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 wednesdays a twelve thirty pm on channel nine x finity and channel twenty nine fi os listen any time on the b m c broadcast network on sound cloud and just search for the belmont media podcast network and now on to the talking news massachusetts school building authority approves high school project funding the massachusetts school building authority the m s b a voted to approve funding for the bill mon high school building project on aug th this indorsement is the culmination of more than two years of collaboration and work by the belmont high school building committee that's the b s b c the s b a the belmont school department belmont's citizens multiple town committees and boards and various town departments the m s b a approved a grant for the additional for the addition and renovation project at belmont high school for eighty million six hundred and forty four thousand two hundred and seventy eight dollars we are incredibly him pleased the m s b a has voted to approve funding for the belmont high school building project we are especially grateful for the support of state senator william brown's burger and state representative dave raja's who attended multiple m s b a board meetings and was strong advocates for the belmont high school project the project has reached this stage to the collaborative efforts of so many throat the town and it just testament to how invested belmont's citizens are in the continued success of us cools said bill velo chairman of the belmont high school building committee the b h s b c was formed to explore solutions to the belmont high school building deficits including an aging infrastructure and space constraints due to the crowding in january th after more than fifty public meetings forums and workshops the belmont school committee voted for a seven through twelve grade configuration for the school also at that time the b h s b c determine that a school design with a major addition and minor renovation would most appropriately and effectively address the educational and faculty related needs of belmont students and would support continued in roman growth and evolving teaching models the next step and the belmont high school building project process is a town wide vote on november the th at that time voters will decide whether to accept the m s b eighty million dollars in funding towards the total project costs of two hundred and ninety five million one hundred and fifty nine thousand one hundred and eighty nine dollars and approve a debt exclusion to fund the balance of the project and amount for which belmont taxpayers will be responsible if the town votes in favor of the debt exclusion the project will move ahead the current project timeline is to complete construction and open the nine through twelve portion of the school in september of two thousand and twenty one and two won't be in the seven and eight grade portion of the school in september of two thousand and twenty three and i will vote my colleague a nd term tuesday defeating fellow democrat donna paddle a no no republican is running for the office so ryan sixty three will be the only candidate on the ballot in november obviously this is a wonderful job she said shortly after paddle released a statement conceding the race it was a hard fought campaign and i am glad our message that i am the proven progressive prosecutor res resonated across the country ryan who served as prosecutor in the office before she was elected in two thousand and twelve won the race with fifty four percent of the vote with seventy one percent of the in two thousand and twelve by then governor deval patrick and was elected to the office later that year winning about fifty eight percent of the vote in a race where differences between the two candidates were small ryan her record on bail reform rest tourer dave justice and jail diversion programs for people addicted to opioids in january ryan instituted a new bail program to prevent unnecessary pretrial detention for nonviolent crimes since then there have been one thousand four hundred and seventy three dollars arraignments in middlesex county district and superior courts and no was requested in about seventy eight percent of those cases she said paddle a no fifty three dollars of winchester pledged during the campaign to collect and analyze data from the prosecutor's courts and diversion programs to create a more transparent and just criminal justice system the data would also show if diversion and other programs are effective we have a broken criminal justice system paddle  farm a suffolk county prosecutor and defense attorney told the daily news editorial board last week we do know in mass that we incarcerate black men at eight times the rate of white men released a statement at eleven twenty two pm thanking the people who joined her fight i am proud of the grassroots campaign we built to advocate for equitable justice in transparency and accountability in middlesex than putting them in jail why they await trial she also created a task force to fight crime and deaths caused by the opioid crisis she called for reforms to prevent people charged with nonviolent crimes from being held in jail while awaiting a trial because they could not afford bail ryan said she will work with northeastern university to help collect and analyze criminal justice deborah she  s the system is equitable in equitable she also pledged to work with the state legislature to get the required funds for the collection and study of data now over to max thanks claire cultural council seeking funding proposals the belmont cultural council has set an october th deadline for organizations schools and individuals to apply for grants that support cultural activities in the community according to council spokes person juliet jenkins these grants can support a variety of artistic scientific and humanities projects and activities in belmont including exhibits festivals short term artist residence residences or performances in schools workshops and lectures emphasis is placed on applications from belmont residents and organizations and recipients will likely be given partial funding the awards to local applicants typically range from two hundred dollars to eight hundred dollars all programs must be accessible to the public the belmont cultural council is part of a network of three hundred and twenty nine local cultural councils serving all three hundred and fifty one cities and towns in the commonwealth the l c c program is the largest grassroots cultural funding network in the nation supporting thousands of community based projects in the arts sciences and humanities every year the state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the mass cultural council a state agency which then allocates funds to each community this year the belmont cultural council will distribute about five thousand dollars in grants previously funded projects include belmont port fest ala brown and paste and park music festival hidden poetry and town hall theater and a town hall theatre production by stage ensemble theater unit for local guidelines and complete information on the belmont cultural council contact jenkins at belmont cultural coun marching band camp during the heat wave of the week of august the th from twelve noon to eight pm daily the belmont high school band director paul ketchum said they had they took frequent breaks kept their water with the met all times and stayed in the shade as much as possible about thirty rookies learn the basic fundamental drills and techniques of macho co ordination of the different musicians on the field and how to play the music but this is show which is journey to my belmont high school sophomore marcus davidson said he loved participating in band camp despite the eat and didn't deny the heat was rough most of the week was pretty brutal but we were all pushed through it we all pushed through it and it was great there was a lot of camerata re we all fed off each other's energy to keep on going and get through it he said this is definitely my favorite show so far he said ketchum has been the band director at the belmont high school for five years he was also a member of his much ng band in junior high school high school and college prior to becoming a band director and over seventy years when the belmont position opened he said he couldn't resist this such a phenomenal music program in this town he is  there such support for the yachts so i thought marching band in this town would be a lot of fun and fun and jazz and concert band everything it's great said ketchum and no one to clear thank you bob new staff promotions that belmont schools students were greeted by some new faces on the st day of school by joanna k s of alice students returning to belmont public schools  were greeted by some new faces as well as familiar faces in new roles three administrators new to belmont public schools wellington principal allison frank belmont high school assistant principal daniel o'brian and medco director rosa innes channa re middle school also has a new school resource officer officer christine pugliese police he has been a belmont police officer for approximately eighteen years she served in pretrial but was also the department's juvenile domestic violence and sexual assault detective this position while primarily serve the four grades of students a cherry middle school and partner with current school resource officer melissa o'connor who serves belmont high school the two school resource officers who will connect with families of elementary schools when needed said failon some familiar faces in different roles are belmont high school interim principal thomas brough previously the assistant principal at b h s b h s assistant principal michael bruno who will be part time and continue his role as a special education teacher at b h s generally middle school assistant principal nicolette found us who previously was a th grade teacher at c a lot has been happening through the summer at the bta and i wanted to offer a few updates st belmont and watertown bus riders can expect to soon have a dedicated lane to the chronic traffic jam in front of mount auburn cemetery we had hoped to see this ready earlier in the summer but we still expect it before the end of the construction season nd the m b t is moving forward with a contract to repair the garage the project will take a little less than two years during this time the loss of parking will be very limited approximately two hundred dollars out of the two thousand seven hundred dollars spaces at any one time these fixes are not a permanent solution the structure will likely need to be replaced within a decade or so  parking fees will be restructured m b t a garage is effective september st weekday fees will be dropping at some installations that are underused and rising at the most congested facilities the weekend fees will drop at most facilities the idea is to better utilize all resources for my district the only relevant facility is alewife and we will see an increase to nine dollars per week day they are th the  beginning its public engagement process around their new fare system currently known as automated fare collection two once it is rolled out fully in two thousand and twenty one it should be a huge improvement the most obvious serv service improvement will be that passengers will be able to board using any door on buses and the green line that will reduce station dwell time and speed up service the subtler improvement will be that instead of having value residing on cards that could be lost or damaged value will reside in a user account writers will be able to pay through that account in multiple convenient ways the new model would create a lot of new options for fair structure  at the current model does not support fair structure will always be a combination of economics and politics but we can attract more writers through pricing that better reflects value finally the rail vision study is underway the advisory group has been organized and has met twice one thing i'm starting to understand is that the right answer will not be the same for all rail lines for example i have a strong bias toward the concept of a subway like rail service on the wister line connecting brighton and alston into downtown boston subway like service for only a few stops could share the tracks with the long haul service for wister the green line is currently maxed out i am thrilled about the plans in motion to improve the green line but the overwhelming volume of residential development in allston and brighton which are also already dense areas is likely to also justify rail service improvements i'd also love to see more frequent service on the fitchburg line going from belmont into boston but the case for subway like frequency will be weaker than on the worcester line at current population density the writer ship in belmont will this is sara lee be less of the avenue toward service and twenty six beach street in belmont this three point this free program office support training education and networking to people ages fifty and older who are seeking to seeking help with korea direction and employment the group facilitator will present a new topic each week one dollar to one dollar speed coaching speakers workshops and weekly job recruiters will be offered attend will be taught how to develop new skills tools and strategies to help in korea transitions doors open at one pm for early sign in casual networking disciplines can attend meetings in any regional location group facilitate a mock since he is a career management professional who specializes in coaching training and interview unsung hero heroine the state announces annual recognition of women who make an impact each june the commonwealth of massachusetts celebrates female commonwealth community leaders belmont resident and marie lambert who was one of those chosen females on it at the state house this year on june th according to state rep david rodgers lambert is an environmentalist with deep knowledge of the land and water of belmont she gave a presentation to the belmont historical society on the battle over the belmont uplands one of the last true urban wilds in the greater boston area rogers said lambert transformed its lessons into creative pursuits like the belmont stormwater working group to advocate successfully to reduce pollution and flooding from new developments by using up to date precipitation data the belmont stakes cation campaign to reduce energy use by matt belmont residents to fly around the globe and to belmont nature walks she leads with local poets and actors to connect residents with the place where they live lambert has been a town meeting member and member of the board of the belmont citizens forum board of directors for over ten years organizing stormwater forums and volunteer cleanup gays in publishing articles to inform citizens about local history and environmental and storm water issues now he is max cler cross walk tragedy neighborhood calling for safer streets after a fatal accident involving pedestrians joanna cates of ellis the butler elementary school community and surrounding neighbors are mourning the passing of a fellow parent days after she was struck by a white van valcke ross in the cross walk on lexington street in belmont on the morning of august th she leaves behind her husband aakash and two sons are knob and eight and veer fo in response to the passing of thought while the patel neighbors and concerned citizens are rallying for safer streets in the butler area one of our close neighbors kate caffrey circulated a flyer asking for citizens to attend traffic advisory committee and select meetings to voice concerns about pedestrian safety in belmont and how to make changes to make roads and intersections more safe raise tables were added to reduce speed on lexington street in late summer two thousand and sixteen according to glenn clancy director of community development since then assistant belmont police chief james mcgaha xix says the number of accidents has gone down in two thousand and sixteen there were seven accidents at that intersection in two thousand  january two thousand eight hundred there have been three accidents since august th there have been three other accidents involving motor vehicles and pedestrians or bicyclists with non life threatening injuries on aug th a bicyclist was struck at daniel butler elementary school principal daniel danielle betancourt forwarded a message from the family of thought all the potato in an e mail to parents signed up to receive e mails through belmont public schools which provided more information about her the patel was born in in india and the eldest of three siblings and has lived in the united states since two thousand and two she was an occupational therapist at approximately eight twenty five am on august th on a lot of potential was struck by a two thousand and fifteen ford transit van while crossing the cross walk on lexington street at the intersection of lexington and sycamore streets the motor vehicle was entering lexington street sycamore street the driver of the van and so occupant of the vehicle remained on the scene that along with my colleagues clearer max we 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 happening around belmont