welcome to talking news we are delighted to have you with us listening to your presentation by members of the beach street center marian jonathan and irene we will be reading local news and happenings from the community newspaper program to give teens perspective interacting with severely disabled may help prevent and conquer bullying by lucia are know their bernsen bullying is a subject that has risen to the forefront of the news lately but former six year belmont selectman william skelly confirms what we all know bullying is nothing new when i was growing up in belmont many years ago i observed a number of issues of bullying against young boys and this continued through high school skell said when skelly observed bullying he took a stand and spoke up to his classmates and asked them to stop he credits his sister mary elizabeth for helping him help others scully was six years old when she was born he and his two older sisters were told she was very disabled and would be living in a hospital the rest of her life every saturday and sunday his parents made visiting his sister a priority he also had the opportunity to visit many other people who ha similar disabilities it was one of the best lessons of my life said skelly mary elizabeth died at age seven when he was thirteen she taught me the true meaning of life true happiness in our life comes from helping those in need bullies do not understand this but we must help them understand this true meaning of happiness in our lives kelly said to accomplish this goal scully is introducing an initiative called the community friends project designed to encourage teenagers to donate some of their time with the severely disabled disabled excuse me both the board of selectmen and the school committee support the concept to me paulson is a nine year old boy from belmont who skelly spends a few hours each week visiting he was born with a micro deletion of his fourth chromosome which causes him to be severely disabled skelly talks to timmy holds him and brings a smile to his face since jimmy is not able to speak skelly communicates by responding and learning from timmy's facial expressions of the younger skelly said it has been a great experience for five of his grandchildren raging ranging in age from six to twelve who join him on his visits to t y who also has siblings ages six eleven and fourteen timmy's mother kathy katherine paulson said there seemed to be an immediate bond from the moment scully and timmy first met four years ago at church when s introduced himself i asked bill if you wanted to hold him and now every week a church she holds him for the three hour duration including sunday school when timmy hears his voice he lights up and grabs his glasses said paulson to me is nonverbal but his expressions let us on know how he feels added paulson by communicating with jimmy weekley skelly motivates other children to come over and communicate with to me as well he's my buddy and so smart i learn from him every time we are together said skelly in addition to his supportive loving parents and siblings timmy has quite the following i'm just his mom calls and joked there are others like to me out there to help skelly said his goal is to introduce teens to to me and to others he hopes to work with families and the school system to develop a program where two male and two female students visit a severely disabled person twice a month for an hour parents will meet the students before the first meeting to ensure an understanding of the personality and challenges of their son or daughter jonathan palo when's third term of select for the last six years selectman mark pryor a law said he has worked through our come challenges facing doma serve the residents and correct what he saw as a deficiency in time now he will have three more years to continue and build upon that very mission the true german company triumphed in the april fifth time election grabbing sixty four percent of the vote on his way to our sounding victory or a first time candidate alexander ruben on a chilly day less than twenty four hours after snow swept through the town twenty two point five percent or three thousand nine hundred seven of belmont's seventeen thousand three hundred twenty eight registered voters cast ballots  garnered two thousand four hundred thirty two votes to ruben's one thousand three hundred sixty votes with five write ins for paid a little who nearly ran uncontested until ruben submitted nomination papers just before the deadline a third term felt especially sweet one of relief said the long time belmont resident we worked really hard with this campaign we worked as if we were the underdogs considering last year next three years even with the override last year our fiscal challenges remain he said increased in rome and puts pressure on our schools and demand on our infrastructure and the budget we need to maximize modern tax revenues and look to the liver services differently failed it will also hopes to see the culmination of posed community path which he has invested heavily in while serving on the board i really want to give back of the community behind the issue of the community path he said there's been a lot of rhetoric and divisiveness i think i can unite this town behind solving this problem it's solved well it really is pay a little of the campaign refreshing in the sense that he got to meet many new faces and was reminded of the importance of grassroots politics he said one new goal for him over the next three years is to reach out and accommodate concerned citizens like those in young families that can't make it out to all of the town meetings many voters cited pelosi experience and ties to the town as a reason for giving him their vote he has been here for some time now said david  four i think is trying to keep the town in the standing that it is and always has been he graduated from the belmont school system added john ok no also on f he has been in a town for in the town for a long time despite the results ruben said she was proud to receive the vote she did thank you to everyone who supported me because i was unknown she said expressing gratitude to all those  stood out in the election cold during during this election and knocked on doors for her campaign it would have been impossible to have gotten all the support i did without my supporters ruben also said she was happy with her campaign accomplished of course it would have been better to win but i think we had a good campaign and we started a dialogue she said at the end of the day everyone wants wants what is best for belmont and i think we should be able to share ideas to get the best for the town fell commanded for election bid say that it takes a lot of cars to run for selectman he said we he hopes she will stay involved and keep you know the town merriam senate to vote on major education package from senator will brownsburg or this week the senate will vote on a major education package it is a compromise legislative response to the question raised on the november ballot about the expansion of charter schools but it speaks to broader education issues it not a compromise between the charter proponents who have offered the ballot question and the teachers union who are organizing to oppose it neither side is happy with the bill and in fact neither side was directly involved in the development of it rather the bill is a compromise among the members of the working group of senators with a verse views who have given education policy a lot of thought the working group has chosen to go beyond the narrow debate about charter schools to ask what do we need to do to improve education for all the children of massachusetts that has to be the right question and my vote for the bill will be a vote to keep that conversation alive on beacon hill at the core of the bill is a commitment to raise local education aid following the recommendations of the foundation budget review commission which concluded that health care and other costs are undercounted in the computation of how much education a communities need to run good quality schools the commitment is phased in over seven years starting in twenty nineteen and the increase in the charter cap is tied to the actual delivery of the increased aid a vote of this year's legislators will not bind future legislators so the commitment is subject to future budgetary decisions the legislature has a mixed record on meeting long term local aid commitments it did well in meeting the commitments that it made in hundred ninety three but the two thousand and eight recession derailed the four year commitment that the legislature made in two thousand and six to redress the deficiencies of the one nine hundred ninety three formula future legislators will have a hard time meeting the commitment unless either a we are blessed by a decade of accelerating economic expansion or be the people approve the income tax increase on the wealthy that is likely to appear on the ballot in twenty eighteen well the commitment is not made contingent on that ballot question the timing of the increase reflects the timing of revenue increases that the ballot question would yield i expect to vote for amendments that would give local governments control over state chartered schools seeking to expand into their communities all of the communities that i represent bell much watertown and boston pay for the bulk of their education costs with local resources it is not consistent with basic accountability concepts for the state to force them to accept the costs of paying for state chartered schools the accountability issues are reversed in communities where the state pays the vast majority of the costs in these high poverty communities average test scores tend to be low and many parents are seeking alternatives to the existing district school system in these communities local control may not be the right approach but many senators feel uncomfortable burying the level of local control over charters based on poverty levels our average test scores irene mark calendars for recycle did you know that in massachusetts two hundred thirty thousand tonnes of textiles are disposed annually in rant landfills and waste to energy plants this equals eighty one pounds per person that are thrown away every year examples of textiles are clothing shoes handbags sheets towels and draperies all of these items are highly recyclable twenty percent of what is donated goes to thrift stores charities and the other eighty percent to brokers of which forty five percent is sold overseas as usable clothing thirty percent is made into wiping rags twenty percent to shred it into carpet backing and insulation and five percent is unusable donating and want to textiles is not only good for the environment but help support many industries in massachusetts and around the world the massachusetts department of environmental protection is aggressively promoting the reuse and recycling of post consumer textiles to help meet their solid waste master plan of reducing waste by two hundred million tons each year by the year twenty twenty all textiles can be donated as long as they are dry that is mold can contaminate a whole container and clean and maybe torn eminently stained or missing its mate or buttons belmont residents have the opportunity to recycle textiles and d p w recycled days held in may and october the next d p w day is scheduled for may fourteen residents can also donate their textiles by calling for a pick up at your home from your favorite local charity or drop textiles in boxes located around st vincent de paul boxes behind st josephs church via orchard street planet aid boxes are to remain open by bram berkowitz at the end of last year m b t officials said the wearily commuter rail station was not accessible to those with disabilities and therefore might need to close now they're singing a very different tune state senator will brown's burger announced on his website march twenty fifth that after discussions with m b t a general manager frank di paola the station is likely to remain open furthermore s brown's burger the m b t a plans to request more time from the architectural access board a regulatory agency then sure as public facilities are accessible for those with disabilities to bring the station up to code in september the verger about the possibility of shattering the waverly belmont center level and belmont center commuter rail stations in order to build one consolidated station on pleasant street after fierce opposition from residents and officials in belmont watertown and wallace them the m b t chose to abandon this plan in january the general manager indicated that the m b t a will be seeking a time variance from the architectural access board keeping accessibility upgrades of the station on the long term to do list allowing the station to remain open and hoping to reach it as a project in the future said brownsburg or the state's department of transportation intends to spend one hundred fifty million dollars on accessibility upgrades over the next five years according to recent presentation and brown's burger said depot also indicated that making waverley accessible currently not included in this budget the end bta said if we're not going to consolidate the stations what are we going to do with what i really said brownsburg are they determined they want to spend one hundred fifty million dollars and when they look at it it is pretty clear there are more productive ways to spend the money although nothing is guaranteed brownsburg are said if the budget is released without without reverently renovations included the station could remain in its current state for the next five years however the m b t could potentially start renovations before the next capital budget cycle he said marian board shoots down proposed hotel developer says land at three thirty four pleasant street likely to become variety store office space garage by bramber co its developers as of late are finding it difficult to land in a local business district near the arlington belmont line the zoning board of appeals monday april fourth shut down requests for three special permits that wealth and developer michael colomba needed to construct a proposed eighteen room hotel three thirty four pleasant street the decision comes less than three months after the z b a denied a special permit to nicholas leo for a proposed newsy voted to deny the special permits ending the prospect of what would have been the town's first hotel z b a member jim sack cardus and associate member john mcmanus voted against the motion to deny the permits i don't think this is something we can approve under the by law said smith i would vote to deny the hotel on the grounds that a hotel use is not contemplated by the town zoning law smith said the town's zoning by laws do not specify a hotel as an allowable use section three point three is where you would put allowable uses and a hotel is so distinctive that it would be there if it was considered to be allowed he said if belmont is going to have hotels town meeting should say we should have hotels representing colomb attorney robert levy argued the off street parking by laws five point one point two do not mention most hotels and motels levy also contended that zoning by l three point two states and unclassified use may be allowed by special permit if it has a similar impact on the neighborhood as other uses allowed by special permit but smith said he did not find a hotel use similar to other allowable uses in the area that require special permit such as retail sales and services or restaurants he also said he believed the reference to hotels in the street parking regulations to essentially be a mistake residents who made the trek to the hearing on the snowy night had different feelings about the hotel brian kember or who lives right behind three thirty four pleasant street on fitzmaurice circle said he no longer had concerns he previously had about noise he said if the z b a place to permanent restriction on the installation of a heating unit on the roof he would be fine with the hotel scott happer of lewis road said he thought a hotel would cause more traffic on the street mercier carus street said if the hotel turned out to be unsuccessful the developer might attempt to convert the use of the building into a defacto apartment i don't want to put any economic load on the town he said well disappointed columbus said he respected the board's decision belmont has the right to make the decisions they want he said i have to accept those decisions and put the building to good use and the rojas a former selectman principal at rojas design who did design work for the proposal said colomba now has no choice but to lease the land for allowable uses like a convenient store which will likely generate traffic undesirable to the neighborhood irene last week in april we have been very proactive in sharing our future plans with our clients and have worked diligently since october to ensure everyone is attended to before our last days  specificially ices in advanced anti aging technologies and laser hair removal i am personally quite proud of our service and safety achievements over the years and i am even more touched by the simple gestures of kindness and comradery between our staff and clients said our make in what will you miss most about being in business in belmont i will miss the feel of community within the center fellow business owners and the patrons we all share i will miss the neighborhood feel the town events and ease of shopping or dining it's all available to us and i have grown so fond and accustomed to the town what are your future hopes and plans the primary reason i chose to close  sensual and belmont is because my partner and i are relocating out of state this new personal adventure is certainly stirring up emotions as i am faced with having to close one door for the next one to open i will share with you that as my move gets closer to fruition i have explored various options in keeping my belmont doors open but i have not yet found the right arrangement of new and improved space and personal balance i have decided not to renew my lease rather i am taking some much needed time to focus prepare and go west where should your customers go now is anyone buying the business in addition to listen i work part time in a plastic surgery practice in worcester and i've already had a few followers from them for more advanced face and body surfaces we just ask that our clients continue to support the local business  celebrating make a statement day by sara jane henman belmont high school celebrated the fourteenth annual make a statement day on march seventeenth at this event students and staff are invited to the school cafeteria where they receive the free white t shirt and used markers to decorate it with their statement statistics quotes jokes thought provoking questions and sayings everyone wore their t shirt to school the next day the goal of m a s d is to promote diversity tolerance and understanding and to erase prejudices through statements made by each individual student the hope is that every member of belmont high school community is given the opportunity to share what they're passionate about they will educate others on their opinion as a community or four hundred students and faculty participated this year as music played in the background and homemade desserts were served the senior head head of m a s d molly thayer shared us to to stick on her shirt that read taking just be faught of your diet can reduce your carbon footprint by twenty five percent wrote things like be happy and drew images with uplifting messages the event stimulated discussion and interest within the student body about the challenges the school nation generation and society as a whole face marian working to help the homeless on february twenty seventh members of the belmont high school working to help the homeless club committed themselves to stocking the food pantry at the new youth sh in harvard square why to why harvard square hosted at the belmont star market the students gave customers lists of items requested by y to y and i asked them to purchase some of the non perishables and drop them off after completing their shopping the generosity of the community was astounding twenty nine boxes and twenty five bags were filled with the makings of meals for the twenty two homeless young adults who sleep at the shelter every night in addition contributions totaling over three hundred dollars go toward filling the needs of the shelter co president  shared her thoughts i never expected the food collection to be such a success it is truly heartwarming to know that there are many people in our community who are willing to help us help the people in need this shows what a giving community working together towards a great cause can do the idea for the shelter exclusively for homeless youths from ages eighteen to thirty four came from harvard students who were volunteering at a harvard student run adult shelter in harvard square sara rosencrantz and sam greenberg harvard class of twenty fifteen the founders of y to y and it directors the shelter opened in december two thousand and fifteen and is only the second and larger shelter for young adults in the boston area the good news is that there are now a total of thirty four beds between the two shelters the bad news is that the area needs them the statistics are grim there are about six hundred homeless youth in the metro area thirty nine thousand in the united states almost forty percent of them have aged out of the foster care system and have nowhere to go to live of the of the overall figure between twenty and forty percent of these young adults are lesbian bisexual gay transgender or queer and thirty six percent were forced to move out of their homes why to why office various services for the youth who stay there both from volunteers and youth on fire included our case management legal aid career readiness mental health care case management job training and mentoring irene thank you for joining us for this episode of talking news please join us next week