he llo and welcome to the belmont journal your source for hyper local news and community updates i'm mike crowley your host this week election is coming up april third and the league of women voters wants you to know that if you need assistance getting to the polls they can offer you a ride between nine am and six pm that's on tuesday april third if you need assistance please call them at six one seven seven seven one eighty five hundred save the date belmont's department of public works is holding a community conversation about the new waste contract and how it affects you the event will be held april tenth from seven to nine pm at the town hall auditorium on march seventeenth the foundation for belmont education hosted its silver anniversary fundraiser close to four hundred and attendee is where there are including the organization's original founders well it's too early to give an exact estimate of the amount raised we know that more than thirty thousand was raised from the online auction welcome to this week in the belmont tony and we have franklin tucker back the editor of the belmont tony how are you i'm fine how are you frankly how zero rome was great i'm of people in town who may not have supported it and also of the people that did support it you know i understand that some people were looking for full legalization decriminalization but not necessarily selling in belmont that's correct and i think that's what you're seeing with the petition the petition basically is asking that the board of selectmen approve a warrant article in a what will then be a that the petition which is worded that says we don't want to have retail sales nothing else that will go before town meeting i'll have to pass by fifty plus one a simple majority at that time the for selectman will then either approve or so it's not it's not a guarantee that the town meeting will vote to opt out but i think it's a possibility and what you're hearing is that you know even if town meeting does vote to opt out can put that before a town white vote i see there's a will and they're the only authority there the only with already to do that now if two of the three members say we believe that we still believe that the that that the vote back in twenty sixteen was vote from the people saying we wanted retail sales they can do that now when i talked to the petitioner who had the citizens titian they said well then you know maybe we're recall the selectmen that sounds fun that's interesting yeah  and and they started that campaign because they believe that the citizens have a vote on this especially citizens who may not have voted on the overall marijuana law and this is their chance basically but it is important just to point out that you know if someone regards the petition as being you know conservative in orientation you know i personally know that there are plenty of other folks including quitting myself fairly liberal who don't necessarily know if i want to send a message to my child you know in talk of intoxicants additional intoxicants are a great thing so so i'm not sure i haven't made up my mind about whether i want to see retail so i think i think that you're somebody who has a majority view in town i mean it is i have talked to people who have who you know voted for the marijuana law and are opposed to even thinking about having i think we should also say that the board of health has also they passed regulations for belmont in which the legal age of purchasing marijuana if it ever happens here will be a twenty five and there can not be a i think we said no outside delivery so we call up cambridge shop in cambridge and say hey could you deliver in belmont that's illegal now all right frank good to talk with you again nice to see you and i hope rome was great thanks there's been some discussion on social media recently about after school programs in belmont or school superintendent john feal one recently addressed some concerns at the last school committee meeting that was held on march twenty seventh you can watch that event at your belmont media center channels or via on demand programming at belmont media daughter word we also have some highlights of superintendent feelin's remarks at the last conversation i had with that building principals which was last week we did find out who they are reporting that the only school with this point in time with students that are not able to enter the program is that well and for next year we are keeping this as a local government process it's in my knowledge no one is asking their provide because that's their choice and to my knowledge no one is doing that school department start advocating that anybody take anybody over that's not in anybody's purview but the board's purview that's the board's job to decide who their provider is and they have contracts and they have a ts with those groups the school department started being in that way we do seek incremental success in adding space i don't know if we can add seventy spaces of wellington but we should certainly try to add more square footage so we can go back to the requirements of the state and ask them to renew the license at a higher level and we are working with the wellington group to do that we are working with all four buildings to do that space in any school is helpful space across the time in the long term we offer to provide logistical support or potentially transportation support if it exists if the opportunity arises to alleviate the wait list at any of the schools we do believe that students between building and building are essential eyesight is a short term solution if we can find one but ideally we'd like to see students take their out to school in their own building as well the traditional piece for us is also a worry to challenge and we know it would be for and a worry for parents we were very open about some of the options in the long run that we would explore and i think when some folks say when you say this you might make some of the program folks nervous we're saying this because we are absolutely looking at the long term because  of the parents who at least explore these options the options could be could the district run this work the other options could one vendor run this work and the other option is just to keep it the way we have it and just try to make inroads  providing more space at each one of our schools to see if we can alleviate the waitlist i don't know with the volume of parents that we have it's feasible that we will ever get enough slots in the current school space that we have to accommodate every single parent and i would never want to say or leave anybody with the impression that we can fix everything for the family i'm not sure that that's feasible i hope it is very waterview really transparent that i'm not sure that could happen right it's joey's park in town feel ok it's a pilot carrying carry out policy and this is about trash yes basically what it means is anything you carry into those parks you have to take away there will be no not i want to say they were kind of being slobs they will even their trash they were leaving their dirty diapers they were using an abandoned water fountain as a trash barrel which wasn't what its purpose was so the d p w removed the water fountain and as a result the selection voted in favor of this three month pilot carrying carry out policy they'll be signage up and it's effective immediately so kind of unfortunate that it comes to those but maybe this helps us deal with our rap problem i hope so so i understand there's a new development on the town's opap liability trying to do you want to tell us a little bit about what you are and ok short so as you know selectman jim williams he's he's his three year term and april second and one of his big agenda items one of the big goals as selectman was to reduce the on funded oh pad liability and that's other post employment benefits and we've already  was i made a big breakthrough so he helped get a study committee formed headed by rolf jones and they worked with siegel consulting and they managed to determine through using like actual data that the and forty one they have a payment schedule in place so what's happening now so jim williams wants to take this a step further he wants to save the town more money and he says you can do this by using enterprise funds which is water sewer and belmont light it's already figured into what people pay for the water and sewer as well so all it really requires is for mark in adam to agree with jim and say ok will allow the enterprise funds to pay the liability and what would happen jim said is from twenty thirty one to twenty thirty to twenty forty one which is an eleven year period there would be a reduction from twelve million dollars to six million dollars which six million dollars savings and adam and marc aren't ready to agree to that because they said they want to wait and see what the call in center report is the call center is doing a long term financial plan for the town right which is a grant which in a sense is probability it's about but the town's right higher financial so they're not quite ready to make that decision but but jim is really determined any so determined to save the town that sixty six million dollars that he actually called a light board meeting on his own and he is not the life board chairman so that cost some controversy then it it did it did so at that the light board meeting monday night there was definitely a visible visible tension and  adam dash voiced his feelings he said he felt disrespected because he is a life board chairman and he felt disrespected that jim called this meeting right now jim said why what a choice that i have i couldn't call you because that's that felt a sense of urgency here and he wants disapproved for that f weiss one thousand budget cycle so he really said he meant no disrespect but and this is why he did it but mark and adam felt that it was just respectful so as a result so we have a new right now adam and mark voted in favor of that poll see him voted against it he feels that town meeting should be a buy along town meeting should be the one to make that decision well well thank you joanna a lot of short time well so we'll talk to you next month yeah no moment has many really talented residents including one local artist who comes originally from chile daniela sermon not currently has some of her work on display at the gallery of art and in all honesty you're really want to see it we have more for you think you mean environment from t lit and i've been living here for almost four years stop you want to see are community calendar with jane peters of things happening in belmont this week either by i'm jane in this your community calendar for this week we're sure that you know by now that town elections take place on tuesday from seven am to eight has covered the candidates you can view the school debate between school committee candidates as well as an interview with select one candidate tom kapoor on b m c s website get informed and get out to vote check your precinct and voting place on this map and get your vote in the belmont public library hosts a book discussion on the third wednesday of every other month in the flat room this month's book the sympathiser will be discussed on wednesday from three to four pm as the make up date for the march meeting that was no doubt you can get reading and join in on m discussion in the book a gentleman in moscow buy a more towels on may sixteenth learn more about future books and other book groups on the library's website join master of beer sears co founders kate baker and suzanne shiloh for an exploration of wheat beers on wednesday from six to eight participants will taste nine different beers from the world's oldest brewery and more tickets can be purchased through event three back up his e m a's the world with her second victory in the world marathon challenge this year here back to speak about her seven day journey running seven marathons on seven continents on wednesday at seven pm in the beaches auditorium sign up for free memory screening for mclean hospital at the beach street center on friday at one fifteen anyone can sign up for a short neural psychological test to get an idea of whether or not they might be experiencing cognitive impairment advanced registration is required and as february's event was overbooked you can call now to sign up the belmont gallery of art hosts an opening reception for its newest exhibit on friday from six thirty to eight thirty this eclectic vibrant exhibit features two in three d artwork interpreting fairy tales folk tales and fables from around the world you can view the exhibit at the gallery anytime during regular gallery hours through may fourth also on friday you can witness the talents of being just students at belmont idol at seven pm in the  dancers vocalists and poets will take the stage to perform in a family friendly event for the title of belmont aisle proceeds from tickets benefit diversity programming at beach us considering child care options for infant toddler preschooler meet directors and teachers from various preschools and daycares in and around belmont on saturday from nine thirty to eleven thirty at the beach street center and learn all about the options that are available to you kids are welcome to  the friends of the library music on saturday series brings you a concert with cellist mike block on saturday from three to four mike is a member of the silk road in sambal hailed by yo yo ma as the ideal musician of the twenty first century you can enjoy this free concert in the assembly room of the library the official start to the triathlon season kicks off on sunday from six to eight with the wheel works multi sport team for trying eight a u s eighty official will be in attendance to answer any questions you ever had about following the rules to avoid penalties in your races welcome new teammates when raffle prizes and more this event is open to all and finally we want to share next week's premiere for belmont world film in marlene of the murderer a young widow turns the tables on her would be attackers in this woody and darkly subversive revenge film the premiere takes place on monday april ninth at seven thirty pm at studio cinema get your tickets now on belmont dot we end our show with a programming update for you on your belmont media center channels and be sure to watch and please remember the belmont journal is your program if you'd like to get involved or if you have news or