20 Amazing Years of the Belmont Citizens Forum

 

By Jim Graves

As a founding board member of the Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF), who has been inactive in recent years, I am honored to share these thoughts on why the BCF has been so valuable and to applaud the individuals and supporters who have sustained the BCF for 20 years.

Prior to starting the BCF, the founders worked to first improve, then oppose, and nearly defeat the development and zoning changes proposed for 238 acres of open space owned by Partners Healthcare and its subsidiary, McLean Hospital. Legal challenges by the BCF and supporters slowed implementation, and notably, the biggest component, 460 units of senior housing, is still unbuilt!

During this campaign, we learned about Belmont citizens’ deep concern about open space, the environment, the town’s quality of life, and transparency in government. Those concerns are why the BCF was founded and (a loud hurray!) why the BCF is still so strong 20 years later.

Issues like traffic, water quality, historic buildings, affordable housing, and the town’s character do not automatically get priority attention. Here’s a great example: a proposal to replace the Homer municipal office building with a new (and very ordinary) structure enjoyed strong support in town government. Through the BCF Newsletter, expert research by private Belmont citizens led to the critical insight that restoring the historic building would be substantially less expensive than destruction and replacement.

While Belmont is very fortunate to have a town newspaper, the paper is not staffed to do in-depth research on subjects like the town’s water and sewer systems, or alternatives to improve a major town corridor such as Trapelo Road. Contributors to the BCF have researched and delivered information on topics like this since the start.

Join me in saluting the board members, directors, and active participants who have sustained the BCF, listed on page 15, and for all the latest contributors who are providing fresh perspective to the organization. A special thanks for the contributions of Mark D’Andrea and the late Ann Coit Sifneos.

We owe a great debt to the talented editors, writers, photographers, proofreaders, and artists who have contributed to making the BCF Newsletter a credible, accurate, and vital source of insight on our town. On a personal note, the first newsletter editions were generated using MS Word on my laptop. The BCF Newsletter has advanced so far since then! See this salute the newsletter editors.

BCF milestones

1999  BCF is founded and fundraising immediately begins for a legal challenge to the McLean/Partners development agreement in the Massachusetts Land Court.

2002  BCF researches pedestrian safety and funds some highly visible and durable pedestrian crosswalk pavement markings at test locations to replace the town’s faded and nearly invisible markings. The town decides to make the new thick and durable markings standard for all crosswalks.

2003-2004  BCF conducts forums to gather and publish ideas on how to improve the Trapelo Road corridor.

2004  A settlement is reached with Northland, developers of housing on the McLean property, based on inadequate mitigation of the development’s impacts on the town’s sewer infrastructure.

2008  BCF signs option to purchase land for community path along the commuter rail corridor.

2005  BCF starts publishing research on impacts of inflows into cracked sewer pipes and substantial additional assessments for regional water treatment. Belmont eventually initiates a long-term plan to fix the pipes and illegal connections.

2006  BCF hires a sewer engineer and publicizes information on deficiencies in the Belmont Uplands development proposal. Citizen opposition delays the development for almost a decade and reduces some of its impacts.

2018  Years of research and articles about the benefits of building a community path along the commuter rail corridor eventually lead to the town’s approval to build the path.

Jim Graves was a founding board member of the BCF and board president for a year.