November 2019 – Belmont Citizens Forum

Libby Atkins Remembered

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Nov 062019

By Roger Wrubel Many of us lost a dear friend, inspiration, and role model for aging gracefully when Elizabeth “Libby” Atkins, long-time Juniper Road resident, died at the age of 94 on August 19. I first met Libby when I interviewed to become the next director of Mass Audubon’s Habitat Sanctuary in 2000. She and her husband Elisha, who had grown up on the estate that became Habitat, let me know how much the sanctuary meant to them both, and I never forgot it. Elizabeth Potter married Elisha Atkins when he returned from the Pacific theater of World War II [READ MORE]

November/December 2019 Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter & PDF

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Nov 042019

The November/December 2019 Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter is now available as a PDF. Read individual articles below. Belmont’s Underground Pollution Problem By Anne-Marie Lambert If only the 504 gallons of household wastewater which had been pouring into Wellington Brook and Winn’s Brook through underground culverts every day had been more visible, perhaps we as a town would have addressed the necessary repairs more urgently. With our leaking sewage, however, we have deliberately spaced out the painstaking detective work needed to find the sources of household wastewater silently polluting our brooks over several years. Read more. Clay Pit Pond Progresses from [READ MORE]

Belmont Journal Programs

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Nov 042019

These Belmont Journal stories focusing on Belmont’s environment appeared on the Belmont Media Center (BMC). See a complete list of programs at the Belmont Journal Environmental News YouTube channel, bit.ly/belmont-journal-youtube. —Roger Colton Rock Meadow provides a diverse microclimate in Belmont. The Belmont Journal covers the master plan being developed by the town’s Conservation Commission to ensure Rock Meadow’s preservation. bit.ly/BJour-RockMeadow After many years of fits and starts, progress is now being made on the remediation and preservation of the McLean barn. BMC explores the progress with The Belmontonian editor and publisher Franklin Tucker. bit.ly/BJour-McLeanBarn Belmont’s 2019 PorchFest provided a bike [READ MORE]

Belmont Roots November 2019

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Nov 042019

By Meg Muckenhoupt For everything, there is a season, and late fall is the season for cleaning up. Take down the tomato stakes, put away the lawn chairs, and move all the clutter away from your windows and doors so you can feel if there are any drafts coming in. Air leaks make your home colder, and make you waste money and pollute the air with more greenhouse gases in a Sisyphean attempt to heat the great outdoors. Areas around pipes, electrical outlets, baseboards, vents, and pull-down attic stairs are also common sources of air leaks, which can usually be [READ MORE]

Letter to the Editor: Bicycling on Residential Streets

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Nov 042019

To the Editor: I read the article about traffic in the September/October BCF Newsletter with interest. I frequently ride through Belmont on my bicycle and sometimes drive through. I strongly support the rail trail, the underpass at Alexander Avenue, and the connection to Concord Avenue. But also, I am hoping that Belmont will take more advantage of its dense network of residential streets to provide improved bicycling through routes. The barrier across Claflin Street between Farnham Street and Alexander Avenue offers a good example of such a treatment, though it could be revised to be more bicycle friendly. Clearly its [READ MORE]

Belmont Can Support Business Better

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Nov 042019

By Katherine Venzke Around town there is constant talk about the state of business in Belmont. How is Belmont Center faring with the new-ish parking meter system? What’s with all the new development in Waverley Square? And how will the Bradford development affect commerce in Cushing Square? These discussions happen on the sidewalks, in cafes, at Town Hall, and in the local media. They also happen, often, at my shop. This “talk” found some direction and mission last year with the formation of the Belmont Business Study Committee (BBSC). The town pulled together business owners from each of the Belmont [READ MORE]

Belmont Highlights Natural, Historic Treasures

Environment, Historic Preservation, History, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, November 2019, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Nov 042019

Belmont Highlights Natural, Historic Treasures

By Mary Bradley The Belmont Historical Society hosted two events in September and October celebrating Belmont’s rich cultural and environmental history. Tracking the Wellington Hill Station through Time The Belmont Historical Society hosted an open house on September 15, 2019, to celebrate the completion of a series of repairs and restorations to the many-purposed Wellington Hill Station building the previous month. The station received a new cedar shingle roof and repairs to the decking and gingerbread trim, the interior plaster walls, and the lower wood sections. The roof was funded with Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding and donations from the [READ MORE]

Clay Pit Pond Progresses from Eyesore to Asset

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Nov 042019

Clay Pit Pond Progresses from Eyesore to Asset

By Michael Chesson Clay Pit Pond on Concord Avenue was once the site of Belmont’s largest industrial enterprise, a brickyard run by John H. and Robert A. Parry. The brothers bought 20¾ acres of land in 1888 on Concord Avenue and Underwood Street, with its valuable blue clay that turned an attractive reddish color when fired, and their yard produced 200,000 bricks a week. Just as the oil, steel, and railroad industries consolidated, the Parry brothers’ business in 1900 merged with the New England Brick Company, which owned three dozen other brickyards in the region. The firm installed new dryers, [READ MORE]

Belmont’s Underground Pollution Problem

Environment, Newsletter, November 2019, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Nov 042019

By Anne-Marie Lambert If only the 504 gallons of household wastewater which had been pouring into Wellington Brook and Winn’s Brook through underground culverts every day had been more visible, perhaps we as a town would have addressed the necessary repairs more urgently. That’s what Belmont did when a student noticed an oil spill leaking into Clay Pit Pond during a freeze on December 12, 2003. A ruptured return line to the underground storage tank at Mary Lee Burbank Elementary school travelled through the town’s storm drain system carrying 1,000 gallons of oil to Clay Pit Pond. Alerted to the [READ MORE]

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