Author: Eli Cloutier

  • Belmont Eateries Are a Family Affair

    As children living above their father’s hair salon on Leonard Street in Belmont Center in the 1980s, the deMagistris brothers often played soccer and tag in the street.

    Today, those three brothers — Dante, Damian, and Filippo — run The Wellington, a casual eatery with creative American cuisine they opened on that same block in 2018.

    Dante is the chef, and Damian and Filippo are both directors of operations. They also co-own il Casale, an Italian restaurant with locations in Belmont and Lexington.

    The deMagistris family is a throwback to previous generations — one family occupying significant business space on the same block over generations.

    Their father, Leon, who still owns the hair salon Leon and Co., is grateful that his sons work so close to him. He sees them every day, he said.

    “And when I’m hungry, I go across the street, and they feed me,” Leon joked.

    Leon noticed that Dante had the knack for cooking from a young age. As early as middle school, Dante remembers watching his grandmother in the kitchen.

    When that started, Dante said, it became something he did every day. He quickly realized that he would rather be cooking than playing video games or doing homework.

    “Somebody had to cook dinners for the family,” Dante said. “They would just eat cereal if I didn’t cook something.”

    He knew he wanted to pursue a career in food. After high school, Dante moved to Italy, where he gained valuable experience working in restaurants in Bologna, Florence and Naples.

    With family scattered around Italy, Dante lodged for free as he moved around for work. When he returned home, he opted against culinary school and decided to continue working in kitchens.

    One stop on his journey was as a line cook at Pignoli, a restaurant in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Dante worked under Daniele Baliani, who helped open it in 1994.

    Baliani’s first impression of Dante, 19 at the time, was that he was shy, but Baliani knew Dante had the talent needed to succeed. It was just a matter of getting him out of his shell. Baliani vividly remembers the moment he succeeded.

    At Pignoli, they had five minutes to get risotto from the kitchen to the table. In Italy, it’s a 20-minute ordeal, where it’s made entirely from scratch. That wasn’t the case at Pignoli, Baliani said. Dante was taking too long.

    “I got pissed off at him,” he said. “I think that kind of woke him up.”

    As Dante honed his craft, Damian was on his own journey. While attending Fordham University, he began working in restaurants, but in the front of the house. He attended the French Culinary Institute to gain more knowledge about the management and finance side of the business.

    In 2009, they opened il Casale’s Belmont location — also on Leonard Street — and the Lexington location in 2014. The Wellington followed in 2018.

    They wanted to open their restaurant in Belmont because the quiet town had a stigma of being “sleepy,” Damian said.

    When the town sold the old firehouse on Leonard Street, the brothers saw an opportunity to bring more energy to the town center where they grew up.

    “It was critical that we had a nice, warm restaurant that spoke to some of our values,” Damian said. “A center where people could gather and have birthday parties and celebrate things or just catch up over a drink. And the town never had a bar until we showed up.”

    Diane Gordon and her husband end up at The Wellington on occasion. The couple enjoys the free “yummy rolls” and the fried chicken, a $28 dish served with shaved cucumber and radish salad and hot chili oil.

    “The food is always good,” Gordon said. “It’s a place where you can go and chat, but it’s more classy while still being accessible.”

    Damian remembers the “crazy” energy of the first month The Wellington opened. Priests and teachers from their childhood showed up to support.

    “I’ve never seen them in a place having that much fun and just kind of celebrating life,” he said.

    This story is part of a partnership between the Belmont Voice and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • Belmont Alum Overcomes Brain Injury, Prepares for Prestigious Program

    After she suffered a traumatic brain injury playing soccer as a sophomore at Belmont High School, Anya Button’s parents worried their daughter would never be the same.

    She was forced to take a year off from school to recover.

    “We didn’t know what the end of it would be,” said her father, Don.

    Fast forward, and Button isn’t only a senior at Duke University — where she is a sociology student with a focus on markets and management — but she’s also heading to one of the world’s most prestigious graduate fellowship programs.

    Button was selected to join the 10th class of Schwarzman Scholars — a one-year, fully funded master’s degree program in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The program is designed to prepare the next generation of global leaders. She is one of 150 incoming scholars from 38 countries selected from a pool of nearly 5,000 candidates.

    Wyatt Bruton, the associate director of admissions for Schwarzman Scholars, is part of the team that identifies and selects emerging leaders from around the world. Selecting Button was easy for Bruton and the rest of the admissions team, as “she’s an obvious leader.”

    “It was very obvious to us as a selection committee that Anya is on the path to impact, she’s on the path to leadership, and we need her to come join this mission that we’re working on because she’s going to make waves,” Bruton said.

    Staying Involved

    Button was told she wouldn’t be able to play contact sports again after her injury, but wanted to stay involved, and she loved photography.

    She often attended Boston Breakers games, the city’s former professional women’s soccer team, as both a fan and a photographer. Attending so many games, she noticed something.

    “There was a significant gap in media,” said Button, 22. “There wasn’t a lot of coverage of women’s sports — there weren’t any formalized outlets.”

    Intrigued by the relationship between athletics and global economic development, and envisioning creating new sustainable business models that empower women globally through sports, Button founded Victress FC.

    Victress FC sells and licenses photos covering the top levels of women’s sports, particularly soccer, to media outlets that don’t have full-time staff photographers. It also provides mentorship opportunities for women looking to break into the sports industry.

    “Whether it’s shadowing or providing credentials for games, we provide that umbrella and get them their first step into the industry,” Button said.

    She worked with Football Australia in its bidding campaign to jointly host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with New Zealand. Her photos were used in social media posts around Australia to garner support for the bid. She was also the national team’s photographer for its Tournament of Nations in 2018.

    “It was a really great introduction to what it looks like when women’s sports become mainstream,” she said. “Being a part of that around the world was really powerful.”

    Her experience doesn’t stop there. She has also had stints with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Serena Ventures — the Serena Williams-backed VC Fund.

    Schwarzman Scholars

    Button first heard about Schwarzman Scholars through her orientation leader at Duke. She was intrigued for two reasons. One, the program is tied to Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of the Blackstone Group, an investment management company, and two, the opportunity to immerse herself in China and other parts of Asia.

    After submitting her application last September, Button went through a rigorous interview process. In the final five minutes of the interview, she was asked “random global affairs questions.” Every day in the lead-up to the interview, she would listen to the BBC’s daily global podcast and read The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times.

    “It wasn’t questions about the state of American politics or the state of America, but it could be about Brazil and their approach to X or otherwise,” Button said.

    Initially, she didn’t tell her parents exactly what she was applying for.

    “She said, ‘I’m doing something. I want to try for something big, but I don’t want to jinx it by telling you what it is,’” her father said.

    Eventually, she told her parents, and they looked up the program, but they didn’t truly understand the magnitude of the opportunity until she was chosen.

    The yearlong program begins in August, and Button is excited for the academic experience, but also the conversations that await her. Since the program is free, the door is opened for a wide variety of people and backgrounds.

    “The college itself functions as a space for civil discourse,” she said. “You can really get a person to person perspective to a lot of the world conflicts and things going on.”

    This story is part of a partnership between the Belmont Voice and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • Volunteer Group Tackles Invasive Species at Lone Tree Hill

    Leonard Katz would often walk the Coal Road Trail at the Lone Tree Hill nature preserve in Belmont, but not without being whacked by knotweed.

    “People might pick up ticks when they walk or bike,” Katz said.

    Along with Dean Hickman, Katz leads the Belmont Conservation Volunteers, a group that protects the town’s native plants and restores its natural spaces by controlling the spread of ecologically harmful invasive plants, like knotweed.

    Katz is a “semi-retired” academic philosopher who has a research appointment at Harvard University. He’s always loved to hike — that’s where his interest in controlling invasive species stemmed from.

    Hickman, meanwhile, is a scientist who works for a nonprofit organization looking to develop drugs for tuberculosis, who runs through the woods at Lone Tree Hill on occasion. He’s gained appreciation for the preserve over time.

    “Once you start appreciating the woods, you want to put a little effort in to help and organize other people to do the same,” he said.

    With permission from the town, Katz, Hickman, and other volunteers are permitted to work on land over which the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill, the Conservation Commission, and the Select Board have jurisdiction. But they are only allowed to use handheld tools to control specific species.

    One species the group is able to control is Akebia quinata, commonly known as chocolate vine. It’s an evergreen ground cover and climbing vine that kills native shrubs and taller canopy trees by twining and climbing, which results in a reduction of plant biodiversity and overall quality of natural communities.

    “If we don’t keep up with it, then there will not be regeneration of the forest with young trees that are needed long term to replace the old trees that die,” Katz said.

    As the calendar turns to May and June, the focus will shift to Alliaria petiolata, commonly known as garlic mustard, which is also a threat to biodiversity. If the plant is not pulled, it drops “hundreds of seeds,” Hickman said, which further smothers native plants.

    “It’s very easy for volunteers to pull those kinds of things, so it’s a good introduction to something you can do that’s beneficial for the woods,” he added.

    The Belmont Conservation Volunteers also help lead activities at annual events sponsored by community organizations year-round such as the Belmont Citizens Forum Volunteer Day at Lone Tree Hill on April 26 and Belmont Serves on Indigenous Peoples’ Day in October.

    Anna Churchill, who works part-time in human resources and teaches women’s health education on the side, is an active volunteer. She’s interested in learning more about the environment and the plants around her.

    Churchill said she saw a post online calling for volunteers and thought it was a great way to “get outside, to meet people, and to spend some time volunteering.”

    “Going out and doing something like pulling garlic mustard – you’re not just doing that, you’re also learning about the other plants that are nearby,” Churchill said. “And you’re meeting people like Leonard, who is very knowledgeable about other plants that are growing around there. So I’ve learned a lot.”

    Arthur Kreiger, a retired environmental and land use lawyer, has become a certified Master Gardener. As his legal career has wound down, Kreiger has spent more time removing invasive species and planting native plants.

    He volunteers removing invasive species across greater Boston and spends time with the Belmont Conservation Volunteers because the town needs remediation.

    For Kreiger, Katz, and Hickman, this type of work is important because these invasive species are green, lush, and look harmless.

    “They’re destructive to the local environment,” Kreiger said. “It’s just as important as any other aspect of environment protection.”

  • Diverse Array of Issues Drive Belmont Voters

    Municipal elections are often decided by one of several key issues: For example, the financial health of the town, the character or livability of the community and the quality of the roads and sidewalks.

    This year, we asked Belmont voters the question, “What brought you out today?”

    Karen Bauerle, who lives on Hurd Road in Precinct 6, is passionate about housing and diversity in the school system.

    “I’m really looking forward to change in Belmont,” she said. “I want to see more than just white kids in our classrooms.”

    Terri Goldberg of Alma Avenue in Precinct 5 agreed with Bauerle, adding “the schools are always important,” even though her children are already through the system.

    But she also emphasized that Belmont is facing a number of significant challenges that will affect the town’s future, such as building more homes and maintaining the environment.

    Sarah Ellison, a Precinct 6 resident who lives on Stults Road, always votes because she feels it’s her civic duty, even if it’s a relatively calm election cycle.

    That’s not the case this year. She wants to support the town and people who want to make a change.

    “Many of the issues facing the town often aren’t contested,” Ellison said. “But this election is.”

    She wants to keep Belmont an accessible town on foot. Also of importance to Ellison are maintaining Belmont Center and building more housing.

    For Lydia Carthy Cornell of Hillcrest Road in Precinct 6, the new Library building is a “big focus.”

    “I loved going to the library as a kid,” Carthy Cornell said. “I have a one-year-old son who I want to have that same experience.”

    She’s patiently waiting for the new construction on Concord Avenue to wrap up. The project is aiming to be completed in early October, with a grand opening teased for early 2026.

    For Helen Bakeman of Lexington Street in Precinct 5, her trip to the ballot box is more out of worry for the future.

    “What’s going to happen in the next 10 years, physically and fiscally?” she said.

    Affordable housing is a major concern for Bakeman. Simply put, she just wants to see more of it.

    Lisa Pargoli, a Precinct 5 resident who lives on White Street, aligns with Bakeman’s concerns. Physically, it’s mainly the roads and maintaining buildings. Fiscally, it’s transparency.

    “Why is everything falling apart?” she said. “Where is the money going?”

    This story is part of a partnership between the Belmont Voice and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • Unofficial Results Show Yates Winning Select Board Seat

    Receiving roughly 60% of the vote, Planning Board Chair Taylor Yates was elected Tuesday night to serve a three-year term on the Select Board. 

    According to unofficial results, Yates received 2,525 votes to Paul Joy’s 1,736 votes. Joy currently serves as chair of the Economic Development Committee. 

    “[My] number one reaction is gratitude,” Yates said Tuesday night. “Gratitude to my campaign team … they were in the trenches with me the whole time; gratitude to all of our volunteers and donors that gave us what we needed to get this campaign over the finish line; gratitude for all the voters for affirming a positive vision for Belmont’s future, and of course, gratitude to my family who really pulled together to support me on this.”

    In a statement, Joy congratulated Yates on his victory. He thanked the town clerk’s office for a smooth election and the League of Women Voters and the Pan Asian Coalition for their candidate panels. He also thanked his campaign team’s effort for their work leading up to the election.

    “This election didn’t turn out the way I, my team and those who voted for me had hoped,” he wrote. “But that does not mean that my work for Belmont will come to an end.  I am a Precinct 7 Town Meeting Member. I remain committed to helping to build community across Belmont based on the core foundational principles of democracy and shared governance.”

    According to the Town Clerk’s office, 4,470 ballots were cast out of 18,970 registered voters for a turnout of 23.6%. Yates said he’d hoped to see more voters at the polls.

    “Turnout was lower than I expected and I hope we as a town can find ways to encourage more turnout,” Yates said. “Not everybody in the world gets to vote so it’s a pretty precious right we have here.”

    The moderator race was much closer, with unofficial results showing Michael Crowley besting Mark Paolillo by 11 votes. With a few ballots still to be counted, including hand-counted ballots, military ballots, and write-ins, Crowley noted the race still could “go either way,” but declined further comment.

    In total, Crowley took 2,129 votes, compared to Paolillo’s 2,118. 

    In the race for School Committee, Zehra Abid-Wood and Brian Palmer were elected to serve three-year terms, with 3,213 votes and 2,797 votes, respectively, according to unofficial results. Candidate Michael Todd Thompson received 1,125 votes. 

    “I’m thrilled. I’m really, really happy, and I’m hopeful that now the work can begin,” Abid-Wood said from Town Hall Tuesday night, where election results were called. “I think there’s been a lot of really good work done with the school committee.”

    She said she is ready to serve where the committee needs her. 

    “My goal is to watch and learn and absorb,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of research going into this, a lot of context for what’s happening with the school committee. I see my role as other members of the school committee to be there as a voice for the community, and to both support school administration, the district administration, and to hold them accountable to deliver on what they say they will do great.” 

    For the Board of Health, Julie Lemay was elected to serve a three-year term with 3,103 votes, compared to Michael Todd Thompson’s 677. 

    Edward Barker and Tara Donner were elected to serve three-year terms as a Trustee of the Public Library with 2,301 votes and 2,233 votes, respectively. Mark Carthy received 2,156 votes. 

    Unofficial Ballot Totals

    The numbers available are unofficial totals from the precincts and ballots tabulated in advance – no hand-counted, military, or write-in ballots.

    Moderator

    • Crowley 2,129
    • Paolillo 2,118

    Select Board

    • Joy 1,736
    • Yates 2,525

    Board of Health

    • Lemay 3,103
    • Thompson 677

    Trustee of the Library

    • Carthy 2,156
    • Barker 2,301
    • Donner 2,233

    School Committee

    • Abid-Wood 3,213
    • Palmer 2,797
    • Thompson 1,125

    Eli Cloutier is a Boston University student working with The Voice as part of a partnership between the Belmont Voice and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • Motivated to Run: First Time Town Meeting Candidates Speak

    Belmont resident Katherine Sigel said approval in 2024 of a Proposition 2½ override — which allowed Belmont to increase property taxes by more than 2½% — sparked her interest in running for a seat on Town Meeting.

    “Being involved in the override campaign last year really made me get behind the community and fight for the battles that I believe in,” said Sigel, who serves as director of corporate and foundation relations at the St. Francis House, a homeless shelter in Boston. She is running to represent Precinct 5.

    As a parent of two children at Belmont Middle and High School, Sigel said her top priority is the school system. The schools, she said, make Belmont “really stand out.”

    Sigel is one of 97 candidates running to fill 102 seats at Town Meeting, which meets several times a year to debate and vote on issues affecting the town and school budgets, zoning regulations, and other issues. The April 1 election also has contested races for Select Board, School Committee, and town moderator, among others.

    Both candidates for moderator, Mark Paolillo and Michael Crowley, said they want to see the number of people interested in serving on Town Meeting increase. Of the 97 candidates running, 67 were incumbents hoping to retain their seat. The Voice spoke with seven of the 20 new candidates to understand their priorities and what prompted them to run for a seat on Town Meeting.

    Roger Diebold, running to represent Precinct 1, is an entrepreneur who develops medical devices. He said he’s been in Belmont for just over a year and wants to get more involved in the community.

    As with Sigel, the override was the driving force behind Diebold’s decision to run for Town Meeting. He has two young children in the school system, which was a big reason he moved to Belmont.

    “Override was pretty close to not passing,” Diebold said. “That made me think I should get more involved.”

    Jeff Broderick, vice president of product operations for the software company Acquia, started volunteering for the Economic Development Committee last summer and has been increasingly involved in Select Board events, stemming from an increased interest in town politics.

    Broderick, who is among the candidates for Precinct 3, wants to bring more business into Belmont and hopes to make the town more friendly to business owners.

    “I want to see Belmont invest in an economic development coordinator or a similar role in order to have a concerted focus,” Broderick said.

    Michelle Rule, a project manager in the biotechnology industry, said she sees new businesses face delayed openings because of permitting issues. She wants to explore options that “simplify that process.”

    Campaigning to represent Precinct 6, Rule sees the town struggling with its budget each year, especially with school funding. For her, the size of classes is a concern. Her kids, who attend the high school, have classes with 26 students in them, Rule said – which she said is high.

    “It impacts the quality of education, the individual attention a child can get,” she said.

    Precinct 5 Town Meeting member candidate Andrew Flamang, who grew up in town and graduated from Belmont High in 2001, has a background in consulting and is working on a software startup. Belmont needs to balance preserving its character with developing its commercial base, he said, so the town remains an attractive place to live.

    Cassandra Biette, who graduated from Belmont High in 2011 and moved back to town in 2019, has been a fourth-grade teacher in Lexington for six years. Biette is running to represent Precinct 6.

    Biette hopes to represent the younger generation in Belmont. When she was a child, her mother served on Town Meeting. People her mother served with are still involved, she said.

    Biette added that as a renter, she feels she can bring a valuable perspective to Town Meeting.

    Cabell Eames, who works for the Charles River Watershed Association, also rents. She agrees that the renter’s perspective is important to have on Town Meeting, as most of the members are homeowners. Eames is hoping to represent Precinct 6.

    “When you’ve been in Belmont for 10 years as a renter, that’s a badge of honor,” Eames said. “Because it’s really hard.”

    Eli Cloutier is a journalism student at Boston University. This story is part of a partnership between The Belmont Voice and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • Girls Advance to Quarters, Will Face Top-Ranked Hingham Wednesday

    A 2-1 overtime loss ended the season for the Boys hockey team Sunday night. The girls advanced to play Hingham Wednesday. (Eli Cloutier/Belmont Voice)

    The Belmont girls team advanced to the Division 1 state quarterfinals on Saturday night, beating Reading 1-0 at Ryan Arena in its second-round matchup.

    With just under two minutes to play in regulation, junior Mackenzie Clarke scored the game’s lone goal on the power play, with assists from senior Sadie Taylor and freshman Alexcia Fici.

    “We’ve been working on the power play this week,” Coach Brendan Kelleher said. “It paid off.”

    Junior goaltender Jil Costa was again excellent for the Marauders, recording her 10th shutout of the season in the win.

    “What can you even say about Jil?” Kelleher said. “You get a hot goalie, they can steal you a lot of games.”

    Belmont’s next opponent is Hingham, the top seed in the tournament. The game is Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Stoneham Arena.

    Regardless of who’s in front of them, the team will be ready, Kelleher said.

    Season Ends for Boys Team

    When Belmont and Winchester took the ice for its second-round matchup in the Division 1 state hockey tournament, neither side knew which type of game would unfold.

    “I thought it was a terrific high school hockey game,” Coach Tim Foley said postgame.

    The game Foley referred to was a triple overtime thriller, which saw the Marauders fall to the Red & Black 2-1 on Sunday night at Ryan Arena in Watertown.

    Junior Caiden Brady ended Belmont’s season 3:50 into the third extra session, beating sophomore netminder Evan Bauer high.

    Bauer was excellent all game long, keeping the Marauders in the game in the first two overtime periods, making several acrobatic saves.

    “Ethan put on an exhibition like I’ve never seen in high school hockey in a long time,” Foley said.

    The game took a fast pace early, with both teams establishing a physical presence from the onset. Belmont headed to a power play at 9:01 of the first when junior Brett Daniels was called for high-sticking.

    Almost immediately after killing the penalty, the Red & Black opened the scoring. Senior Chris McCarthy sprung free on a breakaway and beat Bauer to give Winchester a 1-0 lead at 11:05.

    It looked as if the Red & Black had all the momentum when PD Dimas was called for tripping, but sophomore Liam Guilderson buried a shorthanded goal.

    Senior Adam Bauer picked off a pass and pushed the puck forward to a streaking Guilderson, who beat sophomore goalie Graham Emerick blocker side high at 13:40 of the first.

    The final two periods of regulation were much like the first — fast and physical. Both teams found stretches of sustained pressure in the offensive zone, but neither could beat the opposing goalies.

    The Marauders started the first overtime on a 4-on-3 power play after senior Thomas Casey was called for tripping with 17 seconds to play in regulation. But Winchester, led by Emrick, was able to keep Belmont off the board.

    After two and a half extra sessions that left the raucous crowd restless, Brady sent the Red & Black faithful home happy, and the Marauders’ fans left wanting more. 

    “The kids are hurt, but it’s life,” Foley said. “They’ve certainly added to what we’re trying to get this program to.”