hello everyone welcome to the journal belmont's program for hyper local news and community programming i'm your host roger colton one thing that we are trying to do here at the media center with the belmont journal is to provide an opportunity for community involvement one example of that involvement is a report that has been produced by belmont media center volunteer erin mcneil aaron has produced a if painkillers if narcotics schedule two drugs are in the home because dad had back surgery or mom blew out her knee and had surgery for whatever reason if those kinds of pain killers are in the home then teenagers have access to t eenage athletes are getting prescribed these kinds of drugs packaged up and they were taken to another secure location before we dispose of them up policymakers have for years talked about the benefits from increasing cooperation between the town of belmont in other surrounding communities today we listen in as officials from belmont  waltham talk about a new cooperative agreement between the police departments on how to help people struggling with opioid addictions so about a year ago we took a look at some of the needs in our community and what we resource nights and we decided to bring that initiative up here to the waltham area what we started realizing and all the towns are start to realize that just because someone who lives in your town might have an opiate problem doesn't mean that they have possibly an overdose in your town you know what does kind of travel and what we really realize but we need some information sharing you know why someone who might be cheap trying to keep track of in my town that says they're doing ok but i don't realize that they overdosed while family overdosed in watertown and went to the hospital so we really realized which police departments do a lot of information sharing and realize that this could also help with getting keeping track of these people getting perhaps the help that they need so waltham reached out to all the surrounding towns like belmont and watertown to try to do a group effort and that's how it all started these walty and what it's west in lexington belmont newton and newton what are we doing all together well we're making connections also with different resources for families for people in need  y facilities overnight facilities different outpatient services and we're working on coordinating that if i have someone who overdosed in our town but they actually are waltham resident which has happened i will call megan or john and let them know what happened and then they will reach out to the person and also reach out to any recovery resources that we have and try to make the connection because it can be a very difficult thing for families especially who are suffering from these opioid problems to really be able to find the resources and we're kind of trying to also make a connection to me it's a win because we've actually seen walty in people come over to newton on their resource nights we've seen them move around  there's a stigma with addiction so you may not want if you're a wall to person addicted to something you may not want to show up and walk through but we're travelling amongst the six groups so they may go over to new to me that's a win win for the resource nights we want to make sure that families can come and gather information family support group survey oh boy all we want to distinguish ties and we want to make everybody feel welcome and i think we're doing a good job at that and i think from the family aspect of it i'm big on trying to help families that have addiction in their family because it's not their fault parents sometimes think what it where did i go wrong it is an addiction and even the people that are addicted  good people it's the drugs that are making them become a problem to their family to they might have run ins with the police i could think of one case where a twenty five year old kid in waltham overdosed or used to chase him around when he was a stall he's a good kid but when you dick cheney took over his life spiraled that's why we're all trying to work together to stop that it's good people that get addicted to families get tormented over the addiction which is trying to put that's what it's all about for and we're going to have our monthly resource nights and information on dates and specific dates and times would be found in any of the police departments website so we advertise number weeks beforehand about two or three weeks before the date it's typically the second thursday of each month so folks if they're looking for other resources they can look right in the police department's website all of us we want to help and we understand that it's a problem you know and you're not getting the person in trouble by reaching out for help we'll do what we can to get someone that th welcome to this week in the belmont tony and we have with us today franklin tucker who is the editor and publisher of the belmont ernie and thanks for coming over thank you always a pleasure where in the middle of season was going on with the well we've got a big budget this year the budget this year is going to be well the budget i should say for fiscal year nineteen which starts in july will be pegged right now at one hundred sixteen point two million dollars and that's an increase of  about five point six percent that's a that's a big increase now in the townsite it's about three point four percent but on the school side this is where you see a real big increase and that's seven point six percent where the school budget is now going to be fifty seven million dollars it's and that's up by four million dollars over one year and this is the operating budget this is not the capital but no no this is this has nothing to do with future spending at all no this is actually just what  they need what we see the problem i guess over the school side is that they've been seeing a huge increase in health premiums just for some reason they have had a big increase last year and an eleven percent increase in health premiums add on to this the the money just to keep everything going and at the rate that it is in terms of teachers and trying to keep trying to keep ahead of enrollment numbers that are continue to be skyrocketing that's why we see this increase in even going we are still in line to not have to go back for another over that's something that's the good news if there's only if there's anything in this budget the good news is that the override that was passed i believe it was twenty fifteen april twenty fifth team it was a promise then saying for the next three years we'll have no chaos in terms of budget the broad budget process we won't be looking at hugely huge layoffs in the school what happen is just by just prudent management getting some more money from the state and using free cash we will not only have a fourth year which should is this year but also next year's fiscal budget twenty twenty will also be a no chaos budget because we will have the money waiting for us so that's good news oh great news let's talk about aftercare in the schools superintendent has agreed to be has agreed to talk about a new way to approach aftercare in the school that's right after care is becoming a really hot topic unlike many years ago when they were when the when there was room in after care right now there is that there's a there's a just the classic crunch  just too much too much demand and not enough space and so there's incredible waits haphazard care or expensive aftercare if you have to go private and it also hurts families because you have the potential you have potential where you know a parent may not be able to take a job where they're working forty hours they'll have to work thirty two because they have to leave early and what's the change the change now is that two parent two parents  running came together basically in the fall and said let's talk about this they've been pestering the superintendent mr fair one and they actually put out an online petition saying we want to have something done about this forward to a possible improvement oh yes that's great well we've been talking with franklin tucker at the belmont county and thank you for stopping over that this week in the belmont county twice now in the past week belmont has been hammered with high wind snow and rain bringing down trees and power poles along with electricity lines fifty town trees were lost in bama not private trees town tree and five hundred people in the pace  park area were left without electric service overnight here's a report that assesses just how much damage was done in belmont from the first storm on march second boom like a sort of who and we went to open the front door and looked and there was the whole pretty we didn't realize it was dark you see it was the extent of before we realized some of the rest of the welcome to this week in the belmont senate and hound i'm joined today by joanna jubilance who is the senior multimedia journalist for the citizen herald thank you for coming joanna thank you roger there's lots going on in belmont let's actually it's just not being used so we're very lucky that we have a residence also a town meeting member luisita wiley who's been thinking about what could this beautiful green space be used for once it's capped because it has to be kept that's going to be belmont responsibility and that's about three years away but three years can fly by so what she's done is she started an ad hoc committee and she put people on it like you and an architect and she came up with a plan for a bike and skate park with a solar farm as well as a baseball field and or a dog park so it's a great plan for this property even though it's about three years away and she's going to be you know continue to talk to community members about it in town officials and you know she'll be ready when the time comes and there's no reason to believe that other people won't step for right with their proposal that it's quite possible but if anyone's interested in this particular concept and getting involved in her planning for it which again it's not official it's just an idea at this point but she's going you know she's talking to all the town officials about it so you can e mail her at at loose a g me the mail dot com we have that on the screen anyone that wants to find out more about it that's great let's move to the planning board the pm inboard has been addressing the mcmansion ization neighborhoods for many years now yes they they don't want it to expire it was going to expire in june june thirtieth there was a sunset clause that is no longer going to happen and they also because the planning board has had a lot on their plate since these amendments they're going to change the projects that are three hundred square feet or less will go to the zoning board for their special permit such as decks and everybody else will still go to the plan and then allows the planning board to focus on the  basically what it is is the sale of marijuana in belmont for recreational adult you know ok so they're looking at they're getting all their ducks in a row because town meeting is going to be coming up and they're going to vote on whether or not to opt out whether or not to have a moratorium to allow the town six more months to figure things out if they don't opt out so there's a lot of a lot of things that they just want to get their ducks in a row though and be ready because if the town doesn't opt out and the town doesn't vote on this moratorium to give them six more months the planning board has to be ready they have to have zoning regulations for marijuana retailers and can you tell us what the the relationship is between what karen meaning needs to do and what the which will give the town six more months to figure it all out in the planning board will make its decision in much later in march march twentieth they're going to decide on where to allow these but most likely they are going to allow them in the local business one district becoming more than a hole in the i'll give you a brief update so they are hoping to get their building permit which would allow them to start framing but there are some documents that the planning board still needs to review that even the affordable housing trust has come concerns about the twelve affordable units that are going to be part of the project so they have to work all this out before they can allow them to get their building permit so stay tuned march twentieth this the toll brothers will most like on the agenda to talk about and there's a working group that has been right on the can yeah to look at the affordable housing units and work out some of the things that gloria life six concerned about she's the housing trust chairman and she's concerned about some things with those unit peters to let us know what's going on in belmont over the next week hi reddy i'm jane and this is your community calendar for this week before we get into our regular segment that we usually do we have a special guest with us today i have not only way o here with us she is chair of the vision twenty one implementation committee hi everybody hi jane thanks for having me radiates no problem and what you're here to talk about talk of the town anything in later this month so can talk a little bit about the vision twenty one implementation committee and what you do sure with a vision twenty one implementation committee the vision committee for short we are permanent committee of the town that are set up to implement the town's vision which was meeting approved in two thousand and one and has a number of goals kind of setting forth what we aspire to be a set in town so one of those is around welcoming newcomers valuing you know culture and local talent and so we thought talk of the town was a really great way to get residents together and showcase the local you know the amazing people that live in belmont ok and so to reach some of those goals you guys have put together the talk of the town event so can you talk a little bit about what absolutely so this is our second annual year and we had the first one last march and it was a big success and over four hundred people from the town came it's a ted talk like format so you know it's not an official version that basically we have speakers that we asked to for one reason or another and we tell them they can speak about whatever they want so they may be famous for one thing they may come and speak about something entirely different even we don't know so this year we have a really exciting lineup we have three adult speakers graham allison he is a political scientist and a very well known national security expert he was former assistant secretary of defense the founding dean of the kennedy school we have deborah cash w an executive director of the boston dance alliance and was a dance critic for the boston globe for a number of you here's and then finally we have preston williams who is a professor emeritus at the harvard divinity school and was the first  tenured african american professor there so those are our three adult speakers who were thrilled to have this year there's a little twist in response to some suggestions last year which we thought were a great idea we decided to invite two students for people in town and it's free for anyone to come and we encourage you to register at the on line at a vent bright just to make sure you have a ticket because this is a chance it could fill up but absolutely free and open to everybody and i'm sure an event like this takes a ton of work lots of volunteers people put their time and energy into this is their committee dedicated to this event so as if it's a good well timed question because as of monday there is last year and this year the vision committee organized this event ourselves now between this event and the meet belmont fare that takes place every august with over one hundred exhibitors throughout boston and new comers go to we decided it was time for belmont to have a committee devoted to these types of events so there is a forming as we speak a new meet belmont committee and we are looking for our residents to volunteer to be on the committee so if anyone is interested in helping to organize the annual fair potentially this event in future years  and also just other events for newcomers or ways for belmont residents to get to know each other please send an email to meet belmont at g mail dot com and i'll be in touch with more information great so we want to just throw that date out again one more woman can join a book discussion led by librarian miriam mcnair discussion of this beloved classic will take place on monday from eleven to noon improve your swim skills for summer and support the beach just boy swim team as swim clinic this sunday from in tradition and spiced with innovative melodies and american sounds enjoying this free concert at the beach street center on tuesday at one fifteen bring your little went out for a spring walk around habitat on tuesday from ten to eleven and see the world through new eyes register on the mass audubon website francis banana was born in the bronx and grew up with artists visiting the house and the smell of oil is items range from decorated the tiny and roof tiles to scenes of korea italy germany france and america is our work is on display all through march at the beech tree center and on tuesday from four to five you can meet to hear him talk about his work a lot of what you've heard about marijuana is either incomplete or untrue if you're interested in learning the evidence base truth dr kevin hill will be speaking and providing information on risks and benefits of this controversial plan attend this presentation on wednesday at seven pm at the bethel temple center in belmont ever wanted to poke around the guts of a computer the library will provide broken electronics tools and time for teens to break stuff down and use the parts to make something new and on thursday night author olivia will discuss her book aging with wisdom as part of the library friends author series all are welcome to attend this free program and copies of the book will be available the growing number of rats around belmont has been a topic of concern for some time during representatives from the belmont health department d p w and one a pest control co anchor in a public meeting to discuss the issues and concerns surrounding belmont's rat population on thursday at six thirty pm at the town hall auditorium create your own three day design using tinker card on saturdays from ten to eleven thirty no designer three d experience necessary register now on the library's website a kind hearted princess full way to the countryside to look for opportunities to help others what did she find outside the castle walls find out as belmont books on saturday from noon to one thirty at a reading of the princess in the cafe on the moat with author margie  parent teen pairs are invited to body trio on saturday at two pm to learn how essential oils can help your family have a healthier happier less stressed life space is limited to ten pairs so reserve your space today by emailing kim dargon and that's all for this week if you'd like your event featured in belmont journals community calendar email your event info to jane at the not media dot org the next time it's tournament time for belmont high sports teams some incredible winds some heartbreaking losses franklin tucker from the belmont tony and will help inform us about how dominant highs teams have been doing well in sports highlights with so much more water good news is that the belmont girls basketball team is heading for the division one north title game after taking apart number one seed woburn fifty eight forty seven on thursday march eighth captain carly krista forty was her own highlight reel just missing a triple double with eighteen points for eleven rebounds and nine assists as belmont won the game by halftime belmont held the high powered tanner's law fenced a five point five points in the first quarter as the marauders went on a sixteen two run midway through the second well that's it for this week's edition of the journal as we sign off let's watch what is happening on the media centers community television stations in the next week thanks for watching i'm your host roger called and i'll