Belmont Citizens Forum

Native Peoples Lived in Belmont

History, March/April 2024 Comments Off

Mar 012024

By Mark Jarzombek It comes as a surprise to people who assume that Boston’s colonization began with the settlement of Boston in 1630 that there was an equally important settlement in Watertown that same year. It was organized by Sir Richard Saltonstall, along with approximately 40 families. Unlike the Bostonians, the group in Watertown consisted of ranchers and farmers living primarily in homesteads spread out over the rapidly deforested landscape. Though Boston takes the glory when it comes to the history of New England, the relationship between a town and its farm and pastureland was critical to the settlers’ success. [READ MORE]

Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day April 27

BCF Events, Environment, March/April 2024 Comments Off

Mar 012024

Join us in stewarding Lone Tree Hill! The Belmont Citizens Forum, in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, is holding its tenth annual cleanup and trail maintenance day on April 27, from 9 AM until noon. Help with planting white pine saplings along the Meadow Edge Trail, cleaning up, and removing invasives at the Mill Street parking lot and the Coal Road, respectively. Students can earn community service credits. Bounded by Concord Avenue, Pleasant Street, and Mill Street, Lone Tree Hill spans 119 acres of permanently protected conservation land and is available to everyone. It is stewarded through a [READ MORE]

Letter to the Editor: Rat Poisons and Wildlife

Environment, March/April 2024 Comments Off

Mar 012024

Letter to the Editor: Rat Poisons and Wildlife

Dear Representatives of the Select Board, Health Department, Department of Public Works, Facilities Department (Schools), and Conservation Commission; As local communities in and around Belmont wake up to the dangers of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) to children, wildlife, and pets, we see encouraging progress toward reducing and eliminating SGARs. We would like to share with you what is going on in neighboring towns in this regard as Save Belmont Wildlife seeks to work with our community to eliminate these poisons as part of a cross-community effort. We are working to prevent the further poisoning of Massachusetts birds of prey and [READ MORE]

Belmont Rower Looks Out for the Charles River

Climate Change, Environment, March/April 2024 Comments Off

Mar 012024

Belmont Rower Looks Out for the Charles River

By Zeus Smith As a US National Team rower, Belmont resident Maggie Fellows spends a lot of time on the Charles River. Since 2021, the Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA) has mobilized a cohort of passionate community leaders like Fellows to push for climate-smart policies and practices right in their backyards. Called River Advocates, this program brings together volunteers from various backgrounds and experiences to learn effective advocacy strategies and steward a more climate-resilient future. The River Advocates program is a crash course in civic engagement––by joining, volunteers find a community of like-minded individuals interested in learning about direct actions [READ MORE]

E-Bike Library Lets Locals Take a Spin

Bicycles and bike paths, March/April 2024 Comments Off

Mar 012024

By Sarah Firth Inae Hwang was torn: Should she buy a new electric bike? “I’ve been looking at e-bikes for six months straight, really looking to purchase one,” Hwang, a Belmont resident, said. Then, a friend referred her to the Camberville E-bike Lending Library, which Somerville resident Christopher Schmidt runs out of his Porter Square home. Hwang decided to take one of the e-bikes for a spin. “I was like, ‘Oh, I should totally borrow one because then I will know what it feels like, and how well it does or doesn’t work for me,’” she said. Hwang was hooked; [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Phil Thomas

March/April 2024, Open Space Comments Off

Mar 012024

By Elissa Ely “One ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs or a bee makes honey.” – Marcus Aurelius There is so much we could say about Phil Thomas. We could talk about his distinguished career in high technology, which followed his distinguished career in Naval Intelligence. We could talk about growing up oceanside in Florida, where his father worked as a photographer for NASA and John Glenn visited the house. We could talk about his childhood hopes of becoming the next Mickey Mantle (stymied only, perhaps, by height). We could also talk about Phil’s [READ MORE]

Select Board Candidates Answer BCF Questions

Board of Selectmen, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012024

Select Board Candidates Answer BCF Questions

Each year, the Belmont Citizens Forum asks Select Board candidates questions about issues facing our town. This year, Alex Howard, Geoff Lubien, and Matt Taylor provided answers. They were limited to 1,000 words. BCF Currently, about 95% of the property tax levy in Belmont comes from homeowners and 5% from business owners. a. Is the development of more business space a realistic solution to Belmont’s financial challenges, with much of the existing commercial space empty? b. The number of empty commercial spaces, both retail and office buildings, conveys that Belmont is not prospering or attractive. Does the Select Board have [READ MORE]

BCF Asks Path Experts Three Questions

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, March/April 2024 Comments Off

Mar 012024

To prepare for the upcoming Design Public Hearing on Phase 1 of the Belmont Community Path, the BCF asked three Community Path experts about what they think about the Community Path project today. We spoke to Mark Paolillo, Select Board member; Holly Muson, chair of the Community Path Project Committee; and Will Brownsberger, Massachusetts state representative. BCF Since you succeeded Russ Leino as chair of the Community Path Project Committee (CPPC) last year, you have had a ringside seat as this project advances. What has most surprised you about the mechanics of advancing the project? Are there lessons from Phase [READ MORE]

MassDOT Rep Discusses March 7 Path Hearing

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, March/April 2024 Comments Off

Mar 012024

MassDOT Rep Discusses March 7 Path Hearing

By Jarrod Goentzel The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) will be hosting a Design Public Hearing on Phase 1 of the Belmont Community Path on Thursday, March 7, at 7PM at the Beech Street Center Multipurpose Room, 266 Beech Street, Belmont. You can watch the meeting at home on Belmont Media Center GovTV, Ch 8 Comcast or Ch 28 Verizon, or belmontmedia.org/govtv. Visit www.mass.gov/orgs/highway-division/events for more information. The project consists of a new paved shared-use path along the Fitchburg Commuter Rail and a new concrete underpass beneath the railroad tracks at Alexander Road to provide a connection from Channing Road [READ MORE]

March/April 2024 BCF Newsletter

March/April 2024, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 012024

Read the March 2024 BCF Newsletter In this issue: MassDOT Rep Discusses March 7 Path Hearing The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) will be hosting a Design Public Hearing on Phase 1 of the Belmont Community Path on Thursday, March 7, at 7PM at the Beech Street Center Multipurpose Room, 266 Beech Street, Belmont. Read more. BCF Asks Path Experts Three Questions To prepare for the upcoming Design Public Hearing on Phase 1 of the Belmont Community Path, the BCF asked three Community Path experts about what they think about the Community Path project today. Read more. Lone Tree Hill [READ MORE]

January 2024: Letter to the Editor

January 2024, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 052024

Thank you for all your efforts on behalf of us, Belmont residents! 1. The Opinion by Max Colice on Chapter 61B [“Opinion: Why Pay Property Taxes When You Can Get a Tax Break?”, BCF Newsletter, November 2023] was an eye opener: our property taxes subsidize the Belmont Country Club! In the meantime we are discussing an upcoming override to increase the taxes we now pay. This excellent idea to contact state Senator Brownsberger and Representative Rogers needs to be pursued promptly! I suggest we collect signatures from Belmont residents in a bulk kind of letter and send it to the [READ MORE]

The Best Recycling Choices Aren’t Always Obvious

January 2024, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 052024

By Barry Kaye, MD You are a good person. You recycle everything that you can and feel good about that. But have you wondered what happens after that big blue bin is picked up? I just assumed it was all recycled until my son told me some inconvenient truths about recycling. If you read no further—just remember that because something is recyclable, it does not mean that it will be recycled. Unless it is economically feasible and there is a market, it’s just trash. It turns out that the only things that are genuinely recycled at the present time are [READ MORE]

Belmont’s Beech Trees are Dying

January 2024, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Jan 052024

By Phil Perron The majestic beech tree is under attack in Massachusetts. The culprit is a microscopic nematode (Litylenchus crenatae ssp. mccannii). Beech leaf disease (BLD) has taken the state by storm, causing, in the best cases, leaf distortion and, in the worst cases, total tree mortality. All beech tree varieties are at risk, including the stately copper beech. Unfortunately, many questions about this disease have yet to be answered as the industry works to find solutions to manage this pest before it is too late. BLD was first discovered in Ohio in 2012. Eight years later, it had made [READ MORE]

Coyotes Live Among Us All Year Long

Environment, January 2024, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 052024

By Jeffrey North As the cold winter months set in across New England, coyotes adapt their behaviors to the harsh conditions. They establish their breeding territories, and expand their range in search of food. Belmont has ample green space and conservation land where coyotes roam and hunt. For the most part, Belmont’s coyotes raise their young, contribute to the health of the ecosystem, and mind their own business. Coyotes (Canis latrans) are an important species in North American ecosystems, and their role is often overlooked. These adaptable predators play a vital role in maintaining ecosystem balance and diversity by controlling [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Julia Blatt

Environment, January 2024, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 052024

by Elissa Ely Shortly after the pandemic began, when the only response within anyone’s control was isolation, Julia Blatt and her husband bought kayaks. They had canoed as a family for more than 30 years—Montana, Idaho, Maine, Colorado, Florida, Vermont, New Hampshire—and for years her professional work had taken her kayaking through the Concord, Sudbury, and Assabet rivers. Sometimes she brought politicians with her (a form of visual education) and sometimes it was a form of solo field research. But this was different. The sky doesn’t know a pandemic is raging; birds and turtles have no idea and less interest. [READ MORE]

Lone Tree Hill Saw Improvements in 2023

Environment, January 2024, Lone Tree Hill, McLean, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Jan 052024

By Radha Iyengar Belmont’s Lone Tree Hill Conservation area benefited from another year of conservation, restoration, and stewardship, thanks mainly to the efforts of the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill (LMC). Many Belmontonians and visitors enjoy this 119-acre conservation property for walking, biking, viewing wildlife, and being out in nature. The LMC was created through a memorandum of agreement between the town and McLean Hospital in 1999. The agreement outlined the development restrictions for the McLean Hospital campus. It also reserved approximately 119 acres of the campus as publicly accessible open space, including a new municipal cemetery, and [READ MORE]

Japanese Culture Center Comes to Belmont Hill

January 2024, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Jan 052024

Japanese Culture Center Comes to Belmont Hill

By Fred Bouchard Drive up Concord Avenue from Belmont Center this winter, glance left after the big curve, and you’ll see an eye-catching sight behind the driveway opposite Sumner Lane; cherry trees and rhododendrons, a garden, and—rising behind the house—a half-built, huge-timbered barn. What, a barnraising on Belmont Hill? This property belonged to the late Anne Allen and now bears a conservation restriction encompassing 3.3 acres of forest, fields, and meadows. Allen donated this property’s conservation restriction and the Maple Allee conservation restriction across the street to Belmont in 2004. These two conservation restrictions contribute to the town’s open spaces [READ MORE]

What’s in a Name? Walking and Biking

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, January 2024, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032024

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Data from various retrospective observational studies show that bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure enhance residential property values (reviewed in the article “Impact of Bike Facilities on Residential Property Prices” and in Chapter 6 of the Belmont Community Path Advisory Committee report). However, some of the most persuasive evidence comes from the simple observation that real estate agents—who are paid to market properties effectively and knowledgeable about what works—consistently mention paths when they are nearby. The easiest way to measure that practice is to scan the 100 to 150 word property descriptions near the top of listings. An [READ MORE]

Community Path Could Have Bridge, Box

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, January 2024, Newsletter, Transit Comments Off

Jan 032024

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Last May, the consultants hired by Belmont to design Phase 2 of the Belmont Community Path (extending from the Clark Street Bridge to the Waltham border) recommended a final route to the Community Path Project Committee (CPPC), which endorsed the recommendation and sent it on to the Select Board (see “Belmont Community Path Route Takes Shape,”September/October 2023 Newsletter, for details). The Select Board asked for more details on the right of way, which is the focus of current work. The Pare Corporation-Toole Design team proposed two audacious Phase 2 design choices: a new bridge over the [READ MORE]

January/February 2024 Newsletter

January 2024, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032024

Read the January / February 2024 BCF Newsletter In this issue: Community Path Could Have Bridge, Box The Pare Corporation-Toole Design team proposed two audacious Phase 2 design choices: a new bridge over the Fitchburg Line and a potential “box-over” of Waverley Station, which would create space for a pocket park. Read more. What’s in a Name? Walking and Biking Real estate agents—who are paid to market properties effectively and knowledgeable about what works—consistently mention paths when they are nearby. Read more. Japanese Culture Center Comes to Belmont Hill Drive up Concord Avenue from Belmont Center this winter, glance [READ MORE]

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