what should listen to the talking news every day at twelve noon and six pm on channel ninety six comcast tix finity and channel thirty arise in firehose it could also be heard mondays and tuesdays at four thirty pm and wednesdays at twelve thirty pm on channel nine expanded each and channel twenty nine fire listen any time on the v m c podcast network on sound cloud tunes just search for the belmont media podcast network and now on to the talking news town clerk receives awarded by joanna k s of al town clerk ellen o'brien cushman received the town clerk of the year award from the massachusetts town clerks association on june fourteenth town administrative patrice garvan nominated her for the award ellen cushman is by far the best clerk i've ever seen she's smart she's dedicated she lays out everything in a very clear concise and logical way which i really town clerk's association on june fourteenth it's a huge honor for not just me for my office we work really hard and they do a lot of innovative unusual things with with me and i'm kind of the front man of it all it's great for our office she said there are three hundred fifty one town clerks in the commonwealth of massachusetts a reception was held in author of on june eighteenth as the town clerk cushman axes belmont's own chief election official recording officer registrar of vital records and sit to sticks public records officer and lace and sing officer and is the point for general information to belmont's inhabitants the commonwealth of massachusetts federal government and the general public the town clerk is not just the town clerk it's the town clerk's office with meg nancy and dan together were a pretty formidable team i hope that we can take care of people in the town of belmont that they come to us with their issues and they sometimes little need a little bit of extra guidance or hand holding and they can come to us and rely on us for the more predictable plots of a job like helping to run town meeting the elections produce their vital records marry them except it's a pretty big deal that people put their trust in us to do that in twenty seventeen the belmont town clerk's office said fourteen thousand three hundred in person visitors sent and received forty three thousand eight hundred seventy eight emails and on top of that made in answered phone calls each and every day ellen is belmont through and through very dedicated to a community and that shines through in everything that she does said assistant town clerk meg piccolo she is really smart and is able to do not just see the big picture but anticipate how what we do today with what's going to happen down the road it really gives us confidence and a great feeling to be following her she said selectman adam dash said cushman winning town clerk of the year means that belmont the little town that could have always thought that we were special and we have a really good team up reading the town and it's nice to get state wide recognition of the of the effect and we're all very proud of ellen for winning town clerk of the  for all that she does it's certainly we'll deserved he said prior to being elected as belmont's town clerk cushman worked as an operations manager for digital equipment corporation in maine id she received her to greet with a major in geology from wells lee call a judge and her masters in business administration from boston university and over to my colleague claire thank you bob thirty five years of musical magic celebration on his music teacher mclellan by christie strong we love it belmont public schools music teacher john mcclelland may be retiring this month after thirty five years of teaching and building the chant every mill school music program but he's remained humble in the face of a flood of accolades i'm just starting to feel like i know what i'm doing mcclellan said i still feel like i'm playing a role i don't feel comfortable up in front of a group of people his students colleagues mentors mentees and members of the belmont community would beg to differ and on saturday june nine hundred eleven fans show their appreciation for a man who has made a difference to so many of the celebration a long planned multi faceted event sponsored by parents of music students featured two hundred fifty middle and high school students performing together under the direction of belmont music teacher sharon phipps as well as a band comprised of m ellan's former students parents and colleagues the entire evening was a surprise for mcclellan who arrived at the belmont high school auditorium to thunderous applause and a lengthy standing from the packed concert hall john this is what you hope to wouldn't have happened and here it is joked our toe acid orian director of the visual and performing arts for the belmont public schools we're all here because we love you and we appreciate everything you've done also when attendance at the event where many of mcclellan's belmont colleagues as well as mcclellan's wife children grandchildren and other family members and inspiration to many mcclellan began teaching in belmont in one thousand nine hundred eighty three and after a rocky first year i checked the wanted every night he says he hit his stride under his leadership the china re middle school one numerous awards and accolades mcclellan created the levels program a methodology that helps students progress and motivates them to strive for improvement in addition he composed an individual piece for every student who passed all of the a levels and to date more than five hundred of those pieces have been written tailored to each student's strength and personality mcclellan also founded and led myriad in programs that generally middle school including saturday morning music school woman of bras per caution brass flute and on as ensembles parent teacher chorus and parent teacher band he also encouraged his students and tapped into kids creative expression by composing a group piece with the eighth grade b and each year he's a unique teacher says he's never really wavered from putting kids first and loving what he does it's like a magic show he's got the kids eating out of the palm of his hand and now here's max thank you claire we're really square permits approved by angela toma at its june eighteenth meeting the belmont zoning board of appeals voted to grant joseph de stefano a special permit to construct two mixed use buildings at four ninety three triple zero road and four ninety five dash five hundred five propel road the properties are currently strip style one story structures that house a number of businesses including tokyo joe's studios and the american day spa to stefano said he bought the properties back in two thousand and twelve as part of a plan to revamp we've release square he intends to demolish the current structures and in their place build two three story buildings each under thirty two feet high to stefano said his goal is to create a structure that works for the square without overpowering it we're hoping to bring a little urbanism to waverly square said to stefano the current design is similar in architecture to the store fronts in belmont center much like the belmont bookstore or wescott mercantile the design makes it possible to enter distaff and his development from either a front entrance or a back entrance as such the back of the development will look much like the front the stefano also plans on widening the current gap between the two buildings from ten feet to twenty six feet and are pushing the buildings back approximately five feet so there is room for a larger sidewalk another important feature to his landscaping he wants as many trees and as much greenery as possible each building will have space for apartments and retail the building it for ninety three trip hello will hole will house twelve apartments and four ninety five to five zero five propel road will house ten apartments the dual things will consist of studios and one bedrooms the smallest apartment is estimated at four hundred square feet and the largest is estimated at six hundred square feet to stephanie was targeting two demographics young professionals and older belmont residents who want to sell their larger houses but still stay in the area as such to stefano does not believe his development will impact the public schools over the past couple of years belmont has experienced an increase in student enrollment which  put a lot of stress on the public school system well he will not discriminate his target demographic is not young families he said stefano has not made any final decision regarding his commercial tenants between the two properties he expects to designate approximately ten thousand square feet for commercial use to stefano said he is hoping to attract some cool businesses to bring some vibrancy to the square he's partial towards a restaurant or a pub if we zero road will have a total of sixteen spaces five spaces for dwelling and eleven spaces for retail distaff no plans on using another property he owns nearby for additional parking spaces board members expressed some confusion regarding parking on the site they requested a clarification of the proposed parking layout as a stipulation to granting the special permit another waverley square resident  asked about the safeguards in place to ensure that to stefano's apartments remain studios and one bedrooms chairman nicholas nuzzi told her that any changes like that would have to come before the board satisfied expressed enthusiasm for the project and requested to sign a letter of support the board's deliberations were short all the members expressed their excitement at the possibility of revitalizing waverley square the special permits granted are stipulated a clarification of the parking layout a landscaping plan subject to change depending on tenants occupancy a site lighting play a trash management plan and an architect stamp on the design plan he hopes to start construction in the fall over to you bob thank you x city residents compete in soap box derby a local race on june second twenty eight hundred thirty five children raced gravity powered cars down east navajo in arlington as part of the twenty eighteen arlington soap box derby local race cars competed in three divisions stock supa stock and masters and the winners will compete in july in akron ohio as part of the first energy of all american soap box derby world championship race and children ages seven to twenty are eligible to compete in the program after building a gravity powered race car from special kits with the help of their parents of course the soap box derby organization st marie eleven who is a sixth grader at milford middle school in mason new hampshire this was her first year competing in soap box derby the superstock racing division was won by taylor peterson nine who is a third grader at four elementary in danvers mass she won the stock division two years ago and is the third generation of the family to compete in the soap box derby the masters r division was won by arlington high school tenth grader elizabeth thompson she's been racing for over six years and won the super stock division two years ago thompson is also a junior director for the local club the three winners will be representing alinta and in akron in july in addition four of the local races will represent our region as rally racing champions john  mowing tim ryan bower from belmont in stock and elias surely of cambridge in superstock and olivia surely of cambridge in masters in addition to the championship races for the second year will be there will be a demonstration race of suit the kids cuz the soap box derby super kids program provides children with physical and mental challenge thank you bob bikeshare pilot approved by abby matheson no bike no problem thanks to a newly approved oculus bike share program you will soon be able to rent a bike anywhere in docklands bike share program comes out of a fifteen community project led by the metropolitan area planning council maps see that seeks to seamlessly connect communities like arlington belmont and medford line formally line bike and spin we're selected in april by the map see as the two docklands bike share program providers spencer goldberg staff plan a for the town office of community development planning division showed the belmont board of selectmen a sample of the lime bike at their june eleven meeting he said they are aiming for a june thirtieth launch in belmont how it works lyman's been have each requested to place seventeen bikes thirty four combined throughout belmont because list the bikes are not tied to one location like how boy bikes are instead they will be placed throughout the town either by the vendor or by residents with some popular hot spots featuring four to eight bikes the bikes are freestanding uses lock the back wheel when they are done and leave the bike resting on its kickstand or had a bike rack scott mullen in arlington resident and director of expansion for a line called the doc list system the cell phone of bike sharing at the may twenty first selectman meeting in arlington renting a bike cost one dollar for thirty minutes residents rent the bikes using the company's apps which scan i q r code on each bicycle the op also uses a map shows uses where the nearest bike is located working with the community the docklands bike share pilot comes at no cost to the community the selectmen voted to waive the license fee during the pilot program keeping in line with the other communities in the pilot should the selectmen select to continue the docklands bike share program following the one hundred eighty day pilot the licensing fee would be applied the regulations for the bike share program require each company to display a twenty four hour customer service number on the bicycles should any resident take issue with a bike's placement mala noted that bikes that go on used are redistributed every seven days and are moved within twenty four hours if his company is contacted by a resident both bikeshare vendors are required to share data with the town regarding use of the program the town would use this data to study the impact of bike sharing on traffic transportation safety tourism and economic development measures would be taken to protect the data and the identities of individual users now here's max thanks claire hundreds participate in brandon's home run by angela thomas on sunday morning a crowd of people packed into the belmont high school track for this year's seventeenth annual brendan's home run five k road race beautiful blue skies and a bright blazing sun greeted this year's runners as they waited for the crack of the starter pistol signifying the beginning of the race brendan's home run attracts people from all around the nation a total of four two hundred fifty three runners from four states including tennessee participated in this year's event last year's participants represented eight different states elite athletes have also taken part in the race marathon winners n c a a champions and olympic trial athletes are just some of the races high profile contestants  familiar with the tragic circumstances behind the race on june twenty seventh to two thousand and one eighteen year old brandon grant sustained fatal injuries from an on field accident while playing for the belmont senior babe ruth team belmont high school there was a lot of support coming from the belmont community after the accident people kept asking the grant family what they could do to help in the summer of two thousand and one the grants and some close friends came together and funneled that energy into creating the nonprofit brandon grant foundation the foundation is focused on youth development and devoted to parent child relationships one of the first steps the organization took was to create a fund raising walk slash run which became brandon's home run five k brandon's father casey grant intended the race to be part of the grieving process and a community healing event it was something that could bring the town together and honors honor brendan's passion for life the first couple of years attracted mostly belmonte ins however as time passed more people started showing up from neighboring towns in addition to high profile athletes the race also attracted the participation of some nonprofit groups including the title nine girls founder stacey rodriguez works to promote sustainable wellness for young girls through physical wellness each year they choose a ra to participate in and train for this is the fourth year they have selected britain's home run for five k the best of humanity many memorial races flicker and run out of steam people stop volunteering and runners stop showing up brian rogers vice president of the brendan grant foundation believes the magnetism the draws so many people to britain's home run every year comes from the positive energy that surrounds the event the race is a labor of love for the people who work in eyes it which roger suspects shines through and which is what he said he was attracting more runners there are kids races parent child competitions and a charity walk fathers and mothers can run with strollers and there is a raffle where prizes are donated not only by community members but by community business as well this year bobby gives the first woman to run the boston marathon sat in the bleachers watching brandon's five group was presented with a twenty eight thousand louise gaskins lifetime civil rights award from the massachusetts teachers association belmont against racism formed in one nine hundred ninety two in the aftermath of  rioting in los angeles that followed the jury acquittal of four police officers who were charged who were charged in the beating of rodney king an african american since then the belmont group has met regularly encouraged a dialogue of mutual respect and acknowledgement of diversity over the years belmont against racism as co sponsored programs and films on education and social justice issues race relations and identity this includes the town's annual martin luther king jr community breakfast the belmont public libraries one book one belmont program and make a statement day at belmont high school the group also distributes popular a lawn signs around town the dream no matter where you are from a ledger a neighbor belmont education association members  and karen duff nominated the group for the she is a would duff a generally middle school librarian said she is reese she has reached out to the group many times including for help with funding to invite local authors of color and authors from the elder g b t q community to come in and provide writing workshops hawkins a generous school counselor said as is the sad and disturbing truth everywhere in america belmont as a chair of racial homophobic and religious intolerance and other incidents of eight and intolerance and barr is the leader in the community in that in a timely and mindful way organizes the community providing the space and forum to address the issue and open a dialogue belmont is becoming a safer and more accepting community as a result of and anaerobic digester pet sematary dog pack a bike and skate park solar farm hockey rink park and ride transfer station playing fields driving range open space and food and leaf composting more the ideas for use of the incinerators site residents shared with selectman at the meeting june eighteenth list was compiled and select chairman adam dash said they will look into all of them whittled the list down in see which one rises to the top the incinerators site is about twenty five acres located on concord have close to the lexington line a building on the land was used as an incinerator from nine hundred fifty nine to nine hundred seventy five then it became a transfer station up until nine hundred ninety five and is now used by public works for a temporary tree storage asphalt and concrete recycling storage temporary storage or appliances for recycling and leaf composting town meeting approved using seven hundred seventy thousand dollars from the existing fund far improvements to the site on concord up to demolish the existing center eight a building and environmental engineering to get the site ready to be capped the type of cap will depend on the post closure use which is why the selectmen encouraged residents to share their ideas on june eighteenth the town will need to spend more money when it comes to cap the site director of community development glenn clancy estimates it will cost around three point forty six million depend you know on the type of cap the town has a landfill stabilization fund set aside for this project but after the seven hundred seventy thousand dollars is spent only two point seven million dollars will remain which means there will be a shortfall of seven hundred forty three thousand dollars now here's max this is a continuation of the previous story these were some of the ideas that were presented travis frank and lucy while presented the idea for a bike and skate park with a solar array frank said the solar raible provide economic benefits by producing energy he said the park would maintain a lot of the green space and fit in with the natural environment while said the location of the incinerator crater site is in the middle of the western greenway which is ideal for a bike in skate park for all ages to enjoy the solar arrays will provide clean power and help rate payers in the long term bruce haskell presented his idea  anaerobic digester which would be used to collect organic waste in an enclosed tipping area with odor control and go through a digestion process generating electricity haskell said this would help generate income for the town by accepting organic near materials for a fee it could also potentially reduce the town's solid waste tonnage if the town adds curbside collection for waste to be composted haskell said the negatives to an anaerobic edges would be potential odors if the operation operational controls fail and additional traffic truck traffic from deliveries of organic materials he also said the town would need to address aesthetics an up presented several ideas including a pet cemetery he said the closest cemeteries are at least forty miles away in with irwin and plymouth he said the town could generate money from the cemetery by charging for plots as well as bench and treat it occasion evan harris suggested the land as a transfer station similar to the town of wellesley or mashpee where residents bring their bulky items and even leave such things as working televisions for other residents to take harris also suggested a driving range similar to stone meadow in lexington because so many people love to gulf marian scally suggested the hockey rink be located at the incinerator site if you move the hockey rink up there it will open up playing fields at the high schools at scally she also said it would allow the high school to have tennis courts and additional parking where the hockey rink is now will generate more traffic on concord f she said julie wu of belmont composts proposed the site be used for traditional composting of food and leaf waste carolyn bishop expressed her concern about active recreational use is being damaging to the land and disturbing the wildlife and negatively impacting the neighboring land at rock meadow sebas presented my idea from jeanie jordan to use the land as a municipal commuter facility with a solar canopy she said this would help reduce the traffic in center roger colton energy committee chairman said solar is compatible with many of the b s to uses and reminded everyone about the town's climate action plan he hopes solar will be a top consideration on the list back to you bob along with my colleagues claire and max we thank you for listening to the talking news and hope you've enjoyed the show callie clear will be on some of vacation and will return in september the show will return next week for another edition of local news happenings around belmont