019, at age 98 at her historic John Bright House on Washington Street, adjacent to the 10-acre Belmont Farm. Living in Belmont from a young age, she was known by townspeople as a spirited preservationist of its heritage and land. Lydia’s strong and generous opinions embodied the Belmont spirit of independence and industriousness of her forebears. Her portrait by Belmont photographer Richard Cheek hangs in Town Hall. She is seen standing in her field, seemingly growing out of the earth, ever vigilant, defying the pressures of development around her. [READ MORE]

Community Path Began Decades Ago

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, History, March/April 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 022020

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. It has taken over two decades of stop-and-start development to bring the Belmont Community Path to its current state of planning and formal design, but a timeline for construction of the path is finally in sight. The design and engineering of Phase I of the Belmont Community Path, from Brighton Street to the Clark Street Bridge, started last fall and should take about two years to complete. In the next two years, path plans will progress through three major milestones: 25, 75, and 100 percent design, as part of a Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) guided [READ MORE]

Belmont CPC Supports Four Projects

Arts & Culture, Historic Preservation, March/April 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Mar 022020

By Margaret Velie This year, Town Meeting will be considering four projects for Community Preservation Act funding. By law, Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds are limited to projects for affordable housing, historic resources, open space, and outdoor recreational facilities. Last fall, the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) received seven preliminary applications for funding. Since then, one project was deemed ineligible, and two others were withdrawn. The committee reviewed the remaining four applications and is recommending all four for funding. Affordable Housing Feasibility Study for the Redevelopment and Creation of New Affordable Housing Units at Belmont Village The Belmont Housing Authority is [READ MORE]

Community Path Update

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, March/April 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 022020

By Kate Bowen Work continues with Nitsch Engineering and the Belmont Community Path Project Committee (CPPC) to bring the path to fruition. A public engagement meeting is anticipated in spring 2020. At that meeting, design solutions will be shared and discussed for Phase 1 of the two-phase project, including pinch points such as the former Belmont Municipal Light Department building. The Alexander underpass portion of the project (segment 1A), for which the town received a MassTrails Grant of $150,000, will also be discussed at that meeting. Nitsch Engineering presented two technical options for installing the tunnel alongside the functioning rail [READ MORE]

Arlington Group Opposes Mugar Site Plans

Construction and Housing, Environment, March/April 2020, Newsletter, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Mar 022020

Arlington Group Opposes Mugar Site Plans

By Meg Muckenhoupt The Mugar wetlands are 17.7 acres of open land in East Arlington. Oaktree Development has proposed constructing a 207-unit apartment complex and six duplex townhouses on this site, to be renamed Thorndike Place. The Coalition to Save the Mugar Wetlands opposes building on the site, which is bordered by Route 2, Thorndike Field, and Dorothy, Edith, and Burch Streets. The following interview with Clarissa Rowe, one of the founders of the Coalition to Save the Mugar Wetlands, was edited for length and clarity. Why is the Mugar site important? I think the reason Arlington and Belmont residents [READ MORE]

Belmont Roots March/April 2020

BCF Events, March/April 2020 Comments Off

Mar 022020

By Meg Muckenhoupt Is your workplace letting everyone off for Spring Break this year? I didn’t think so. It’s just as well. Flying to the Caribbean spews a lot of carbon into the air, and there’s so much to explore at home. Animals are stirring from their winter torpor, buds are subtly swelling, and more than 500,000 herring are preparing to swim up the Mystic River—perhaps to Alewife Brook, named for those very herring. It’s fun to watch, and even more fun to watch while recording information that helps us understand our world, and how it is changing. Winter Forest [READ MORE]

Paper Bag Fee Would Reduce Emissions

March/April 2020, Newsletter, Recycling Comments Off

Mar 022020

By Rahul Ramakrishnan As a lifelong Belmont resident and Belmont High School alum, I take pride in Belmont’s forward-thinking mind-set and commitment to the environment. As a senior at MIT studying materials science, I have had the opportunity to learn about the diversity in production and policy surrounding the materials that make up our world. Recently, I thought about how I could use what I have learned to keep Belmont on an environmentally conscious trajectory, and an idea popped up. Problems with Plastic—and Paper For the last many years, we have repeatedly been told that paper bags are better for [READ MORE]

Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions

Board of Selectmen, March/April 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 022020

Select Board Candidate Answers BCF Questions

Each year, the Belmont Citzens Forum asks Select Board candidates questions about issues facing our town. This year, Adam Dash provided answers. He was limited to 1,200 words. What steps would you take to ensure that the design and construction of the Belmont Community Path proceed efficiently? Finally, after decades of Belmont residents waiting, the community path is being brought to reality. Parts 1A (the Alexander Avenue tunnel under the railroad tracks) and 1B (from Brighton Street to the Clark Street Bridge) are currently being designed. We need to make sure that the construction of Parts 1A and 1B gets [READ MORE]

Lone Tree Hill Cleanup Day April 25

BCF Events, Environment, March/April 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants, Volunteer Comments Off

Feb 272020

Lone Tree Hill Cleanup Day Join us in stewarding Lone Tree Hill! The Belmont Citizens Forum, in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, is holding its eighth annual cleanup and trail maintenance day on Saturday, April 25, from 9 AM until noon. Help complete the planting of trees along the Pine Allee, clean up and remove invasive species at the Coal Road area, and pick up trash at the Mill Street parking lot and South Pleasant Street area at the Coal Road kiosk. Students can earn community service credits. This event is made possible by generous local business sponsors. [READ MORE]

Belmont Timeline

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Board of Selectmen, Historic Preservation, History, January 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Parking, Sewers, Traffic, Water Quality Comments Off

Jan 062020

Belmont Timeline Featuring events significant to the Belmont’s history and Belmont Citizens Forum issues. 1654 The John Chenery house, 52 Washington Street, is built. The Chenery house is the oldest surviving house in Belmont. 1760 The Thomas Clark House is built on what is now Common Street. “Local tradition maintains that the Clark family witnessed the beginning of America’s War for Independence from the hill behind this house, seeing smoke and hearing the sounds of war breaking out on April 19, 1775.” —Joseph Cornish, BCF Newsletter, January 2011. It was moved in 2012, and finally demolished in 2014. 1805 “Ice [READ MORE]

20 Years of Historic Preservation

Construction and Housing, Historic Preservation, History, January 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Sharon Vanderslice In the late summer of 1999, a dozen or so Belmont residents met in Town Meeting member Sue Bass’s dining room on Concord Avenue to discuss ways to increase transparency in our local government and protect the small-town atmosphere that had drawn us to Belmont in the first place. We had just lost a battle to keep out a massive development proposed by Partners Healthcare on the campus of McLean Hospital. This forward-thinking psychiatric institution was originally designed to offer patients a calm, nature-based space in which to heal. With the advent of pharmaceutical treatments, McLean’s board [READ MORE]

Belmont Roots & Shoots, January 2020

January 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Meg Muckenhoupt As you recover from a month of pies, plum puddings, sufganiyot jelly doughnuts, fruitcake, fudge, hot cocoa, panettone, eggnog, and every other cold-season excuse to eat sugar, pause to remember that neither sugar cane nor honeybees are native to New England. Sugar cane is a tropical plant, and there were no honeybees north of Florida before 1630–and those bees which did arrive spent more than a month trapped in a hive in the hold of a wooden ship that creaked and lurched its way across the open ocean. Sugar maples did yield syrup, and that syrup was [READ MORE]

Letter to the Editor: Clay Pit Pond

Environment, January 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Jan 062020

To the Editor: As a neighbor, fan, and defender of poor Clay Pit Pond, I especially enjoyed the recent article (“Clay Pit Pond Progresses from Eyesore to Asset,” Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter, November/December 2019). I would like to add a few more details on the recent history of the pond. When we moved to Belmont in the fall of 1974 there was a shopping cart in the pond by the inlet and advertisements about the upcoming Kiwanis Fishing Derby. I found the cart and derby in great contrast. Apparently the pond was regularly stocked for the event. No one noticed [READ MORE]

The BCF’s Next 20 Years

January 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Grant Monahon The goal of protecting Belmont’s small town environment has taken many forms for the Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF) during the last 20 years, and it will undoubtedly take many more directions over the next 20 years. Belmont’s efforts to preserve its natural and historical resources, limit traffic growth, and enhance pedestrian safety will only become more challenging, not less, and we will continue to pursue issues identified as important to our supporters. As a board, we are mindful that we will need new and younger leadership. We are not going away, but new perspectives would add great [READ MORE]

20 Years of Mailing the BCF Newsletter

January 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Kenneth Stalberg How did the newsletter in your hand find its way to you? It’s a long process involving many dedicated volunteers. As the BCF mailing coordinator, or “Mailing Maestro” as I’m listed in the BCF Newsletter, my job begins after all the articles have been written and edited and the newsletters have been printed. The first step is finding a board member who’s able to host a mailing party. The newsletters, about 2,200 of them in seven or eight heavy cartons, will be delivered to his or her home. On the evening of the mailing party (the date [READ MORE]

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