Plan reshaping Capitol Square block returns
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Proposed mixed-use plan at Capitol Square. / Commercial, Residential, Hospitality of Newton
The Redevelopment Board is considering a plan that would reshape the Capitol Square block once the site of a bank that became two restaurants.
The plan would situate 30 residential apartments, five of them affordable, above about 5,000 square feet of commercial space in a four-story building at Mass. Ave. and Lake Street, East Arlington.
The board voted, 4-0, on Jan. 23 to continue the hearing to Feb 27. Board member Melissa Tintocalis was absent, and the Planning Director Clair Ricker reported Tintocalis is leaving the board and her spot may be filled in about six weeks.
The mixed-use plan covers the block once embracing Christo's Market and the Arlington Five Cent Savings Bank, built in 1920. The bank became the restuarant flora in 1996 and Bistro Duet in 2016, whichwas open two years. The block also held Adventure Pub, which closed in 2020. A restaurant, Little Q Hot Pot, remains.
Select Board meetings to go hybrid Monday
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Select Board meetings will welcome in-person participants beginning Feb. 6, Chair Lenard Diggins, has told YourArlington. Going forward, meetings will be hybrid, allowing residents to participate in person or via Zoom.
"People at this point know what the risks are," said Diggins at the Jan. 23 meeting, raising concerns about long Covid and virus variants. "[Just] because we open the doors, they [members of the public] don't have to walk in."
Leone seeks Select Board; 2 newcomers for School Committee
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Longtime committee member Bill Hayner not seeking reelection
UPDATED Jan. 30: The annual town election is set for Saturday, April 1, and seven seats are open. Since six incumbents took out nomination papers Dec. 8, three new names have emerged. They are:
- John D. Leone, who lost last year's election to be Town Meeting moderator after serving since 2007 and who now seeks to challenge a Select Board incumbent; and
- Laura B. Gitelson and Jill Kristin Krajewski, who have taken out papers for School Committee.
Original jazz riffs, Berklee collaboration at AHS Wednesday
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The Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra, made up of Berklee professors, plans to offer original riffs at Arlington High School. Two of the composers, Mimi Rabson and Dave Harris, are Arlington residents.
The orchestra is set to collaborate with the AHS Jazz Band in a free concert scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, in the new auditorium at AHS.
Celebrate Lunar New Year Thursday at Town Hall
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Lunar New Year is the most significant celebration of the year in many cultures across Asia and is celebrated by millions of people worldwide as a time for gathering with family and welcoming spring, still weeks away.
This year the Town of Arlington celebrates the Lunar New Year in person at Town Hall Auditorium from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2.
East Arlington insurer has new name, familiar face
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Effective Jan. 25, Quinn Group Insurance Agency, in East Arlington, has rebranded under the name American Elm Insurance Group.
In a news release, agency Principal Erin Gaffney said "We value our role as trusted advisers with deep-rooted ties to our communities. Our ability to meet our clients’ evolving needs empowers them to pursue their dreams with the peace of mind knowing what matters most to them is protected.”
Gaffney has served as the agency’s principal since it became an agency partner of PCF Insurance Services (PCF), a top 20 U.S. insurance brokerage firm, in June 2021. She has been with the company nearly 12 years and is a 2007 graduate of Arlington High School, her LinkedIn profile says.
Black history, animation, playwriting among new AHS courses
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African-American history, animation, architecture, ceramics, design engineering, digital photography, ethnic studies, history of music in film, filmmaking, marketing, metalsmithing/jewelry-making and playwriting.
This is not your grandfather’s or father’s high school, or yours -- unless you will be an Arlington High School student next September.
The School Committee voted unanimously Jan. 26 to approve these new classes and other changes in course offerings.
Overnight parking pilot to be townwide; fee undetermined
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Would run 6 months; meeting to discuss in February.
UPDATED Jan, 26: A proposed overnight-parking pilot program is expected to be townwide and to cost a fee, the Select Board agreed Monday, Jan. 23. Board members expressed less certainty about how much to charge residents to participate.
If approved, the long-discussed program would run for six months, lifting the prohibition of on-street parking between 1 and 7 a.m. for a single side of the street. The Select Board plans to vote on the pilot this spring.
Chairman Lenard Diggins suggested charging a fee similar to the cost of securing a parking space in a municipal lot, which amounts to $365 annually.
6-0 vote acknowledges $88.9m school-budget allocation
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Number to 'build budget on.'
-- Kirsi Allison-Ampe
UPDATED Jan. 30: The School Committee acknowledged – and did not adopt – an operating-budget allocation of nearly $89 million for the upcoming school year during its Jan. 26 regular meeting. The next school year begins July 1.
Vice Chair Kirsi Allison-Ampe suggested changing the wording from “adopt” to “acknowledge.” In that amended form, it passed unanimously, 6-0. Because committee Chair Liz Exton was absent due to a family commitment, Allison-Ampe, in her capacity as vice chair, conducted the 90-minute meeting.
"This is the number we’re [going to be] building our budget on,” said Allison-Ampe, who also heads the committee’s budget subcommittee.
The budget came up briefly during routine brief reports of all the subcommittees toward the end of the meeting. Allison-Ampe said the budget subcommittee had met recently “for strategizing” and was set to meet again Feb. 10.
Decision expected in February on deputy superintendent position
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UPDATED Jan. 30: The selection process for the deputy superintendent of teaching and learning is nearly complete, Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth C. Homan announced at the School Committee meeting on Jan. 26.
The three candidates have toured APS campuses, met district employees and performed a “finalist task”witnessed by the “cabinet ”of top administrators. Soon they are to each meet individually with Homan, she told the committee, and then comes reference checks. She expects to have a specific recommendation at the next committee meeting, on Feb. 9. “It will be a hard decision,” she said.
Previously, students and their families were able to see and hear the candidates, and to ask questions, during an online presentation Tuesday, Jan. 24, showcasing the three finalists for the second-in-command position with Arlington’s public schools.The person chosen as deputy superintendent of teaching and learning would succeed Dr. Roderick MacNeal Jr., set to depart June 30 to lead a private school in Chestnut Hill.
$206m town budget proposed; override decision tied to state aid
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Town Manager Sandy Pooler has announced his proposed budgets for fiscal 2024 and the capital plan through fiscal 2028. Proposed for the general fund is $206,253,646, an increase of $8,501,122 (4.30%) from the current budget.
In a statement dated Jan. 13 and addressed to the Select Board and Finance Committee, Pooler wrote that the proposed budget is "built on a foundation that is both stable and potentially volatile. Property taxes remain a stable source of revenue and make up three-quarters of the town’s budget. As the largest source of revenue, property taxes increase steadily each year, but that revenue growth is limited by Proposition 2½ and is insufficient to keep up with rising costs."
Covid incidence in Middlesex Jan. 18: Down 4th week in a row
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UPDATED Jan. 26: YourArlington continues to report a running tally here of statistics of Covid-19 incidence regionally, listed in reverse chronological order.
The incidence of Covid-19 concentration in wastewater countywide is down for the fourth week in a row, according to Biobot Analytics.
These numbers typically are posted each Thursday evening, based on the previous day's results, by Biobot Analytics, a Cambridge-based firm that samples and analyzes wastewater nationwide. Biobot reports numbers county-by-county, including for Middlesex County, where Arlington is located.
YourArlington aims to update this list by Friday each week.
The numbers represent virus concentration per mililiter of wastewater; however, this is not the same as the number of Covid cases in the county, which is difficult to know currently. As of Jan. 25, 2023, the numbers for Middlesex County have trended down for the past four weeks.
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Menotomy Manor tenants, AHA board vow to work on communication
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