Will Brownsberger — State Senator, Democrat, 2d Suffolk and Middlesex District

There has been recent publicity regarding the presence of coyotes, particularly in various of Belmont’s big woods, which pose a threat to pets and people of small stature. This is a regional problem and could be addressed by the Commonwealth without great expense, rather than by placing yet another burden on individual municipalities.

Join the festivities as the Housing Corporation of Arlington celebrates 25 years of service to the Town of Arlington.  

The MAPC bikepath study has been released. The next step belongs to the Selectmen to determine what kind of process they would like to undertake before making decisions on the bikepath possibilities.

I wanted to pass on this summer job opening — this pool is a very important summer recreational asset for North Cambridge and the supervisor can make a big difference in the experience that people have there.

A meeting tonight in Belmont will consider adoption of the stretch code. The local option to adopt the stretch code comes out of the Green Communities Act that we passed in 2008. In communities adopting the stretch code, new homes and major renovations will have to meet lower energy use targets.

House 5024, a bill requested by vote of Belmont’s Town Meeting, will give the Selectmen the authority to issue seven additional restaurant alcohol licenses. These will will be all-alcohol licenses for restaurants between 60 and 250 seats.

The legislature enacted two more of Belmont’s five home rule petitions for this session

I find it disheartening that the state will spend $6M for Waltham to get a new pool, while we in Belmont (and Arlington) seem to struggle for everything. (Belmont is talking about $2M for our own pool, with our own money…) Rep Peter Koutoujian said “many families in Waltham do not own a summer home or [...]

Important discussions are ongoing about the reconstruction of the Longfellow Bridge. A public hearing will be held on Wednesday, October 6.

A meeting was held in the State House this morning with Commissioner Sullivan of the Department of Conservation and Recreation to review flooding and related priorities in the Alewife area.

It’s not exactly that the bulldozers are starting their engines, but the string of appeals and long-shot funding ideas seems to be running out on the silver maple trees of the Belmont Uplands.

I am interning in Will’s office this summer and recently attended a hearing on sewer flows into Alewife Brook and the Charles and Mystic basins, which provided a helpful status update on projects to improve water quality.   The hearing was to extend the variance allowing for a certain level of Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) into [...]

I spoke earlier this week with Sue Clippinger, the traffic planner in Cambridge. She said that she was working on getting the application together for a truck ban on Blanchard Road. She said that she had all the necessary data at this stage. She said that she foresaw little objection in Cambridge since most of [...]

After the tragic death of a Belmont child, I have received several inquiries about what could be done to prevent such an occurrence in the future.

Blanchard Road residents have ongoing concerns about traffic congestion, truck traffic and speed.

We are doing a “deep energy retrofit” of our home. It’s a nice time to drive by if you are interested in the insulation process — different parts of the structure are at different stages.

Residents on Blanchard Road between Concord Avenue and Grove Street (which lies in Cambridge, but on the Belmont line), have expressed an interest in having a ban on truck traffic. The challenge is to identify a non-residential alternative route.

An e-mail from Will to subscribers today says: “Since it appears that I do have an opponent in November, many of you have asked how you can help.” Is this report in last week’s Advocate incorrect? http://www.wickedlocal.com/arlington/town_info/government/x289817440/No-drama-for-November-election If so, who is your expected opponent? Thank you. Bob Sprague

Just to keep all informed: I met this morning for about 30 minutes with folks from the Mass Department of Transportation’s real estate division and their legislative liaison. As in my meetings with Verizon, I made clear to them that the currently proposed Exit 59 location is a dead proposal in my mind. They explained [...]

As previously noted, the state Division of Capital Management has terminated Verizon’s lease on the Exit 59 location. Verizon has pushed back on that, but DCAM has remained firm.