January/February 2025 – Belmont Citizens Forum

Belmont’s Historic Home Plaques

Historic Preservation, January/February 2025, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032025

Belmont’s Historic Home Plaques The Belmont Historical Society (BHS) recently celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its historic home plaque program, with 45 plaques now displayed on historic homes around town. Belmont’s historic homes are greatly diverse in their architecture, ranging from Georgian to Victorian to Craftsman and mid-century modern. To qualify for a plaque, a home must be at least 50 years old, retain its original design integrity, and have a clean chain of title. For more information about this program, contact belmonthistory1859@gmail.com. Photos by Evanthia Malliris and John Beaty.

Letter to the Editor: Roundabouts

Bicycles and bike paths, January/February 2025, Newsletter, Traffic Comments Off

Jan 032025

To the Editor: I am looking at the September/October BCF Newsletter article, “Town Works to Make Streets Safer for All,” with plans for the roundabouts on Concord Avenue at Winter and Mill Streets. I favor roundabouts for the sake of traffic safety, and so I am in favor of most of the project. The drawings, however, show a bikeway along the southwest side of Concord Avenue, narrow at the ends and widening as it passes two roundabouts, where there are crosswalks, and ending on Mill Street. The bikeway serves only eastbound bicycle traffic. A sidewalk is shown on the northeast [READ MORE]

Homer House Restoration Gets Underway

Historic Preservation, January/February 2025, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Jan 032025

By Wendy Murphy and Neal Winston Driving down Concord Avenue from Belmont Hill into town, you can’t help but notice the emergence of a stately Victorian mansion. A wall of trees hiding the mansion was removed this spring as part of a landscape restoration project for the back and side yards of the 1853 William Flagg Homer House at 661 Pleasant Street. The Belmont Woman’s Club owns the house and land. The project was sponsored and managed by the Belmont Land Trust, a volunteer nonprofit organization, which has held a conservation restriction on the property since 2010. Long neglected, the [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Dr. Gi Yoon-Huang

January/February 2025 Comments Off

Jan 032025

By Elissa Ely In this rough world, there are those who turn to all sides with grievance and rage. But there are also those who turn with care and gentleness—and if they happen to turn with medical expertise as well, the rough world is fortunate. They are treasures. Here is one. Gi Yoon Huang, MD—co-director of the Belmont Celebrates Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage group, Town Meeting member, and member of multiple Belmont committees—was born in South Korea. Her parents had moved to Virginia from their impoverished, war-battered country (“it was their American dream”), but her mother returned briefly back [READ MORE]

Town Still Hangs From ‘Fiscal Cliff’

Board of Selectmen, January/February 2025, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032025

By Allison Lenk and Robie White Two years ago, the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter published the article, “Have You Read the Collins Center Report?” The 2022 report, produced by the Edwards J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management, stresses the urgency of acting on their recommendations which were initially made in 2018. The earlier report included a warning that Belmont would be falling off a “fiscal cliff” in the future if changes weren’t pursued. The Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management is part of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts [READ MORE]

Belmont’s Owls are Calling, and Dying

January/February 2025, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032025

by Fred Bouchard With its regal size and stern, brow-knit mien, the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus, GHO) stands as not just a sagacious symbol of wisdom but as a fearsome, widespread nocturnal raptor. Its namesake horns, conspicuous 2-inch erect ear tufts, help triangulate aurally on prey. Aptly called a “tiger among birds” by ornithologist Frank Chapman, these owls once raided chicken coops. Today they are the scourge of smaller birds (even smaller owls) and suburban mammals like rabbits and rodents. And therein lies their unique vulnerability. As apex avian predators, owls—along with hawks and eagles—are subject to being victimized [READ MORE]

BCF Asks State to Suspend SGAR Registration

January/February 2025 Comments Off

Jan 032025

BCF Asks State to Suspend SGAR Registration

The following letter was sent to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources on December 16, 2024. Dear Members of the Pesticide Board Subcommittee, The Belmont Citizens Forum, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the environmental quality of Belmont and surrounding areas, strongly supports the suspension of the registration and legal use of Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs) in Massachusetts. The Belmont Citizens Forum publishes a bimonthly newsletter that informs residents about local environmental and community issues. Recent editions have featured articles detailing the dangers of SGARs, including their impacts on wildlife, ecosystems, and public health. These articles [READ MORE]

Belmont’s Decarbonization Path Stays Uncertain

January/February 2025, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032025

Belmont’s Decarbonization Path Stays Uncertain

By Brian Kopperl and Roger Wrubel In the 2024 July/August BCF Newsletter, the Belmont Energy Committee (EC) updated BCF readers on the committee’s work to advance Belmont’s decarbonization efforts. The EC is now encouraging the town to pursue Climate Leader Community certification, to give the school department the option to acquire several electric school buses and to apply for a new Mass Save grant to fund a town energy manager to help the town obtain and manage decarbonization and energy efficiency grants to meet the town’s Climate Roadmap goals adopted in 2019. Climate Leaders Communities The Department of Energy Resources [READ MORE]

January/February 2025 Newsletter

January/February 2025, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 032025

Read the January/February 2025 Newsletter PDF In this issue: Belmont’s Decarbonization Path Stays Uncertain The Energy Committee is encouraging the town to apply for a new Mass Save grant to fund a town energy manager to help the town obtain and manage decarbonization and energy efficiency grants to meet the town’s Climate Roadmap goals adopted in 2019. Read more. BCF Asks State to Suspend SGAR Registration The Belmont Citizens Forum strongly supports the suspension of the registration and legal use of Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs) in Massachusetts. Read more. Belmont’s Owls are Calling, and Dying As apex avian predators, owls—along [READ MORE]

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