hello and welcome to the belmont sure and all your source for hyper local news and community updates i'm your host this week mike crowley and i hope that your happing a happy new year as well as bundling up for all of the cold in the snow that we've been having first i have an update on the town election that's taking place on april third that may seem like it's a ways off but there are some important information that you keep that you have to keep in mind first i want to talk about what some of the important town offices town wide offices are that are coming up on the town moderator who runs town meeting basically the town's legislature is up for election as well as one  of the three selectmen positions is open and i understand that there is no incumbent running for that position two of the positions will be opening up for the library trustees and we'll have two positions opening up for school committee member we also have a number of other positions the board of assessors the board of health members of the housing authority and the board of cemetery commissioners all town wide offices even if you're not thinking about running for one of the town wide offices you might consider running for town meeting member from your precinct in any case if you are thinking about running for any position you'll need to stop by the town clerk's office and pick up nomination papers and for a town wide office you'll need to get fifty registered signet signatures of registered voters of the town  town meeting you will need twenty five signatures of registered voters in your precinct and then the town clerk will have to certify all of these signatures so it's always good to get a few additional signatures just in case some aren't valid so for more information you can stop by the town clerk's office you can visit the website you can call the town clerk at six one seven nine nine three twenty six hundred or you can e mail i hope you'll consider running for office welcome to this week in the belmont tony and we have with us franklin tucker of the belmont tony and editor journalist photographer and now videographer that i had  i did have a video on my site it was with my santoro the highly division talking about how he puts out sixty pieces of equipment to battle the blizzard that we just had and he did a great job i thought i thought it was great yeah and so what else have we got going on in belmont this week well i think that i think the most interesting thing that's going to be beef is that coming in belmont next week will be a three proposals that will be coming before three commercial developments  will be coming before the zoning board of appeals and planning board who are going to meet in a joint meeting and the most interesting of those proposals those three proposals will be the return of dunkin donuts and that generated a lot of controversy last time from i think neighbors who didn't want to see a high trafficked site like a dunkin donuts located near their property so what's different this time well the family that has been make who that owns the land and  are making a proposal the leon family the leo family they have many franchises of duncan down franchises in both here in massachusetts and florida what they've done is instead of the last time which was they try to put a dunkin donuts before they had the building they what they're doing what they did is they got the building approved early last year and now they're going to put the dunkin donuts in so they they've got the building set and now they just did it just want to put the  the franchise in there the light like it is a it is a different frame it is a different proposal than last time it's smaller it's about fifteen hundred square feet it's going to have fifteen seats it's going to be configured a little proposal go through but they've done their due diligence i think this time unlike the last time they have met with the neighbors they have read greek and figured the design maybe this time and they have a much lower barrier to go through to get the dunkin donuts in there and they've done a really significant study on the traffic which was the big bugaboo back last year  its location towards residential properties so we'll see what happens with that the and the third is going to be a new commercial store fronts that are that's he's just basically expanding has the opportunity to put it into a location that used to be a gas station and it's interesting you know he's looking to put in maybe a something to do with food or medicine a workout studio or just a typical retail there are some interesting things that he said already that he won't put in there including pinball machines video arcade the gambling  roller skating billiards billiards hall that would be great and any kind of book store that sells adult material well all right good things good things to know about franklin thank you  and we'll talk to you again next week ok sounds great thank you there's a new belmont piano academy on belmont street michael harris is the piano instructor and the owner and she has a do a lot less talking a lot more playing so we get a lot more done in are forty five minute lessons along with learning repertoire we're talking about music history and music appreciation and sitting at the piano bench for forty five minutes that they move around some of the lessons are a little more dynamic and we're not just sitting for a full forty five minutes welcome to this week in the controversial very controversial the selectmen have to vote on whether or not to put a ballot question on a special election ballot or the town election ballot on whether or not belmont should opt out of allowing adult use marijuana establishments to open in belmont that sounds very complicated doesn't it well see april first is the deadline for forces when people who want to open adult use establishment can apply with the state so the state will start accepting licenses so there's the potential that someone could go to the state with a license say i want to open an adult use marijuana stablished in belmont on april first this could happen so the town has to decide do we want  special election to for the voters to decide for the people to decide whether or not we should opt out of allowing belmont to have these establishments that the question is timing you know we do it before april first or we do it on the town election april and if we had to have another election there are some cost attached to that a special election does cost between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars and the other thing to note is that you know many people in fact the majority of belmont residents voted in favor of the state wide in their shadows right permitting retail sales that's true some of those people may not necessarily have been voting for retail sales and velma right exactly so it's an important decisions will be making it will be reporting on it next time all right well and just to interject that  decriminalization and retail sales were permitted so that sort of clouds the entire future they were definitely does retail sales and the state will have to see what happens that will definitely be another headline mike already but my other headline is about the snow yes we had two school snow days so far there are five built into the year so there's still a chance that school and as regularly scheduled ok so we've had two snow days due to the storm  on january fourth which brought in fifteen inches of fluffy icy snow to belmont i was in very close contact with our you know d p w director jay marca getting getting updates in the police department as well jay told me that about a half a dozen limbs major limbs fell throughout town including a tree split in half on pleasant street which caused the road to temporarily closed but all that was cleared here at i mean no power outages so that put it to me and the police told me that twenty two cars were in violation of the emergency parking ban and fourteen of those had to be told the others were asked to move and didn't move well something to keep in mind for town residents if this happens again and we will have another snowstorm right on point where they are in the near future or later on right please obey the parking vanasse because the plows have to get through this right right there was even a family that let there was letting their children play on the street in snow design workshop before the holidays and i have some photos that were showing of that so basically the community was asked to participate in this design workshop and actually look at the building designs that they're considering there are four of them and say ok where do you want the science department where do you think the art department should go and where do you think the building should be placed on the campus all these questions and all this feedback from the community is going to be taken by the designers perkins and will and on january sixteenth the going to be presenting some revised designs based on all this feedback that the community gave so that's a big annual sixty that's also that's also a meeting at which the public  imports right and another important date is january ninth january ninth is a joint meeting where they're actually the school committee is looking for public input on the great configurations it's a big discussion on the great configurations seven to twelve eight to twelve or nine to twelve really important because it helps the town decide how we're going to cope with some of the crowding that we're seeing that witness us right behind modulars right in january twenty third is another important thing because that is when the school committee will actually be voting on those great can be configurations ok as well as the final design option that they want to go with it'll either be a major renovation with a minor addition minor adaptation with a major addition or all new construction so that's what's on the table  one other important day to note is january eleventh january eleventh will be a discussion on traffic so people will for their high school exactly the traffic patterns and how the new high school will affect that ok so that's the high school report and u preservation unity preservation yes you know we do pay a little extra tax as you know on our property tax in belmont and that goes for community preservation projects such as new parks preserving historic  building recreational things you know so there are six applications that the community preservation committees considering one of them has a big price tag it's the grove street interment intergenerational walking path that's about seven hundred eighty thousand dollars and there's a design on the screen now showing you that so that that's a big price tag item but this is been in the works for a while you already have the design work right right right so we'll see what happens with that ok they also want some funding another one historic structure that they want to try to save in belmont during it has graffiti on it and they want to prevent that from happening so this is about two hundred thousand they're asking for thanks sean we have to wrap it up all right we'll talk next hour thank you mike and now we have our community calendar with jane peters of all of the interesting and exciting things happening in belmont this week hello i'm jane and i'm here to bring you events happening in the first week of two thousand and eighteen on sunday january seventh you can help habitat education and wildlife staff in their new year trail tending from one to three pm as part of mass autobahns volunteer service days the weather will dictate whether volunteers are pruning repairing trails clearing brush or shoveling unpacking trails be sure to dress warm this program is open to all ages tools and gloves will be provided register online or by phone travel to the southern hemisphere for free with ed and mary and to australia and new zealand on tuesday january ninth at one fifteen pm through their audio visual presentation and witness the diversity of landscapes from desert to beaches the four and fauna the beautiful cities and the remote outback because in advance travel presentations are always engaging and draw a large crowd powers music school honors longtime belmont resident and music supporter joseph stein and his wife lease and its forty fourth annual stein chamber music festival on saturday january thirteenth the festival features music of all genres performed by musicians of all ages and abilities come enjoy this exceptional my of music from five thirty to eight thirty all saints church and all weekend you can catch films from around the world at belmont world films family film festival the fifteenth annual festival dubbed we're stories come alive features twelve programs of over thirty films and a live version of w b you ares circle around storytelling podcast for children's ages three through twelve in their families films in this year's festival are mostly based on children's books saturday's programs will take place at studio cinema in belmont and all features are devoted to aquatic adventures including zippin zap in the captain's island a mystery and adventure about spanish comic book brothers who discover their parents sudden disappearance is related to the mysterious secret behind the island and it curious inhabitants programs continue on sunday and monday at the regent and battle theaters find additional info including complete showings and how to purchase tickets on the belmont world film website if you have leftover cardboard from your holiday gifts or otherwise bring it all down to the town yard from nine to noon for free cardboard recycling on saturday the thirteenth your cardboard does not need to be cut down to the typical three by three foot pieces but does need to be flattened prior to drop off cardboard will be the only item that can be dropped off at the tanyard on this day and on saturday evening the belmont gallery of art is hosting its opening reception for its newest show a woman's place a special exhibit of feminist art and women's stories by fourteen massachusetts female artists from six thirty to eight thirty come enjoy the are on display and meet with the artists wine and light refreshments will be provided the exhibit will run through march tenth and you can view the galleria anytime during its regular hours until the exhibit is scheduled to come down on monday the fifteenth join the belmont human rights commission and belmont against racism for the annual dr martin luther king jr community breakfast visit the h s for thoughtful the conversation music and keynote speech from state representative byron rushing day care we provided for preschoolers and activities for children ages five to ten will be taking place in the gym proceeds benefit the medco fund for late transportation from eco high school students who purchase of a in after school activities and that's all for this week we hope in your new year is off to a great start if you have an event that you like included in belmont journals community calendar e mail your event info to jane at belmont media dot org see you next week the belmont media center is co sponsoring the family film festival which runs from january twelfth to the fifteenth with international films the entire family will enjoy now showings will be taking place at belmont studio theatre arlington's region feodor and the brattle theater in cambridge so if there are any international films that you'd like to see be sure and take a look at the programming and there's probably something that the entire family will enjoy the belmont high school marauders basketball teams both boys and girls did well in december and we've got more for you well the belmont media center is review of the belle of the season so far for both boys and girls basketball the belmont high boys basketball team had a successful home opener defeating wilmington at the venner field house the mullahs led by junior guard danny armenian who has been averaging more than twenty points per game for the marauders senior well ellett and jake pollock has all have also been contributing both offensively and defensively the season as the boys have record in two record coming out of the holiday break the team's most recent victory was away against wilburn the team's losses were against top rated teams including burke high school in boston in everett belmont holidays belmont is led by senior all star card krista for ian jenny call junior center just giorgio and freshman maya bergdorf who has been the team's top scorer into the six games the mount will be in action next week including a games against lexington and concord well that's all for this week if you'd like to get involved in the show or if you have news or community updates please send an e mail to fred at belmont media dot org be sure to stay tuned for programing updates also for your local belmont media stations and i'll see you again so