MOVING LINKS 4 YOU

“What a great place to grow up!” says Greg Poulos.

That’s what comes to mind when thinking of Belmont, Massachusetts for Greg Poulos.  Greg is a friend of mine from LinkedIn, owner of Bluefin Productions - an audiovisual business you might see working away at a big convention or smaller event in your area.

He says he is probably biased about Belmont since he grew up there but he sees it as a sunny little suburban town, sandwiched between two watersheds – the Charles and Mystic Rivers, just 5 miles outside Boston, the “Hub of the Universe!”

Here is Greg’s take on Belmont:

“I spent my childhood and teens here, in Belmont, in Middlesex County.  I moved away for college and moved back in after graduation.

How do I know Belmont’s best?  Well, my job takes me all over.  I travel for shows, events,a nd meetings.  I’ve been to forty-nine of the fifty states, a few Canadian provinces, the UK, a few islands in the Carribean and back these past couple decades.  I’ve met people and compared cultures and places, compared opportunities and challenges and yet I’ve always returned with a realization that home here in Belmont is Best!

By the numbers, it’s small (about 4.66 square miles).  It is mostly a suburban town of homes with about 10,000 housing units including 3800 rental units.  Median homes prices are under $400,000 with some that fetch in the multi-millions.  Median rent is around $1,000 though some run upwards of $15,000/month.  We’re a community of homeowners, by and large.

Among our 25,000 residents, we have a lot of college professors from MIT and Harvard living in town.

I went to high school here with Masako Owada who married Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito.  Nice kid.

Our governor, Mitt Romney, called Belmont home.  So have Kissinger, Deviled ham-maker William Underwood, CIA Director John Deutch, cello man Yo Yo Ma, and many athletes.

The town’s named after the estate of John P. Cushing, landowner of early colonial times 19th century farmer, Winthrop Chenery, was among the first to import Holstein cows to this country.  We were formed from farm land that fed colonial Boston.

With median elevation of 72 feet, in the town named Belmont, you’re pretty much going up or down a hill all day.  The view from downtown Boston is the vistas of Belmont.  A block away from my house, I can see the skyscrapers of Boston, the arched bridges on the waterfront, the Harbor during the day, and the Milky Way above me at night.

Our school system is one of the top 4 or 5 in the state in terms of standardized tests and college admisions.  You go through Belmont Public Schools, do well, and usually have your choice of Ivy’s.  And students?  Well, some 2500 kids are in Belmont schools.  Another 1400 or so are living here attending college in one of the Boston’s area’s many dozens of colleges and universities.  We’re about education.

This sleepy little town is fairly safe.  The number of violent crimes recorded by the FBI in 2003 was 31.  The number of murders and homicides was zero.  Boring, sure, but safe.  The town does roll up its sidewalks at night.  Kinda quiet.  We have one of those Starbucks.  I’ve even driven by it so I know it’s there.  Sure, you can dine at Il Casale or Savino’s, and recently, we’ve gone from a dry town to having a couple of liquor licenses.  But, for the most part, you head out of town for fun.

Heading out of town for fun is O.K., too.  We have our beautiful homes for sleeping and entertainment is all around us.  We’re far enough out of the city to have a nice green town – yet close enough to be near all the fun of the city.  We’re 15 minutes from Logan International Airport.  We’re near boating, fishing, whale watches, the mountains for skiing, and beaches for sunning.  We’re next to every major highway in Massachusetts.  And we’re on the T, the official mass transit of Boston.  A short bus ride gets you to any movie theatre, all of downtown “Beantown” for restaurants and an incredible vibrant theatre community for shows.  Many off Broadway shows try out here.