Belmont Citizens Forum

Profiles in Belmont: Dean Hickman

Environment, July/August 2023, Newsletter, Recycling Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Elissa Ely Before he became chair of Sustainable Belmont, before the PhD in pharmacogenetics, before moving to the United States, certainly before any awareness of the environmental needs of a Massachusetts town next to Cambridge, Dean Hickman was picking up litter. “Have been picking up trash anywhere I go since I could walk,” his Instagram says. Growing up in farm country west of London, traveling the footpath systems, Dean took the “Keep Britain Tidy” campaign of the 1960s to heart. Many decades later, on a late rainy afternoon when he could have been enjoying a mug of tea, we [READ MORE]

BH Students Create Native Plant Garden

July/August 2023, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Audrey Brenhouse On Saturday, May 13, the Belmont High School Climate Action Club, with the help of adult and student volunteers, planted our long-anticipated native garden in front of the school. Our goal is to grow plants native to this area to promote and support native wildlife, helping to restore the land’s natural biodiversity. In the spring of 2022, we held a student-led concert where many families kindly donated to this process. After years of approvals and fundraising, we are proud and grateful to be able to display the result of your generosity. Over the next few years, these [READ MORE]

How to Get Your Garden Through Summer Heat

Environment, July/August 2023, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Jun 302023

How to Get Your Garden Through Summer Heat

By Sarah Wang, Kim DeAndrade, and Jean Devine By this point in the summer, your water barrels may be dry and you may be devoting inordinate amounts of time (and money) to watering. No matter how much you water, it cannot compare to real rain. Here are some tips to help with drought: Mulch! Besides retaining moisture, mulch will feed the soil and keep down the weeds. Avoid dyed mulch. It is unregulated and may contain shredded construction wood waste and pressure-treated wood. And, it won’t do much to feed the soil. If you buy mulch, consider compost and [READ MORE]

Belmont Will Phase Out Gas Leaf Blowers

Air Quality, Environment, July/August 2023, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Marina (Goreau) Atlas and Karen Cady-Pereira In recent years, Belmont residents have become acutely aware of the roar, fumes, and particulate dust emitted from two-stroke gas-powered leaf blowers. A new town policy will soon change the use of gas-powered leaf blowers that emit cancer-causing particulates, send out winds that can exceed Category 5 hurricanes, and stir up everything from road dust to pollen to particles left behind from Muffin and Fido’s morning walk. This policy is an important step to improve our relationship with lawns and encourage healthy landscapes that enhance our quality of life. From May 15 to [READ MORE]

Porchfest Returns!

July/August 2023 Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Mary Bradley Porchfests began in 2007 in Ithaca, New York, as a means for local musicians to perform for their friends and neighbors on porches throughout town. Little did the organizers know what an explosion of joy they had unleashed. There are now over 200 Porchfest across the world, the majority of which are right here in New England. Earlier this year, NPR declared the Porchfest Season* runs from May through September. And it’s true; the majority of Porchfests in New England do fall within this time, including Belmont’s very own. Belmont’s Porchfest has carved out the Saturday following [READ MORE]

Opinion: Parking, People, and Money

July/August 2023, Parking, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Max Colice A typical parking space takes up about 300 to 350 square feet. In Belmont, if you want to open a retail business or office, you’ll need one parking space per 250 square feet of retail or office space. That’s right: in Belmont, your parking lot will have to be bigger than your business. If you want to open a restaurant, you’ll need one parking space for every two seats. Again, that’s more land for parking than for people. Providing all of this parking makes opening a business in Belmont more expensive than it should be. Consider how [READ MORE]

How Can Belmont Use the McLean Barn?

July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

By Carl Solander How can Belmont use the McLean Barn? The Land Management Committee of Lone Tree Hill (LMC), in consultation with the Belmont Historic District Commission, is seeking ideas to give new life to this remnant of Belmont’s agricultural past. The McLean Barn, also known as the Brick Barn at Rock Meadow, was conveyed to the town in 2005 by McLean Hospital following the 1999 agreement that created the conservation land now known as Lone Tree Hill. The barn has been unused since that time, patiently awaiting the next chapter in its long life. In 1892, as the central [READ MORE]

July/August 2023 BCF Newsletter

July/August 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302023

Read the July/August 2023 BCF Newsletter In this issue: How Can Belmont Use the McLean Barn? The Land Management Committee of Lone Tree Hill (LMC), in consultation with the Belmont Historic District Commission, is seeking ideas to give new life to this remnant of Belmont’s agricultural past. Read more. Opinion: Parking, People, and Money In Belmont you, need one parking space per 250 square feet of retail or office space. Your parking lot will have to be bigger than your business. Read more. Porchfest Returns! This year, the event will be on Saturday, September 9, 11 AM-6 PM, rain date [READ MORE]

Unauthorized Bike Route and Vandalism at Lone Tree Hill

Bicycles and bike paths, McLean, Newsletter, Open Space, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Apr 302023

Unauthorized Bike Route and Vandalism at Lone Tree Hill

An unauthorized bike route off the Hillside Trail on the Lone Tree Hill, Belmont Conservation Land (LTH) property was reported on April 21, 2023. The route goes down a hill, over a rock ledge and lands below on a very steep hillside. The builders of the route cut down trees, broke branches, removed rocks and vegetation (trees and native perennial trout lily) from the hillside and excavated dirt by digging and leaving dangerous pits. There has been earlier unauthorized bike activity at Lone Tree Hill, but this is the most dangerous and damaging. At the ninth annual LTH volunteer day [READ MORE]

BHA Plans for the Future of its Senior Community

Construction and Housing, May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

BHA Plans for the Future of its Senior Community

By the Belmont Housing Authority Board of Commissioners In 2018, Belmont Housing Authority (BHA) was awarded Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding by the town of Belmont to embark on an ambitious project: planning for the modernization of its Sherman Gardens apartment community. Situated between Sycamore Street and Thayer Road in Waverley Square, the 80-unit state-funded public housing community has provided critical shelter for seniors and persons with disabilities since 1971. After more than 50 years without a major renovation, the apartments are now expensive, difficult to maintain, and energy inefficient. Designed 20 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act was [READ MORE]

Book Shows Best Bike Rides in New England

Bicycles and bike paths, May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

Book Shows Best Bike Rides in New England

By David Sobel If you’re a casual bike rider who likes 10- to 15-mile rides on backroads around New England, I encourage you to check out my new book, Best Bike Rides in New England: Backroad Routes for Cycling the Northeast States. I’m 73, and my wife is 63, so we’re into reasonable, not ardent, exercise. And we aspire to doing some outdoorsy sport four or five times a week—biking in the summer, skating, Nordic and downhill skiing in the winter. The book includes descriptions of 30 bike loops in all six New England states. I originally wanted to write [READ MORE]

Honeybees Thrive at Rock Meadow

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Sadie Forbes Most people visiting Rock Meadow have noticed the presence of beehives. Belmont beekeepers now tend 20 hives in five locations along Mill Street and in the center of the meadow. There are many pressures on honeybees. Beekeepers and scientists agree that two problems are largely responsible for “colony collapse disorder,” where entire hives of bees die off. The first cause is varroa mites (Varroa destructor). These mites were benign pests of Asian honeybees (Apis cerana) in Asia. Beginning in the 1980s, varroa mites began to be seen in western apiaries. They have been highly destructive to the [READ MORE]

Let Your Hidden Native Plant Garden Emerge

Environment, May/June 2023, Plants Comments Off

Apr 262023

Let Your Hidden Native Plant Garden Emerge

By Heather Pruiksma Spring has sprung, and gardeners everywhere are itching to get their hands into the soil and among the roots. At Grow Native Massachusetts, we encourage including more native plants in your gardens, which can be less work than it might seem — if you’re willing to be a little patient. Native plants are plants that have been growing in a particular habitat and region, typically for thousands of years or much longer. Also called indigenous, they are well adapted to the climate, light, and soil conditions that characterize their ecosystem. Within this system, they have evolved important relationships [READ MORE]

Invasive Plants Can Harm Local Birds

Environment, May/June 2023, Newsletter, Plants Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Meg Muckenhoupt May is the peak of spring migration season in Massachusetts, and thousands of birds are landing in Belmont. (You can even get radar reports on which birds are arriving overnight on birdcast.info.) But what will these birds do when they get here? Will they find the resources they need to survive, raise young, and embark on fall migrations next September? The answer may depend on what’s growing around Belmont—and a lot of what’s growing around Belmont is invasive plants. Plants change birds’ lives North American birds evolved with native plants. Most bird-lovers know that different types of [READ MORE]

If You Just Sit Still

May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

By David Morris When I was young, I had an uncle who was attuned to nature. He was an artist, a hunter, a forager, and truly fascinating to an eight-year-old. Recently, after a frustrating morning trying to see some wildlife, I remembered his words. He’d said, “You need to remember that you are part of nature, too. You need to find a nice spot and just sit still. Don’t wait for when it’s time to move, but just enjoy the looking, the listening, and the sitting still. After a while, once you start to seem like one of them, the [READ MORE]

Volunteers Plant, Clean Up at Lone Tree Hill

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

Volunteers Plant, Clean Up at Lone Tree Hill

By Radha Iyengar The Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF), in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, held its ninth annual Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day on Saturday, April 22, an overcast and cool day. Volunteers included Girl Scouts Troop 82027, employees of Cityside Subaru, M&T Bank,and the Sai Group, and residents of Belmont and the surrounding communities. Many hands made light work. At the Pine Allee, efficient volunteers planted forty white pine saplings. The new plants replaced the Allee’s missing trees and some of the dead saplings from previous volunteer day plantings. At the adjacent meadow the volunteers planted slender [READ MORE]

Profiles in Belmont: Anne Paulsen

May/June 2023 Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Elissa Ely If you walk past Anne Paulsen’s house on certain days, you will notice sheets hanging in the backyard, like neighbors gathering in a friendly kind of way. If a wind is blowing, some drying towel may point its direction. It’s environmental, but also practically driven: Anne has never bought a dryer. Her parents were not conservationists or even drawn to the great outdoors, but when Anne was five and growing up in West Roxbury, her father sold the family car to support the war effort. Afterwards, they walked almost everywhere (“It was a long trip to Dorchester,” [READ MORE]

EPA Pushes for Alewife Sewage Cleanup

Environment, May/June 2023, Newsletter, Sewers, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Apr 262023

By Kristin Anderson and David White We are at an important point in the history of the Alewife Brook. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) and the cities of Cambridge and Somerville are preparing a new long-term sewage control plan for the Alewife Brook/Upper Mystic River Watershed. Climate change, with its wetter rainy season, more intense storms, and sea level rise, is expected to result in more hazardous Alewife Brook sewage pollution and more flooding in the area. During some storms, the Alewife Brook floods into the houses, parks, and yards of area residents in environmental justice communities. Because of [READ MORE]

Why is There So Much Plane Noise Over Belmont?

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

Why is There So Much Plane Noise Over Belmont?

By Rachelle Reinhart with contributions from Myron Kassaraba Airplane noise over Belmont increased after major changes were made to air traffic control at Logan Airport in 2001, when the United States Congress authorized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to modernize air traffic control under a program called NextGen. NextGen moved air traffic control from a radar-based system to a GPS-based area navigation system (RNAV). RNAV allows aircraft to travel using a computer programmed with precise waypoints—designated flight path transitions—and GPS coordinates to control the plane’s flight path. Before RNAV, air traffic control instructed pilots to make turns and altitude adjustments [READ MORE]

May/June 2023 BCF Newsletter

May/June 2023, Newsletter Comments Off

Apr 262023

Read the May/June 2023 BCF Newsletter PDF. In this issue: Why is There So Much Plane Noise Over Belmont? Airplane noise over Belmont increased after major changes were made to air traffic control at Logan Airport in 2001, when the United States Congress authorized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to modernize air traffic control. Read more. EPA Pushes for Alewife Sewage Cleanup Climate change, with its wetter rainy season, more intense storms, and sea level rise, is expected to result in more hazardous Alewife Brook sewage pollution and more flooding in the area. Read more. Profiles in Belmont: Anne Paulsen [READ MORE]

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