Belmont Citizens Forum

Letter to the Editor: Airplane Noise

Environment, July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

To the Editor, Regarding your feature piece in the May/June issue [“Why is There So Much Plane Noise Over Belmont?” BCF Newsletter, May/June 2023], it is good to see attention to the issue. However, the author decided to use valuable print largely to explain simply what is, and not the effects, other than “disturbing” or “too much” noise. Imagine if all that ink was used for describing epidemiological evidence that points to negative health outcomes, instead of rote retelling of recent events and history, easily conveyed with a link or two. People end up in hospitals more often as a [READ MORE]

A New Weekly Voice for Belmont

July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Sue Bass Once upon a time, Belmont had a real newspaper. Indeed, within living memory, it had two: The Belmont Citizen (1944–1988) and the Belmont Herald (1931–1988.) By the time Henry and I moved here in 1995, the merged Citizen-Herald was an acceptable but not great source of information. Still, I seem to recall that at one time it employed an editor, a reporter, and at least one stringer who might attend Planning Board or other committee meetings. Then it got worse, and worse, and worse. No coverage of school sports. No more police log. No more school lunch [READ MORE]

Local Activists Testify to Limit Rat Poisons

Environment, July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

Local Activists Testify to Limit Rat Poisons

By Allison V. Lenk The morning we arrived to rally in front of the State House, we noticed two hawks circling the Boston Common. People excitedly pointed out when one of the hawks landed on the weathervane atop the Golden Dome of the State House. We optimistically decided it was a sign that the day’s testimony would make a positive difference in the cause to limit the use of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) which not only kill their intended target, but also sicken or kill birds of prey, other wildlife, pets, and even threaten the health of children. (See [READ MORE]

UMass Field Station Update

July/August 2023, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Jun 302023

UMass Field Station Update By John Dieckmann In the January/February issue of the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter, there was a brief article on the status of the UMass Field Station on Beaver Street in Waltham. The city of Waltham acquired the property from UMass last year. The city planned to issue four requests for proposals (RFPs) covering different parts of the property for potential users to respond to. To date, one of these RFPs was issued in February, covering about 13 acres of farm land, the main building, and several outbuildings. According to Stacey Daley, executive director of the Waltham [READ MORE]

Do We Underestimate Bees?

Environment, July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Fred Bouchard Sit in your backyard by the flowers and watch the bees go about their busy business. Notice their different sizes, colors, and flight patterns. Chubby, buzzy bumble bees—yellow-striped, black-bottomed—cram into white roses. Slender, darting honeybees—tawny orange, pinstriped—slip in and out of pink weigela. (Smaller, faster bees have eluded my view, for now.) Are these garden denizens simply honey-gathering, pollen-spreading automatons? Not so, says author Stephen Buchmann in What a Bee Knows: “Watch closer: she may be using olfactory tools to give her a 3-D map of her surroundings. She may gather information from the movements of other [READ MORE]

Ottavio Forte, Renaissance Man

Arts & Culture, July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Fred Bouchard Tireless energy, intelligence, and curiosity mark the life and times of Ottavio Forte. Now in his 80s, he has enjoyed success in a colorful array of careers and hobbies: electrical engineer, beekeeper, sculptor, winemaker, distiller, gardener, and homespun philosopher. Born in Formia (near Naples) in 1940, Forte came to New York at 14, the eighth child of illiterate, hard-working parents. As a high school senior, he claimed second prize in the Brooklyn Science Fair for a model of a vacuum tube. Forte graduated from City College of New York in 1961 in engineering. MIT hired him in [READ MORE]

Wild Play is Parenting in the Great Outdoors

July/August 2023, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Jun 302023

Wild Play is Parenting in the Great Outdoors

By David Sobel Are you concerned about the academification, indoorification, and digitalization of your child’s life? Especially now, post-pandemic, when most children were forced to be indoors and plopped down in front of screens for much of their schooling? I felt the same way, even a couple of decades ago when I was raising my children in rural New Hampshire. As a family, we avoided television until my children were about eight years old, though we did borrow DVDs from the library for family viewing. And I am thankful that my wife and I didn’t have to deal with the [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Dean Hickman

Environment, July/August 2023, Newsletter, Recycling Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Elissa Ely Before he became chair of Sustainable Belmont, before the PhD in pharmacogenetics, before moving to the United States, certainly before any awareness of the environmental needs of a Massachusetts town next to Cambridge, Dean Hickman was picking up litter. “Have been picking up trash anywhere I go since I could walk,” his Instagram says. Growing up in farm country west of London, traveling the footpath systems, Dean took the “Keep Britain Tidy” campaign of the 1960s to heart. Many decades later, on a late rainy afternoon when he could have been enjoying a mug of tea, we [READ MORE]

BH Students Create Native Plant Garden

July/August 2023, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Audrey Brenhouse On Saturday, May 13, the Belmont High School Climate Action Club, with the help of adult and student volunteers, planted our long-anticipated native garden in front of the school. Our goal is to grow plants native to this area to promote and support native wildlife, helping to restore the land’s natural biodiversity. In the spring of 2022, we held a student-led concert where many families kindly donated to this process. After years of approvals and fundraising, we are proud and grateful to be able to display the result of your generosity. Over the next few years, these [READ MORE]

How to Get Your Garden Through Summer Heat

Environment, July/August 2023, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Jun 302023

How to Get Your Garden Through Summer Heat

By Sarah Wang, Kim DeAndrade, and Jean Devine By this point in the summer, your water barrels may be dry and you may be devoting inordinate amounts of time (and money) to watering. No matter how much you water, it cannot compare to real rain. Here are some tips to help with drought: Mulch! Besides retaining moisture, mulch will feed the soil and keep down the weeds. Avoid dyed mulch. It is unregulated and may contain shredded construction wood waste and pressure-treated wood. And, it won’t do much to feed the soil. If you buy mulch, consider compost and [READ MORE]

Belmont Will Phase Out Gas Leaf Blowers

Air Quality, Environment, July/August 2023, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Marina (Goreau) Atlas and Karen Cady-Pereira In recent years, Belmont residents have become acutely aware of the roar, fumes, and particulate dust emitted from two-stroke gas-powered leaf blowers. A new town policy will soon change the use of gas-powered leaf blowers that emit cancer-causing particulates, send out winds that can exceed Category 5 hurricanes, and stir up everything from road dust to pollen to particles left behind from Muffin and Fido’s morning walk. This policy is an important step to improve our relationship with lawns and encourage healthy landscapes that enhance our quality of life. From May 15 to [READ MORE]

Porchfest Returns!

July/August 2023 Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Mary Bradley Porchfests began in 2007 in Ithaca, New York, as a means for local musicians to perform for their friends and neighbors on porches throughout town. Little did the organizers know what an explosion of joy they had unleashed. There are now over 200 Porchfest across the world, the majority of which are right here in New England. Earlier this year, NPR declared the Porchfest Season* runs from May through September. And it’s true; the majority of Porchfests in New England do fall within this time, including Belmont’s very own. Belmont’s Porchfest has carved out the Saturday following [READ MORE]

Opinion: Parking, People, and Money

July/August 2023, Parking, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Max Colice A typical parking space takes up about 300 to 350 square feet. In Belmont, if you want to open a retail business or office, you’ll need one parking space per 250 square feet of retail or office space. That’s right: in Belmont, your parking lot will have to be bigger than your business. If you want to open a restaurant, you’ll need one parking space for every two seats. Again, that’s more land for parking than for people. Providing all of this parking makes opening a business in Belmont more expensive than it should be. Consider how [READ MORE]

How Can Belmont Use the McLean Barn?

July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Carl Solander How can Belmont use the McLean Barn? The Land Management Committee of Lone Tree Hill (LMC), in consultation with the Belmont Historic District Commission, is seeking ideas to give new life to this remnant of Belmont’s agricultural past. The McLean Barn, also known as the Brick Barn at Rock Meadow, was conveyed to the town in 2005 by McLean Hospital following the 1999 agreement that created the conservation land now known as Lone Tree Hill. The barn has been unused since that time, patiently awaiting the next chapter in its long life. In 1892, as the central [READ MORE]

July/August 2023 BCF Newsletter

July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

Read the July/August 2023 BCF Newsletter In this issue: How Can Belmont Use the McLean Barn? The Land Management Committee of Lone Tree Hill (LMC), in consultation with the Belmont Historic District Commission, is seeking ideas to give new life to this remnant of Belmont’s agricultural past. Read more. Opinion: Parking, People, and Money In Belmont you, need one parking space per 250 square feet of retail or office space. Your parking lot will have to be bigger than your business. Read more. Porchfest Returns! This year, the event will be on Saturday, September 9, 11 AM-6 PM, rain date [READ MORE]

Unauthorized Bike Route and Vandalism at Lone Tree Hill

Bicycles and bike paths, McLean, Newsletter, Open Space, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Apr 302023

Unauthorized Bike Route and Vandalism at Lone Tree Hill

An unauthorized bike route off the Hillside Trail on the Lone Tree Hill, Belmont Conservation Land (LTH) property was reported on April 21, 2023. The route goes down a hill, over a rock ledge and lands below on a very steep hillside. The builders of the route cut down trees, broke branches, removed rocks and vegetation (trees and native perennial trout lily) from the hillside and excavated dirt by digging and leaving dangerous pits. There has been earlier unauthorized bike activity at Lone Tree Hill, but this is the most dangerous and damaging. At the ninth annual LTH volunteer day [READ MORE]

BHA Plans for the Future of its Senior Community

Construction and Housing, May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

BHA Plans for the Future of its Senior Community

By the Belmont Housing Authority Board of Commissioners In 2018, Belmont Housing Authority (BHA) was awarded Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding by the town of Belmont to embark on an ambitious project: planning for the modernization of its Sherman Gardens apartment community. Situated between Sycamore Street and Thayer Road in Waverley Square, the 80-unit state-funded public housing community has provided critical shelter for seniors and persons with disabilities since 1971. After more than 50 years without a major renovation, the apartments are now expensive, difficult to maintain, and energy inefficient. Designed 20 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act was [READ MORE]

Book Shows Best Bike Rides in New England

Bicycles and bike paths, May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

Book Shows Best Bike Rides in New England

By David Sobel If you’re a casual bike rider who likes 10- to 15-mile rides on backroads around New England, I encourage you to check out my new book, Best Bike Rides in New England: Backroad Routes for Cycling the Northeast States. I’m 73, and my wife is 63, so we’re into reasonable, not ardent, exercise. And we aspire to doing some outdoorsy sport four or five times a week—biking in the summer, skating, Nordic and downhill skiing in the winter. The book includes descriptions of 30 bike loops in all six New England states. I originally wanted to write [READ MORE]

Honeybees Thrive at Rock Meadow

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Sadie Forbes Most people visiting Rock Meadow have noticed the presence of beehives. Belmont beekeepers now tend 20 hives in five locations along Mill Street and in the center of the meadow. There are many pressures on honeybees. Beekeepers and scientists agree that two problems are largely responsible for “colony collapse disorder,” where entire hives of bees die off. The first cause is varroa mites (Varroa destructor). These mites were benign pests of Asian honeybees (Apis cerana) in Asia. Beginning in the 1980s, varroa mites began to be seen in western apiaries. They have been highly destructive to the [READ MORE]

Let Your Hidden Native Plant Garden Emerge

Environment, May/June 2023, Plants Comments Off

Apr 262023

Let Your Hidden Native Plant Garden Emerge

By Heather Pruiksma Spring has sprung, and gardeners everywhere are itching to get their hands into the soil and among the roots. At Grow Native Massachusetts, we encourage including more native plants in your gardens, which can be less work than it might seem — if you’re willing to be a little patient. Native plants are plants that have been growing in a particular habitat and region, typically for thousands of years or much longer. Also called indigenous, they are well adapted to the climate, light, and soil conditions that characterize their ecosystem. Within this system, they have evolved important relationships [READ MORE]

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