MBTA to hold community meeting in Belmont to discuss changing busy bus route
The MBTA will hold a community meeting for Belmont and Watertown residents to discuss ways to improve Bus Route 73, which serves both communities.
The transit authority has identified Route 73 as one of 15 of its busiest bus routes, and is trying to reduce trip times and make the service more reliable and cost effective as part of its Key Bus Route Improvement Program. As part of the program, bus stops may be relocated or eliminated.
The Bus Route Improvement Program uses $10 million in grant funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to the MBTA website. "Key bus routes" are ones that operate at high frequency seven days a week. They operate every ten minutes during peak periods on weekdays and every fifteen minutes during peak periods on weekends.
The public meeting will be held on Thursday, June 7 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Beech Street Center in Belmont. For detailed project information, go here.
If you cannot attend the meeting, send comments to keybusroutes@mbta.com or mail them to MBTA Project Director for Operations, 45 High St, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02110.
Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com
Public interviews scheduled for Belmont town administrator finalists
Public interviews with the three finalists for Belmont’s Town Administrator position have been scheduled for the morning of May 29.
The Board of Selectmen will interview David Kale, currently the Budget Director and Deputy Finance Director for Cambridge, from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Charles Aspinwall, Town Administrator for Millis, will be interviewed from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Peter Morin, Chief of Staff and Director of Operations for Braintree, will be interviewed from 11 a.m. to noon.
The salary range for the position is $140,000 to $160,000 according to selectmen. Selectman Ralph Jones said that the Board hopes to have a final pick in June.
Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com
Top state high schools include two charter schools, Boston Latin, Belmont, Hopkinton
Two charter schools, Boston Latin School, and seven suburban Boston high schools are among the top ten high schools in Massachusetts in the latest nationwide ranking by U.S. News & World Report.
The Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis was the top ranked school in the state, followed by Boston Latin, Hopkinton High, Belmont High, and Weston High.
Rounding out the top ten in Massachusetts were Dover-Sherborn, Sharon High School, Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden, The Bromfield School, and Cohasset High School.
US News says it reviewed 21,776 U.S. public high schools. Of that number, it said, 87 Massachusetts schools made the publication's rankings.
One area the survey examined was the use of testing and advanced coursework.
At Sturgis Charter Public School, educators embrace an “IB for all” motto, according to the US News website. All students take International Baccalaureate courses. Sturgis ranked No. 15 nationally.
At Boston Latin, the participation rate of Advanced Placement tests is 93 percent. The school is ranked No. 1 among the city of Boston's 31 high schools.
By contrast, the participation rate for AP tests at Hopkinton High is 82 percent, 74 percent at Belmont High, and 79 percent at Weston High.
In Massachusetts, Newton South High School, Wellesley High School, Duxbury High School, Lexington High School, and Acton-Boxborough High School ranked 11 through 15 of the state's schools in the US News rankings. See the entire Massachusetts list here.
Belmont announces finalists for Town Administrator position, hope to have final pick by early June
The Belmont Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator Screening Committee announced finalists for the Town Administrator position on Thursday night.
Charles Aspinwall, Town Administrator in Millis; David Kale, Budget Director and Deputy Finance Director in Cambridge; and Peter Morin, Chief of Staff and Operations in Braintree were selected from an initial pool of 79 applicants.
“They impressed us with their judgment and capability,” said Selectman and Chair of the Screening Committee Ralph Jones.
Jones said that the Committee was seeking candidates with lots of experience and strong leadership to fill a position that is evolving. The town is seeking to strengthen the position of Town Administrator and restructure some aspects of town government.
The town worked with the Collins Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston, a consultant firm, to narrow down the pool of applicants to 30. They interviewed nine.
Jones said the town hopes to hold public interviews with each candidate at the end of May and have a final decision by early June. If all goes according to plan, he said, the new Town Administrator would begin working on July 1.
While Jones said that the pool of candidates was very diverse, with applicants from the public and private sectors and some nontraditional applicants, the three finalists are more traditional candidates with strong public sector backgrounds.
Aspinwall has been the Town Administrator in Millis since 1991. He was the Assistant Town Administrator in Walpole from 1986 to 1991, and the Assistant to the General Manager in Norwood from 1984 to 1986. He worked in the State Auditor’s Office and office of Management Information Systems from 1981 to 1984. Aspinwall has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Public Administration from Northeastern University.
Kale has worked as a member of the senior fiscal management team in Cambridge since 2003. He was the Chief Financial Officer in Arlington Public Schools from 2001 to 2003. He worked in the Cambridge Public Schools from 1988 to 2001, serving as the Director of Financial Services, the Manager of Financial Services and the Manager of Financial Operations. From 1983 to 1988 he worked in the finance department in the City of Cambridge. Kale has a Bachelor of Arts degree and an MBA from Suffolk University.
Morin has held his position in Braintree since 2008. Before that, he was the Director of Performance Measures in the state Department of Correction from 2006 to 2008. He has served as the General Counsel for the state Board of Registration in Medicine from 2004-2006 and as the Deputy General Counsel for the state Department of Mental Retardation from 2000 to 2004. He has held Director of Investigations positions with the Norfolk County Sheriff from 1999 to 2000 and with the state Department of Mental Health from 1997 to 1999. He served as litigation counsel to Bridgewater State Hospital and the state Department of Correction from 1990 to 1997, and as Counsel to the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Criminal Justice from 1988 to 1990. He began his career as an adjunct professor at Stonehill College in 1989, teaching criminal law and procedure to undergraduate paralegal students. Morin has a Bachelor of Arts degree from George Washington University and a Juris Doctorate from Western New England College School of Law.
Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com
Blessing planned for Belmont Uplands Silver Maple Forest
The Friends of Alewife Reservation will celebrate the beauty of the Silver Maple Forest this May with an Encirclement and Ingathering, where they will bless the forest and beat drums, honoring the trees and animals that call them home.
May is Rivers and Wetlands Month, and the Friends are sponsoring the event, called “Embrace the Spirit of the Forest,” to raise awareness of the preservation of the Silver Maple Forest in the Belmont Uplands.
There is a housing development that has been planned for the area. It has been a contentious issue among those concerned with preserving the forest.
The gathering will be held on Saturday, May 12 at 1 p.m. It will include a walk and a blessing of the forest as a habitat, with its coyote, fox, mink, otter, deer and 90 species of birds. An Earth Drum Council and professional performers will help celebrate.
The Ingathering will invoke native, pagan and New England Cultures that revere nature. Each participant will take a turn sharing their own personal forest experiences.
Attendants are asked to bring a musical instrument.
Attendants can park at the public Alewife Reservation Lot on Acorn Park Drive. The Ingathering will be held in the meadows. Instructions will be given out.
Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com
Belmont Board of Health raises tobacco age from 18 to 19
The Belmont Board of Health voted this week to raise the age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 19 years old, according to board chairman David Alper.
“It’s a tool to keep the cigarettes out of the school,” said Alper. “You certainly have 18-year-olds in 12th grade… If you don’t have kids that have cigarettes you don’t have kids that can bum cigarettes.”
Alper said that he was inspired to bring the idea before the board by an article he read in the Globe about an effort to raise the smoking age in Brookline.
“It was really an ah-ha moment when I read it,” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, why don’t we do this?’”
Smoking age in Belmont is governed by regulation, not bylaw, said Alper, which means that the Board of Health doesn’t need Town Meeting approval to change it.
“It’s pretty much a done deal,” he said.
The only stumbling block now: the signs that the state gives out with the smoking age on them all say 18.
The first town in the state to raise the smoking age from 18 to 19 was Needham in 2001. The town has since raised the age even further, to 21, according to Janice Berns, director of the Needham Health Department.
Several other communities are considering doing the same thing, said Berns, but she was not aware of any that had actually made the switch.
Since Needham has raised the smoking age, she said, the rate of high school students smoking has fallen by about 50 percent.
“The premise was just that the Board of Health wanted to try to not have cigarettes so easily available, just making it harder,” she said. “What we’ve seen in the youth risk surveys done in the schools is that the smoking rate continues to come down.”
Alper said that he hopes to have the new regulation implemented by July – or even sooner.
“It was cost neutral, it did a lot of good, and it couldn’t do any harm,” he said. “It was a no-brainer.”
Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com
Watertown police report missing teenager, last seen in Belmont
The Watertown Police department is seeking the public's help in finding a missing youth, according to an announcement sent this morning.
Keith Oulette was reported missing on Monday April 30. He is 16 years old, six feet tall, 160 pounds, and has a medium build with blue eyes and short blond hair.
Oulette was involved in a motor vehicle accident on Sunday, April 29, and may be suffering from a head injury. He was last seen riding his bicycle in Waverly Square in Belmont on Sunday, April 29 after the accident.
He was wearing jeans and a long sleeved grey T-shirt.
If anyone sees Keith, please contact Watertown police at 617-972-6500.
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Jaclyn Reiss can be reached at jreiss.globe@gmail.com
Watertown firefighter Bob McCarthy will not run for state Senate
Robert B. McCarthy, a Watertown resident and retired firefighter who ran for the special Senate election last fall, announced today that he will not run again for the Second Suffolk and Middlesex District seat he pursued then, due to physical injuries.
McCarthy wrote in a prepared statement that while undergoing intensive rehabilitation therapy from two total knee replacements within the last 11 months, he decided not to submit the necessary signatures for the May 1 deadline.
“This was not an easy decision, but after talking with family and friends I believe this is the best decision for me at this time," McCarthy wrote in a prepared statement. "I am eternally grateful to the constituents who have supported me during this process.”
McCarthy wrote that he will continue to be a voice for "all of us" as a commissioner of the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission, and on the various boards and nonprofits he is involved in.
McCarthy was a candidate for the seat, which represents Watertown, Belmont, and parts of Cambridge, Allston-Brighton, the Fenway and the Back Bay, in a special election held last December to fill the vacancy left by Steven Tolman, now president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
In a race that included four candidates, then-state Representative Will Brownsberger captured the majority vote, earning him the seat.
McCarthy came in second in each of the district’s communities, according to his statement.
A retired captain of the Watertown Fire Department who served as president of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts for 24 years, McCarthy resides in Watertown with his wife of 44 years, Dotty Maurer McCarthy. They have three children and five grandchildren.
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Jaclyn Reiss can be reached at jreiss.globe@gmail.com
NPR host to speak at Sustainable Belmont meeting
The host of National Public Radio’s Sunday evening program “Humankind” will talk about transportation and its effect on climate change at a Sustainable Belmont meeting on Wednesday, May 2 in the Belmont Public Library.
Host David Freudberg, who is a Belmont resident, will discuss his recent series “Passengers,” a documentary about how personal transportation choices – whether we take public transportation or private vehicles – can impact the environment.
He will cover questions about the benefits of switching to public transit even just once or twice a month; why young people are flocking to trains and buses; and how using public transit can help with weight loss.
Freudberg’s show “Humankind” profiles people and institutions that serve humanity. It can be heard in Boston on Sundays at 6 p.m. on WGBH 89.7 FM.
At the May 2 meeting, Ian Todreas of the Belmont Energy Committee will give an update on alternative transportation in Belmont, including Bike Belmont, which you can follow on Facebook.
There will also be discussion of a new walking map of Belmont, which will be distributed at the meeting.
The meeting will be held in the Assembly Room at the Belmont Public Library from 7 – 9 p.m. It is free and open to anyone.
Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com
Watertown Walmart opponents to erect anti-big box billboard, organize rally
Former Watertown Town Council candidate Mike Mandel designed this billboard with his wife protesting Walmart's potential presence in Watertown. The billboard will be posted for two months starting in May at the intersection of Arsenal and Irving Streets.
Mike Mandel might not have won his bid for the Watertown Town Council last fall, but he still stands firmly on his anti-Walmart platform, as he and other opponents of the chain are posting a billboard objecting to the retailer's planned move into town.
Mandel also said opponents will gather May 5 for a protest rally at the billboard location on Arsenal Street.
Walmart signed a 20-year lease last August for the 7.8 acre property that used to house GE Ionics located at Irving and Arsenal Streets, with the option to renew in increments of five years up to another 30 years, according to lease terms.
Mandel and other local residents are upset by the plan, citing increased traffic, noise and sound pollution, property devaluation and threats to small business owners as main issues.
Watertown Planning Board director Steven Magoon said Walmart has not submitted any documentation to the town yet, nor have they discussed any time frame to submit a proposal.
"There’s nothing on the schedule yet, but they’re still doing due diligence," said a Walmart representative.
Walmart spokesperson Steven Restivo could not be reached for comment, but he has suggested shoppers at the store will more than outnumber angry local residents.
“The louder voices in these debates don’t necessarily represent the majority opinion, and that fact is made clear every time we open a new store as thousands of residents, none of whom attended council meetings or wrote letters to the editor, show support by just shopping the store,” he said in a previous Globe article.
Mandel said he and other opponents raised over $4,500 in two weeks for the 10-foot by 22-foot billboard, which will be posted for two months beginning in May on Arsenal Street, just east of Irving Street .
Mandel, a professional artist, said he and his wife created the billboard to portray what could go into the site if Walmart were to back out of the lease - such as a mixed use, high-technology development, he said.
Mandel said over 100 people contributed financially to the billboard, the majority of whom live in Watertown.
He said that although Walmart representatives promised to hold public meetings and submit a proposal last fall, the company has failed to make any movement.
"It might be their strategy to wait out the community and let the issue subside from people’s consciousness," Mandel said. "Instead, we want to keep it in the public’s imagination, which is why we created the billboard to suggest what ought to be there."
Mandel said the protest will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m at the billboard location.
"We got $4,500 in two weeks primarily from people in this community, so I think people will show up to support this," Mandel said.
"Every aspect of this site is not what we need in downtown Watertown," Mandel said, adding that the company places stores in depressed economies to appeal to low-income residents.
The potential Walmart site is located close to Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown High School, and Watertown Square, a mainly residential area far away from the built-up retail hub of Arsenal Mall and Watertown Mall, Mandel said in a previous Boston Globe article.
“It’s just a huge development which is out of scale,” Mandel said previously.
Restivo has said that he thinks residents would appreciate access to affordable goods and that the Watertown branch would create between 150 and 200 jobs.
He had said most Walmart jobs nationwide pay $13.20 per hour, not including management.
And while residents criticize the store for possibly adding traffic to an already busy Watertown Square, Restivo has said store officials would look into the issue, as it was in the store's best interest for customers to travel easily to shop.
Restivo had said that before Walmart submits their proposal sometime this year, store officials will meet with worried citizens to receive feedback and calm any fears.
“We want to better understand the unique challenges that Watertown is facing, and together develop solutions,” Restivo said previously. “So our intent is to listen, answer lots of questions, and share information about the company, because what we’re finding is when people learn the facts, the more they see value in bringing the store to their neighborhood.”
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Follow us on Twitter: @yourwatertown, @jaclynreiss
Jaclyn Reiss can be reached at jreiss.globe@gmail.com
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