Real Estate:
Expectations are growing for a robust Spring season as the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates multiple times to try and fend off a deep recession. Wall Street experts believe a 5%, 30yr rate (currently 6.6% which is already causing a race to refinance) would trigger a tsunami of new buyers and existing owners looking to upscale. It is believed as much as 30% of home purchasing is currently by real estate investors… up from 18% in 2021 and well above historical averages. Business entrepreneur/TV personality, Barbara Corcoran believes an 8-10% surge in prices could materialize with a drop in rates to just 6%. This is all occurring while the real estate industry has been turned upside down with the elimination of a pre-built in “buyers’ representative” commission rate. Sellers can now negotiate a buyers rep commission or go without saving a couple percentage points. $1.7m is looking cheap for a Burbank district house that probably had American Revolutionary soldiers napping in the fields at one time.
“The Instigators”
I like Matt Damon and Casey Affleck and enjoyed the new movie out on Apple TV. I can’t help but wonder what my high school classmates would say about a couple artsy kids from Cambridge Rindge and Latin gallivanting as street kids from Boston or even Quincy in the day. I had a chance to drive through the Charlestown projects the other day. Fact: The air in Charlestown reeks less than the pot smell in Belmont.
Why was a Level 3 SEX offender….
allegedly driving around, the streets of Belmont, Braintree, Marshfield and Whitman exposing himself to juvenile and adult woman? The answer lies in a Massachusetts justice system that has a disturbing history of treating monsters as fixable. Maybe we should elect judges, so we don’t get appointed progressive hacks who endanger our State with creeps being released as if they won’t re-offend. The very definition of Level 3 is “high risk to re-offend”. Judges need accountability. Maybe if they had to answer to the people they would think before they let a creep out to re-offend. Great job to the victims in identifying the suspect and the Whitman police for apprehending him. The alleged suspect is from Hanson MA.
It just gets worse for Taylor
Selectman Matt Taylor pattern of behavior comes out…
TownieTalk was tipped off that Taylor’s July 22nd stunt was not his first.
Apparently, The July 22nd outburst by Selectman Matt Taylor is not his first run in with the CFRB. At that meeting, Taylor unloaded a series of unprovoked and unsupported accusations against Warrant Committee member and EDC volunteer, Marie Warner. Taylor alleged Warner’s association with the Citizen’s for a Fiscally Responsible Belmont organization (CFRB) would bring credence to the organization for which he implied was one that spread conspiracy theories. When pressed Taylor went silent and appeared surprised at the lack of support from his fellow board members.
According to a witness, Taylor allegedly has a history of harassing CFRB volunteers on a regular basis at the Belmont Farmer’s market because he doesn’t share their views. Taylor at the time was not on the Select Board. He became known as “that asshole” as he would disrupt conversations volunteers were having with interested residents at the CFRB table to the point of scaring one way. His behavior was described by a witness as aggressive righteousness. His demeanor reeked of superiority coming across as sexist and demeaning to some of the all-female staff. Volunteers looking back wish they had reported his actions to the Police.
Say Her Name….Matt
Flash forward to this past week’s Select Board meeting. Taylor was asked, by a Town resident, to formally apologize for his shameful conduct for the public record. Again, when giving a softball opportunity to deeply apologize… Taylor came across as arrogant and did not acknowledge Marie Warner by name. Is it a female thing with him or a CFRB thing or both?
You read TownieTalk
for the news, entertainment and perspective. I don’t know what so called “conspiracy” Taylor believes was pushed by CFRB, but I have used my vast resources to come up with a crumb as absurd as it seems. Without naming names… an individual known to parrot talking points from a truth challenged element in Town, implies that some in the CFRB believe that wealthy elitist control the Town and incite hatred toward Seniors and those without children in the BPS.
Of course, Why would anyone think that is a conspiracy after the highly viewed “make them feel the pain” Select Board/Warrant Committee joint meeting provided evidence of that exact mindset. A few of the powerful and connected don’t only feel that way but wanted to act on those feelings. The openly shared thought was that those who didn’t have kids in the school system didn’t feel the pain of cuts from not voting for the override and needed to “feel the pain”. I know some people speak without thinking but that is when the inner truth usually is revealed.
Stay tuned as anger is forming over the lack of action by fellow board members to call on Taylor to resign. Again, Taylor can have an opinion but taking action to ban residents from participating in Town Government because they don’t share his opinion is beyond the pale.
Override Regret/MBTA Communities Act
Full disclosure… I oppose any new large-scale development of residential units until we hit the promised 10% commercial revenue target that we were told would be a priority if the override passed. I would consider taking existing housing and adding a commercial element to it but not the reverse as the Purecoat/Crate Escape plan is constructed.
The Override passed on the backs of parents with children worried about exaggerated threats to sport and extra-curricular programs. Little did they know that those override funds could soon be diverted to support a self-inflicted influx of school children as Town leaders succumb to the “urbanization” of Belmont plan known as the MBTA inclusionary zoning plan.
Belmont could have followed the lead of say Burlington and created a map that would have had little to no impact on school population or negative impact on commercial revenue. Burlington not only created one, but it passed easily at Town Meeting.
Looking at Purecoat/Crate Escape… The buildings are assessed at about $10.5 million combined or about $110,000 in property taxes and has no impact on school enrollment and minimal impact on traffic. Select Board member Roy Epstein believes the newly proposed complex (1st floor commercial plus 4 floors of housing) would generate about $1.1 million in revenue). The math challenged observer would see a gain to the Town of close to $1 million in revenue. The fiscal hawk would look at 150 of the complex housing units as being two bedroom and calculate a conservative 100 new students to our system. The Town spends $18,300 per pupil but assuming we take out fixed costs like the building and heat etc. and use a super conservative rate of $10,000 per additional pupil the project becomes break even ignoring added costs associated with the other 75 units, police/fire costs (do we need another ladder truck) and an unbearable traffic area adding hundreds of new daily trips.
Look across the Street. Cambridge has developed the entire Alewife area with a nice split of residential/commercial. The reason Cambridge is an urban area that works is because of their massive commercial revenue take which allows for spending on infrastructure while keeping residential property taxes low which enables housing diversity. Without the commercial revenue it would be a slum. Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and a place like the Hill estates was completely leveled and replaced with a 50/50 split of residential/commercial. That would be a huge win/win. The current Purecoat/Crate Escape plan isn’t.
Weird Town issues
Brandon “Shits”
Just the new nickname seniors have for current Rec Department head Brandon Fitts. Fitts is seen as the lap dog for Town Administrator Patrice Garvin who is consolidating the Council on Aging with the Rec department. (Odd combo, I know.) Longtime Belmont residents Dottie Boyle and Diane Corsini were let go from the staff as a result. Apparently, passing the $8.4m override wasn’t enough to stop the “feel the pain” movement.
Ira Morgenstern
Ira applied to be considered for the sinking ship known as the Board of Assessors. The same Board that recently had two assessing experts suddenly resign as they lost faith in their ability to carry out their duties independently without outside influence. When Ira was asked “if appointed would he support Dan Dargan, to be chair of the Board”, Ira was non-committal, as he has never met the paid full time Town Assessor. That was not the right answer. Goodbye Ira. Whoever does eventually get appointed will regret it.
Belmont Fire Department
I heard a stunning stat the other day. 35% of the Belmont Fire Department staff has left (not retired) since March of 2021. It’s probably not because of the added risks that all the solar panels and EV’s are creating. We can build absurdly priced buildings and spend money of dream projects a decade out, but we can’t be competitive in paying our fire fighters.
$40M Library on stilts.
Good news, most of the concrete stilts are in and the foundation is starting to be poured. Bad news… the site required the stilts in the first place. The so-called imminent fire danger building seems less risky than a building on stilts. Uh Oh… can the stilts support the weight of solar panels now. 😊
Annoying signs…
The countdown has started and those annoying “School is in session/ Slow Down” signs are coming soon. Yes… it’s a good reminder but its also visual trash leaving the signs up for months on end.
What to do?
There is a house in the neighborhood that had a sign to ban gas blowers. The noise pollution must have bothered them. However, when walking by this house there is usually a distinct reek of Marijuana. Should I tell them that they are polluting the air and to please refrain or call the Town and have them do a smell test. Hypocrisy has no limits.
Guess who?
A 29-year-old woman has an extra marital affair with a then separated 60-year-old influential playboy politician. It lasts about 18 months. The politician appoints the then assistant district attorney to two boards for which she has no experience during the affair (California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later the Medical Assistance Commission). These appointments earned the young woman the equivalent of $130,000 in 2024 dollars for a few days a month work. The playboy politician admitted the “relationship” helped launch her career and that his future support helped the woman become District Attorney even after they broke off their relationship.
The woman later goes on to marry a man whose first wife divorced him because he impregnated the nanny.
Answer: When someone tells you they can’t vote for a candidate because of their personal or moral failures, ask them who they are voting for, because more likely than not that candidate is just as ambitious and flawed as the candidate, they say they can’t vote for, but they ignore the failures of their own candidate. If you haven’t figured it out, it’s the policies that matter when voting. Are you happy with the leadership and policies these last 4 years versus the prior 4? Are you better off?
Fall in New England
I know people love their Summers, but Fall is the best season in New England by far. The return of Football, exit of humidity, Pumpkins, Apple Cider and Pumpkin donuts, leaves changing and Halloween.
This year Halloween is on October 31st. Just kidding… its always on October 31st. Every year, I suggest the Town move Halloween “trick or treating” to the closest Saturday and schedule it for daylight hours. The Town is just too congested now and factor in the falling leaves, earlier dusk and a noticeable degradation in driving skills since Covid lockdowns and you get a recipe for a foreseeable accident.