Dear Members of the Select Board,  

After serving four years on the Economic Development Committee—including three as Chair and Co-Chair—I write to formally decline consideration for any role on the proposed “Economic Development Advisory Committee” (EDAC). My decision stems from profound concerns that this restructured body abandons Belmont’s economic development priorities and silences critical voices. I cannot lend legitimacy to a framework that undermines our town’s commercial vitality and does not explicitly spell out the critical goal of expanding our commercial tax base. 

Core Failures of the EDAC Proposal

1. The Evisceration of Local Business Representation

As an architect of our district-focused business roundtables and networking events, I witnessed firsthand how different business perspectives from across Belmont helped us achieve policy consensus and allowed us to credibly listen and integrate local business concerns in our deliberations. The EDC’s existing four district-based business seats ensured these nuances drove policy. The EDAC’s lone “local business representative” reduces neighborhood input to tokenism. When combined with new seats for biotech and commercial real estate professionals (who profit from transaction volume, not community stability), this guarantees systemic disregard for small businesses and threatens Belmont’s holistic economic development. 

2. The End of Proactive Grassroots Economic Development 

Under the current EDC charge, we proactively shaped several critical pro growth economic development policies through primary reach out and community feedback. This includes Belmont’s MBTA 3A response by coordinating with Planning Board members and also through my two year service as member of the MBTA Advisory Committee and our entire committee effort to analyze commercial-housing balance—before formal plans were drafted and voted on. The EDAC’s reactive structure (“when requested by the Select Board…”) makes this impossible. 

Consider:  

– Our 2023 recommendations for Belmont restaurant rezoning stemmed from 6 months of independent data collection and analysis

– We secured $100-plus thousand in state grants by identifying opportunities without waiting for permission. Indeed, I see the decision by Belmonts government not to meaningful pursue Massachusetts OneStop for Growth grants over the past three years to be absolutely indefensible. By not allowing the proposed EDAC structure to even initiate work without Select Board approval turns a technical committee into a ceremonial one.  

3. Charge Ambiguities & Centralized Control

The charge’s vague priorities (“balanced development reflecting community character”) and open-ended mandates (“perform other projects as requested”) grant the Select Board unchecked power to:  

– Divert EDAC into non-economic agendas (e.g., enforcing subjective “character” tests)

– Ignore inconvenient recommendations (e.g., if EDAC supports parking reform but Select Board favors status quo)

The requirement that all recommendations flow exclusively through you—with no direct access to other boards—further isolates economic expertise from decision-making.  

Why This Matters Now

Belmont faces existential challenges: commercial tax base stagnation, state-mandated housing compliance policies, and rising business vacancies in key districts. You may well want to study AI and its implications on the Belmont economy, but the large potential impact of AI on energy, transport, and a myriad number of key foundational sectors shouldn’t relegate responsibility to understand its impact to one subset of a single committee. Furthermore, one of the key recommendations from the 2019 Belmont Business study, that the town shall hire a dedicated economic development professional, has gone ignored for the past six years. We need a committee that:  

– Centrally positions small businesses—not as a footnote, but as 4+ voting seats 

– Empowers committee members to initiate solutions, not await assignments

– Holds direct channels across Belmont and greater Boston to integrate a rapidly changing technology driven economic reality into positive fiscal impact for Belmont taxpayers

The EDAC proposal does the opposite. It is not reform—it is regression.  

My Formal Position

I will not serve on this committee. My decades in business strategy consulting in the US and globally combined with my diverse and multifaceted educational background and Belmont governance experience tell me that this proposed EDAC structure is designed to fail. And this change is not grounded in any research, data, primary feedback, or any kind of peer community benchmarking. 

As such, I strongly recommend to the Select Board that you amend the proposal to:  

1. Restore four district-based business seats,

2. Remove all “when requested”language to enable proactive work, and  

3. Grant EDAC standing authority to advise all boards on economic-impact matters

However, given my inclination that my recommendations will fall on silent ears, I will therefore not seek any role in this EDAC and will instead devote my efforts to supporting Belmont businesses and grow its economy through other channels.  

Respectfully,  

Paul Joy

(Former Chair, Belmont Economic Development Committee)