Obiter Dictum: Does the Library Need a New Home?
Does the library need a new home?
When people say to me “I need / want xxx!” I reply, “I want to be 6’-1” but that is not going to happen either.”
We have all seen the “signs” and read the pleas regarding the old, decrepit, Belmont Library, the building with the front stairs blocked off. Look at the Woburn Library which was built in 1876, the Winchester Library built in 1931, my homes built in in 1929 and 1953 respectively, and Belmont’s Library built in 1965. What is the difference?
Time to Think Different
It’s time for Belmont town and school officials to “think different” (with a nod to the old Apple ad campaign.) It’s time for Belmont town and school officials to “think smarter”.
Belmont residents are strong supporters of our town and have proven over the years that they recognize increased taxes are needed to maintain and to upgrade our assets and infrastructure. Belmont officials must respect that support by proposing only those capital projects whose initial and ongoing costs to the taxpayer are within capital budget amounts that are approved by the taxpayers in advance of any project plan being initiated. What’s more, Belmont officials should present viable alternatives for these capital projects to town residents, rather than single-threaded, outsized proposals that demand a never-ending series of one-off debt exclusions and overrides. Rather, alternatives with a range of “price-tags” should be presented to all voters, not one reflecting the wish list of special interest groups.
A Double Standard
There was a time when it was expected that those in government at any level – municipal, state, federal – would behave with courtesy and decency ― with what our grandparents would have called good manners. It involved not just courtesy when we spoke to each other but accuracy and honesty in our statements. It meant listening to those who elected or appointed us and giving their views and positions serious consideration. It meant giving immediate attention to a petition submitted by a town’s residents.
Fuel Tanks and the Winter of our Discontent
Shakespeare called it “the winter of our discontent. ” Winters of discontent are periods that are generally described as bleak. In Belmont, the winter of our discontent has lasted a lot longer than a single season.
In one of the most dramatic exhibitions of the discord characteristic of Belmont today, residents overwhelmingly rejected an override in April, 2021; town officials, confident that their financial projections would take the day, had not given sufficient credence to the opposition many citizens had voiced in a variety of venues. The dissatisfaction that was expressed then has not gone away.
Protecting the Fuel Tank Process
Last year’s June Town Meeting season was dominated by a passionate debate over when and how to replace Belmont’s Fuel Tanks as well as over the process that would be used for this. Following Town Meeting, it was agreed that Glenn Clancy, the Department of Community Development Director, would analyze fuel tank usage and investigate a wide variety of methods through which fuel could be supplied to town vehicles including the use of RFI’s to obtain usage and cost data from other entities; RFIs are Requests for Information for which no appropriation is needed.