tuesdays at four thirty pm and wednesdays at twelve thirty pm on channel nine x finity and channel twenty nine fi os listen any time on the b m seed podcast network on sound cloud and tunes just search for the belmont media podcast network and now on to the talking news veterans memorial or receive one hundred thousand dollar matching grant by ellen schreiber the belmont veterans memorial committee announced a one hundred thousand dollars matching grant from the belmont savings bank foundation to help restore and enhance the veterans pond the banks leadership gift is expected to anchor the fund raising and spier other donors we were inspired by the vision and passion of the belmont veterans memorial committee said robert marcy chairman of the belmont savings bank foundation board this is a project that brings together the entire belmont community to honor our veterans and to create a unique and special place in town as a community bank we are committed to the belmont community and we were excited to play a role in making it happen r c explained three years ago belmont savings bank foundation made a similar leadership challenge grant for the construction of the new underwood pool which inspired over two hundred thousand dollars in donations from belmont residents in a four week period and help secure the success of the project the belmont savings bank foundation's current one hundred thousand dollar fund raising challenge comes with a december thirty one deadline which should allow construction to be completed in time for veterans day twenty eighteen this is a very big deal for the belmont's veterans and our community and we are tremendously grateful to belmont savings bank for their strong leadership chair of the belmont veterans memorial committee and a form of belmont selectman at seventy seven years old the current memorial is showing its age the stone wall is largely concrete patches the structure is compromised and the brass plaque is beyond repair in its current shape the memorial does not properly on of the memories of servicemen and women for  the new memorial will restore the historical wall to its original condition and new memorial stones will honor of the contributions of belmont veterans in each individual military conflict since the town founding in one thousand and fifty nine the enhanced memorial will also be a focal point along the soon to be built integrated into generational walking path around clay pit pond the benches for rest and contemplation when you look at the design of this beautiful memorial which is integrated into the beautiful walking path that town is already building it is easy to see how belmont residents will be drawn to the path and the restful place provided by the veterans memorial for and see said the belmont veterans memorial design features a patio of engraved memorial bricks and benches that on a belmont veterans as well as veterans friends family and members of belmont residents additionally we're looking for donors who can help remember over one hundred belmont servicemen who have fallen during wartime in conflicts from the civil war on for in z said we want to make sure that every one of these fallen service men memorialized on an engraved brick online donations can be made at w w w dot belmont vets dot com or check donations can be made to belmont veterans memorial committee p o box seven nine zero two four belmont mass or two four seven nine or email but e mail belmont that's mail at g mail dot com for more information the fund raising challenge will also be highlighted at the premier film screening of belmont veterans remember on sunday november five four pm at the belmont town hall auditorium and now over to claire thank you bob new water meat is on tap for all households consume rose water department who will read  by joanna k hz of alice department of public works water division manager michael bishop hopes to start replacing every belmont home's water meter with smart meters by the end of this year the majority of water meters currently in place are more than twenty years old and due to be replaced because the batteries will be reaching their maximum life the smart meters will allow residents to see their water consumption instantly using their mobile device said bishop they will also reduce the town's cost for meter reading because each meta w have an encoder attached to it which will be uploaded to a gate keeper and downloaded onto the water department's computer system readings are accurate real time daily said bishop currently each water meter is read electronically by belmont light by driving by residents homes one of the big advantages of the new system is that it will enable the water department to create reports by getting nightly readings and determine if usage is outside a parameter if a leak is suspect if the customer will be contacted there's usually a cause for it being too high or too low said bishop if it's high it's usually a toilet running or leaking when it comes to water theft we've only had two people in the thirty five years i've been here said bishop there is a tamp switch which will go off if meat is tampered with another big advantage will be the ability to go to monthly billing instead of quarterly it will be much more affordable to the residents to receive a monthly bill then it is for a quarterly bill we feel it will be easier to budget for said bishop the project is being funded through the water and sewer reserve accounts the funds have already been appropriated in the total cost is two point six million dollars the consultants are finalizing request for proposals for purchase of the equipment and for me to  installations by a private contractor the contractor will do all the scheduling for installations with the residence which will should not take more than forty five minutes per household over two max thanks claire rats on the rise in town forty percent jump in the number of rat complaints this year by joanna cates of alias brianne gray a second year graduate student  boston university's school of public health made an interesting discovery during her internship with the belmont health department this summer raft complaints are on the rise according to belmont health director wesley chin there has been a forty percent jump in the number of complaints this year compared to last year since january his office has received more than seventy calls from residents who have seen rats on their property including a resident on avenue who actually spotted one in their toilet in the middle of the night chin said rats only need a half a half inch opening to get in anywhere so if there is an opening in a pipe and they are thirsty they will get him gray's internship turned into a rat study when he observed how many complaint calls were coming in she decided to study rat sightings in belmont from two thousand and fifteen to the present to track how it may have changed what she learned is they appear to be moving toward cambridge she continues to see similar clustering in the hollow and beech street areas but more recently they are being spotted in the watson road area is construction to blame chin said disruptions caused by consider the construction of the bradford development complex in cushing square doesn't explain all the rat sightings according to chin construction would definitely be a cause for the increase in rats sightings however based on how far rats travel one hundred fifty to three hundred feet from their burrow or home calls are coming in from a distance much further away from the bradford construction site otto weiss project manager for toll brothers apartment living so the company did a survey of the site for construction quote we have not heard any issues any issues at our site or heard of issues from any of the above hers unquote he said whatever the cause may be grey said when she assessed the properties where rats or rat evidence were spotted she said they all had similar conditions which attract rats such as messy yards yards with gardens clutter and composting bins rats can chew through anything softer than steel said grey steve one zero owner of bordeaux pest control in belmont said he has definitely seen an uptick in rats over the past few years especially when roads are dug up for construction and sewer work he believes part of the problem is due to the reduction of poison used to kill the rodents he said there were dumpsters in cambridge where they could be coming from if you see a rat or evidence of a rat call a licensed pest control technician said one zero home owners should not treat for rats on their own he said how to prevent infestation chine recommends if someone wants to compost their composting be in should be on a concrete slab where rats can't burrow underneath however if someone who composts has a rat problem he recommends they discontinue composting until the rat problem is solved solid cat and dog waste is another attractant for rats said jim he said the rising rat trend in belmont is similar to the trend in the neighboring towns since it is there are many things residents can do to decrease their risk such as keeping things in the garage six inches off the floor and away from walls he said rats like to find nice nooks and crannies to stay warm and hide him over to you bob towns collaborate on disabled sports program by kenny feltner bolstered by four decades of collaboration with the towns of want to town and belmont have made their combined efforts to support children and adults with intellectual disabilities official through the special programs organized for recreation time referred to as s p r t both towns will continue to work together to provide a range of services to intellectually disabled residents the program offers participants over forty recreational activities such as soccer nordic skiing yoga rowing and others the activities a year round and will help serve roughly three hundred adults and children in the combined towns belmont is shouldering most of the cost for the initiative the program will be continuously improved as it goes on official say i think one of the important aspects is the ability to provide added services to people in watertown said moxa derose town council president for  watertown most important to me is continuing the collaboration with another community and expanding services will be monitoring monitoring to see how this situation plays out susan wiener is the former director of recreation for the belmont she remembers when the program largely consisted of friday night socials the need to partner with watertown was clear from the start she said we were first joined forces some of the registration forms would go through watertown some would go through belmont and it was getting too confusing because they would actually all would be signing up for the same programs she said i think it's wonderful for both towns it's a win win bowl towns get the recognition for supporting the program but population is certainly for both towns and outside the areas she added making the program official helps ensure its long jetty weiner said the services will continue to be needed as the population of special needs continues to grow and over declare thank you special permit to renovate their home was not enough to sway the belmont planning board to take the matter to a vote at an october third public hearing it's been dysfunctional david had i the owner of the home said describing the process hi said he and his wife susanna requested the special permit for their home at seventy five larmer road this summer when their application was flag the belmont zoning board of appeals for violating a new law intended to stop homes being demolished and replaced with oversized mcmansion hoa houses wave of na support knowing the by laws intent was to preserve the character of belmont neighborhoods the has went door to door seeking support or corning to their neighbors by the beginning of the october third meeting they had over one hundred signatures and several neighbors in attendance to show support for the project i think it would be really nice for our neighborhood if another house became that much nicer debbie neighbor of the highs said i think it helps lift the whole neighborhood up about a dozen neighbors made similar statements supporting the highs during public comment in it seemed to strike that that was not true of additions in the neighborhoods that prompted the creation of the by law board member charles clarke agreed that the show of support for the neighbors help us was any concerns he had about the renovation board chair vocal critic but planning board chairman elizabeth allison warned that the neighbors may not be able to truly appreciate the size of the renovation before it was constructed that the larger issue for allison the projects most vocal critic was setting a bad precedent we don't want to paint a target on this neighborhood allison said explaining that she feared developers would use this ruling as precedent that the candle gardens neighborhood was open season for more extreme variant of ations highs proposed renovation would more than double the area of the current building far exceeding the thirty percent increase cap outlined by a bylaw added last year but he said at twenty two thousand eight hundred square feet the house was definitely not a mcmansion board member steve pinkerton who helped craft the by law in question before joining the board said he agreed that the renovation was appropriate for the neighborhood citing consistent architecture and the house is large you lot size i think you've met the requirement as we intended it pinker said to the couple you certainly met the spirit of it despite voicing his support pinkerton said he would be abstaining from voting on the project since he came onto the board after the first public hearing on the matter neighbors expressed frustration allison also raised the issue of the basement acting as an accessory apartment a secondary dwelling unit located within the same lot as an owner occupied single family house because it had an independent bathroom and entrance board vice chairman bob or a fiasco who also said she would abstain from voting based on absences in early hearings said she felt the bathroom existing before the renovation meant it should not factor into the decision over to max now thanks claire residents frustrated with decisions on trash pay as you throw by angela toma tensions ran  high at the october third selectman meeting of the new trash contract passed by the selectmen last week was not scheduled for discussion during the meeting this did not deter a couple of upset citizens from raising their concerns about the new contract last week after an arduous and contentious discussion the belmont board of selectmen voted two to one in favor of instituting automated trash collection however there are some who have still not accepted their decision don mercier a long time town meeting member took issue with the upcoming bidding system mercier wants the selectmen to open up the bids to different trash pick up methods rather than just the automated collection method he believes opening up the bids will allow the selectmen to choose the more cost efficient option the selectmen heard the concerns of mercier but reiterated that they had already voted and decided on the automated pickup method chairman jim williams concluded by asserting that they will be quote putting the bid out as the board of selectmen approved it to be quote the selectmen hope to have a full community dialogue once the new automated system is in place amanda musique a chairman of belmont's p t a slash p t o green alliance expressed frustration due to the absence of pay as you throw p a white t in the meetings agenda as you throw is a green initiative that at its core would require citizens to pay for each trash bag they wanted collected this like the automated trash collection has been a hot topic of debate the selectmen decided on september twenty fifth that it would be impossible to simultaneously implement p a y t and or end automated trash collection they opted to put the p a whitey initiative on the back burner asserted the selectmen had decided they would discuss and vote on p a y t during the october third meeting when the agenda emitted the topic she contacted the town office the office told me she could not submit her question regarding p a y t to the chairman and board in order to do so she needed to hand in her questions before noon on the day of the meeting she missed the deadline by an hour usually go was irritated because this was not stated in any written rule she asked for clarification on how she was expected to reserve concerns to the board over to you bob thank you max program to feature medal  collection the belmont historical society will offer its first public program of the twenty seventeen twenty eight hundred season on sunday october twenty second with a talk on the middle in the g g in a native of cambridge worked as a machinist for general electric in lynn in the one nine hundred fifty s during his lunch breaks he would sit rummage through the scrap son robert rediscovered his father's extraordinary collection of miniature as a tribute of his dad and as a way of his own for and of way for his two sons to get to know the grandfather they never knew robert began sharing his father's collection at a local museums and various other venues this unusual collection has been featured in the boston globe and on channel five chronicle program and over declare thank you paul fall yard waste collection schedule announced leaves then yard waste will be collected curbside every week on belmont residents regular rubbish day between october twenty three and december seventh if they are in trash barrels no greater than twenty thirty two gallons weighing no more than fifty pounds marked with two yard wa stickers stickers are provided by the town or put in thirty gallon brown biodegradable paper bags weighing no more than fifty pounds no plastic bags are accepted from october twenty third through december ninth residents can bring leaves only in any type of clean container and emptied them into the community compost pile at the transfer station at eleven thirty conker dav the always are monday through friday from seven thirty to eleven thirty am and twelve thirty two three pm except november eleventh veterans day and november twenty third thanksgiving day the transfer station will also be opened on seven saturdays october twenty eighth through december ninth from eight to eleven thirty am and twelve thirty two four pm residents must bring identification a driver's license so staff can verify belmont residency called the highway division at six one seven nine nine three two six nine zero four questions or information about composting over to max thanks claire cushing square halloween to raise funds for puerto rico hollowing and cushing square have been synonymous for many years the arrival of children in costumes has been an annual event for many local and regional families this event began as a costume parade for families with children who were too young to go trick or treating the cushing square merchants association has met and decided unanimously that it would like to see a change in this event for two thousand and eighteen to revert back to the original intent of the event a costume parade that is centered around the parade while it is too soon this year to coordinate a big change to c s m a would like this year's hollowing event to be connected to be connective community building and charitable by working towards a full scale costume parade and fundraiser for two thousand and eighteen in reflection of all the recent natural disasters in contest or fees in the world the c s m a would like to include a charitable giving component to this year's event rather than a receiving component the two thousand and seventeen event will be held as planned from three to five pm on october thirty first and families are welcome to to give to massachusetts united for puerto rico a newly created fund intended for long term relief in puerto rico and to benefit people from puerto rico who relocate to massachusetts back to you bob along with my colleagues claire and max we thank you for listening to the talking news and hope you enjoyed the show we will return next week for another edition of local news happenings around belmont