welcome to talking news we are delighted to have you with us listening to our presentations by members of the beech tree center martha marian and jonathan we will be reading local news in belmont it was the first public community forum to discuss the belmont high school building project which is currently in the second module building a team for the feasibility study of the grant process with the massachusetts school building authority and s p a b a the beach street center meeting room was filled with residents interested in learning more about the project the feasibility study will explore the pros and cons of three potential  groupings grades line two twelve eight to twelve and seven to twelve the grades seven to twelve and grade eight to twelfth country curation support opportunities to relieve overcrowding at the elementary and middle school buildings each up to each option will need to be studied in detail according to superintendent john feal of dialysis projects and has been hired as the owner's project manager for the study and was introduced list who will be the project director working on b h s project is no stranger to belmont it's thomas goetz soonest former director of belmont community development department he started as the town's field engineer in nineteen eighty three then assistant town engineer building commissioner and then became the director of community development until two thousand and four from two thousand and four to two thousand and fifteen he was the commissioner of the department of public safety the b a h s building committee is now in the process of hiring an architect which they hope to select in june twenty seventh i am very familiar with the site am a constraints we are going to be facing as we look at the project in its entirety said get soonest the superintendent john filan gave a present about the growing class sizes and capacity issue at the forum ninety three percent of kindergarten classes in belmont i'm more than twenty two students he said the student population is growing about one hundred students per year and this trend is expected to continue through twenty twenty five the middle school and high school had the biggest space issues he said jonathan fiscal year eighteen water sewer rates will rise by the selectmen approved director of public works j m r cards recommendation to have an increase of two point six percent and one point eight percent for the water and sewer rates respectively for fiscal year two thousand eighteen marcotte said the water rate increases due to infrastructure improvements including the replacement of water main pipes while the sewer increases as a result of water quality improvements replacement of pump stations maintenance or repairs and storm water sampling the smart water meter program which will allow customers to monitor their the water usage  operations for improved customer service and revenue collections will cost five hundred thousand dollars this year the overall cost for the program's two point six million market said it will take a year sixty six inches of snow this represents two hundred fifty thousand over the amount appropriated for fiscal year seventeen he said margaret said a great deal of this cost is for the contractors doing snow plowing and putting salt and sand on the roads after they have been plowed we are allowed to pay for this coverage because snow and ice removal is something that sound can pay even if it has not for the snow removal coverage will need to be discussed in a special town meeting just like a porter director of human resources he said that the request for proposal to find a company to identify candidates for town administrator replacement resulted in one response from governor h r usa the r f p included a requirement for an assessment center capability the problem was that few us companies possessed an assessment center capability and hence the number of companies that would apply was limited said porter an assessment center capability includes for example having candidates provide presentations on various topics participating in real world situations and concert scenarios they might encounter as part of the administrators job and then have the company provide an evaluation of their performance this contrasts said porter with companies that would only conduct interviews with potential candidates and then make recommendations based on what they not a mandatory requirement to encourage additional companies to respond they also decided to search committee should be formed representatives from the selectmen the warrant committee the capital budget committee the school committee the planning board the board of assessors and town marion two new stores opening in belmont center by joanna case to valis belmont is becoming the home with two well known cambridge stores for kitchen and entertaining supplies and patio furniture day drinks and local route will be read locating to the upper and lower level of one of loka tele properties newly renovated retail spaces in belmont center the former site of macy's which closed its stores four years ago jonathan hankie of cambridge owner of both didrikson and local route hopes to be ready for customers by the end of june or early july for local roots and august or september for didrex he started diedrich set as an outdoor furniture store in two thousand and four on one floor of one ninety concord ave in cambridge he added tableware products and expanded into the lower level in two thousand and seven the store began to outgrow it space in two thousand and twelve which is when he started the local route in a nearby location pots pans cooking tooled everything kitchen basically is in local route diedrich says home furnishings table are and outdoor furniture primarily said hankie local road and the turks will have one main entered stood there to level store off of leonard street as well as a rear end turns from the parking lot we're not moving very far at all it will be very convenient for our cambridge customers we have a lot of customers in belmont already and anyone else coming from the route two corridor and the north shore said hankie and twenty fourteen and opened additional locations for dietrich's and local routes side by side in newton at two twenty four to twenty two eighty four washington street it's very convenient for anyone coming from boston new brookline wellesley and also the south shore said hankie i think we are best known for our customer service best shipping our ability to take care of customers customer service is a big part of our business both diedrich some local route carry a lot of european and american br we have a sweet spot when it comes to table where we are not extremely high end we focus on well designed quality products our key words for our product is form function and feeling he said one of the unique products diedrich so offers is custom tablecloth made with a cotton fabric that has three layers of acrylic coating with colorful fun patterns to choose from cut it to size it is fabulous particularly with children because it's a wipe off product colorful easy care white clean cut to size to size table linens for indoor outdoor  also has one of the largest displays and inventory of chili which placemats knife sharpening is one of the services local root is well known for it's an important part of our business i do all the knife sharpening myself which started in twenty twelve and has been growing said hank for cooks local root has a variety of pots to choose from including to discuss sexual assault title law and the belmont high school of parent teacher organization will present sexual assault and title nine what every student and parent needs to know from seven to eight thirty pm april twenty sixth belmont high school to twenty one concord avenue belmont with near daily news stories about sexual assaults especially on college campuses the belmont high school p t o has organized a panel of experts to talk about the legal social and health aspects of sexual assault and other forms of sex discrimination that occur in connection with education prison enters include and in lewis o'connor instructor at harvard medical school director of c a r e clinic brigham and women's hospital research associate connor's center for women's health and gender biology wendy murphy director women's and children's advocacy project center for law and social responsibility and ad john professor of work has been performed in forty six states the event is free and open to the general public a q and a period first students and parents will follow jonathan project ok to replace lanes and games by adam senate one of cambridge's most recognizable landmarks on concord turnpike will officially be replaced by an apartment complex the cambridge planning board approved a special permits requested by criterion development partners to build a three hundred twenty unit apartment complex that one ninety five and to eleven talker turnpike on april fourth some of the units will be classed costs as affordable housing the site is currently the home of lanes and games and the gateway motel which had been owned and operated by tony martin yeah he and his family more than forty years criteria and consultant rich mckinnon said at the meeting last august that martin yeah they were retiring but the lions games would stay open until a bowling league finish this summer twenty seventeen this was the second of two public hearings on the proposed development since february at the first meeting residents and board members expressed concern about future flooding of the site project staff said during the presentation that the building is being constructed to protect it from flood as far out to twenty seventy as projected by a vulnerability assessment mcadam said that if an emergency were to happen in the roads were impassable this new apartment complex would be better prepared than most in the area i'm convinced that this building like many of the buildings in the evacuated area would be that would be one or the residence would return to dries safe homes because we're putting the units up on the second floor said mackinnon there would also be installations down the road at the flood gates said mackinnon even their cars would be secure in the garage at that meeting the development of all the vela bers also quizzed on their plans to manage traffic saying that they would spend twenty five thousand dollars toward funding a highway station near el wife twenty five thousand to write a study of a bus or a chair of the plane for the route to rap's s access brampton alewife station and seventy five thousand dollars it was constructed i don't have any outstanding issues russell said jay bochy jr said most of his questions were answered and while he noted the flooding is a concern to the does feel funny to think about approving something that could turn into an island and no one can tell when he said adding that he thought the developers have done everything they can mitigate these for these opening day tradition mother daughter attend twenty seventh consecutive red sox home opener by lucci bernsen opening day fenway park inspires hope for a successful boston red sox season for mother and daughter nikki and mckayla hiebert from belmont it is a special tradition they have been at every opener since mckayla was born twenty seven years ago their first game was against the detroit tigers when mckayla was five months old i went to games a lot as a kid with my nana and i knew that first opening game with mckayla would not be her last said nicky and so the tradition began for me kayla big pappi was the first player she became excited about as young as seven she sat in the seat by pesky pole to score the games it has not always been easy to make it to every game when mccain made belmont highs far city softball as a freshman her first game with the same day as the sox opener she went to fenway dressed in her uniform stayed for a bit and made it back in time for her game in college she arranged with her professor to miss a class to attend another open or challenge by distance when she lived in key west florida for two years nicky christmas presents with the airline tickets to boston i am so grateful my mom started and maintained the tradition over the years it wasn't always easy as a single mom i'm sure taking off work buying tickets taking me out of school but she always managed to pull it off said mckayla both agree a special memory was the two thousand and five ring ceremony after the sox won the world series in two thousand and four mckayla remembers one game when she was around eight which when the sox were down by nine runs and the two of them left to go to the arcades across the street they had two grand slams and won the game we never left our seats again after that she said nicky recalled the brawl in being town and unforgettable game in two thousand and three with pedro martinez and roger clemens as the yankee pitcher we stood the entire game it was so crowded she said martha belmont world film to green squ rld films sixteenth annual international film series that features films depicting the significant changes in the status quo and tonio gr has melon foundation lecturer in portuguese at wellesley college whose research interests include contemporary liaison phone african roots in below horizon to see the heavy metal music capital of brazil but longed for the when while the music of try to know a lot so tries to do so to seduce them to state everyone who attends will receive a complimentary famous custard pastry courtesy of the boston portuguese festival the cat ten most industrious in portugal and the consul general of portugal in boston this is the third of four films directed by a woman out of the nine films in this year's series said belmont's world film executive director ellen get n not only is it a pretty remarkable increase from last years but it's also represents a much higher percentage of female directors than in the film industry and gender jonathan school celebrates multicultural night generally middle school host as a free event discover the china remelted pot on the side of culture food stories and film from our own general community on march twenty third the event theme was about increasing understanding of immigration issues and the variety of cultures in the community over twenty local restaurants and food shops don't international  to serve three hundred kids and their families exposing participants to the flavor of over fourteen countries and regions after taste from local restaurants and a dessert potluck brought by the genera powered parents families toured the world on a program that consisted of the following cultural demonstrations including irish step dancing dress like a pakistani fashion selfie both pasta making that italy from him from italy indian spices hi gary and funk music chinese calligraphy armenian lettering and more to international film immigration stories told by a bolivian father and daughter and five chinese students from center they presented a slide show and told about their lives before moving to the us what brought them to belmont and the challenges in achievements along the way as they enter the event attendees were given colored waistbands wristbands which were used to navigate through the program stations in small groups to allow for questions and discussion of each venue chattery social studies teachers whose curriculum aligned with topics of immigration spread the word about the event offering extra credit to students for attending and hern led discussions following the two film shorts seeking refuge and secrecy and all stewart gardner is set for two thirty pm to four pm april twenty third playing with congregational church five eighty two pleasant street thelma the belmont woman's club will present the event about the america's first patroness of the arts character actress just have paid will portray the colorful mrs jack gardner the drama is set in thousand ten boston seven years after the opening of the fenway court the house museum gardner designed and built to showcase her extensive art collection if i am in period costume relates episodes about gardner's circle of family and friends relives journeys to different lands and shares potentially scandalous encounters and actors reception with refreshments will follow this one hour benefit performance thank you for joining us for this episode of talking news please join us next