A TownieTalk goodbye…

This is the last formal issue of TownieTalk02478. TownieTalk was created in response to a whopper of a lie told to a group of soon to be 2020 BHS graduate parents. There was no forum to expose or even challenge the ignorance or incompetence that occasionally is present in the Town Government or School Administration, so TownieTalk accepted the challenge and started on a shoestring budget of a case of Bud Light and a generous offer from Belmont Briefing (belmontbriefing.com) to host TownieTalk articles at no charge. Over time it evolved into an outlet for Town residents, employees, businesses, and even elected and appointed officials to spur discussion of issues unknown to the masses. It also was a place to learn the good, the bad, and the ugly about Belmont and have some fun along the way. Proudly, we stayed away from sharing personal vendetta’s, marriage wrecking stories, and real freaky behavior of some well-known in Town and instead stuck with news, opinion and rumor that impacted Belmont.  

What’s left for transparency in Belmont? 

Any resident or business with concerns in Town should feel comfortable reaching out to the BelmontBriefing.com website about posting their concerns and it can be anonymous within limits (no slander etc). 

Going, going gone…

Goodbye to StoneHearth Pizza and Didrik’s in Belmont Center. Goodbye to the decades of the DiGiovanni clan as Belmont’s largest provider of housing (Hill Estates). Maybe goodbye (good riddance in my opinion) to one of the marijuana dispensaries on Pleasant Street. 

Hopefully… not goodbye  

The “Skip” Viglirolo rink should open this Fall but oddly there is still no commitment to maintain the rink’s name after legendary 95-year resident and longtime Town employee and Hockey Coach and player Skip Viglirolo. Befuddlement is turning to anger. Any other name on the building would be tarnished. Can you imagine protesters at a rink naming ceremony… I’d come back for that one. Stop the nonsense already its insulting to the Italian immigrant community and anyone with any sense of Town history. 

An unexpected goodbye…

Longtime Belmont Town engineer, Glenn Clancy, died after a fight with Cancer. Glenn was a Watertown kid who gave his entire professional career in service to the Town of Belmont. He leaves behind his wife, Kathryn, and two children. RIP. 

Arlington Belmont crew club

The Arlington man who stole the Arlington Belmont crew truck with skell trailer attached is mentally ill. After his arrest he was ordered to undergo psychiatric eval. That doesn’t help the club which has damages estimated at about $80k. No word on insurance. Reach out to club members for fundraising plans. 

Official Endorsement for Governor

I will be voting for Diana Dizoglio. Doesn’t matter that she is a Democrat. The waste, fraud and abuse need to be exposed, and she is the breath of fresh air desperately needed. 

Mental Health alert or just having fun?

I was enjoying the posterboard near Belmont Hill School with small jabs at President Trump because they were clever and I appreciate humor. That all changed with the call for action “Be Brave”. Maybe they forgot that our President was the target of two assassination attempts and was shot. Maybe they don’t realize that calling for action needs to be very specific these days. The other day a “Free Palestine” fanatic killed a Jewish couple in Washington DC. He confessed and said he did it for Gaza. That was his call to action and it’s hard not to hold the antisemitic rallies and anti-Israel speech by the left wing of the Democratic party responsible. Just my 2c. 

CDC Public Health Alert

• Cannabis may be bad for your baby no matter how you use it—this includes smoking, vaping, dabbing, eating or drinking, and applying creams or lotions to the skin.
• If you are using cannabis and are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding, talk to your doctor

TownieTalk02478 read between the lines… 

Belmont is not immune from sexual predators be it residents or employees in Town. Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, the Town had a problem. It should have been handled but Belmont didn’t want any bad headlines and leaders didn’t believe there was enough evidence besides odd behavior. Eventually, the effort of a Selectman addressed the issue, and the problem went away. For the victims the damage never went away, and every day can be a struggle often leading to addiction, depression and worse. 

Flash forward to more recent days. Same situation I am told… in this case potential grooming material left in a place likely to be found by children, not a slam dunk but enough to demand immediate action. The optics for the Town (typical elitist shit) and expensive to pursue, so we just pass on the potential problem to someone else. You would think 

“Belmont should be extremely cautious when hiring any position working with children and teens”

Adults would have learned we have a duty to protect children no matter the cost or negative press and that doesn’t just mean our children but others that may be at risk. History repeats itself. Be better. 

Teacher Strike Fall 2025…   

Had the chance to speak briefly at the Belmont Educators Association negotiation rally. If inflation and high rent costs are impacting you, then imagine the impact on Teachers. Teacher Aides would make more money by holding signs asking for money on Concord Ave than what Belmont pays. 

Why would they strike?

Basically, because the Town wants them too. That way they can blame the next override on greedy teachers and after that greedy Town Unions. So why even negotiate if that is the end goal? The reality is Belmont leadership ignores financial issues when any debt exclusion is on the ballot and then immediately cries, we are destitute when asking for an override or negotiating salaries with the working class. Top management is taken care of and then rewarded for shit kicking everyone else. RFK Jr. was so correct when he said the political parties have changed teams with the working middle class solidly being better represented by the America First GOP. Belmont’s treatment of Town and School employees is a prime example in this heavy Democrat Town.

I frequently describe the Town Government as a bizarre mix of elitists and the alphabet soup crowd. An elitist is more interested in winning an architectural award for a building or having it LEED certified than the ability to afford it. The alphabet soup crowd is more interested in getting their DEI hire, Indigenous day nonsense or sanctuary for illegal immigrants. In other words, the rational mind doesn’t exist in this odd alliance that runs the Belmont Government and as a result budgets are not treated like you would at home but rather by Quid pro quo between the two groups at the detriment to the Town.  

Positive reviews…

TownieTalk endorsed and Moderator winner, Mike Crowley, has gotten positive reviews for his handling of Town meeting. 

Is Belmont walking on a tightrope? 

Former Town Moderator Mike Widmer wrote an article for the Belmont Citizen’s forum detailing Belmont’s financial predicament. It was well written but in classic Widmer fashion it came across as calm when it should have said Belmont is at Devcon 1. Here is the link OPINION: Belmont is Walking a Tightrope – Belmont Citizens Forum. Essentially, Widmer said Belmont exists solely on the goodwill of taxpayers passing overrides to bail out a Town that has about 5% commercial property tax revenue and a miniscule chance to grow it. While Mike is accurate, this one smells like trying to provide cover to the Town to nickel and dime the Teachers.  

Is he right though? 

Yes. Obviously poor Belmont stewardship has caused this problem. This isn’t the day of Bill Monahan or Angelo Firenze with the stones to say No to people. Treasurer Floyd Carman warned us for decades, but the elitist and special interests didn’t listen. Belmont is a Black Swan event away from receivership. I believe that the Black Swan event is upon us. A Black Swan event is an event that most people believe can’t happen and then when it does it ends up having a disproportionate negative impact. 

That Black Swan event is a real estate crash and, in the past, our proximity to Cambridge and Boston and being a safe leafy suburb with good schools usually blunted the blow leading residents to believe that can’t happen here. Same mentality in Northern Virginia that never really experienced a recession until now or Boston that could always rely on raising commercial property taxes. These are different times. The Government largesse that went to Massachusetts Universities who then gave generous pay and housing benefits to employees is going away. The need to be close to the workplace has been crushed by Covid zealots who created an expectation for work from home. The value of higher education is being chipped away each year by the promise of AI eliminating what had been degree jobs meaning a trade education will have more value moving forward than many higher ed degrees. The biggest problem is that Millennials need 8X their income to buy a home when Boomers needed just 2x and Boomers often got by on one income. Millennials are also in no rush to overpay and know the Boomers are aging quickly. Interest rates doubling during the Biden years has made most home buying impossible for them at these pandemic elevated prices. Add in Belmont passing the MBTA communities act whose stated goal is to make housing more affordable and you have a recipe for home prices tanking. Do you want to live in a Town under construction for the next 10 years as Belmont Center, Brighton Street and Waverley are urbanized?

Will taxpayers revolt? 

That is the key. It is a lot easier to pay for an override when your home is appreciating at 7% or more annually. It is painstaking if your home is stagnant or losing value. If the answer is No, then you have a big problem. The Town side budget has zero room for cuts without putting the Town at further risk and you have a school budget that can be cut but will end Belmont’s (prep vs public) school desire. 

Why did I sell?

It made way too much sense. Most everyone who bought a primary home in Belmont and purchased it prior to 2010 is going to face Capital Gains taxes in the 21-26% range. You can no longer invest the profits to avoid paying the tax so unless you plan on dying in the home or don’t have a major reason to stay, why not take the risk off the table. Warren Buffet seems to agree.  

What do you call?

Imagine if I said all the problems in the US are because of Lesbian Hispanic Women or I described a group of kids walking by as “yellow kids” or blamed young Indian men for an override passing? It would come across as racist or bigoted. If I told you the new lexicon from the alphabet soup crowd is actively calling out “straight white men” as the problem/enemy or blaming old white people for complaining about taxes or using the descriptor “brown kids” in the neighborhood, would you be surprised? How about if I told you some in Town defend the chant “From the River to the Sea”. The reality is there is overt racism and bigotry online in Belmont chats and often by those supposedly championing anti-racism. Stop giving them a free pass. This group likes to redefine everything, but they can’t redefine racism and bigotry unless you let them.    

Patrice Garvin… Town Administrator

People think I don’t like Patrice Garvin. I have never met her. What I didn’t like and was very vocal about was her silence during the infamous and troubling “spray gate” scandal when Town employees were exposed to possibly toxic chemicals. I felt any at risk should have been told immediately (again to hell with the optics) of the potential exposure instead of indirectly several months later being informed an investigation was taking place. To this day there still has been no public apology from the Town to the Employees for the delay in notification. 

Besides that, Patrice is only doing the bidding of the Select Board. It is painstakingly obvious that the Select Board uses Patrice as the “boogeyman”. Patrice reports to the Select Board only. If the Select Board tells her to back off, she will. They don’t because she is getting the results they want regardless of whether it has created a wedge between Patrice and Town employees, Senior Citizens, Conservation Committee members and so on. 

The Select Board

Quite an odd mix with collectively less than 20 years in Belmont. Per usual all are of means. 

Elizabeth seems to be oddly consumed by perceived misogyny in Town. I have never seen it especially in Belmont politics as women have long had a significant seat at the table both representing Belmont at the State House and on the Select Board and School Committee. I like her drive to grow commercial revenue, but she needs more backbone to push back against housing advocates demands that render added commercial space break even at best. 

Funny story from Town meeting sources on Taylor Yates… I was told some dipshit complained about how Taylor was dressed for Town meeting. Not up to the elitist standard you know. If Taylor spent more time at Dunks he would have been able to shut up the crank quickly. I don’t know Taylor, so the positive I take away from his winning is he is part of the Millennial generation that has been crapped on by Boomers and left their debts that he may develop the stones to say NO to those who created the mess he inherited. Ditto for Matt Taylor. You both are coming into a bad situation, and the question will be are you men of the people or lackeys for the elite and misfits? What do you value more… someone being able to stay in their home or a fancy atrium in a library?    

Gun Crime in Belmont just the precursor…

When a dozen shots rang out on a residential street in Belmont, it was swept under the rug. Those in the neighborhood knew full well it was gang related. Did the Select Board rush to the scene and order more patrols in the area? No. I wonder if any have ever set foot in Vet Village. It’s over near Waverley so probably not. Even if they did request more patrols, where would they come from? Belmont’s underfunding of the Police and failure to hire and keep officers, ditto for the Fire Department, shows a department at great risk. Just in time for the urbanization crime phase…

Post Monahan years… 

If you can’t tell by now, I was a big fan of Bill Monahan when he was on the Select Board keeping Belmont affordable for the middle class.  After his defeat in 2002, Belmont forever changed… the floodgates opened. 

Kudos to BHS Athletic Director Adam Pritchard…   

The one thing that seems to be surviving in Town is the athletics program. Pritchard can take credit for record numbers of kids participating in high school athletics. Now if he could just insert himself into any School building project so the Town has a person who understands what full size basketball courts are (Wellington gym) and not to build playing fields in known flood zones (BHS Softball). 

TownieTalk officially rates the BHS class of 2020 as Legendary

This Fall the BHS class of 2020 will be holding their 5^th reunion. The class as many know were denied an in-person graduation because the School Committee and School Administration let fear and cowardice overtake common sense. One reason cited is that parents who didn’t want their kids participating shouldn’t have to make their kids opt out. The class of 2020 is the only BHS class to hold its own unauthorized student led graduation ceremony. It is why Gen Z holds great promise for the future of America. Just a week or two after hundreds marched in the streets of Belmont in a political protest that local leaders embraced, a couple hundred BHS grads in full graduation regalia, marched onto Harris field and tossed their caps as pomp and circumstance played through the speakers. The only regret is that not all received texts or calls to make it down. Congrats to 2020’s. You did “Old School” Belmont proud.  

This Monday is Memorial Day

Memorial Day is to honor and mourn the military personnel who died in service. That’s it. It is just one day to remember the ultimate sacrifices by these American heroes. Unfortunately, in Belmont some have tried to equate other occupations with this sacrifice and heroism. There is no equivalency. God Bless America and God Bless our fallen servicemen and woman. 

Community notes… 

While excitement and optimism finally return to America, it doesn’t change the fact that the Belmont Center Bridge intersection is a 4-way intersection and should be treated that way. Some people think that they have the right of way when traveling down Concord Ave from the High School…. they don’t. Don’t believe me, then wait till your insurance company finds you at fault. Same with those coming down Common Street and taking a left. It absolutely blows my mind that there are not many more accidents there but somehow it works.  

You may still see me in Town. I have not suspended my quest to find the buried Pequossete gold and there is no way I would let Sullivan and Young Excavation find it. Lastly, I heard they laid claim to the Claypit Island and were seen rowing over digging supplies. 

Cheers, 

PJ Looney

Townie Talk 02478

“AMDG” “Never Forget” “Never Again” “America First”

Did you hear the story about the Belmont kid born at 2.5lbs who spent the first few weeks of his life in a shoebox? The kid who worked 10-hour days on Belmont farms in 7^th grade to help earn money for his family. The Pond skater nicknamed after a fish? The Korean war vet and Lifelong Belmontian?

What if I said the legendary hockey player who played for Polly Harris and Frank Bennett and went on to commit his life to Belmont both as a treasured employee and historic hockey player and coach. The man for whom the Town of Belmont honored his service to Town and Community by naming the local hockey rink after him. 

That man is the living legend “Skip” Viglirolo. His story is available as part of the Belmont Story Project online. Skip’s story is part of Belmont’s history, and part of the contribution Italian immigrants played in the development and success of Belmont. 

Soon the Town of Belmont will be opening a brand-new rink to replace the original 1971 rink. TownieTalk was surprised to learn that the Select Board hasn’t committed to keeping Skip’s name on the rink. I don’t understand this but then again, I didn’t understand the hesitancy of naming the Wellington gym under the also legendary Dick Samaria. Town history is what binds generations of current and former Belmontians together. You meet someone who grew up in Town and you ask what School they attended or what neighborhood they lived in and was that near the Underwood or Cushing Sq or Palfrey Sq etc. Erasing history erases bonds. 

The Town has just experienced a generational shift in leadership. The millennials are now in charge and while I apologize that we (I blame the Boomers but there were some Gen X in that mix) left you with outsized debt and difficult choices ahead, I would ask you to take the time to embrace the Town’s proud immigrant history and preserve it for former, current, and future generations to share not erase it. 

Cheers,

PJ Looney Jr

TownieTalk02478

“Never Forget” “Never Again” “AMDG”

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is a surgeon who made billions inventing cancer drugs. He says that Covid, and the vaccines that didn’t stop it, are likely causing a global epidemic of terrifyingly aggressive cancers.

“We’ve never seen an 8 year old with colon cancer before… this is a real phenomenon: a rise of cancer in young people”

Watch the March 26, 2025 interview by Tucker Carlson below!

The plan cover photograph is cheerfully optimistic. What doesn’t it show you?

It doesn’t show you the facts: eg that 200 people would be cramming a narrow street from the 100 new apartments being planned for the Center.

It doesn’t show you the lack of parking and back-to-back traffic along Leonard St. at ALL times, whereas now it’s just in rush hour(s).

It doesn’t show you rats running across Leonard street, which would turn into a huge construction zone for at least 5-10 years.

It doesn’t show you the DOZEN empty storefronts, not just a handful, along Leonard, because our well loved local stores will have gone out of business, or left : the business owners have said clearly that they will be forced out if this plan is approved. 

No Toy Shop of Belmont. No Bessie Blue. No Ranc’s. No Belmont Bookstore. No Helena’s. No Revolve. No Wellington’s. No Chocolate Dream. No Westcott Mercantile. ETC.

And because the cover of the plan speaks of “overlay zoning districts”, PLURAL, and because the Planning Board and Town Planner haven’t done their due diligence and conducted impact studies, the reality for not just the Center but for you could be this:

THE REALITY: 

NOT this: THE DELUSION

This is why it’s ESSENTIAL to vote on April 1 in our local elections!  Your future in this town, your home, your neighborhood, depends on it. 

Paul Joy, Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, has a different vision for change, economic development and responsible, careful planning.

Paul’s key focuses are :

1. Parking: Eliminate business parking mandates: help businesses flourish. Pledge to maintain the Claflin St. parking lot permanently. (According to the Planning Board it has been saved, for now)

2. Upzone only areas ripe for COMMERCIAL development eg Purecoat, some areas of Concord Ave..

3. Streamline new business applications, and refresh vacant storefronts using state money via grants 

4. Hospitality on Concord Ave, where it will enhance, not outcompete, local independent businesses 

5. Yes to drive through’s! A restaurant and rooftop bar over the Bank of America building ? 

What’s so different about this plan? It has NONE of the negative downstream impacts we will suffer from Taylor Yates’ plan. And Paul listens: to every stakeholder, every resident. He is not dismissive or callous, unlike his opponent, to shop owner’s and abutter’s concerns. He is thoughtful, responsible, inclusive, a good steward – and he tells the truth.

Shape YOUR future in Belmont! Exercise your vote!

——————

Belmont Deserves Better. Our lives, homes and businesses are on the line.

– A Group of Concerned Belmont Citizens

Instead, the actual zoning bylaw posted by the town is a shocking invitation to real estate developers to a free-for-all in Belmont Center:

1. No building footprint limits are established! Even 3A zoning did that!

2. Highest impacts on allowed buildings are hidden.

3. Maximum Heights enlarged with “bonus stories”.

4. Further height buildups of towers/roof structures are allowed in the small print. 

5. Deceptively calls full stories “half stories”… .

6. Packed with problematic images – see below – which don’t accurately represent what can be built.

If you really want to know what they’re doing, spend 20 mins on Town Meeting Member Doug Koplow’s careful review and superb analysis, from which this material is borrowed, a document publicly available here:

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AjsbE6z69oxHhcJabJVbQ2t223IwtQ?e=JwHJ7E

The Belmont Planning Board Chair has been pushing this Center overlay zoning project forward at breakneck speed. So is Elizabeth Dionne, chair of the select Board, who is effectively running Taylor Yates’ campaign for the open Select Board seat, election on April 1. 

Together, they insist this project will grow the town’s commercial tax base – while simultaneously ignoring and REFUSING TO ANSWER all requests for crucial data on COSTS, such as proportion of residential to commercial, actual numbers of tax revenue to be generated AFTER costs, infrastructure costs, traffic and parking impacts, and costs to schools of 200 more children living in 100 new apartments, and being driven in at least 100 new cars into the Center every day?

The Planning Board Chair and Select Board Chair are highly intelligent people. They know what good planning is, with due diligence. They know that once in a generation change can cause huge negative downstream impacts. They know they are pushing a massive buildup that will have little ground floor commercial space, topped with tons of residential – hundreds of new condos and apartments.

The deceptions in this zoning bylaw, in Taylor’s statements to the public which are the opposite of what’s in the actual zoning are the mark of a Planning Board Chair in a tearing hurry. His mantra seems to be “get it done – and damn the consequences!”.

Consequences we in this town who care about the Center will live with – forever. 

———

Belmont Deserves Better. Our lives, homes and businesses are on the line.

The Select Board and Planning Board, working hand-in-glove, have promised us that “economic development” via a massive buildup in Belmont Center will gain revenue for the town, and substantially lower our taxes. “Higher taxes or taller buildings!” is their mantra. But do the facts bear them out?

What is missing, or being hidden, in their plan? HERE ARE THE FACTS: 

1. MOST OF THE BUILDUP WILL BE RESIDENTIAL, NOT COMMERCIAL. 

The Town’s own RKG Fiscal Impact Analysis of November 2024, publicly available online, shows that the costs of school aged children, infrastructure, and new municipal services will at best – in an optimistic scenario – roughly break even in taxes. But UNDER THIS PLAN, YOUR TAXES COULD GO UP, NOT DOWN! 

These RKG tables show why: look at the result – $839,000 net revenue gain – of a moderate buildup in all of Belmont, and the LOSS from a low buildup: $29,000! 

2. While the Planning Board is trying to pack tall buildings into our small center, the construction, noise, rats, traffic clogs, disruption and higher rents will, according to the Belmont Center Business Association, DRIVE BELMONT CENTER INDEPENDENT STORES AND RESTAURANTS OUT OF BUSINESS. 

3. TRAFFIC: 100 new apartments/condos in Belmont Center – the PB’s stated estimate – will add at least 100 new cars (despite the Planning Board’s wishful thinking that folks will just walk long distances – they won’t, any more than the PB Chair does). Massive construction will clog traffic further. Which means your daily commute of 1/2 hr now will become at least 1 hour, under this plan.

4. “MONSTROUS BUILDINGS!”: At Paul Joy’s Economic Development Council meeting on March 13, over 50 people, residents and Belmont Center business owners, showed up to speak passionately against this zoning plan. Many reported this was the first meeting at which they felt heard, as the Planning Board isn’t listening. One older woman, a Belmont resident for fifty years, said the buildup was “monstrous”. Heads nodded all round. This plan destroys the unique charm and historic scale of our center, and replaces it with something like Alewife.

It’s time the Select Board and the Planning Board woke up to reality: that this plan will not deliver what they promise, and will deliver nasty consequences they steadfastly refuse to discuss. Ignoring reality is foolish, dangerous, irresponsible.

The truth may be painful, but ignoring the truth does not make it less real.

Belmont deserves better. Our homes, businesses and lives are on the line.

This is false. Here’s why: let’s walk through the town’s most recent fiscal impact analysis, of Nov 2024, available publicly online.

The equation the Planning Board offers is simple: zone for 4, 5 and 6 story buildings, with retail on ground level, and many floors of residential above, and hey presto, developers will swarm in and build, Belmont will rake in their taxes, and ours will go down..

At its February 27 public hearing, the Planning Board also told us that the Town is doing a fiscal impact study, but looking only at revenue, not costs! Could we run even our household budgets, much less a town, with no understanding of costs? It’s irresponsible.

Yet Chris Ryan insisted that doing a fiscal impact analysis looking at revenue only was fine, and that studying costs would cost too much! That’s absurd, and a bit lazy: any budgeting app can be filled out in minutes to model scenario impacts. 

The reason for these evasions is not hard to find. 

Take a look at the Town’s RKG Fiscal Analysis, commissioned November 2024, projecting income and costs of a high-build scenario and a moderate-build scenario in ALL OF BELMONT, NOT JUST THE TWO BLOCKS OF BELMONT CENTER. 

Look at the two charts below. The numbers project the final net income we could expect after all the buildup, assuming developer-friendly zoning would result in a rush to build as tall as possible on every offered spot.

The high-build scenario, at a MAXIMUM, would produce just $1,697K in additional income after building up in the whole town, after accounting for the fiscal impact of School Aged children (assessed at a ratio of .35 ).

The moderate- build scenario produces just $839K after accounting for a reasonable School Aged Children ratio: 10% of the $8.4 million we are looking at in overrides! And that’s after building up the whole town! 

And all this at what cost? At the cost of destroying our historic Center, driving out the many small businesses who won’t survive construction, adding tons of cars, straining the schools, exacerbating traffic, stressing town and emergency services, ruining the many Center abutters’ lives, and turning spacious Belmont into Somerville or Alewife. 

So, it seems the Planning Board has been selling us a delusion, or a lie.

But the numbers don’t lie. 

Which Belmont do YOU want?

Belmont Deserves Better. Our lives, homes and businesses depend on it.

– A concerned group of Belmont residents.

Belmont Town Meeting is being “railroaded” by the MBTA, specifically the MBTA Communities Act.  Here’s HOPE for those who  have dutifully followed the false words of certain “town planners ” and  “town administrators.” It is unknown if conflicts of interest exist among these folks but the speed of the “railroading” causes us to wonder.

Other communities are denying this Massachusetts overreach. Milton specifically. So far while Milton was denied certain claims they still have claims pending:

1. The State failed to follow Massachusetts Administrative Procedures Act, failing to properly notify cities and towns and their residents according to the procedures the State has established. The State attempted to file it as an Emergency action but they are unable to  meet the required justification

2.  The MBTA Communities Act has been declared an Unfunded Mandate by the State Auditor.  Info on how that is determined: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/learn-about-mandate-determinations

3.  The  Milton case did not address the Home Rule Currently MBTA Communities Act fails the State’s Home Rule provision. There is also a Federal Home Rule provision that may have been violated. Possible additional lawsuit.

4. Additional Lawsuit: During October 2024 a group of Rockport citizens sued the state on the basis of the unconstitutionality of the MBTA Community Act. Several Belmont residents joined this lawsuit as Intervenors. Most recently citizen groups from 35 different Massachusetts communities are also joining this lawsuit which will move forward as a Class Action suit.

“The question of Housing affordability is not even incorporated into this law. It falls into a law favoring the special interest of a few and not the people as a whole. The State argues that this law is needed to address a housing shortage but they have not substantiated that claim. Although many believe we have an affordability crisis, the affordability crisis has been exacerbated by the State’s inept, heavy-handed and bumbling attempts to make rentals and homes more affordable. In reality, Massachusetts is an expensive State to live in primarily due to its burdening taxes, wasteful spending and poor management all of which ultimately drives up the costs for homeowners and landlords. In addition,the State’s  Section 8 Policies have actually driven up the general costs of rentals. Based on this, Massachusetts affordability problems are government created and not easily corrected by the entity that incompetently generated them in the first place, namely our Government.  Although now the State is claiming that all these additional units they are dictatorially demanding will drive down the costs of rentals and homes, history does not support that claim. ” (Rockport resident, January 2025)

My second endorsement as the Millennials take charge of Belmont. 

Townie Talk endorses Paul Joy for Select Board

This April you will have a choice between Paul Joy and Taylor Yates for the Select Board. The Select Board oversees the Town Administrator, approves tax rates, determines whether overrides and debt exclusions go to the public for a vote, and is the general face of the Town among other things.

Taylor Yates is a successful realtor in a nearby community, married with children, and moved to town 6 years ago. He has been politically active from the start with a stint on the Vision 21 committee, Town Meeting since 2022, Chair of the Campaign to replace the elected Treasurer with an appointed one, and Planning Board Chair since 2024. 

Paul Joy is a successful management consultant in the environmentally sustainable infrastructure industry. He is married with kids and well known in the youth sports world as a member of the Belmont Soccer Board, Practice and Clinic scheduling coordinator, and coach. He also chaired the Belmont CO-OP Nursery School Board. He was equally as committed on the political side having chaired the Economic Development Committee, been appointed to the MBTA CAC and elected to Town meeting for Precinct 7. 

Both men have showed their commitment to Belmont through their volunteer service, and both have the background to serve on the Select Board.

My reason for endorsing Paul Joy is simple… we need fresh faces in Town leadership that will listen to all residents’ concerns before deciding on an issue. We can’t afford the same backroom deal making being sent to Town meeting for a rubber stamp of approval. Paul has shown the courage to challenge plans at Town Meeting and seek amendments to them. As you can imagine, anyone that challenges anything at Town Meeting is usually shamed quickly. Ask Mr. Macero or Mr. Roberts to confirm this.

I am impressed with his ability to handle stress. Can you imagine being a practice coordinator for Belmont’s 90+ soccer teams in a Town with limited space. Clearly, he can get things done. I already vetted that he is an advocate for Seniors. I pray for Belmont that he uses his intellect and compassion in a way that prioritizes the basic needs of all our residents before special interests. 

My major concern with Taylor is his willingness to “play the political game” catering to the powers that be. The recent Belmont Center Overlay Plan meeting he led feels like checking the box. His endorsements feel like he was hand selected to toe the company line. 

This Election for Select Board will be as consequential as the 2002 election between the legendary William Monahan and Paul Solomon. There is no conservative in the race this year, but this election is guaranteed to see a transfer of power from the Boomers to the Millennials. We Gen Xers apologize to the Millennials for not being able to slow the Boomers down enough from their spendthrift ways. Kinda sucks when your inheritance is massive debt but as I have heard for decades… you could always move. 

Cheers, 

PJ Looney

TownieTalk 02478

“Never Forget” “Never Again” AMDG

Belmont Center businesses are very worried about the Planning Board’s overlay zoning project being rushed to completion by May. They think it’s delusional and dangerous. We do too. 

They are worried they won’t survive the disruption and construction over years. Stores are already super challenged, customers would be deterred by 3-year construction, and it doesn’t take much to push a small store out of business.

They are particularly distressed that the new zoning plans will take away critical parking in the Claflin Lot, and replace it with a 4 story overshadowing building, as per the current plan.

They are unhappy the Planning Board hasn’t engaged with them sufficiently or consistently, to create a plan more sensitive to their life-or-death concerns, and more sensitive to preserving the character and charm of the Center itself. 

And they, like neighbors, abutters, and Town Meeting members, are disillusioned with the Planning Board’s lack of transparency and disclosure, its failure to do due diligence, its irresponsible denial of potential negative impacts, and its pie-in-the-sky decisions, which make a mockery of their talk about “consider the neighbors” (by destroying their businesses?)

Deran Muckjian, owner of The Toy Shop of Belmont, has lived here for 63 years, and is passionately opposed to the current plan. As he put it: 

“Why aren’t we focusing on other parts of Belmont like Purecoat or Pleasant Street, which could take a commercial build up?

We need to focus on what we HAVE, not take away the character of the Center, and we need to realize we are not Arsenal Mall.

Why don’t we fix the train station instead, which we can revive with state funds?

This zoning plan not only WON’T succeed in expanding commercial tax revenue, it WILL kill the small businesses which make the Center what it is.”

You can hear Deran commenting at the Feb 12 public meeting above.

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WHY isn’t the Planning Board actively studying impacts on area businesses, lives, and traffic? 

The Board hasn’t done its homework, or even basic due diligence on impacts. At the public meeting on February 25, Chris Ryan said he would do fiscal impact analysis ONLY focusing on revenue – but with no analysis of costs! 

You and I can’t manage a household budget without costs. And we’d be fired from jobs where we had to manage budgets and ignored costs. It’s delusional.

Planning without any information on costs is lazy, deceptive, and a recipe for a disaster which we and our children will have to live with for decades. 

Or is it not just laziness, but active deception, because they KNOW the costs on the town and the strain on services and schools, and fiscal impacts, will be huge? 

The Town Planner’s contention that they can’t do a cost analysis because it’s too expensive is bogus and laughable. In 5 minutes, any of us can download apps and spreadsheets which model impact scenarios, after plugging in the numbers. 

As an example of negative impacts, one Belmont Ctr business owner points out that if rents go up to the level of neighboring towns, after the buildout, to $65/sq foot, small businesses which can’t pay would quickly be driven out of town.

Yet that is exactly what the Planning Board is inviting. 

How would you like a Center with a CVS, but no Belmont Bookstore, no Toy Shop of Belmont, no Didriks, Revolve, Helena’s, Chocolate Dream, or Champions, no Wellington, Patou, Butternut Bakery, Qebrada, Stone Hearth Pizza or Rancatores? 

Trust in the Planning Board, after months of manipulated meetings, is already broken for many of us, and is steadily breaking for others. 

The PB can start to repair this trust, if it wishes, by doing the following:

1. Walk your own talk about “consider the neighbors”. 

Translation: HONOR the community’s and the consultant’s advice. Return to Map Option 1 – lower building heights, under 3 stories – on West Leonard Street.

2. LISTEN to business owners. Remove the pending seizure of the Claflin Lot.

3. Put taller-than-3-story buildings ONLY on Concord Ave, where neither abutters nor small businesses’ lives and livelihoods are endangered.

4. Plan creatively for available spaces in Belmont Ctr – eg the railway station.

5. Do a responsible fiscal analysis with costs as well as revenues projected under different scenarios. 

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Trust must be earned. This Planning Board and Town Planner are losing it fast. 

BELMONT DESERVES BETTER. OUR LIVES, HOMES AND BUSINESSES ARE ON THE LINE. 

– A Group of Concerned Belmont Center Residents.