Town Clerk Set To Conduct Recount Of Moderator Race On Thursday, April 17

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Mark Paolillo (left) and Mike Crowley

The margin of Mike Crowley’s victory over Mark Paolillo to be Belmont’s Town Moderator on April 1 was razor thin – just nine votes out of 4,481 cast. With little to lose and much to gain, Paolillo submitted on a certified petition for a recount of the race which was accepted by the Board of Registrars of Voters on Friday, April 11.

The recount will be conducted by the Town Moderator, Ellen Cushman, on Thursday, April 17, at 9 a.m. in the Town Hall auditorium.

“Mark is entitled to a recount,” said Crowley in a text message. “I plan to be at Town Hall to observe the recount and we’ll see what happens.”

Incident At Belmont Middle And High Schools Leaves Two Belmont Light Workers Hospitalized

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont Middle and High School

A pair of Belmont Light workers are hosptialized in stable condition after a electical accident in a manhole at Belmont Middle and High School on Tuesday, April 8.

The blast cut power to the building housing the high and middle school, forcing the school to use generators for the remainder of the school day.

In a press release from the Belmont Fire Department, personnel were called to the school’s front parking lot shortly after 9:45 a.m. “Upon arrival, firefighters found two injured electrical workers that had been working in a manhole when an accident occurred.”

“This morning two Belmont Light line workers were involved in an electrical flash incident while working inside a manhole near Belmont High School,” according to a press release from the town’s electric utility.

“The line workers were wearing appropriate protective equipment and were able to exit the manhole under their own power. Both line workers were transported to Massachusetts General Hospital where they are in stable condition and are being treated for their injuries.”

In an email addressed to high school students and their families sent at 10:15 a.m., Belmont High School Principal Isaac Taylor said “[a]ll staff and students are safe and not impacted by the accident.”

Taylor said the accident “resulted in a power outage” throughout the building that houses grades 7-12. While lighting inside the schools were “limited,” the school day continued using in-house generators, which allowed hot lunches to be served.

Belmont Residents Protest Trump At Waltham ‘Hands Off!’ Demonstration

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Dan Nolan (right) with the Winter Street contingent at the Hands Off protest held in Waltham on Saturday, April 5.

On a chilly and, at times, rainy Saturday, Belmont residents didn’t have to travel far to join approximately 1,000 fellow campaigners in Waltham who gathered to denounce the policies of President Donald Trump and his billionaire advisor, Elon Musk.

While many Belmontians crowded bus stops in town to head off to the main rally in Boston where 30,000 people congregated, others traveled to the Waltham on April 5 to express their opposition to Trump and Musk’s agenda of mass firing of government workers, the elimination and slashing of vital programs, attacking immigration and the beginning of mass deportations, climate change denial, and the introduction of world-wide tariffs.

The day had a celebratory feel with the protestors chanting slogans and waving colorful homemade signs reading: “Dogs against DOGE”, “Honk if you hate fascism”, “Stop the coup, Dump Trump”, and “Too many issues for one sign.” The crowd cheered drivers blowing their horns in solidarity with the rally. It was part of the national “Hands Off!” protest that organized 1,200 demonstrations in all 50 states and London, Paris, Berlin, and several Canadian cities, which attracted a total of a million attendees.

Belmont’s Dan Nolan brought eight young and enthusiastic participants, each carrying placards with messages concerning climate change awareness and supporting the LGBTQ community.

“It’s the Winter Street contingent,” said Nolan, who came to express their collective displeasure with Trump’s actions since taking office in January. We’re here to protest Trump and Musk, who are dangerous people to our country and the world,” he said, holding a “Fire ICE” sign.

Well-known community members Bonnie Friedman and David Merfeld decided to skip the much larger protest rally in Boston.

“We felt [Waltham] would have fewer distractions [to the protest],” said Friedman. “The crowd is wonderful. It’s a great time.”

Another Belmont resident, reluctant to provide their name as they are employed at a university targeted by the Trump administration, was adamant about attending.

“It’s great that we can come together to express our frustrations, but also our determination that we will ultimately be successful in getting rid of [Trump],” they said.

Belmont Town Election: Yates Takes Select Board Race, Crowley Squeaks In As Moderator, Donner Elected To Library Trustees

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Tyler Yates arrives at Town Hall to hear he was elected to the Belmont Select Board

With more than three of four Belmont voters deciding to take a pass, there was a good chance a few surprises were in store from the 2025 annual Town Election held April 1, April Fool’s Day.

Despite contested races in four town-wide offices, voter participation was just 23.6 percent—the lowest numbers since 2018, when a minuscule 16.5 percent came out to cast ballots, which made the landscape ripe for challengers. In the town-wide races, a long-serving elected official was edged out by just 10 votes by a rival who lost his bid last year by a wide margin. At the same time, a venerable incumbent was outed by a candidate who was unceremoniously dumped from her seat on another committee just five years ago.

Results of the 2025 Belmont Town Elections can be found here

In the race for Select Board, Planning Board Chair Taylor Yates topped each of Belmont’s eight precincts to capture the seat vacated by Roy Epstein, defeating another first-time candidate, Economic Development Committee Chair Paul Joy, 2,533 to 1,738. Several observers noted the similarities of the pair – both relatively recent residents with young children (Yates welcoming a newborn last year) who ran on their accomplishments and new vision – and how this race represents a generational “changing of the guard” in town leadership.

“I feel extraordinary gratitude to all the voters, to my campaign team, the volunteers, the donors, and my family. A lot of people came together to make tonight happen,” said Yates, who witnessed his victory in the packed second-floor lobby of Town Hall. Candidates, observers, four or five children, and a crew from Belmont Media Center came to hear the traditional reading of results just after 9 p.m.

Yates said his positive vision of Belmont’s future brought out voters. “Our best days are ahead of us if we have leaders willing to push forward on our biggest priorities,” he said.

In a bit of an upsetting of the political apple cart, former School Committee member Micheal Crowley in his second go around for the post, squeaked by four-term Select Board member Mark Paolillo by the razor thin of margins, a mere 10 votes, 2,133 to 2,123. While both candidates ran on making changes to the office held for nearly two decades by Mike Widmer, Crowley said he believed voters saw him as the greater reformer.

“I have a great deal of work ahead of me [because] I promised a lot of change,” said Crowley, specifically on the focus of the job, “that the moderator will be much more engaged with the community.” One concrete example will be establishing a citizens’ advisory board and a commitment to virtual Town Meetings.

It was a good night for former School Committee members as Tara Donner placed second in a tight three-way race for two seats on the Board of Library Trustees, defeating long-time member Mike McCarthy, who placed third. Donner lost her school committee seat in the 2021 post-pandemic lockdown election, in which voters locally and nationally placed their frustrations onto incumbents. However, the public school educator and Town Meeting member since 2007 wanted to be involved in town government. With her background teaching English, “libraries have always been a place I love, where I’ve taken my kids and where I have been a heavy user.”

As with the Select Board race, Donner believed “people are just interested in what the next generation of Belmont leaders might bring to the library.” She said that once the new library building opens in early 2026, “we also need to have the programming and have the resources to fill it with the services that people are looking for in Belmont.” Joining Donnor on the committee will be Edward Barker, the candidate who topped the field, in which 142 votes separated the three candidates.

Talking about the school committee, that group now has two new members with newcomers Zehra Abid-Wood, who scored an impressive 45 percent of the total ballots cast with 3,213 votes, and Brian Palmer, each winning a three-year term.

The final competitive race saw Julie LeMay easily securing a fourth term on the Board of Health, defeating first-time candidate Michael Todd Thompson. Thompson also ran for a seat on the School Committee.

The big surprise on the Town Meeting ledger was the number of seats that write-ins will fill: In Precinct 3, Wendy Etkind, Ashley Addington, and Constantin Lichi won three-year terms via write-in votes, while Andrea Carrillo-Rhodes and Franceny Johnson will be attending Town Meeting as write-ins. And in Precinct 7, Mary Rock got 26 of her friends and neighbors to write in her name to secure the 12th spot on the ballot.

Among Town Meeting incumbents, Marie Warner placed 13th in Precinct 6 despite garnering 388 votes, which would have comfortably secured a seat in the seven other precincts.

Write-in Sally Martin took the one-year seat in Precinct 1, while over at Precinct 7, James Reynolds will need to choose whether to select a three-year or a two-year term, as he secured that final spot for a three-year seat and topped the field for a two-year term.

No Summer Al Fresco Dining In Belmont Center As Eateries Not Interested In Outdoor Service

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Outdoor dining in Belmont Center 2021

The days of al fresco dining in Belmont Center – a staple of local restaurants since 2020 – has all but ended as Leonard Street eateries are not interested continuing to provide open air service this summer, according to the leader of Belmont’s largest business organization.

“There’s not going to be any outdoor dining for this upcoming season,” said Deran Muckjian, president of the Belmont Center Business Association, who has been in discussion with the three restaurants – il Casale, the Wellington, and Stoneheart Pizza – which led the push for street-side service in the past few years.

Speaking before the Select Board on March 24, Muckjian said the reason for the pull back was simply a financial decision: The revenue being generated from the added outdoor tables didn’t justify the expense the businesses put into it.

“I hope the residents are not disappointed, but it was really an economic thing,” said Muckjian. “You can’t blame the restaurants’ thinking. They have a lot of space indoor that’s not being utilized, so they figure they can bring [customers] back inside.”

The Select Board at its Monday, March 24 meeting, were scheduled to go over this year’s sidewalk dining policy which was established during the early days of the COVID pandemic. With indoor dining under wide-ranging of state restrictions including masking and mandated space requirements, the town sought to assist local restaurants by increasing outside spaces to be used for al fresco dining. The plan expanded table service into Leonard Street behind jersey barriers, allowing the businesses an opportunity to salvage sales and keep the “door” open.

The initial plan included blocking off Leonard Street from Alexander Avenue to Concord Avenue before being modified to include a single lane running down the middle of the road with barriers down the length of the street, restricting street parking which angered many non-eatery retailers.

Over the past few years, the once popular eating option has seen a decreasing interest from restaurants asking for the extra space as COVID restrictions ended and

Muckjian said there will be limited fresh-air options including il Casale utilizing its patio in front of the restaurant, and “maybe” adding a couple tables on its sidewalk.

“It’s wide enough there and they’ve had it before. That’s their extent of outdoor dining,” he said. Muckjian suggested the select board establish rules on sidewalk-only dining and agreed with the board that the cost of a permit on future al fresco dining be upped from $250 to $500, putting the town in line with nearby communities such as Winchester.