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 can also be heard mondays and tuesdays at four thirty pm and wednesday at twelve thirty pm on channel nine extended e and channel twenty nine fi os listen any time on the b m see podcast network and sound cloud and almost one year ago joey's pocket in belmont was closed by town officials do or rat infestation a rat treatment program help solve the problem and the poc reopen nov nd two thousand and seventeen however the retail rats returned again in february town feel playground also sarrazin rat population and had to be temporarily closed in march the belmont board of selectmen voted to temporarily institute a policy requiring visitors to joey's pock and town feel playground to take all the trash with them when they leave due to the overflowing barrels which led to the rat issues since public works assistant director michael santoro said he believes the pox have been cleaner according to wesley chin belmont health director the rats are under control in both pox and with continued monitoring by a pest control company in july public works director j ma caught and formed the selectmen that dogs waste was being disposed of inside the portable toilets joeys poc and town field this led to the removal of some with portable toilets as well as the locking of all remaining portable toilets in these fields in a memorandum memorandum to town administrator patrice garvan marcotte wrote we believe in carry in carry out as reduce these concerns and because of the pilot program we have realized internal development opportunities that have been addressed we have changed policies with youth groups on being responsible stewards placing locks on porta potties monthly inspections of all the parks in town treated wood safe non has  deterrence d p w has continued discussions with the health department and the animal control officer on continuing education with residents that participate in the off the leash program on proper disposal of doggy bags we'll working with the recreation department on permitted parties this will have a minimal fee and a schedule time and location we have had several discussions with the schools and changing snack time behavior is particularly with food at recess we have taken a holistic approach on reducing the literature challenges this can be achieved when we are a community working together in reducing litter at our playgrounds many uses of parks including belmont resident emily peterson were very unhappy with a locked portable toilets and having nowhere to dispose of their field to mitigate the little problem the petition states the lack of trash receptacles and facilities have resulted in significant litter because people don't want to dispose of sticky ice cream wrappers in their bags as well as young children routinely urinating in the bushes surrounding the pock on weekends this is unsanitary and this proposal aims to solve the litter problem as well as provide provide facilities use without return of the rodent problem the petition got more than two hundred dollars signatures online and in print peterson said she was considering bringing it to a town meeting but hoped a solution could be reached with the select on september th the board of selectmen held a public hearing on the carrion kerio policy and mock caught gave an estimate of what it would cost the town to purchase and maintain the big belly barrels each barrel would cost about three thousand seven hundred dollars to four thousand dollars plus five hundred dollars to seven hundred dollars to install a required concrete pad the barrels would need to be emptied weekend days and holidays from april st to december which would cost twenty three thousand four hundred dollars due to the high cost of the barrels and the cost to fix them if they break selectman ass mach ought to return for mach caught will monitor all the barrels in and in november of the selectmen will revisit the issue to determine if a different kind of barrel should be purchased belmont resident jeffrey liberty jeff liberty recommended steel covered barrels which of be approved and often seen at beaches and national parks he also recommended asking local businesses to sponsor barrels to cover the necessary funding and now over to my a small crowd gathered at the construction site of the bradford development for two hours on september th to view a mock up of the materials the developer toll brothers apartment living plans to use on the three buildings project manager otto weiss and architect peter quinn reviewed the materials and designs with the public who attended the bradford when completed will be three separate buildings with one hundred and twelve luxury apartments and thirty eight thousand square feet of retail space the st building on the corner of to palo and williston road is currently called the winslow and is where starbucks will be located it is expected to open in early two thousand and nineteen the nd building expected to be completed will be the highland on the contour of belmont in common street the pomona the largest of the three buildings will be located on the corner of trip l a road and common street the project is slated to be completed by early two thousand and twenty according to bill lovett regional director of acquisitions and development for told brother's apartment living scuse me according to planning department staff planner spencer go better the public was invited to look at the materials as part of the approval process with the planning bo the planning board to review public feedback and have a discussion about the materials weiss reviewed the three sections of the markup which represented each of the three buildings the building materials displayed included windows limestone bricks of the writing of cement siding and shingles fibers cement panels metal roofing painted trim cornices storefront windows grout joints base materials and so forth the buildings won't look alight using renderings of each of the three buildings quinn walked the spectators through the mock up so each of the buildings the pomona will have four stories with a well defined base made of glass storefront windows with brushed aluminum dock polished faced block at the base limestone at the mid section with large bays painted white to limestone two inches thick with a deep cleft pattern in it great cast stone and toe stories of tawny and a plant colored thin brick the highland on the corner of common in belmont street was the most challenging to design because it has fifteen feet of grade according to quinn the bottom part of the building will be red brick the middle part of the building would be painted fiber cement clapboard in a maple color with wide deep red color and windows with a wide white trim there would be an elaborate conus at the entry with a large white in columns in the front the intention was to have three separate buildings that didn't look alike the idea was to make them look like they had been here a long time and eventually they will and each one has its own character on the outside which leads to a whole sequence of different kinds of window patterns now here's belmont residence seems almost paradox for a place that got into the alcohol game more than a century late to retail licenses for marijuana says in a special election september t and setting regulations for it helped the townspeople understand what could be done now for marijuana bellmawr like other small towns in massachusetts trying to live with the fact that fifty one percent  massachusetts voted for setting regulations for that is good angela friends a former selectman who work in belmont and recently moved to winchester said someone special action should have been reconfirmed whether to bring  st of all i don't think it's likely that we'll have any dispensary zimbelman if we do it will be very discreet not particularly visible with limited scientists it'll probably be fifty years before we have to marijuana facilities and have much of an impact saying that he mostly voted no because he wanted more to have the option of having testing facilities and to have alcohol and marijuana two very different beasts according to roseburg and you said the kind of economic impact introducing liquor license as adults just wouldn't be replicated to marijuana even if dispensary is open in belmont i think that the alcohol licensing is and very significant impact on weed is this to get say why in fact the age limit to purchase marijuana will be twenty five as opposed to twenty one for alcohol but i call this discrepancy i have a truly no sense if you're twenty one year old enough to make up your mind which is actually poison from a tactical standpoint if you're going to do that you better do that with my wanted to because alcohol is far more dangerous by this it's the stupidest thing he said that with the taxes where horses can bring into the time actually make belmont safer retail establishments in particular are going to bring money to the town they get three percent of the sales tax and they can do whatever they want with the future when it comes to marijuana whether one marijuana in state and out there's always been voted on so that it's no sense in going back to this now we must live with the reality regulating it controlling it taxing it compromise in political life these days can be hard to come now the next piece of it has to do with zoning which the town meeting will be voting on in november and then we will see if any of these shops are interested in opening in the town and to my twin brother by taking away film looks to understand gender revolution by fran young the story of gender out all around us from the time a baby is born and gender plays a pole for role in the expectations imposed upon individuals by their family society and eventually on themselves w the implications of gender may be less rigid than in the past gender is still very much viewed as a by an air binary concept fixed and sometimes oppressively restrictive  study estimates that twelve percent of millennial is identify as transgender meaning they don't identify as the sex they were assigned at birth or that their gender expression is different than convention and conventional expectations for the gender the film gender revolution follows katie keurig as she travels coast to coast to meet with transgender individuals and leading experts to explore an evolving understanding of gender identity it examines the rules of science politics and culture on gender as it sheds light on complex stories of struggle ignorance understanding and love bringing glick greater clarity and understanding to the topic of gender identity is critical to the safety of transgender individuals a new study published by the american academy of pediatrics revealed alarmingly high rates of attempted suicide among transgender youth more than one half of males and about thirty percent of transgender females reported attempting suicide a national survey by g l s c n n reported that seventy five percent of transgender youth felt unsafe it's school the controversy around the use of bathrooms is only served to make vulnerable youth the center of people's full stereotypes and unfounded fears even in massachusetts where in tw sixteen transgender individuals gain the right to equal access to public accommodations these rights are at risk of being rescinded by question three on the ballot this is not to say there hasn't been progress conversations about transgender issues more common and meaningful support is more already available in states like massachusetts gay and transgender youth coming out earlier than ever the medical profession is also more aware of the needs of transgender youth and able to offer interventions that provide genuine relief such belmont public schools hired a new assistant principal for belmont high school daniel o'brien o'brien is an experienced assistant principal and fama social studies teacher according to superintendent john failon at the core of his practice is the importance of farming strong relationships with students staff and parents to ensure a student's success in addition to who is in schoolwork o'brien has enjoyed the ability to connect with students outside of the classroom to his work as a lot cross coach for readers to get to know him a little better o'brien recently answered some questions from the citizen herald via email what are you looking forward to most about your new role as assistant principal at b h s i am most looking forward to interacting with the students and teachers in the building in my brief encounters so far i have been thoroughly impressed by the passion dedication and commitment of those staff that i have met during the summer i have heard so many wonderful things about the students and the dynamic classes that i am eager to be in the halls and interacting with the school community what do you think your greatest challenges will be i am really excited about working more closely with high school students and teachers with the exception of my time in burlington and my years coaching high school most selectmen but the improvement of the safety of the public ways and belmont for pedestrian bicycling and vehicle traffic responsibilities will include but will not be limited to reviewing and making recommendations concerning aspects of specific issues that have an impact on overall pedestrian bicyclist and traffic management such as parking restrictions traffic being and safety techniques signage improvements crosswalk identification intersection configuration and speeding the new committee will also be responsible for reviewing existing policies and recommending revised or new policies that will utilize the data resulting from town initiated studies and models including but not limited to transportation plan the new committee will have nine members appointed by the selectmen for a two year term including a member of safe will choose me safe routes to schools and preferably a resident with traffic engineering experience or background applications i do by november st in the selection hope to make the appointments at the november th meeting the current chairman of the traffic advisory committee larry mcdonnell says he feels it's time to reorganize and restructure i'm totally in input website on the town website for residents to provide input on belmont streets and sidewalks using the mapping feature on the website residents can identify current issues future opportunities or potential quick fixes for complete streets streets elements such as pedestrian accommodations like sidewalk upgrades new pedestrian connections cross walks a accessibility bicycle accommodations like bicycle roadway treatment bicycle pocking transit elements like bus stop amenities and roadway safety comments from residents are essential to the process and will be integrated into the development of complete streets projects in belmont once daughter is collected there will be a public forum to discuss the areas of concern generate a list of projects and then prioritize them according to garvan residents will be able to submit feedback as many times as they would like after submitting the form the form will refresh and clear previous field entries ready for the next submission you can visit h t t p s colon forward slash forward slash w w w dot belmont dash m a dot gov forward slash for the link to not ali was asking for scanners in cash registers i've always wanted to open my own store craig nally said and now standing in front of display cases filled with nuts and dried fruits at forty nine main street in con we looked out a bunch of places but they all looked the same then we saw this place and it was so charming craig now he said it looked like the stores in europe that i always wanted to own with large windows exposed to  m a unit of weight the name is sort of twofold with you we focus on healthy eating so the weight plays on that idea it's also based on how we purchase our nuts they're also  along with my colleagues claire and my brother bob who would like to thank you for listening to the talking news and hope you've enjoyed the show we were returning next week for another edition of local news happenings around belmont