he llo everyone welcome to the belmont journal belmont's own program for hyper local news and community programming i'm your host roger colton belmont residents have a busy lection season upon th starting with the state primaries on september th voters will then just a few weeks later be faced with a vote on marijuana regulation on september th voters will then go to the polls again in early november for the federal and state elections residents should be aware that to vote on september th in the marijuana election you must be registered to vote by eight o'clock on wednesday september th right before school starts each fall belmont has a community event to introduce town residents both old and new to community services organizations and town officials called meet belmont there is a new committee that's been appointed to organize an administrator that event may have with us today lisa  was formed out of the vision twenty one committee to create events for belmont residence to make a really welcoming place for residents to live and also welcome newcomers to the town so they feel welcome to the town so all of our events are based on making everyone feel welcome and enjoy belmont in the centerpiece of that is the community information fair which is coming up on tuesday august th that's right it's going to be the community information fair is going to be on tuesday august th from six pm to eight pm at cherry middle school ah and that event is graciously sponsored by the belmont carwash and also belmont public schools we're very excited about that event coming up let's talk about the presenters there or the the the vendors if you will who whose there to talk about what they do and that's  we are having all of the town legislators come to the event and we even have representative dave rogers and senator will will brownsburg are coming you can also talk to a lot of nonprofit organizations if you want to learn how to volunteer within the community of belmont where sign your kids up for girl scouts boy scouts about the schools we also have some new exhibitors this year you can learn about belmont porch facets coming up  can if you're new to the town you can learn about the belmont newcomers and neighbors club as well and also i think another really exciting exhibitor is to learn about the proposed new high school and there's a group belmont as well are there other town officials there the town administrator or the can you register to vote oh yeah you can definitely do those things so yeah i i highly recommend it for your one stop shopping of belmont on tuesday and who should come this isn't this isn't just for new town residents anybody and i think it's for everyone anyone can come and new or if you've been here for many years so please come out to the event my impression and tell me if this is correct my impression is that the community information fair is the place where if you want to place where everybody's going to be then this is the place to come and talk to folks oh yeah definitely you know it whatever's on your mind you need to learn about the new or cycling program or even if you want to get your dog registered with the town everybody's going to be there so you can kind of just go in and do it all in one shot and you're all set for the whole year so you're relatively newly involved in cat count government through the meat committee can you tell us what your impressions are of being involved with town government oh i think it's to spend a great experience so far i think it's really important to build leadership skills and learn how to go on with government works which is part of the reason i joined the committee is to really get involved the community and and make a welcoming place and learn you know the process of how to do that e i think that it's run really fun to learn how to government does that and i encourage others to get involved if they haven't before well you're a good example of where you don't need to be a town meeting member or don't have to have done other things to really get involved and make a difference in our community i commend you oh thank you yeah it's funny great experience and all the meetings are open so anyone can attend if they want if they want to come join us well good luck again  chair of the newly appointed committee to organize the community information fair called meet please attend at the general school next tuesday august th from six to eight o'clock hello and welcome to this week in the citizen how we have with us today joanna julius who is the senior multimedia journalist for the citizen errol thanks for stopping over again this week happy to be here roger as always there is a proposal for rezoning on south pleasant street can you tell us what's going on i sure can the planning board is considering an overlay district for the south pleasant street area which is currently local business to district and the overlay would add local business one to be allowed in that district now to clarify local business too is businesses like the car dealership that's there limited to two stories high local business one will allow for things like an assisted living facility or a mixed use facility up to you know three floors and no more than thirty two feet high so the both businesses would still be allowed but it would allow more than what's there now and it would help revitalize wereley square and it's an exciting thing and there was actually a concept proposed to the planning board for an assisted living facility in the assisted living facility was an example  assisted living facility with like eighty to eighty five units rd floor for memory care patients they had it was a pretty detailed concept proposal and the playing board actually liked it they really liked it and on september th they're going to meet again to talk about this or overlay district and whether or not they want to bring it to a special town meeting in november so so the planning board when approved this or wouldn't have final say it would go to town yes so the planning board has to present the overlay district has to come up with that warrant article and then town meeting has to approve it most likely it will be in november special town meeting but possible redevelopment along south pleasant street to what the town is been looking for for some time it's pretty exciting it really is ok let's close the door on that a couple of months ago on this program we talked about a proposal by the council on aging change the senior work off program yes for those who aren't familiar the senior work off program it's like a property tax relief program eligible seniors can apply and they can actually get a deduction off of their property taxes that karna mount was seven hundred and fifty dollars and at the august th selected meaning they approved doubling that amount to one thousand five hundred dollars when we say working off part of your property taxes that means that people work for the council on a gene or st some other part of town yes they can and eleven dollars an hour to have a member and they have to work off up to that amount and in approving the increase in the amount did they change the income eligibility no no they they wanted them to see a way director wanted them to increase it but they didn't they didn't want to increase it at this time but maybe they will  and they might have that special town meeting as well as something else for special to me to vote on it's going to probably end up being a three day special town meeting in november but we'll see we'll see if you know bamber or annual to likely the end of the year early in the new year and what it is it's going to replace your current water meter in your home and it's going to give you the ability through an app on your mobile device to actually see how much water you're consuming at any time and any they'll be ready to go on this project great thanks for the updates we have been talking with joanna juva les who is the senior multimedia journalists for the belmont citizen herald you can read about these stories in more both in the print edition of the citizen herald and online there's been the tap tap tap of hammers doing construction at the burbank elementary school in belmont all summer this year in this segment we'll let  what has been happening at the burbank school officials tell us that the burbank will be entirely finished and ready to go by the st day of school in early september i'm sure compared principal at the burbank school  and the project that's going on we're adding the th classrooms to the burbank school and therefore classrooms that are contained in one modular building and sell the building is on the blacktop as for classrooms and then the th grade students will be housed out in the modulars this starting this fall anybody who has experience with the burbank school ever drove up the driveway realizes that it's really difficult to have twenty two cars and that driveway at one time so the driveway has been widened which is wonderful it's much safer and a parking lot has been redesigned and repaved which will allow us more parking which is wonderful and four square area is out there and also out of the side of the school between the school and me and corner there is new turf so that will be a new turf play space so the students can play don't have a probable cart which will be out there so i feel like if it's a new space they're good size i think when your classroom teacher for three classroom teacher it's great to have a room that's nice and big so that kids can break off into groups and you have space for that so they'll be an overhang that will come from the school out this way to the modular so students will  accident enter via this way from the school to the modular it's really a gorgeous school so it's going to look really nice welcome to this week in the belmont tony and we have with us today franklin tucker who is the editor and publisher of the belmont county and belmont online source for hyper local news thanks for stopping over again this week well it's great to be back we had a bit of a summer vacation now we're busy back with the news back back on the a letter came into the belmont library for the trustees and it said that a gentleman named phil busy may who used to be a be a long time resident belmont was going to give five percent of his state to the library which turned out to be two hundred and twelve thousand five hundred dollars which is the nd largest gift the belmont library ever had in its history now when when the library gets a gift like this are there restrictions on their strings attached or  they put two hundred and twelve thousand dollars in their bank account well it comes down to where the will itself had restrictions on how the money could be spent the library trustees wouldn't tell me what it was but they said all that money will be going for library services and when you when money does come into the library it's the board of trustees who decide where that money can go is there a story behind film a film there is i mean it's a fascinating it is a great story  mr may was unknown by any of the trustees had no contact with him no nobody in the library knew who he was it turned out that he was a long time resident maybe over thirty years he was a when we looked in the database for the ten i don't it's we found out that he was an educator a teacher and an investor but what he really was was a like an that's right it is not something where we're waiting for a contract or or it's it's a lack of contractors to do the work it has to do with a national strike a national labor dispute between national  been under construction right now or have been completed it's just that very minor work that still needs to be done by national grid just wasn't done because of this because of the block out because a lot of the  so belmont is going to have to wait until that lockout and if that lockout is not done by september th well it really can't be done this season so you can expect those three streets to be in their current condition maybe a little bit of work will be done by the d p w in terms of putting a hot code on top of you know an asphalt topping but you won't see the reconstruction of the streets until spring of next year and i mean just completely unintended consequences of this national labor strike that's right let's talk about the my girls rugby you and i have talked about this you and i follow the rugby team and they finally getting recognition from another great team and that was the boston red sox through the m i a which is e and it's a last call athletic association they got the belmont rugby girls team and a lot of other state championship spring teams they got to go to fenway park got it got to be announced and in front of the enthusiastic crowd which included you when we went there and we i think we have photographs of that great event well congratulations to the girls again and thank you to the red sox her all the praise they can get we've been speaking with franklin tucker who is the editor and publisher of the belmont county and the monster online source for hyper local news the restoration project moved to belmont in two thousand and seventeen with the mission to restore neurologically impaired individuals to self sustaining lives by offering them challenging employment and facilitating their return to the community we spoke with elouise newell about this mission and about the thrift store they operate at the corner of pleasant street and brighton well my name is elouise new all and i'm the founding director of restoration project restoration project is a vocational program for people with mental illness and brain injuries we finish in a poster furniture as work there a p we are teaching people how to be upholsterers we use methods that no one uses anymore but it is for their internal in perth from my son as a sophomore in college became schizo friend nick and he had a very strong work ethic and so he was determined that if he could just work he would be fine so i hired someone to teach him and he started in my house and so within four months we were incorporated and people were coming to our house and that was twenty five years ago so it's grown so there recovery isn't three parts st it's internal and working with your hands is very good for your head and for your self esteem and the nd step is your immediate surroundings you find the house where you want to live you get a car and the side step is going out in the community and getting a job and when they're ready to branch out they work in the store and then we have up developer who helps them decide what kind of job they want and then helps them  we need more volunteers you know they can work in the store they can work with our participants if they don't know how to finish an upholsterer that's not a problem we'll keep from it because having the community here makes a difference for here's the belmont media centers jane peters to tell us about what there is to do in belmont in the coming week everyone i'm jamie this is your community calendar for this week whether you're new to town or a longtime resident you can attend the meet belmont community information fair on tuesday from six to eight pm at the chattering middle school cafeteria meet local politicians discover arts and recreation programs chat with local nonprofits and more calling all jazz and busiest and aspiring a jazz singer showcase an open mike night on tuesday from seven dollars to ten pm there will be no cover charge for the night but you can enjoy a great food and drink menu while you listen to the monarch butterfly knows the time is coming soon to move to a more favorable climate as paul begins to move in where are they headed and what do they need along the way learn all about this and more at habitat on tuesday from six to seven hundred and thirty for this family program you can enjoy to play some part concerts year is only a couple weeks away and we want to remind you of a couple important dates orientation for students and during grade nine takes place on thursday at four hundred and thirty at the h s and ministration will speak on student life and how your student can be successful at the  students who are new to be h s can pick up their i pad and set up their school email account on friday at eight thirty am for all students and during th grade and at ten am for students who are new to be in other grades report to the library mezzanine computer lab after set up students will have a tour of the building good luck to all students starting this new school year seniors and children alike are invited to the beech tree center on friday from two to three hundred and thirty for an ice cream social enjoy your treat while watching a children's musical drama performance featuring live music and indian classical dance forms the gallery of art is now accepting submissions to its monster misunderstood exhibit now through september th the exhibit seeks work that creatively interpret novel frankenstein the exhibit will run from october st through november th to coincide with one book one delmon learn more on the galleries website and that's it for this week if you like your event featured in belmont journals community calendar you can e mail your event to jane at the month media doll org that's it for this week's edition of the belmont journal as we sign off let's watch what's available in the coming week on belmont's community television stations thanks for watching