Belmont future is looking bad… 1.
New York City was the poster of crime and violence in the late 80’s until Police Commissioner William Bratton introduced the “broken windows” theory of policing. The theory in practice advises that policing methods should target minor crimes such as vandalism, loitering, and shoplifting as they lead to a loss of law and order. Over the last decade Democratic politicians have run on “Defund the Police” and “Restorative Justice” policies that are returning cities to criminality status. Human increment litters the streets of SF, Boston, and New York City. Stores are closing altogether as bands of shoplifters steal with impunity. In a recent development, stores like CVS (Belmont) and Target (Watertown) are locking up basic products such as deodorant and shaving cream as theft is out of control. Moral of the story is as people continue to vote for Democrats who are soft on crime… it will eventually move to the suburbs, and we are seeing the early signs of it now. Maybe its time to “Defund these Politicians”.
Community Preservation Act Lie
As someone who opposed the taxation without representation Community Preservation Act… it continues to expose the great lie of 80-100% matching grants that was frequently touted by its supporters. The most recent FY24 State budget does not add supplemental funds to the CPA fund meaning we may see a 20% match next year. Townie Talk is here to remind you of what was promised versus what materializes and the pattern is clearly over promise and under deliver by the same progressive mob that has Belmont nearing insolvency.
Belmont future is looking bad… 2.
Towns with MBTA service are being forced to greatly densify housing units along MBTA routes by order of the Democratic party. If I were Mayor of Belmont, I would tell the Governor that we no longer care to support the MBTA and go ahead and remove all stops from Belmont. Can you imagine?… Mayor Wu and Governor Healey would be outraged as they would have no place to house the thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants invading our State (currently Massachusetts taxpayers are paying over $45 million a month housing, feeding, clothing, and entertaining these mostly working aged men). It’s no surprise that America is losing its identity as we allow cowardly men to flee to the US for handouts. Imagine if the men and children of Ukraine did the same. They chose to fight to save their country. We end up with the those who see America as an ATM. Anyways back to the story at hand…
A couple Belmont residents have shared a recommendation…
Since, as we understand it, 50% of the 1632 units must within 1/2 mile of one of our two commuter rail stations, the Town ought to propose no more than 25% (408) within the half mile of Waverley Square and no more than 25% (408) within the half mile of Belmont Center,’ with the remaining 50% (816) to be located ‘adjacent’ (assume this means within 1/2 mile) to MBTA bus stops throughout Belmont.)
The 50% balance of zoning should be spread throughout the town where there is ‘proximity’ to an MBTA bus. That includes: #73 (Waverley), #74 (Belmont Center, Concord Ave), #75 (Belmont Center, Concord Ave., Bright Rd), #78 (Brighton St.), and #76 (Park Ave. plus other stops along the route 2 service Rd).
While these are zoning changes, and it’s unlikely Belmont will see mass densification in a hurry… the Town would be a haven for developers to build and build big putting an already near insolvency Town over the edge.
Citizens Petition goes after Grey Poupon crowd…
Townie Talk has been consistent on property taxes for non-profits… 100% they should pay property tax for services rendered (Police/Fire/Highway etc). Doesn’t matter if it’s a School, Temple, or Museum. It is patently unfair to Belmont taxpayers to foot the bill for services rendered just because someone slaps non-profit next to their organization. With that in mind… Belmont resident Max Colace has initiated a citizens petition to go after the richest of the rich playground or as I call it the “Grey Poupon” club. Here is the info….
The citizens petition’ is for a warrant article to file home rule legislation exempting Belmont from Chapter 61B, which is a state law that gives 75% discounts on property taxes to non-profits with five acres or more of open space. The Belmont Country Club is the only entity in Belmont that has taken advantage of this tax break in the last decade, and they’ve been receiving a discount of about $370k per year. This discount doesn’t decrease the total amount of property tax collected by the town; instead, everyone else’s taxes increase to offset the discount. The exemption from Chapter 61B wouldn’t apply unless the home rule legislation is approved by the state legislature, but if the town doesn’t ask for an exemption, then it won’t get an exemption.
This Boston Globe article gives some more information on country clubs and Chapter 61B: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05/02/metro/this-is-unjust-wrong-amid-economic-downturn-state-program-slashes-elite-golf-clubs-property-taxes/. Habitat and the private schools in town are tax exempt, so changes to Chapter 61B shouldn’t affect them.
Waverley Ignites
Folks in Waverley would argue they are getting shafted by the Select Board and treated as second class citizens as legitimate traffic safety concerns are not addressed to residents’ satisfaction. Hard to disagree as the Grey Poupon neighborhood across from the new $300 million+ High School Middle School entrance could ask for heated sidewalks and get them. Anyways…. I will be there in spirit and have your back at Town meeting if the solution means equity in how neighborhoods are treated.
From the invite…
PLEASE JOIN Waverley residents AT PQ PARK TUESDAY (8/22/23) at 5:30pm. It’s time to make them accountable for the life-threatening situations in our neighborhood before someone else gets hit and killed. This time it could be a child. We will prepare a list of our concerns and some immediate temporary solutions till we get OUR permanent solutions implemented. It’s time they acknowledge that the residents of Waverley are not the trash they treat us as but a force to be reckoned with and we’re done being ignored and the lives of our children left to their Elitism and 
Belmont Middle and High School Sign
Irony as one of the final steps in finishing the “on time… on budget” $300+ million school was missing the “M” in Middle. Why the irony… the “on budget” school is also missing millions on millions of promised works which will never see the light of day unless privately funded or asking the taxpayer to pay twice for the same item. The reason many read Townie Talk is you get the facts, and the facts are the building committee is grossly misrepresenting “on budget”. The M fell off and was re-attached.
Dog ban being considered at local Belmont parks…
The Belmont Recreation Department will be seeking public input regarding off leash exercise for dogs at Town parks. Sources tell Townie Talk that the main source of contention is Pequossete park and involves a handful of owners failing to clean up after their dogs and a recent incident in which a resident was bit by a Jack Russell terrier resulting in a significant wound and added stress of not knowing if the dog was current on their rabies vaccination.
The victim is not the person who lodged the complaint. Stay tuned for updates.
As an aside… what is it with Waverley and leashes anyways? While coaching a soccer game a decade back at PQ an elderly woman slowly crossed the middle of the field during the game. She was off leash at the time which means she might have escaped from the Waverley day care center that puts the children in construction safety vests and leashes them together. Anyone who has seen it is thinking this is a “meme” somewhere.
My favorite journalist…
We will just call her JT, broke the story that Trinktisch is for sale. So, I will top that with… they are all out of Zero Gravity McLighty’s beer. How do I know? That is between me and God.
Wine Country
I don’t like wine. I don’t like bourbon. Neither has stopped me from touring Vineyard’s in Napa or the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky. I was fortunate to visit Napa a couple weeks ago. Outside of the stench of landing in San Franscisco… (honestly, it’s a close third to Philly and the urinals at Fenway Park) I was pleased with Napa. It’s country so the red, white, and blue was highly visible and the food was literally farm to table. Weather was amazing with low 80’s and no humidity and they average less than half an inch of rain for the month. So, what did I learn…
You need to take 3 sips of wine before being able to voice your opinion or risk looking the fool.
Not all Wine is aged in oak barrels. Some are aged in stainless steel.
Gallo sold 1 billion bottles of wine in 2019. Yes Billion. World market is 35 billion bottles.
The magic is in the mix of grapes used.
American wine was considered junk until the mid-1980’s or so.
If your friend tells you they taste vanilla with hints of cherry and oak you should respond with you taste cheese, garlic, and tomato. The truth is the wines don’t contain any of those ingredients. It’s just what anyone’s palate tells them… so like modern art, buy what you like whether it’s a $10 or $1,500 bottle. It’s all perception and if you are in Napa the glasses start pouring at Breakfast.
I did get the chance to drink Montucky Cold Snack which is the unofficial State beer of Montana and have some Einstok Olgers Icelandic White Ale while visiting the Great Cork Oak whose bark is harvested 12 -13 times over its lifetime for use as bottle corks.