watch and listen to the talking news every day at twelve noon and six pm on channel ninety six comcast six finity and channel thirty verizon fi os it can also be heard mondays and tuesdays at four thirty pm and wednesday at twelve thirty pm on channel nine x finity and channel twenty nine fi o's listen any time on the b m c podcast network on sound cloud an tunes just search for the belmont media podcast network and now on to the talking news alcohol licenses is it a time for change by carrie felton or and nicholas green ha in feb twenty seventh teen state treasurer and deb goldberg formed a seven member task forced charged with recommending forward thinking changes to the alcoholic beverages control commission a b c c regarding the alcoholic beverage industry in since being formed the group has studied the licensing process at the state and local level including fee structures and the a b c sees enforcement process it also invited feedback from various industry stakeholders and held a series of meetings across the state for over eight decades the liquor laws in massachusetts have remained largely unchanged massachusetts has been guided by the liquor control act that was created in one thousand nine hundred thirty three after prohibition there are three hundred fifty one communities within the commonwealth under the laws jurisdiction with eight of those municipalities dry that is prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages today two types of licenses available state licenses and retail licenses both areas of licensing need approval by the a b c see a regulatory entity the retail license approval process is as follows the category of license is reviewed and the background of the individual seeking the right to own a license is evaluated if the action aligns within the confines of the liquor control act and investigator will give a recommendation from there at the license is evaluated by the executive director of the a b c c and to a three member commission the executive director currently or else sacramone he then proceeds to give a recommendation to the commission two out of three members of the commission have to vote to approve the license before it is officially granted once that is approved the approval is sent back to the municipality which will issue a license upon a payment fee once the fee is paid the licensee can begin to operate for state licenses process is similar but without local municipal involvement to acquire a state license the process is as follows the licensee deals directly with the a b c c the licensee in this case would be a manufacturer a wholesaler someone who serves stores or ships alcohol on a boat or on a plane from there the license is evaluated by the executive director of the a b c c and to a three member commission sacramone he then proceeds to give a recommendation to the commission two out of three members of the commission have to vote to approve the license before it is officially granted if there is a denial revocation transfer or dispute regarding licenses the state oversees the issue and works with the local list liquor licensing board to remedy it depending on the kind of license it has in it that is in question if an apple can is denied a license by an in municipal ality he can appeal to the a b c see the a b c c and local licensing boards have equal power and service a system of checks for the other the a b c c has a staff of twenty eight people dealing with thirty thousand licensees and thirty six thousand transactions and over three hundred fifty complaints and really the alcoholic beverages control commission is an agency under the massachusetts state treasury said dan truong assistant communications director of the commonwealth of massachusetts office of the treasurer and receiver general in an e mail our objective is to provide control over the sale petition possession purchasing and manufacturing of the alcoholic beverages in massachusetts the a b c c and the city or towns local licensing board have the same power and to create equal jurisdiction for all licensees and potential licensees whether it is for renu in license changing manages or expansion of the establishment the a remains an active part of each licensees business for special regulations like license costs and remove fees local communities have authority unlike states such as new hampshire usage is not state controlled when it comes to well call independent operators have control in the commonwealth nasa chooses operates under a license allowing for an independent enterprise to have some control of the retail side of alcohol through particular licenses at the state's discretion states like new hampshire have state liquor stores controlling the state sale  of stronger spirits and wholesale alcohol the state actively takes pot in the retail distribution of the spirits under the control model seventeen states and jurisdictions have adopted forms of the control model according to the national alcohol beverage control association and or declare thank you bob limits on license transfers ri be a place where people could purchase liquor cigarettes lottery grocery items sandwiches and other prepared foods to go it would also have a restaurant attached where patrons could wine and dine he was approved for an all alcoholic license in may two thousand and fourteen with the condition of eliminating up tobacco in lottery products from his store this was the first step  leading crocker down a path which had many unexpected twists and turns and eventually led to a vote at a special town meeting may third two thousand and seventeen to change belmont's liquor license regulations potentially changing the future vision for all liquor license holders in belmont he constructed an addition for the restaurant and when he was almost ready to open the doors he learned there was a longstanding regulation in massachusetts which prohibited a person from holding a poor in license and a retail license after  would not be able to have a poor in license more cracker used the retail liquor license as collateral for a three hundred and thirty thousand dollar loan he said he needed to keep the loading dock afloat the intent he said was to eventually transfer the license and use the proceeds to pay off this long he found a buyer the star market entrepreneur road who offered him four hundred thousand dollars for the retail license just one month away from finalizing his paperwork with star market on aug tenth governor charlie bacon signed into law an elimination of the long standing pro prohibition of all licensee from holding the rights to both a poor in license and a retail halt alcoholic license in the same town due to the amount of money he owed said he nonetheless decided to go through with the sale small liquor retailers hit on october sixth the belmont board of selectmen approved the transfer of his license to stock market at the time owners of the surrounding smaller retailers of wine beer and all alcohol said they were concerned their sales would drop off the near owner of arts specialties are three sixty nine propellor road so he has lost about fifteen percent in revenue no since star markets started selling alcohol despite the fact that he has a loyal core following of customers that patronize his store regularly suzanne schlock low coner of craft beer seller fifty one leonard street believes her business has been impacted somewhat since star market started selling alcohol and  required them to work even harder to generate more business and keep up with the competition she believes her customers are still loyal but added she could not blame a customer for taking advantage of the convenience of being able to pick up a six pack while shopping for food at the supermarket we'd be kidding ourselves if we thought it didn't happen she wrote in an email to the citizen herald chris benoit her owner of the spirited go or many for forty eight carmen st was the first retail store in belmont to be approved for an all alcoholic license ten years ago his license is nontransferable however in two thousand and thirteen three of belmont's look at licenses included the one issued to the loading dock were mistakenly filed with the state without restrictions on transfer ability restrictions that were placed on the original three retail liquor license according to benoit preventing future transfers on may third two thousand and seventeen a special town meeting voted to allow the selectmen to petition the state legislature to enact legislation to make all restaurant and retail liquor license nontransferable the articles to limit transferability for retail licenses passed with a vote of two hundred forty four to eighteen and for restaurant licenses by two twenty three to nineteen vote governor charlie baker signed to the home rule petitions to limit transferability on december eighth at the may third special town meeting retired selectman in precinct two town meeting member ralph jones said the longstanding intent of the town is licenses should not be bought and sold we believe the town should control who gets those licenses and don't believe they should be assets of the businesses that have been granted it said selectman vice chairman mark paler low at the time jones said if he was still on the board he would have voted against the transfer of the license however he also believes refusing the transfer would have caused financial harm to the owner of the license granted by the board in two thousand and fourteen the intent of the selectmen original license award to the loading dock into the dock in two thousand and fourteen was to stimulate small business and its owner had legitimate and strong support in the community still i think the board should respect the policy of town meeting he wrote in an email to the citizen herald according to selectmen adam dash is someone with a liquor license wanted to sell their business they would enter into an agreement with the buy contingent upon the buyer getting the license the buyer would then apply to the selectmen for the license other potential businesses could also apply for that licen award the license to the buyer of the business being sold or to one of the other new applicants if the buy a gets the license then the sale can happen this gives the town control over which businesses have liquor licenses even without the new restrictions by would have to have the transfer of the liquor license approved by the selectmen so nothing is by right in the sale so dash in an e mail now over to max thanks claire managing anxiety in children and teens by christy armstrong an eight year old walks by herself down common street in belmont as you drive past a twelve year old sits alone on the bus you're taking to harvard square a six year old runs past your house with no grownups in sight are these situations dangerous this kind of underlying fear pervading our society has created an epidemic of children with severe anxiety issues according to lynne lyons psychotherapist and co author of the book anxious kids anxious parents lyons who specializes in the treatment of anxious children and their parents addressed the prevalence of anxiety in families in a recent presentation at belmont high school managing anxiety at school and home strategies to interrupt the worry cycle anxiety is the number one mental health problem in the us in the united states at lyons worry in our culture is strong and is taking its toll on kids autonomy the safety chatter we constantly offer kids gets in the way of their ability to explore experiment and take some risks anxiety hurts ability to learn this prevalence of anxiety affects how families live their lives and make decisions and the result is a dramatic increase in children's inability to cope with challenges and independently problem solve parents need to know that reasonable risk taking is actually a very important skill for children to learn lions said according to lyons because of the dramatic shift in the way people talk about safety and danger and the enormous quantity of information that parents and kids get on a minute by minute basis from social media there is a misperception that our current lives are fundamentally unsafe students families and educators need to challenge and change their worry filled behavioral patterns in order to empower kids to do their own problem solving learn to take risks and build resilience said lions what belmont public schools are doing janice d assistant superintendent of the belmont public schools said the town's educators are seeing anxiety crop up in schools we are looking to teach children self awareness self management social awareness relationship skills and responsible decision making in the classroom teachers and staff can identify things to do to build a supportive community and give kids the opportunity to practice and develop these skills to break the cycle worries darrius as part of the social and emotional learning s c l initiative belmont educators have participated in many hours of training and collaboration to create a learning environment that empowers students to feel confident in themselves which in turn helps them combat anxiety and depression what's the daily lived experience of our students darrius asks do they feel like people care about them adults and peers do they feel like they belong that they are valued that they have worth everyone worries everyone feels stress but we can create an environment that supports you through that both belmont high school principal dan richards and chen remitted middle school principal mike mcallister believe that the focus on combating anxiety and depression is vital to the health and wellbeing of students we've seen a real high school started a collaboration with mclean hospital to strengthen the resources available to support the social emotional functioning of b h s students in a dis in addition to the district wide s c l training school leaders say this is been helpful in educating staff on how to handle student stress how to approach discipline and how to encourage students to have a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset kids need  experience stress while getting support and guidance so that we are helping them to figure it out said richards i believe in the sayings don't stand in the way but don't stand too far away mcallister is similarly aware of and engaged with the middle school population you must take care of this human in front of you before you can teach them as a students of mcalester you can take care of kids emotions and have high x x them expect asians at the same time as a principal and as an educator you need to be two things to be an ally and to be an advocate mcallister says he feels that it is vitally important to validate what kids are feeling and dealing with so that teachers and staff can establish a sense of trust with the students to me reading a school based on s c l supports would be more valuable than m cast scores in academics mcalister said then we'd know how well we're preparing kids traditional ratings feed the monster of a desire to eat and s c l should be the mission instead safe supported successful are the three things we want for every child we're getting better but we've still got a ways to go how parents can help in the end line said what is most important is the children and teenagers feel empowered to cope with the anxiety they are feeling you know way that gives them confidence in their ability to be independent and make good decisions the groundwork for this begins at home with adults taking a conscious step back from the worry filled existence that is so common in present day parenting according to lyons parents need to help their children deliberately choose to do things independently that are challenging or involve risk and then support their children's ability to succeed and problem solved instead of focusing on all of the things that could go wrong focus on how a child can positively overcome obstacles and learn from them over to you bob thanks max meatless holidays by level as the days get shorter and blustery and we dig in for the holidays i find myself pondering the tofurkey and how we got there the soil and wheat based cylinder was designed to resemble a b stuffed turkey with gravy and it would and it would if a stuffed turkey resembled a plant based cheese combo most vegetarians i know don't feel the need to go through the motions of ritual eating the roast beast to fit in like the kid in high school who are of us in the jacket but didn't play sports public displays of full can of henri announce your sense of inadequacy to the world in my experience the vegetarians and vegans are often the best cooks in the room if the cook is allowed to use bacon and butter anything can taste good but  more of a camp that that what vegetarians really want is vegetables so i say cook vegetables that look and taste like what they are rather than like a c don't worry about your guests protein levels successful vegetarians now know to manage that on their own here are two recipes that will satisfy all the vegetarians a chip table for vibing you make enough it's a big it's a big providing because the kind of boys will be on this too one roasted roots is an old as old as autumn the other tastes like bacon after all the vegetarians miss turkey once or twice a year but they miss bacon every day my roasted roots technique is based on the potato but several more roots can be added such as carrots celery parsnip or yellow beets red beats will make the whole batch look like it's during blood dense greasy fingerling potatoes are my favorite for roasted roots cut all the roots into similar sized chunks so they cook at the same pace and toss them in all of oil salt pepper and garlic powder if you want to add herbs like time rosemary sage i don't have a problem with that spread the roots on a baking tray and bake at three fifty until a done about an hour depending on how finlay they sliced stirring every fifteen minutes or so when the roots are done and it grated or pressed golic while still piping hot stir one final time and allow to cool and i will get a clear contract negotiations in an executive session on december eleventh gavin will have a three year contract with a salary of one hundred sixty eight thousand dollars her start date is january fifteenth the belmont citizen harold recently asked the government a few questions in an email interview so the community could get to know her a little better what do you think are your greatest strengths as a town administrator my biggest strength as a town administrator is municipal finance i enjoyed the broad budget process from the beginning to the end i thrive most when working with department heads and boards to develop budgets that will best serve the community i am also able to work with many different types of people and always strive to do what is best for the town how do you think belmont compares to the town you currently lead belmont much like surely relies heavily on its volunteers the residents who serve in the community are there because they love the town and wanted to be the best it can be belmont like many other towns uses one time revenue to fund its operating budget shirley was in a similar position when i first arrived in two thousand and thirteen slowly we have diversified revenues reduced spending and built reserves surely is currently in good financial shape and this has been accomplished through hard work and even harder choices belmont also has major capital items to fund surely went years without funding capital which only led to an aging fleet of vehicles and neglected facilities in surely we have worked to rotate the fleet and use green grant funding to update our town facilities now here's max thanks for property tax rate down property values up by john a case of all the belmont board of assessors held the tax classification hearing for the fiscal year two thousand eight hundred tax rate with the board of selectmen on december eleventh the fiscal two thousand eight hundred property tax rate will be twelve dollars fifteen cents per thousand four point two nine percent less than the current rate which is twelve dollars sixty nine cents per thousand which is a result of an increase in real property values with an increase in tax levy capacity according to the board of assessors chairman robert riordan reardon told the selectmen residential property values are going up approximately seven percent in belmont which means residents will be looking at a two point five to three percent increase on their average tax bill in a letter presented to the selectmen on dissent on december eleventh the board of assessors state the new growth in bill months tax levy is now about five hundred thousand dollars the result of the annual two point five percent index and new growth of two point zero two million the projected new growth is the result of yearly inspections made as part of building permits issued cyclical inspections as well as telephone and utility improvements that may occur in fiscal years ahead the second source or projected new growth comes from the bradford project in cushing square the uplands project at three seventy five acorn park and the end star transfer station project the assessors in the december eleventh presentation to the selectman broke down the projected new growth from the three projects one of the buildings for the up project was completed and the others have been started accounting for approximately six hundred thousand dollars of new growth for fiscal two thousand and eighteen the bradford project currently in the first state of development is projected to bring in new growth of one hundred ten thousand in fiscal two thousand and twenty and one hundred sixty five thousand in fiscal twenty twenty one according to the december eleventh letter from the assessors to the selectmen the transfer station was transferred to ever source in two thousand and sixteen which results in new growth to be captured in fiscal two thousand and eighteen of approximately eight hundred fifty thousand dollars the selectmen made two motions for the classification hearing the first motion was to maintain a single tax rate and the second motion was not was to not adopt a residential exemption for fiscal two thousand and eighteen over to you bob along with my colleagues clear and would like to wish ellison is happy hanukkah or at a merry christmas and we thank you for listening to the talking news and we hope you have enjoyed the show we will return next week for another edition of local news happenings around belmont