he llo everyone welcome to the bell my journal now my own program for hyper local news and community affairs programming i mean our host roger calls and belmont white has been ranked number one for clean energy amongst all massachusetts municipal light departments the massachusetts climate action network ranked all forty one municipal light departments and their clean energy supply their energy efficiency programs and their plans to reduce their dependence on dirty energy over time the scoring methodology along with the full report can be found online in canned website hello and welcome to this week in the belmont citizen harold i have with me today joanna juba's who is the multimedia journalist for the citizen herald and for wicked local belmont belmont's online and print source of weekly news thank you for stopping over you're welcome  roger there was a big hearing the other night on uses of the former incinerator size yes the selectmen have been discussing this since last summer they started out with seven hundred and seventeen ideas from the came from a community forum for the former incinerator site which is located on concord avenue you it's like twenty five acres of town property surrounded by wetlands used to be an incinerator site in fact the incinerator building still sits on the land to give breaks them down turns it into methane gas and generates electricity just for anybody who's not familiar with it in the day ber's we're not happy right well what let's this let me just briefly tell you the results of the feasibility study that the the town environmental engineering consultant did it he basically said to make this financially viable and profitable for the town it would need to be a thirty five feet tall bill it would need to receive two hundred in one trip out right but you would get a tax payment of about six hundred thousand dollars annually you would also get you know have a lease payment of about fifty thousand dollars annually and the electricity generated would be sold there january th as i was and you saw the crowd that was there was standing room only then the message then i heard they were not happy yes people were concerned and indeed there was a threat of a loss to the already and exactly the neighborhood says signed a petition against it and then several people spoke against it including tagg romney tag romney i don't think he really needs an introduction but you know his father was a formal former presidential candidate and former massachusetts governor mitt romney was he basically said that he can't imagine a worse use in this neighborhood and he said he also sits on the facilities committee for the belmont hill school and he's like i know they would be very interested in putting a hockey rink here in pursuing the public private partnership that got the selectmen saying ok well maybe maybe we'll test the only and will test the borings to see if  if what kind of foundation would be needed to support a hockey rink and what that would cost and ultimately the board of selectmen said that they would make a decision by march changing february th they want the towns in mind about environmental engineer consultant to come back to them and say can you find someone to do this boring tests and when and how much is it going to you know i think that's going to cost twenty five thousand dollars and the town administrator said she's willing to pay that and the select supports that they're also going to do additional traffic studies to see what a hockey rink would potentially bring what additional traffic it would bring to the high school campus as well as the former incinerator site so now the hockey rink is a pretty strong option as well for the incinerator site there are forty three other options are considering the buy can skate park open space in solar storage ok and but it doesn't look good for the anaerobic digester after monday we w decision moving forward on that very soon we have been speaking with joanna jubal s who is the multimedia journalist for the belmont citizen her old and wicked local bel welcome does this week in the belmont tony and i have with me today franklin tucker the editor and publisher of the belmont county and the much online source for hyper local news thanks for stopping over oh thank you the decision on a community path location is moving from and the massachusetts department of transportation now these were important people because back in august or in the summer it was the groups that made had their concerns known that if belmont was going to go on the south side it meant that they were crossing the tracks at brighton street in a diagonal manner and they don't want that they don't want passed they don't want people to go from one path to another pa by going cross train tracks they would rather avoid them at all costs so there is a very slow said it was a safety issue and they probably will impel my one dollar probably getting funding for it and believe me bella is not going to pay for anything the construction of this pa without federal money and as this as a state and the m b t a said they've got the money they want this built and to make it clear that when we talk about the south side of the we have to be flexible because there are many other facts were in flux at the time now with the master who is providing the money is there a danger that they would refuse to provide the money if they thought that the crossing was unsafe so that's the interesting thing in the meeting they basically said both the n b a and mass start said there is no fatal flaw whether we go on the north side of the south side now it sounds interesting because now you would think that the board of selectmen would could continue with the south side which would also make changing road people very happy but now when they when they found out that they they could go on the south side another factor came up and there was a call pinch points there are two major page points on the south side where the with is not is not  critics scape dog place and and the pure coat industrial site that have taken those pieces by element domain or by them and those are considered almost fatal flaws for the town because that would be a town expense that would be a huge time expense now is there any sort of deadline or time frame where we're going to get to a decision well the worst like i said that we can't go on with this but this is not going on for another three decades like like it has been going on they said that of february they're going to make a decision whether it's the north side in the south side and that's it that will be decision so in a couple of weeks that's right thanks for bringing us up to date we've been speaking with franklin tucker the editor and publisher of the belmont tony and online source for hyper local news the belmont police department has signed on to an innovative approach to handling many criminal justice cases i have with me today down my police chief richard mclaughlin to talk about the belmont police department's new efforts in restored of justice thanks for stopping over chief thanks for having me roger can you summarize what the concept of restored of justice is what  restorative justice is in gives us an alternative to what we've had and the process we've utilized in the house back in april of two thousand and eighteen govern a baker signed into the criminal justice reform act and what did is open the doors and let departments and communities sign on for storage of justice programs particular one that we've become partner now with c four r j has been doing  this process since two thousand and we've been looking at it for a number of years but now that we have had the opportunity we've signed on because now with the new criminal justice reform bill i think there's going to be a lot of other departments and communities signing on as well and when you say that the police department is signed on what does that mean what will you do differently now what we will do differently now is when we have a crime committed what we'll do is look at the particulars of the crime and we'll talk to the people involved mostly importantly is the victim of the crime and if this is a strictly voluntary process and what would ask is if they the victim would be would want to participate in this program it's strictly voluntary and part of the process is that there is a circle what they say is how they describe it that it's confidential but the process is that we talk about what happened the crime committed and what we want to do is make the person the victim and the community right from that situation whatever it was whether it be vandalism so if somebody is property break in and then trying and prior to that we would take a report would take the person and eventually it would end up in court it would end up in court in criminal court in criminal court so this gives us alternatives that we don't have to go that route but it's all encompassing on the victim and the offender being part of it because the offender has to sign off on a contract and be remorseful for what their actions and there is a rule for belmont volunteers if i understand correctly right yes there is and part of the program you know the police are involved obviously the representative from c four i involved the victim the offender and then there's volunteers from the community did to listen to help people understand the impact of that crime and try and resolve it as a group i have a question what does the police department get out of this what we get out of it is obviously more being partner with our community and having people understand our role but also the impact more started back in december i sent a number of our members to pop in members to some training part of the process also is that c four i j will be coming in to do roll call training for all our members so that everybody understands what it entails and then you know again there's going to be some volunteer training and i know that there was some schedule for february and that's for all that's full i've been told that class of full and but there's another one scheduled for may and again i think we can refer people to the c four i j website and that has a lot of information on it as far as what they can understand and better explain so belmont police department is going to be participating with the community as a community partner is and we've restored of justice and as the process rolls out we will hear more and more yes i'm getting these department yes indeed thanks for stopping now's the time for interested persons to file their nomination papers to run for town meeting members or to run for state for a county wide public office i have with me today town clerk ellen o'brien chrisman to talk about running for public office thanks for having me let's talk about running for town meeting st or what spaces are open so there are twelve spots in every one of our eight voting precincts those are available for new and county members who want to try and get reelected there are a total of two hundred and eighty eight dollars elected town mean members so it's a pretty big panel anybody who wants to run is welcome as long as they are registered voter of belmont they would gather twenty five signatures of their relatives and friends who are also registered voters at belmont in their precincts they would just pick up nomination papers from the town clerk's office any time were open they have till february th at five pm to turn back in and one thing i think you heard you just say is  even if there are incumbents running for reelection each of the twelve spots is open and you have to fight for your spot and in some precincts it's hard fought fight in others we're still recruiting and trying to get people to represent their communities is there any particular precinct where there are fewer people running for reelection yes increasing seven we actually only have i believe four of the twelve people have filed saying that they are interested in reelection although one or two of the people who hadn't responded are considering but there are twelve slots in every single one of the precincts in addition there are some partial spots in precincts one dollar to five dollars and seven dollars there are tiny you know one year slots or two year slots instead of the customary three for someone was to dip in the toe instead of diving all the way in a seems to me that a partial years allow somebody to test to see whether they're interested in that being in town meeting exactly it's just those who were vacated by the person before their term ended let's talk about the process of filing of getting signatures and filing papers how many signatures people need so for town meeting it requires twenty five dollars signatures of certified registered voters of your precinct only your precinct and for town wide office it's fifty so we always recommend a cushion of probably ten extra vote extra voting signatures so getting twenty five signatures really involves walking in your neighborhood on a saturday or sunday or in evening night and probably not a day like today if yesterday called but yes but talking to your neighbors absolutely if you're at a superbowl gathering for example bring your papers come into the town clerk's office today tomorrow pick them up and you can just have people sign as long as they're registered voters ok to summarize the headlines i hear from you ok are that there are twelve slots in every precinct or town meeting correct and number two is that the deadline for filing papers is february th at five pm that's great thank you for stopping over no problem i hope to see a lot of new people arthur do and i did of research and find out that a lot of companies not getting too hydroponics in new york in california that and eventually if this works in food deserts you can build this started as a seed this is was germinates and this is like about three days and we can see some coming out this is about a week that's two weeks and there's already a three week so st batch of bizzle which was about fifty that you know they put it on they so some of them it's like ok i'll buy and make a salad at home some of them they want us to make the salad which a takes like five minutes we make a fresh salad for them so it has it has the water  it's connected and it's time so it turns on and what does itself we don't touch it it does everything water i to i took off of the here's the belmont media center who's jane peters to tell us about what there is to do in belmont in the coming week hi everyone i'm jane in this is your community calendar for next week but online summer camp auction to support the foundation for belmont summer soccer camps is a great chance to ensure your child's summer plans and support the f b i award winning author illustrator gerry craft is visiting belmont books on tuesday to discuss his new book new kid a timely honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real kids and adults alike can enjoy this free event beginning at six pm the public is invited to attend the planning board hearings on the new belmont seven to twelve high school and provide comments on the design the next meeting takes place on tuesday at seven pm in the board of selectmen meeting room in town hall visit belmont high school project up org to learn more about the design and to stay up to date on the project documentary matters as an initiative of the social documentary network and digital silver imaging to provide a place for photographers to meet and discuss ongoing or completed projects on wednesday at six hundred and thirty here from photographers eric hofner meredith ne paris disowns at digital silver imaging you don't need to be a professional to attend you just need to be committed to the documentary form in photography multimedia or video and committed to learning learn more on the social documentary network's website taste some gorgeous wines in this cover why portugal is now the hottest wine region today at q b his wine seminar on thursday at six hundred and thirty wine specialist gusto gabriel will guide you on a tour of this ancient wine producing region home to some of the world's most delicious and best value wines r s v p for this free seminar by email or in store so samal belmont presents the belmont fix it clinic on saturday from one to five at the library at fixit clinics participants can bring in various damaged items and receive free guided assistance from volunteers with repair skills all ages are welcome to this hands on event where you will learn basic repair skills build community connections and reduce the number of repairable objects thrown in the trash also on saturday enjoy an afternoon of local talent at the belmont media centers open mike from noon to four pm musicians comedians filmmakers poets and more are welcome to sign up for a fifteen minute spots to perform on the b m c stage audience members are also welcome to attend for free afternoon of live entertainment learn more and sign up online we are all acutely aware of the effects of this cold time of year and the homeless among us even more so boston health care for the homeless and the boston red sox have teamed up to address the need for clean warm socks this winter dr david l purpose i trust will have a donation box for new white socks of all sizes in his office at one oak ave in belmont stop by and place the sox in the bin between nine am and five pm monday through thursday and for every two pairs dr albert will add an additional pair the belmont gallery of art opens its newest sold out for the organizer the belmont chinese american association the event is the place for the chinese community in belmont to gather in a time to introduce the chinese community to the broader belmont when franklin tucker brings us up to date on the success of the basketball teams as we watch clips from the recent lexington games the belmont high school boys and girls varsity basketball team continue on their winning ways remaining undefeated as they defeated their respective opponents lexington and wakefield high school last week in the boys game versus lexington penn sarawak he was the in the may belmont go he had a game of sixes he led the team in rebounds and assist with six and we had six points on three for six shooting review team scoring with danny armenian with thirty one unmarked anis with twenty as belmont defeated the minutemen ninety three to seventy one on tuesday night's game the boys varsity team squeak playing tough defense resulting in sixty of the leading rebounder was ellen gagne on with nine belmont prevail fifty dollars to thirty three dollars after a cultural thing about in the st three minutes of the game well that's it for this week's edition of the journal as we sign off let's watch what else is available on the belmont media centers community programming television channels this is the belmont journal i'm your host roger coulton i will see you again next