Sunday, May 12, 2013
The events that occurred in the past week in Belmont.
In a action its members said they did not want to make, the Belmont School Committee voted not to approve the transfer of land that now home of Belmont Softball to be come the site of a new town library, effectively killing the $18.5 million project and forcing the Board of Library Trustees to return $7.5 million back to the state. The Belmont School District is contemplating a pilot program to begin using iPads with the entering freshman class at Belmont High School in the coming school year. If successful, the district would consider using iPads in all district classes from first grade to seniors at the High School. The annual Town Meeting met for two nights; Day 3 saw medical marijuana delayed, a new zoning by-law to help preserve …
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Events that occurred over the past seven days in Belmont.
A feasibility study conducted for the Department of Public Work has complicated the location of a new Belmont library's as the participates at a public meeting panned the idea of a playing field at the present location of the Underwood Pool. Whether using analysis by the Planning Board or from the developer, Belmont's Cushing Village is expected to increase revenue to the Town if it is built. It was a quiet night at the League of Women Voter's annual Candidates' Night with only one contest race where the candidates for School Committee answered questions on stage. Walter 'Wally' Flewelling: Belmont Selectman, Life-Long Resident, Died Chris Van Winkle, a Belmont High School senior, is seeking a seat on Town Meeting at April's town election…
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Events that occurred in the past week in Belmont.
For the first time in 15 years, the Belmont Education Association, the union representing educators in Belmont, set up a picket line outside the School Committee meeting in support of its school aides and monitors who have been working without a contract for more than a year. The Board of Selectmen delay for one week the selection of a new Town Administrator, saying they wanted to review references from both finalists. Nearly 280 seniors graduated as the Class of 2012 from Belmont High School in a ceremony held at the school's Field House. A missing Belmont 13-year-old, who ran away from school 13 days earlier to Boston, was found by Boston Police. Her parents believed she was being held against her will. It was revealed that once the new …
Sunday, June 3, 2012
The events that occurred in the past week in Belmont.
The final night of annual Town Meeting saw the town's representatives approve by a mere three votes a 25 percent increase in the pay of Town Clerk Ellen Cushman. Two big fires in Belmont this week: Nearly 1,500 Belmont Municipal Light Department customers were left in the dark after a transformer explosion and fire at the DPW Yard. And an early morning three-alarm fire destroyed a historic turn-of-the-century home on Clover Street that was in the final week of a year-long renovation. A nine-year-old School Street boy is in serious condition after being hit by a car while mowing his neighbor's lawn on Memorial Day. It appears that the future of the town's closed incinerator site on upper Concord Avenue is now a key link to the building of a…
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Events that occurred in the past week in Belmont.
Belmont Superintendent Thomas Kingston reported to the School Committee that the public-private partnership created to build a new playground at the Butler Elementary School has met its goal and the project was now "fully funded." The effort has raised more than the $168,000 projected, helped by a pair of large donations by two residents. The trio of candidates seeking to become Belmont's next Town Administrator will be interviewed by the Board of Selectmen on May 29. In a thrilling match in New York City that was broadcast across the country, Belmont High's Economics team won the National Economics Challenge, and were crowned national champions. The Memorial Day celebrations got underway as Belmont High School honored not only those …
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The events that occurred in Belmont in the past seven days.
A screening committee named the three finalists for the open Town Administrator position. Charles Aspinwall, Millis' town administrator, David Kale, the budget director and deputy finance director from neighboring Cambridge and Peter Morin, chief of staff and operations in Braintree will be interviewed in the next few weeks in public meetings with the Board of Selectmen. A selection is expected by June 1 and a new Administrator will be on board by July 1. The pay range for the position is between $140,000 and $160,000. Belmont High School Principal Mike Harvey was named the new Hamilton-Wenham Superintendent. Current Belmont Superintendent Thomas Kingston has created a screening committee and hopes to select a new principal by the final …
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Events the occurred in the previous week in Belmont.
The Capital Budget committee allocated nearly $2.5 million to large projects in the 2013 budget year including $1.1 million in road repair and the rest to the town and schools including a new gym floor for the Butler School, nearly half-a-million in sidewalk repairs and new trucks for the DPW. The Warrant Committee - the financial watch dog for the Town Meeting - is backing a plan by the town's treasurer to create a policy in which the town will spend a certain amount each year paying down the unfunded portion of retiree benefits. While the payments will make only a small dent in an already large deficit, its immediate impact will be on the town's credit rating. Belmont's Health Board will increase the age someone can purchase tobacco to …
Sunday, March 25, 2012
The events and news that occurred in Belmont in the past week.
Due to an unanticipated increase in special education expenses that eliminated an expected decrease in costs, the Belmont Schools deficit ballooned by $200,000 to $863,000 from $508,000 in January. Belmont Center's first fast food eatery, a Subway Restaurant is expected to opening the first week in June according to its owners. The Selectmen Candidates debate the issues for an hour at the Belmont Media Center. Due to limited funds and manpower, students and parents at the Butler School must cross busy Trapelo Road without a crossing guard or police help. The Board of Selectmen said farewell to Angelo Firenze as he attended his final Board meeting, which discussed the town's new PILOT – payments in lieu of taxes – and the purchase of a …
Sunday, February 19, 2012
The events that occurred over the past week in Belmont
The Thomas Clark House was moved Saturday morning a half mile from its homestead for the past 252 years on Common Street to a temporary location near the High School's skating rink on Concord Avenue as hundreds came to watch during the six hour journey. A Clifton Street fire was allegedly the result of 'a mistake' as the owner said he threw a match into a rubbish basket. No one was injured. The Town Election line up is set and there will be three competitive races town wide – Board of Selectmen, School Committee and Board of Assessors – and in half of the eight precincts for Town Meeting. There were no surprises in the town budget in first six months of the fiscal year which is good news for next year's budget process now underway. The …
Sunday, December 18, 2011
The news in the past week in Belmont.
Belmont's Will Brownsberger will be trading in his State Representative title for State Senator after his victory in Tuesday's Special State Senate Primary to fill the seat previously held by Steve Tolman. Brownsberger topped the field by nearly 1,000 votes over his nearest rival, State Rep. Jonathan Hecht of Watertown. Hundreds of residents showing up to vote in Tuesday's election were required to show ID and fill out forms at polling places as a result of not returning their Belmont 2011 town census. Why did Will win the election for a seat in the state senate? It was a deliberate strategy to concentrate on bringing out his base – Belmont and Cambridge residents who he currently represents in the State House – and hang on throughout …
David Chase
4:29 pm on Sunday, May 12, 2013
Art, #1, that's a silly proposal. Government is not a charity, government runs on taxes, paid by everyone, according to whatever rules we establish. No freeloaders. We don't hold bake sales for bombers, we don't hold raffles for paving roads. #2, some of are already kicking in a little bit extra every time we pay our property taxes. Are you? more ›