watch and listen to the talking news every day at twelve noon and six pm on channel ninety six comcast ticks finity and channel thirty verizon fi o's it can also be heard mondays and tuesdays at four thirty pm and wednesdays at twelve thirty pm on channel nine x finity and channel twenty nine five listen any time on the b m c podcast network on sound cloud and just search for the belmont media podcast network now on to the talking news works director michael santoro and director of belmont health wesley chin assurance pet solutions will treat rodent barros with rat gel to cheer and substance with active ingredients such as golic oil and white pepper the company will also trap the rodents in baiting stations located throughout the poc this section of the poc will be regularly monitored and treated over the next three to four weeks and remain closed until the problem is safely resolved joey's pock was originally closed october the nineteenth for one month due to a rat infestation discovered beneath the play structures assurance pes test solutions used the same substance and procedure to resolve the problem center said food and feces of the culprits causing the rats to return to joey's puck people are not picking up after their dogs and leaving the feces in the field near joey's puc which the rats find and bring to the burrows under play structures at the park he said all the trash barrels have been removed from the park but people are still using an old sealed off water foam as a makeshift traffic barrel by punching the holes in the tape and sticking dirty diapers and trash into what he thinks the town may have to wince to to to carry in kerio policy for public parks santoro also said that someone took the traps left in the borrows by assurance pet solutions and put them in the field to use as goals for a soccer he is not sure who could have done it but of the traps which were anchored down were ripped up and found in the field the belmont board of health said calls from residents reporting rats sightings or evidence of rats droppings between november and december but began picking up again in january sightings have been all over the town not just in one particular neighborhoods said brianne gray the belmont healthy turn wesley chin director of the belmont health department said they became aware there may be a problem with joey's pocket again one apparent call to report they found a dead rat at the puck gray and shin inspected and found more rock barros particularly underneath the pretend stage area pocks for the enjoyment of everybody we all need to work together to do our best to keep them clean which means minimizing food sources he thinks the carian kerio policy would be a good idea for all the parks and there was a public meeting to address concerns about the growing rat population in belmont on march fifteenth at six thirty pm in the town hall auditorium and nova claire thank you bob backers of minimum wage hike hold fast adopting a take it or leave it strategy by matt murphy the ballot proposal to raise the state's minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour is non negotiable according to raise up massachusetts insider who described the group's wage floor hike effet as a take it or leave it proposition as legislators look to find a compromise that would keep th question into others off the november ballot a new internal poll has imbued raise up massachusetts the coalition of labor civic and religious organizations behind to three ballot proposals th with strength and confidence in its prospects for convincing voters to embrace a fifteen dollar minimum wage and reject a reduction in the sales tax while raise up leaders remain optimistic that talks between lawmakers in business groups will yield a compromise over paid family and medical leave the grassroots group feels no impetus to negotiate over the wage increase either separately or as part of a bigger deal the source familiar with res ups strategy told a news service raise up plans in the coming weeks to ramp up its legislative lobbying efforts for the fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage by staging a series of community briefings are around the state with events planned in fall river in new bedford springfield lawrence wister boston lynn and brockton the legislature needs to hear from us in every corner of massachusetts that it's time to pass paid family and medical leave and a fifteen dollar minimum wage field first organized for and raise up memba matalan mcgill wrote in an e mail detailing the effort to coalition members the insider who requested anonymity to discuss internal campaign and  said the group will not entertain changes that take people backward including the creation of the lower wage for teenagers or the elimination of time and a half pay on sundays pass our bill the person said a poll conducted by kiley and company in late january for raise up massachusetts found that paid family and medical leave would be a slam dunk at the ballot box in november while support for a fifteen dollar minimum wage was better than two to one a presentation of the polls core findings obtained by the new service also showed that despite strong support for a third ballot question lowering the sales ta state sales tax to five percent it was vulnerable to negative messaging those results have buttressed raised resolve to push forward with its ballot strategy for the minimum wage increase and resist pressure to cut a deal with business groups the internal poll randomly sampled six hundred registered in likely voters on both land to lines and cell phones the sales tax reduction question polled as well as a minimum wage increase but support winged as arguments against the reduction were introduced to the road is those negatives included claims that it would take money away from schools and transportation infrastructure and that a decrease in sales tax revenue would hurt the state's ability to make up for the loss of federal financial support for health care and other priorities due to the federal tax cut now his max thanks claire town hiring consultant to look for solution to traffic traffic advisory committee will welcome public comments on march eighth by joanna cate savalas belmont resident dr camille foolish and is no stranger to the sweet day traffic on brighton street during the morning and evening rush hours he lives on the corner of centric road and brighton street and from his home office has a perfect view of the back up of vehicles which has grown considerably in recent years he believes many drivers are cutting through belmont to get to and from their place of work using navigation apps on their mobile devices to avoid route to as a result rush hour has turned our beautiful neighborhood into a parking lot full of fumes he stated in a petition presented to the traffic advisory committee one year ago on february twenty eighth two thousand and seventeen one year later after two hands efforts and the results of the traffic study conducted for the belmont high school project community development is planning to hire a traffic consultant to conduct a town wide traffic study residents ideas for solutions to cut through traffic one year ago full of hand collected two hundred fifty signatures in just one hour from residents concerned about the increase in traffic on brighton street he took it upon himself to come up with some ideas for solutions and presented them to the traffic advisory committee last year proposed solutions include signage strategically placed at major town entrances near concord of and route two that say belmont residents business only for rush hour times this would in get engaged g companies to direct traffic away from belmont streets he said fool has said that this solution has been implemented in various towns across america with success such as freeport california and leonia new jersey he said residents and businesses could have a special tag on their cars this tag could also be offered to commuters for a steep price that could contribute to belmont's tax base another future solution foula have presented is congestion pricing to impose a steep toll on route two during rush hour or use electronic toll collection on main arteries of belmont with a resident exception this is a longer term solution which may require state approval he said full ahead thinks that the traffic is hurting local businesses causing pollution causing accidents including at the railroad crossing and could affect real estate values of belmont properties in the highly traveled areas the traffic advisory committee told fool hand it needed to wait and see what the results of the traffic study are for the belmont high school project nearly one year later the results of that study were presented at the b h as building committee meeting on january eleventh f spoke during the public comment period and as a result was invited to give his presentation at the january twenty sixth board of selectmen meeting since then glen clancy director of community development has hired a traffic consultant to give the town a proposal on a town wide traffic study on feb eighth the traffic advisory committee met with traffic consultant samuel off a auto of the b s e group to review the general scope of work that would need to be done for a belmont town wide traffic study of cut through traffic during peak morning and afternoon hours the goal of the study is to eliminate or reduce and or mitigate these cut through volumes over to you bo than just how to play a piano belmont resident and piano teacher michele harris recently opened the belmont piano academy to forty one eight belmont street in belmont which teaches comprehensive music education and appreciation harris is very passionate about what she does and hopes to instill a lifelong love of music in each of her students i love that they are taught life skills through music like confidence perseverance stage presence and public speaking it's not just about music there are so many other life skills that come out of it she said her background in education is in piano performance she began taking piano lessons as a child when she was eight her friends were taking lessons before and she remembers being so jealous she loved it and stuck with it her friends actually don't play piano anymore she aspired to become a professional piano player but changed her mind while she was getting her masters degree in piano performance because she realized how much she loved teaching young children students at belmont piano academy will learn music history composition theory and performance she said the piano is just the vehicle she uses to teach students how music can enrich their lives my goal is to help my students add music to their academic life in a way that's going to enrich their lives and broaden their minds and give them life skills of perseverance and work and appreciation for beauty and a broader understanding of the world she said belmont piano academy also offers group classes students meet each other meet each other on a regular basis perform for each other critique each other encourage each other communicate with each other it's a it's a real cold hoard of pianists instead of being off on your own trying to learn piano all by themselves do this together which makes it a bit more encouraging sometimes piano lessons can be lonely said harris prior to opening belmont piano academy harris taught lessons in her home she decided to open a studio with more space so she could have two side by side graeme pianos and an i pad laboratory the i pad lab office apps which make learning music fun and teaches students how to actually read notes there also an i pad app harris uses which allows or to interact with her students in between lessons see videos of them practicing and provide feedback before agreeing to start lessons  your students to practice five days per week for a set amount of time based on age and ability and she offers prize incentives she even teaches or students how to practice and now  over to clare thank you bob five things to know from you every twenty six selectmen meeting by joanna case of alice number one solid waste and recycling contract of selectmen agreed to sign the five year contract with waste management the total for fiscal nineteen will be two million two hundred twenty four thousand two hundred ninety six dollars service is willing clued fully automated solid waste collection single stream recycling collection yard waste collection collection of holiday trees the first two full weeks of january and the estimate cost to process two thousand six hundred twenty three tons of recycling in pick up one bulky per month the new contract will officially begin july first however residents will not begin using the automated sixty four gallon barrels for trash and ninety six gallon barrels for a single stream recycling until the late summer or early fall number two plastic there has been a group of concerned belmont residents who began meeting last november filed a citizens petition on february twenty third to add an article to the two thousand and eighteen annual town meeting warrant for bylaws to reduce the film less than four millimeters plastic bags and promote the use of reusable bags the by law requires retail establishments to provide recycl paper or reusable checkout bags thin film plastic bags without handles used to contain laundry dry cleaning newspapers produce meat  and other similar merchandise would not be prohibited under this by law the selectmen voted unanimously to put the article on the warrant for town meeting to make it easier to control the group of residents will withdraw their citizen petition the town department which will be enforcing the law is to be determined on february twenty sixth the board of health told the representatives who originally filed the citizens petition although it supports the ban it does not have the manpower to take the enforcement on an recommended asking the town recycling department the warrant article outlines penalties for violations of the by law for first second and subsequent often says which include written warnings and fines of fifty dollars to two hundred dollars number three articles related to marijuana the selectmen voted in favor of putting two articles on the annual town meeting warrant related to retail marijuana establishments one is to extend the  december to allow a safety net for the town if the zoning or an opt out recreational marijuana radical is not approved the other is for the town to collect three percent of marijuana tax whether or not the town votes to opt out or extend the moratorium number for wind article to increase the number of selectmen the selectmen study committee voted nine to four in favor of increase in the current size of the board january thirtieth a citizens petition to put an article on the annual town meeting more and to increase the number of selectmen from three to five was filed and number five porch gave their blessing for belmont support fest taking place september eighth from noon to six pm rain date september nine this is a national event to that brings the community together to celebrate art and music on residents front porches there will be to our events scheduled in three groups of precincts now here's max  avails proposed zoning by law changes by christie armstrong the planning board held a second public hearing on february fifteenth regarding the proposed amendment to the general residence zoning district by law at the previous public hearing on january eighth who sued eighteenth residents in attendance were vocal about what changes they considered to be desirable and undesirable and the planning board seemed to take those suggestions to heart as they invade unveiled the proposed amendments these by laws which were adopted by the town in two thousand and fourteen as temporary revisions to the existing guidelines are due to expire on june thirtieth two thousand and eighteen they were put in place to promote development that is compatible with the surrounding built environment as well as the existing neighborhood is that it through the application of pre determined performance standards proposed changes we are deleting the time limitation i e the sunset clause said planning board chairman charles clarke in addition said clark we propose a small change in the procedure for decks porches dormers and similar small projects by moving it from the planning  appeals the complexity of the process for small projects was a point that had been mentioned by a number of residents at the january public hearing the planning board is a heavier hand in the car continued right now in the current bylaws everything goes to the planning board with this change there will still be the opportunity for a public input but it takes it out of the realm of the planning board this is mostly a change in process which will hopefully streamline things further point of discussion was regarding the size of an alteration or structural change in question if such a change exceeds thirty percent of the gross floor area according to the current wording of the amendments a special permit must be issued by the planning board not the zoning board of appeals geoffrey wheeler senior town planner explained the percentage still needs to be decided upon by the planning board there's a large variation between one family in two family houses in terms of square footage so even twenty percent could be a big number he said a smaller percentage or a sliding scale was also discussed over a year bob thank you max much in band travels to disney world the belmont high school marching marauders and the belmont high school jazz collective travel to disney world for february vacation this tour february seventeenth to the twenty second included performances in the disney parks as well as several disney performance workshop opportunities for all members of both bands the belmont high school marching maraud is were selected from a pool of applicants through a screening process which included review a video of several past parade and field show performances the belmont high school band was chosen to perform in the official parade route to disney's magic kingdom on february nineteenth in a similar selection process the jazz collective was invited to perform and will be on the waterside stage in disney springs that same day in addition to these public performances all music students attending the belmont high school curricula band's trip to disney participated in performance workshops with disney professionals these workshops provided students the opportunity to work in person would disney professionals in a recording studio environment and experience the work of professional studio musicians from sight reading new music to rehearse singing with a new conductor and creating a final recording set to disney animation all in a single session i have had the pleasure of directing these co curricula bands here at belmont high school for four years now and i have seen tremendous growth in individuals as well as in the achievement of each on sambal as a whole all as a direct result of each member and section leaders consistent hard work i am so proud of these kids and i have been certainly learned a rewarding experience like this performance tool plus these tours serve as an authentic source of motivation the students work harder during rehearsals and performances for all the regular season knowing that they have exciting clinic and performance opportunities ahead a few rides of course a few rides added of course added paul kitchen director of the belmont high school band and over the cliff thank you bob belmont citizen reseize to first place journalism awards the belmont citizen harold was recognized for editorial excellence by the new england newspaper empress association at the end you will convention february twenty second and twenty third the winning journalist newspapers and websites were announced at the awards banquet at the boston renaissance hotel saturday evening more than three thousand entries were entered into this received first place on is for crime in courts reporting category four weekly newspapers contest judges said the two part series quote state of  based daycare are now in judge's hands which ran in the march thirtieth two thousand and seventeen and april sixth two thousand and seventeen additions of the belmont citizen herald provided readers with and eminently readable fair and comprehensive description of a municipal board decision that could have gone either way it's a microcosm of how local governance works and a testament to the for better or worse of community activism wrote the judge's form a citizen who world report a bram berkowitz received first place in the investigative reporting category for weekly newspaper for his special report on former belmont police officer their reward which ran in the may eighteenth two thousand and seventeen edition of the citizen herald the judges said it was a strong piece that illustrates the value of digging to unearth the story behind the story now his max thank you clare pajama drive from cradles to crayons donations accepted through march fifteenth at the circulation desk and the children's room the belmont public library has teamed up with the boston bruins to participate in their annual pajama drive to benefit d c s kids and cradles to crayons help us collect pairs of new pajamas for babies children and teens for every pair donated you'll be entered into a raffle to win a brand new kindle fire coordinated by the massachusetts board of library commissioners and the boston happenings around belmont