hello and welcome to the belmont journal your source for hyper local news and community updates i'm mike crowley your host this week we have an update on belmont's back up to see who was competing in a second world marathon challenge she's won two races and as we're taping she's competing in australia right now good luck back and stay tuned also for your calendar belmont town day is on may nineteenth be sure to save the date this past tuesday belmont signed a community compact with massachusetts massachusetts lieutenant governor  best practices program that is driven by the municipalities driven by the leadership teams in each community and what it's done and it's sort of forced local government to think about in their respective communities you know what is it that we want to work on for the future of this community so it's completely driven by the community and for the community and for its future i salute welcome to this week in the belmont tony and and we have franklin tucker editor with us again i think a little franklin thank you so we've just seen a clip with lieutenant governor polito signing the community compact with with belmont well best practices so most of the rest of the communities in the state have already signed on that's right and they've and they've received funds to do anything from upgrade their i t account to doing the non sexy things like financial reporting and and things like that and so what are we doing with the phone but we're going to be developing formal financial policies and practices and creating long range financial forecasting models it's something that will be best seen in the  committee and also by the board of selectmen and how they do go forward with let's say no pedal count so i'm actually on the word committee myself and i know that the town has used a spreadsheet in the past for looking a few years out maybe we'll be able to do a little bit better than that going forward well that's that's what we're that's why the thirty thousand dollars is coming to us i think the interesting thing about the about the fund itself is that this this money probably would have still been on the sidelines of wasn't for our new ten administr garvan she was in surely before she came here and she had x she was one of the first people to really go forward to try to get these accounts and when she came here she knew that the board of selectmen had wanted to do this she just she basically stepped up in her first two weeks got the program going and came up with thirty thousand dollars great initiative that is great that is great to show that kind of initiative and that's the kind of thing that the town really needs and hope to see more of that's certainly because when you have a town that basically relies on residential real estate for its funding source it's any kind of way of the diversifying revenue is dissed welcomed so i understand that we also have some news about the high school principal yes dan which is has been the principal for the last five years and before that was seven years as a vice principal is one of the finalists for the principal's position in newburgh court well good for him but but actually that's that's kind of a sad thing for belmont that's right because two things are these well liked among the staff especially the teachers and also it's we're right in the the really  the the most important time when it comes to building the new high school so it is it's a little unfortunate that he's going but how can he how can you prevent somebody from getting a new position that's right so i hope that it won't it won't damage our high school building project and i'm sure that it won't but i think there's a lot of people who are are handling that project quite well and even though he will be missed i think it will go forward pretty much as it is right now well we wish him the best of luck and hope that we can find a great replacement as well thank you that's true well thank thank you so much franklin and we'll talk next week media town meeting member i'm one and we also have an interview with michelle banker who is a town meeting member she's actually retiring from town meeting but she wants to share some thoughts about her experience being a town meeting member from precinct two also if you're thinking first you have to learn how to listen and you listen and you the sin because you don't really appreciate what representative town meeting is all about and to you're sitting in the auditorium that depends upon just how much of a commitment you want to make there are committees that town meeting members can join to work on a particular issue you or you can just be a town meeting member and just show up three or four times a year when somebody comes in with a point of view and they know they're right it turns out that people who are equally intelligent have different points of view different shades of what the issue or the problem may be and it's only through the questions and answers and we are learning why the warrant committee people have voted one way or another or they split their vote also the selectmen through having presentations from somebody from the police department the fire department the school committee it really does help to bring the issues to the foreground and one person can make a difference it's a right it's a responsibility it's a duty it's an opportunity to learn and that's very very important democracy is messy and messy is ok and we vote yea we vote in a we table so that more information can be brought forth in three months six months to help us to understand it to make sure that we're making appropriate decisions for the governance of the community  meeting votes on the budget and we have kind of inside joke that the smaller the line item in the budget the greater the life figure the discussion nothing is difficult what it is is that these are opportunities to look at questions that are presented to you and to kind of parse out what are the different steps along the way difficult i don't like that term challenging opportunities that's really what people who participate in town meeting get out of it you just don't know what you don't know until people who have who will come and look each one of the precincts has a caucus it's a meeting and we invite somebody and we're working on whatever the the prop the problem of the day is and what we learn is that everything is much more complicated than what you think it is but learning more enables us to make yes four more people have pulled papers for a town election my been checking in with the town clerk daily and i learned that two new comers have pulled papers for the school committee seat erin lubin who is an active  belmont resident she's seriously considering she said a lot of people have encouraged her to run so she pulled papers she's not hundred percent sure she'll file but she's she's an active resident she helped with jim williams campaign a guy carbone his campaign  scout leader she advocates for the seven to twelve school the other newcomer is tara donner tara donner is a school teacher herself she's a middle school english teacher for winchester she's a long time town meeting member she pulled papers in two thousand fifteen but decided not to run papers for school committee back then but this time she says she's plans to run well that's interesting because some people i think were worried that we might not have enough people running for school writing now will find out there could potentially be a race for the thirty year seat ballot he already filed his papers now stephen fiore is is a lawyer he said he is very interested in running his health and wellness are his priorities in his personal and professional life so he wants to use his legal s properties are on the list as has significantly historic buildings subject to the demolition delay by so if you got this letter you had sixty days to appeal to be removed from the list six property owners did send their  appeals and are in the process of having hearings and there was a recent hearing for the owners of fifty two willow street in the pace and park neighborhood and they got a decision they got a decision they wanted to be taken off the list because they don't believe their home is historically significant and don't understand why it was put on the list to begin with but they said that and they also are very concerned about the property value in selling the house right some people are concerned that with this kind of a designation it makes it more difficult to write the and forty three village hill have their hearings and will be interesting to see the outcome of those ok so joining i know that you and i both like to shop at thirty six yeah we have a reason to be concerned about whether foodies will survive well i heard rumors that they were struggling so i followed up on those rumors and the owner didn't deny that they are working hard to increase sales they're doing a lot of marketing to get more people in the store now they a lot of people may not know things about foodies like they they cater they have gift baskets they have prepared foods that you can get their daily and on site which are they're going to talk of they're talking about adding seating like a little cafe so can you prepared foods in there so it'll be interesting two well they caught him in february fourteenth but you're right a former belmont resident richard how was on the state police most wanted list for about twenty two years and the belmont police assisted in his capture in two thousand and fourteen in columbia so he was a fugitive from the law when he lived in belmont he was supposed to show up for a court hearing he was indicted by the middlesex d a he's he was charged with indecent assault and rape on a child this was his  stepdaughter and these incidents allegedly occurred while he lived in lincoln so he pled guilty here just trying to sentencing so you know so many years later after he was captured he finally had a sentencing he waived the jury trial and he pled guilty and he's been sen well thanks for the updates joe and i will talk next time you know the music director for the belmont public schools or tow acid dorian has received an award from the council on aging for a project crossing the generations we have some video for you with some of the speeches a few years ago encouraged to ask the council on aging that well for one we know it's very important to do wonderful collaboration and we have a history of doing great programming together and then we just thought well you know it would be really nice to honor those partners in the school system or in the  much so one of the things that we talk about students and seniors doing together right it's great that we have a beautiful performance space here and the teachers like to bring their groups over here to tuesday afternoon right but we also have several things in town that have been or reactionary have students performing alongside or not all adults and senior citizens as well we have a right now they're just wrapping up the parent teacher chorus which is called parent teacher but it's really a community it the better you get so it's really wonderful i think for our students play with adults and senior citizens who still have a passion for it so i'm come to it's gratifying to know that our work is appreciated and they certainly will continue to do it for many many years to come thank you again we have some highlights from our show what's going on with host bob feldman interviewing kate genovese who lost her son christopher to an overdose he i had gone to a private high school he lived away and he had a hockey scholarship and then he went on to college so during that time he had six surgeries so  he got prescriptions from the doctors and i didn't think he had the disease of addiction i just did not think geno did but the doctor said to me very painful he needs the prescription he said he's not an addict i could tell if he was an addict is not one so i felt very intimidated and you relying on the doctor he asked yeah one of the problems people write about addiction in today's is the overprescribing on and on of the same drug or another equivalent drug so that it just continues a spiral may not be having any more surgeries but we're getting more pills yeah but i do think everybody needs to be aware of what i mean coaches parents teachers police the whole every neighborhood needs to be aware of this disease because it could happen absolutely anybody absolutely you can watch the entire interview with kate genovese video on demand video at belmont media center dot org also i'd like to remind you that there is a substance use recovery night at the beach street center on feb eighth from five pm to eight p representatives from local treatment centers will be there to provide information and support for town residents now we have our community calendar with jane peters of things happening in belmont this week hi everyone i'm jane and this month community calendar for this upcoming week february fourth through eleventh powers music schools music pups program is designed for children ages zero to four this playful creative music and movement program gets kids singing dancing and exploring musical instruments and props visit the p p l on monday from ten to eleven am for a free demonstration of the music pups program register on the p p l website or by calling the children's department more information about the music pups program can be found on powers website known for exploring the multicultural experience in her novels bestselling author gish jen turns to nonfiction and the girl at the baggage claim to clarify how differently easterners and westerners regard the concepts of self  society this will be presenting at the beach on tuesday from seven to nine pm about her newest book followed by q and a session and book signing page ron's parents of performing arts is reviving its annual trivia night to support the just performing arts company on friday from seven to ten pm at the beech tree center show up with friends or join a table when you arrive to enjoy a fun night of trivia free food wine and beer all in support of patrons and the p c winning teams get free reserved seating to the musical performance of their choice tickets can be heard just ahead of time it being a just dash p h d dot org howard dinosaur bones similar to human bones on saturday at belmont books children will learn through a series of activities about the bones in the human body in those in dinosaurs they are remarkably very much the same a reading of fossil by fossil comparing dinosaur bones will accompany this workshop for kids from ten to eleven am also on saturday visit the beech tree center for a town hall meeting with senator will brownsburg or from twelve to two pm senator brown's burger will be hosting a series of town hall meetings throughout his district this month and all are encouraged to attend and share your thoughts on current events and legislative priorities love and chocolate is in the air on saturday from noon to four pm at the spirited gourmets valentine's day block party simple locally produced chocolate cheese syrup cocktails granola and champagne from four to seven pm higher end champagne and cheese will be showcased celebrate the season of love and pick up something for the fourteenth at the special valentine's event the exhibit for a woman's place continues through march tenth and on sunday you can attend one of the shows sunday salons from two to four pm check out the display accompanied by a screening of who does she think she is a two thousand and eight documentary directed by local filmmakers pamela tanner bowl and the n c kennedy telling the story of five female artists struggling with the societal push for women to choose between art and motherhood you can visit the gallery any time during its regular hours as well before we wrap up for this week we have a special guest here with after tell us about an upcoming event people prefer for those people who never had those experience it's a great chance for them to coming to see take a look maybe you like it this year it's very different and especially in eastern culture is so different from western culture it's a great chance for people to come and just have a fun there on that day besides away tried to promote of the culture we also try to bring the benefit to community basketball team won their game against watertown last friday here's franklin tucker with the story thanks for tuning into bell mommy center's belmont marauder sports recap the belmont high school girls basketball team is re some rarefied heights after defeating watertown sixty seven twenty four last friday well typically the rivalry game between belmont and watertown is a hard fought affair the raiders are in a rebuilding year while the marauders have become one of the best teams in eastern massachusetts belmont took an early lead with center just georgios skull and scoring all ten of our points in the first five minutes of the game freshman maya bergdorf lead the brothers with one thousand points as belmont zone defense shut out the raiders in the third quarter wilburn team in an important away game on groundhog day belmont is hoping to repeat its victory over the tanners which they had earlier this season belmont will be going into the playoffs sometime in the next two we end our show with an update on programming for your belmont media center channels to be sure to watch and that's all for now have a good week and we hope to see you next time