welcome to belmont journal i'm your host jeff hansell the executive director at the belmont media center belmont journal is hyper local news and community information for you this week it was memorial day and as than god we've come to this hallowed ground to remember to remember our honor dead who are laid to rest and this place but not only here but in cemeteries around our country and around everyone comes home whole and hearty and ready to tell their stories so here's to all our veterans all if you served to your insurer anyways your sacrifice is all across this week long time police officer and a communications person at the belmont police department dan mccauley retired after thirty five years on the police force we know him here at the belmont journal because he often and for me personally when somebody when i can do that and that makes a lot of sense to me but i just want to say that you know he has done a great job for his thirty six years while he's been here in a number of involved in belmont forever with the boosters he was a trainer back at the high school who supports the sports teams he's a member of president past president the belmont lions club d n a has done a tremendous amount for belmont and it is only fitting at nice to have you as host today well thank you i'm glad they let me in the studio you never know what's the headline today one of the big headlines jeff is that foods market in belmont center has closed they officially closed today may thirty first which is the day the same day we're taping this gas one year since they opened and it's sad news to a lot of people who shop there a lot of people like the convenience of it some people said they're not surprised to hear the about it he said it's a big blow to the company financially and just you know he really thought it was succeed they did their market research before they opened and they never expected that they wouldn't get the volume of customers they needed it's all about the volume of customers the sales he told me that even if they had if the landlord said he would put the rent down to zero they still couldn't stay open because they still wouldn't break even though he didn't have constant our summers right in that store any any wise yes he gave me what he thought the number of factors that contributed to one he said was parking and he was referring to the parking on leonard street that there wasn't enough parking ok maybe the meters deter people from parking in on leonard street the other thing he said was maybe it was the fact that they were below grade on the lower level so you couldn't actually see the products right walking by oh well he made the decision he said we made the decision to take that space because it was a smaller space it was lower and yeah he also said maybe people perceive them as being pricier than competitors and basically what it all comes down to is they just didn't get the number of customers well indeed it's disappointing to see and i'm sure as you say disappointing for the people who invested time and money into it with us and we wish them well because they do have three of the locations and yeah that is right well there and we'll see what happens in that space will be interested to see what happens and how soon it happens and then town meeting there's a i wouldn't call it a controversy it's the opposite of controversy where there was overwhelming support to fix yes department public works in a police station as after many many years of trying to get those facilities fixed the police and d p w there was almost a was a huge victory at last night's town meeting where they congratulated each other and hard because this building committee which was formed about six months ago they hired an architect and they came up with a solution for both facilities one is short term one is long term but the best part is and it's all going to cost eight point nine million dollars but it's not going to affect the tax code i'm just going to ask you people are going to say ok great we're going to get this but how much is going to cost me not me personally but taxpayer it's going to cost the town that that's what town meeting approved there's going to be a bond that the town is going to have to borrow and pay back over thirty years seven point four million dollars and then they're getting some funds from the kendall insurance fund about five hundred ninety thousand dollars any negative impact on the town budget that is that's the best part that's part and they knew that they would never get this to pass if if anything was going to affect the taxpayer so what do you think led to that being a success as was it the fact that they just perhaps said let's let's do something to solve the problem let's not try to rebuild everything is but it came to a point where they really had to do something but i really think a lot of it had to do with the architect that they hired to tag along to a studios in cambridge and he had this vision and he looked at the police station and said yeah we can do this you can add on you can renovate they never thought it possible and he actually said and these were innovations that they're doing and the additions that they're putting the station could last another eighty seven years it's already built and it may have to because we have coming up a couple of projects in which you're also going to be a lot of support for yes important projects but these it's great to see that these two were fine it's very exciting it's a short term solution for the public works facility will give them another ten years and and we're back here with franklin tucker of the belmont tony and how you doing franklin just fine what are we writing about of the belmont tony in about town meeting oh it was the emory mahoney show on the first night of  who are so well prepared at town meeting and who who just whose presence will pass articles which they are supporting you need to look at enron hony and glen clancy who's the director of  presence knowing how to talk to town meeting how that can just help a project go along i mean she was so well prepared she had a great committee talking we're talking now about the the police personality spouting out references of winston churchill throughout the night and she really put a great presentation as she always does and that really helps because tell me wants to be one point four million dollars of just just the regular things that you throw out there you know you have to do it for the first time ever it passed unanimously it was two hundred nine to zero it was an incredible vote so we could say that if a person who is going to town for over thirty years and you mentioned something else about a couple of articles coming back that's right presenting those comments town treasurers bringing back two articles that were defeated two one last year so this is a real and everyone else has a basically on fairness this is we're talking about spousal benefits for surviving spouses of retirees of employees for that's right he's basically increasing it from six thousand to twelve thousand dollars a year it's not a lot of money because there's only three survived three women who are taking this benefit ok and even if everyone did take the benefit it's only going to be eleven more people ok so it's this is this is the short money and it was about fairness that's right and so is the other thing the authorizing the increase of the cola the cost of living adjustment based on the retirement board this will increase by a thousand dollars the base could be a lot more expensive  he was mr hockey in many ways he was the long long time coach of the mites and the mites are eight and unders so these are the people who are really these are the little kids who first really get into competitive hockey they're going in and traveling to other teams and other places and also mr hockey that he had five boys all of them played well all of them played college hockey in fact his son is in that is now the executive director of usa hockey of the governing board that's that's hockey well we're sorry his passing and glad to know thank you for noting that thank you franklin thank you very much this week the conservation commission met again to discuss a master plan for rock meadow which will help provide a plan but also a way to preserve the land to graduate students from conway school who are commission in belmont and the first community meeting we got the community feedback about existing condition in the in the meadow in iraq but also to determine what they thought were the biggest asset conflicts rockmelon and today we gather that feedback and use that to create to design alternative community calendar for this week the belmont dramatic club announces auditions for its fall show a comedy mystery titled murder at rundown abbey on monday from seven to nine thirty at the pace of park church bring your resume and headshot there will be cold readings from the script information on roles in the play itself can be found on the dramatic club website by the ewing the impact of your house on your financial social and emotional well being you may decide to renovate so you can stay there forever or you may find another housing option that will suit you better presenter penelope sucrose will share stories from people who are happy making a range of different housing choices at the beach street center on tuesday at one fifteen learn simple techniques tricks and terms to help you shoot better footage all from your smartphone but a lot resident emmy award winning producer bob craig will teach students in this tonight class all about shooting and editing cell phone video this class is intended for beginners who are already on a smartphone and are interested in learning more registration is required on the library's web site the belmont farmer's market opens on thursday at two pm in the belmont town center parking lot meet local vendors purchase local goods and support your community farmers as a reminder the farmer's market accepts and matches nap and senior f m n p benefits each year one point five million people are diagnosed with lumbar spinal and a significant majority are over fifty five years of age please join kim keeley neurosurgery physician assistant and joy mullen physical therapist for a discussion of the diagnosis management of symptoms and the current treatment options for lumbar spinal stenosis on friday at one fifteen join carole bernie local wildlife photographer at habitat for an easy stroll and bird watching on saturday from nine thirty to eleven am you can register for this guided bird walk on the library's website join the friends of the armenian culture society in the sixty seventh annual armenian night at the pops featuring belmont native aram have seppi and on the violin on sunday at symphony hall in boston tickets are available online at f  boston dot org and that's it for this week if you like your event featured in belmont journal's community calendar you can e mail your event information to jane at belmont media dot org see you next week and now here's this week's spotlight on sports welcome to belmont high marauder update with the spring season ending this week four teams from belmont high school will be participating in their sports postseason all track stars are poised to capture a number of state championships here we have a clip of the boys  rugby team as they went over to hanover season both boys and girls rugby finish the year undefeated and will be number one seeds in the playoffs so the girls who are defending their state championship banner ended the season at six a no defeating lincoln sudbury fourteen to twelve in an epic battle in belmont belmont boys rugby dominated its opponents this year winning by more than two tries in each of its games they finished the season defeating defending division two champions hanover but a high school baseball completed back to back middlesex league championships coming back from a three nothing deficit to rally with two runs in the last inning to defeat host reading seventy five belmont is now fourteen and five with one game remaining much like last year belmont boys look ross waited until the penultimate game to secure a spot in the playoffs with a ninety seven win over west and finally belmont tractors led by senior superstar a new show crafty and will be seeking state championships  thursday and saturday at all at the allstate meet in fitchburg after winning three eastern mass division two titles in the path on one hundred meter hurdle and long jump crafty and seeks to retain her state titles in the hurdles and pentathlon this week senior calvin perkins will be trying to have his own title in the four hundred metres which he finished second last year while anchoring the four by four hundred relay that won the division two championships well that's it for this week please join us next