March/April 2025 – Belmont Citizens Forum

Join BCF for Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day April 26

Environment, Lone Tree Hill, March/April 2025 Comments Off

Feb 272025

Join BCF for Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day April 26

Join us in stewarding Lone Tree Hill! The Belmont Citizens Forum, in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, is holding its eleventh annual cleanup and trail maintenance day on April 26, from 9 AM until noon. Help with the planting of white pine saplings near the Meadow Edge Trail, cleaning up and removal of 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 [READ MORE]

Belmont Cultural Council Awards Ten Grants

Arts & Culture, March/April 2025 Comments Off

Feb 272025

By Vicki.Amalfitano State Representative Dave Rogers, State Senator Will Brownsberger, and Belmont Cultural Council Chair Vicki Amalfitano recently announced the award of 10 grants totaling $9,100, for cultural programs in Belmont during 2025. The Belmont Cultural Council (BCC) has focused largely on supporting Belmont organizations which enrich the Belmont community with music, fine arts, interpretive science, and humanitarian initiatives, as well as applicants sponsored by a Belmont organization, in awarding grants for 2025. The 2025 grantees are: Belmont Art Association, Transforming Belmont 2025, $1,400 Belmont Celebrates AAPI Heritage Month 2025, $700 Belmont Community Chorus, $750 Belmont Porchfest, $1,800 Belmont World [READ MORE]

Buy Rain Barrels to Conserve Water, Environment

March/April 2025, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Feb 272025

Buy Rain Barrels to Conserve Water, Environment

By Dean Hickman I have seven rain barrels, three around a detached garage and four around the house. Needless to say, I am a proponent of the humble rain barrel. These barrels collect water when it rains and provide “soft” chlorine-free water for the garden, including my fruit and vegetable plots when it’s dry. Some folks even wash their cars and windows with collected rainwater. Rain barrels include a spigot so you can access the water, and a mesh mosquito barrier. Rain barrels are not only a water conservation tool; using rainwater instead of your domestic water supply will also [READ MORE]

Akebia (Chocolate Vine) Invades Belmont

March/April 2025, Plants Comments Off

Feb 272025

By Dean Hickman and Leonard Katz Akebia quinata, also known as chocolate vine, is an evergreen ground cover and climbing vine with compound leaves, typically having five leaflets with notched tips. It is invasive in our area, and has taken over as ground cover and climbed and smothered trees in two forested conservation areas in Belmont: Beaver Brook Reservation, northeast of the upper Mill Pond off Mill Street; and in the Pleasant Street area of Lone Tree Hill, across the brook from the Coal Road Trail, on the hill above the back entrance to the Star Market parking lot. Akebia [READ MORE]

Amateur Owling: Meet the Eastern Screech Owl

March/April 2025, Newsletter Comments Off

Feb 272025

Amateur Owling: Meet the Eastern Screech Owl

By Fred Bouchard Owls have pop cred and cool cachet. These regal predators of the dark hours are icons of wisdom and spookiness: secretive, inscrutable, hair-raising. Kids are drawn to their candid, piercing, surprised eyes. They are harbingers of the occult and the unknown. With feather-soft wingbeats, owls are inaudible in flight, the better to sneak up and snatch unwary prey with razor-sharp talons. Owls’ amazing eyes have huge corneas and pupils. Their retina’s plentiful rods are super-sensitive to light and movement though a paucity of cones limits perception of color. Yes, they really can rotate (not spin) their heads [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Pat Brusch

March/April 2025 Comments Off

Feb 272025

By Elissa Ely If you want to reach Pat Brusch, here’s a recommendation: do not text her. Call on the landline, which is the only phone she will answer. If you decide to email her, there’s no need to type fast. Get a cup of coffee and a good meal, because it may take some time to hear back. “I’m stuck in the 50s,” she explains. “I am a horror with electronics. The non-electronic paper world is my world.” This is someone who cheerfully admits she once contacted the publishers of Computers for Dummies because the book hadn’t explained what [READ MORE]

Town Meeting to Vote on Rodenticide Article

March/April 2025 Comments Off

Feb 272025

Town Meeting to Vote on Rodenticide Article

At the upcoming May Town Meeting, members will vote on a warrant article requesting that the Select Board file a Home Rule Petition with the Massachusetts Legislature. This petition would grant Belmont the authority to prohibit or restrict the use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) within town limits. Once the authorization has been granted, a bylaw or other rodenticide restrictions will be presented to future sessions of Town Meeting for approval. SGARs are potent rodenticides that disrupt blood clotting, causing prolonged internal bleeding in rodents. However, these poisons also have unintended and harmful effects on Belmont’s wildlife. Predators such as [READ MORE]

Belmont Will Create New Comprehensive Plan

March/April 2025 Comments Off

Feb 262025

By Chris Ryan and Taylor Yates A common concern we hear from Belmontonians is that town government seems to be reacting to events, rather than planning ahead. That may or may not be true, but what is absolutely true is that Belmont lacks an important tool to let it do much more: a 10-year comprehensive plan. A comprehensive plan is a common tool that communities across the country use to establish a vision for the future and set goals and establish action items to achieve that vision. Like a corporate strategy document, it ties together the functions of government and [READ MORE]

Select Board Candidates Answer BCF Questions

Board of Selectmen, March/April 2025, Select Board Comments Off

Feb 262025

Select Board Candidates Answer BCF Questions

Each year, the Belmont Citizens Forum asks Select Board candidates questions about issues facing our town. This year, Paul Joy and Taylor Yates provided answers. They were limited to 1,000 words. BCF About 95% of the property tax levy in Belmont comes from homeowners and 5% from business owners, a ratio that has varied little in decades. a) Is the development of more business space a realistic solution to Belmont’s financial challenges, with much of the existing commercial space empty or underutilized? Taylor Yates There’s meaningful revenue potential in rezoning our business districts, but we must be realistic about the [READ MORE]

Vision for a Better Belmont: Julie Wu

March/April 2025, Newsletter Comments Off

Feb 262025

This article is the seventh installment in a series of interviews with Belmont leaders about their vision for Belmont’s future. Jeffrey North conducted this interview. It has been edited for length and clarity. – Ed. Julie Wu is president of the Belmont Pan-Asian Coalition, co-chair of Belmont’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Implementation Committee, and was a member of the MBTA Communities Advisory Committee. She is also a founder of Belmont Composts! and a member of the town’s Solid Waste and Recycling Committee. Diversity, as measured by ethnicity, race, language, gender, age, income, disability, and country of origin, has increased in [READ MORE]

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