Belmont’s Moderator Mike Widmer declared emphatically in a debate Monday evening that, if he is re-elected, Town Meeting Members will not be permitted to speak critically of the Town’s appointed committees, equating Town Meeting members’ criticism of the performance- or decisions of town officials and committees with personal, “ad hominem attacks” and abusive speech worthy of censorship. For Widmer: Criticism = Attacks Widmer said that if re-elected, he would not hesitate to “draw the line” and shut down any criticism of “individuals or committees” at Town Meeting – an approach he claimed was ..read more

We all know that old adage: “when you’re in a hole, stop digging.” For Belmont residents, I’d like to offer a variation on that, which is “when you’re in a hole, start voting!” As I write, in late March, 2024: our lovely town is indisputably in a hole. We’re staring down the barrel at a roughly $8 million structural budget deficit – the inevitable byproduct of our Town’s deep reliance on property tax revenue to fund the vast majority of our town and school operations (commercial taxes make up just 4.5% of our revenues), and the state’s Reagan-era Proposition 2 1/2 law that limits the net growt ..read more

Our longtime Town Moderator Mike Widmer is facing his first challenge for office in 16 years. His argument for re-election: ‘I’m fair and run a fair Town Meeting.’ But does he? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself for the past few months, ever since Moderator Widmer shouted me down and declared me “out of order” for offering (faint) criticism of our Town’s leadership as I spoke in favor of a school budget amendment in our June, 2023 Town Meeting. Its a question I think the voters of Belmont need an answer to as they consider whether to vote to re-elect Mr. Widmer as Moderator. To put the ..read more

NIMBY’s out for blood. As the Boston Globe reports, towns across eastern Massachusetts are up in arms about the MBTA Communities Act, a 2021 law that requires towns served by the MBTA to commit to creating neighborhoods with higher density housing, in part by streamlining zoning for the creation of multi family residences. To be clear: the MBTA Communities Act doesn’t force towns to develop- or create new housing. It just requires them to relax restrictive zoning bylaws to make it easier for property owners to build multi unit structures, such as 3 family homes “by right,” without needing to g ..read more

Hey Blogging Belmont. Paul here. Just a note to my loyal readers that there’s a really important – no…wicked important meeting tomorrow evening, Thursday, March 7, from 7-8 PM at the Beech Street Center. (It will also air on Belmont Media Center.) The purpose of the hearing, hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT), is to present the 25% Design plan for the Community Path with the public so that we have the opportunity to become fully acquainted with the final design for the proposed Community Path (Phase I) project. The Community Path is Belmont’s piece of the Massachuse ..read more

Hey there Blogging Belmont readers! Well, April is just around the corner and, with it, another local election here in our Town of Homes. This year, once again, I’m going public with my picks for both Town-wide offices and for Town Meeting (though I can only vote in Precinct 8). Before you dig into those, however, you should check out the Blogging Belmont Candidate’s Guide, a collection of surveys completed by candidates for Town office. I urge you to read through the responses and make up your own mind about the folks listed (and not listed) here. I’m going to save my recommendations for con ..read more

Hey Blogging Belmont readers. There’s a meeting tonight of Belmont’s MBTA Communities Advisory Committee that you want to attend. The meeting starts at 5:30 PM at the Homer Building at the Town Hall complex, or you can tune in via Zoom. On the agenda: creating a plan for public participation as Belmont develops its plans for multifamily districts in Town, ahead of the 2024 Town Meeting vote to approve the new zoning. The back story here is Belmont’s work to comply with a state law, M.G.L c. 40A Section 3A (the Zoning Act), which requires an MBTA community (that is: a community served ..read more

Editor’s Note: the following is a copy of an open letter sent to Belmont Town Meeting members on Friday, November 3 on behalf of the undersigned Town Meeting members. In it, we explain our intention to vote “NO” on a proposed Warrant Article (#8) that, if passed, would withdraw Belmont’s Police Department from the State’s Civil Service program. (Since sending it, we have had additional Town Meeting Members express a desire to have their name listed as opponents of Article 8. Blogging Belmont will add those names to the list of signatories as we receive such requests.) We, the undersigned, are ..read more

The following is an opinion piece written by Town Meeting member Judith Feinleib regarding the Town’s proposal to withdraw the Belmont Police Department from the State’s Civil Service program. It is being re-posted, with Judith’s permission, from her blog. You can read Judith’s other If I May columns at her website: jfeinleibifimay.com. Rather than take “no” for an answer, members of the town’s executive branch appear to have adopted an approach whereby if a result they desire has not been obtained because Town Meeting voted against it or a town-wide vote by the residents went against it, they ..read more

For more than a decade, The Foundation for Belmont Education’s (FBE’s) Apple Run has been a staple of the fall schedule here in Belmont. It brings hundreds of runners from across Belmont and neighboring communities together for both a 5K and 2K run to raise money for the FBE. To date, the Apple Run has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help support Belmont’s Public Schools. With the FBE’s 11th annual event, the FBE is doing a Halloween Apple Run with a new 5K course (no more hills) and the opportunity to run as part of a team and in costume! Race Information: Sunday, October 29, 2023 ..read more