hello everyone welcome to the belmont journal now my it's own program for hyper local news and community programming i'm your host roger coulton in may of this year velma light welcome to a new general manager christopher roy came to belmont from the concord light department we have chris with us today in studio to talk about his st weeks in months welcome press thanks for  one of the big things at the bama department is the completion of our new substation can you tell us what's going on with that sure so there is a big infrastructure upgrade project which is really split into three different subjects projects a b and c and so the substation project itself is project a and that one is completed the process of the substation is there and that is noteworthy it especially doubled the capacity of belmont light to support electric load growth which is important for two reasons one being reliability and avoiding brownouts but two in support of our climate action plan goals we're looking at strategic electrification and so that process of adding having finished this substation you now have to connect that substation with the previous substations there's one over by the high school there's one by the general school and there's when across  exactly so that's project b and so project b is the process of then taking the existing transmission lines and converting them to the new substation at blair pond and that's nearing completion  as as you go around town you may have noticed we have crews on baker street and so that is the final phase of the project to connect the blair pond substation to the station near the  school and then are there new lines running down the streets themselves yes so for for that project after the conduit is in place will then pull new underground wires between the stations as part of that process and then with the substations connected to blair pond project c is then the process of decommissioning those older three substations that you mentioned through the upgrades of the poles and wires and lines you see throughout the neighborhoods and so that process you know we expect to be about a ten year project to gradually convert every road  occasion is sure doesn't lend itself to thirty words i'll do my best but basically it is the act of transitioning traditional fossil fuel sources such as your home and transportation to an electric equivalent so instead of driving a gas fired automobile you drive an electric vehicle exact instead of using even gas heating gas or oil you use an elect where once you install a new gas or oil fired furnace in your home or buy a gas powered car that's locked in and so really by moving to an electric equivalent it allows  procuring sources that's not just sell or power back to it there are a variety of sources of energy that might be green energy or not emitting energy exactly ongoing basis we look at opportunities for solar there is wind there is hydro we've looked at pumps storage as a mechanism to support those other technologies and so it all fits together the new substation the procurement of clean energy sources the strategic electrification of vehicles and in heating systems it's all part of a plan exactly it's all one big pla all of our goals in terms of reliability and climate and it's a really exciting time to to be in the energy sector welcome development press we've been speaking with chris roy who is the new general manager for light one of the popular places to take kids during these hot summer days is the water spray dock at the beaverbrook park the  far this year but just recently reopened b m c's jane peters catches up with some belmont parents to talk about their reactions we are at the belmont park summer to come here every day so it's a great place actually it's very nice and it's very close to live in belmont center so you know very easy to get to we do have a pool in belmont but this is great for the kids they l around and go back and forth between the pock in the bank like yeah it's a nice improvement this is definitely a baker set up and you know nice that it's sort of all new and refreshed and something exciting for the kids so oh welcome to this week in the belmont citizen hero i have with me today joanna jubilance who is the senior multimedia journalist for wicked local belmont which publishes there oh thanks for joining us thanks for having me roger we have a dangerous intersection in belmont and it looks like there are some remedies on the table now finally the for the intersection at marsh and winter street the selectmen just approved a four way stop to be put there this f stop as recommended by our community development director glenn clancy after a recent study by a consultant was done that showed the accident history alone is enough to justify the four way stop according to the belmont police twenty two accidents in a four year period eight in two thousand and seventeen and five this year including one just last night and my understanding is that the intersection is so dangerous that the board of selectmen approved a four way stop without having a public hearing right what they did is they said we'll do it for a six month period since we're not having a public hearing just because in case residents do have concerns in case it does have a negative effect on the traffic and also in case maybe they'll determine that an actual traffic light is an even better solution there are other intersections too yes  the board of selectmen appears to more now even though these have no accident history it's the intersection of sherman and dean streets and the intersection of sherman street and waterhouse road they don't have an accident history but there are visibility issues at those intersections that the traffic consultant brought to glen's attention and there's a lot of pedestrian activity that's very close to the wind brooke school so this will make those intersections safer so safer intersections in the wind k neighborhood and i think of the winter millstream intersection as the one where you turn to go out to wilson's right this winter marsh or winter money go to wilson one way or you can go to mclean hospital or rock metal the other way yes so say for traveling out there is yes let's hope so ok and there is news on the community path that an important part of the community path yes is happening it looks like we're getting there after twenty five years in the making you've probably heard our viewers have probably heard a lot of discussion about this underpass between alexander avenue and concord avenue which is basically like a kind nektar between the two but under the actual fitch burg railroad line this is part of the community path and then underpass the path is not only part of the community path but it really connects the main book neighborhood to the high school help a lot of kids get to school walking safer and not having to cross over the tracks and maybe reduce traffic so there's a lot of positives here so what the selectmen approved is an off cycle funding request that's going to go before the hundred thousand dollars well that's what they're requesting for the design and the c p c will vote on it august th if they approve it then it'll go to the november town meeting and national this is unusual they haven't cycle funding request it is very unusual because usually the c p c gets the applications and then they go to spring town meeting for approval so this will give it make it happen sooner november special town meeting would get it under way because maybe it coincide with the high school project you know and maybe when the high school is done we'll have the underpass done too and all the traffic problems will be solved should be nice and once the designs it through this four hundred thousand dollars it then goes through the mass department of transportation right actual the actual cost of construction they're hoping will the state will fund and there's a process is happening with that now as well senator brown's burger and state rep rogers have been meeting with mass dot and getting that part of the process underway helping to secure state funding so after twenty five years it looks like that it's really this concrete only if you will on its way a light at the end of the tunnel under the underpass and that's credit really have been talking with joanna jubilance who is the senior multimedia journalist for the belmont citizen herald and you can read about this and other stories in both the print edition and the online edition of 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 tony and which is belmont's online source for hyper local news thanks for stepping over oh thank you very much of what's happening it just causes so many people trouble you know whether you have a toddler who is learning to ride a bike and they're going up and these horrible sidewalks so the town went out for good and you hope that you can get a good bed we got a good bit it was a one hundred for three hundred thousand dollars work sacco and sons put a bid in for one hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars what a great what a great deal we're getting on that so we have one hundred and seventy thousand dollars left over selectmen had suggested and what their money what they're i think that what they pretty much said they would go or they're going to do is they're going to take that one hundred and seventy thousand dollars instead of putting in free cash or an open account why not just go out and rebid another one hundred and seventy thousand dollars worth of sidewalk repair so good news for everybody about you know do you know how much how much work if you had a lot it is a little it is a lot because what you're doing is when i hear you say in there for years just as now mind is starting to address its streets it's going to be addressing yes very much so you remember last year when the the town came out with a basically a review of all the sidewalks in town to make sure that the worst sidewalks will get repaired st of all this is part of that part of the initiative that's great let's talk about open meetings it is complex it is there are made government a lot more stringent you know basically said look if you're going to deliberate or you're going to debate something you really have to put it out into the public the same time you're doing that deliberation and debate so unlike in the past you know as you probably know because you're on a number of committees you can you would talk to somebody and say you know can you just give me a little bit of advice on this on this wording on the poster we're going to put out or or this policy issue well now you're go have to put that out at the same time that you're to the public and then you know do your deliberation so this goes you're going to have to do a lot and we're pretty all that pre work is going to be out is going to be done in public you know and it's i think that's i think what what george howell said is that the state just wanted to make sure that people weren't violating the open meanwhile so they made a little more so they made it a lot more stringent but that means it's a lot more work so as george hall said it could really affect the way the volunteer based government is run in belmont you know you have sixty seven or eighty committees and and commissions and so rather than go through this process why not you know you might see government agencies say look what's go to a professional let's go to professional because that doesn't violate the open meeting law and then you start you start doing that is the default rather than the exception that's great well we have been speaking with franklin tucker who is the editor and publisher of the belmont county and belmont online source for hyper local news belmont firefighters recently had a unique opportunity to receive some in field training working on a stabilize the truck and threw the stick to the roof line st here's the belmont media centers jane peters to tell us what there is to do in belmont in the coming week i really am jane and this is your to be provided sign up is required for our long points on the library's website what if all homes can be suitable for anyone regardless of age or physical ability they are p home fit guide offers solutions that range from d i shapes and orders are popping up during the habitat education and wildlife sanctuary for a casual walk on wednesday keeping your eyes open for writing of fun guy or sister on the mass autobahn website if you're feeling crafty on thursday the library has some fun d i y activities in store for you from one thousand and thirty to eleven am make your own musical instruments out of various materials and from six hundred and thirty to nine great your own harry potter wand belmont books hosts two authors this week on tuesday from seven to eight hundred and thirty audrey showmen author of the novel theory of bastards a science fiction thriller and on thursday meet meghan mcclain where author of the book of s c revolving around family fame and religion learn more about these novels and the visiting authors on belmont books website as you've been hunting for a while though this month the hunt continues through the end of july and on saturdays you can join a where's waldo party at belmont books to celebrate the month long journey with fellow artists have the option to tag their work as key show fun pottery sales of which will go directly to facilitate development projects in tanzania buyers will choose what specific projects they would like to allocate their purchase towards indigo fire will be matching the  kids running camp for children ages six through twelve to benefit neurofibromatosis ne the camp will run from august th through th at the b h s track each day includes a warm run motivational and educational speakers stretching yoga or potties a snack and a workout to cap off the day you can register for this camp at the link on screen and that's it for this week if you like your event featured in belmont journal community count or you can e mail your event info to jane media dot org well that's it for this week's edition of the belmont journal as we sign off let's watch what's available on belmont's community television programming stations thanks for watching i'm your host roger colton i will see you again next time