School Committee Question of the Week: Should Schools Adopt A Naming Rights Policy

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Photo: from left, Murat Bicer, Kimberly O’Mahony, Andrea Prestwich

This week’s Question of the Week for the School Committee:

Many school districts have embracing naming rights on school district-owned property. Naming rights occur when a company or firm purchases the right to place its name and/or logo on a facility or event for a defined period of time. The TD Garden – the sports arena in Boston where the professional teams play – is a nearby example. School districts around the country are moving in this direction – recently Aspen, Colorado – with some agreements reaching into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, mostly to name athletic facilities (or ads on the side of school buses) after a local firm. The money from the namings is mostly targeted towards long-term financial goals. Q: Where do you stand on establishing a naming rights policy for Belmont and would you promote it?

Murat Bicer

The question of selling naming rights to companies to bring in revenue to our district deserves strong consideration. The Financial Task Force report published in early 2015 points to naming rights as a possible source of funds, and lays out a number of critical questions that need to be answered satisfactorily either in by-laws or in any contract with corporate sponsors. I agree that each of these questions is important. I also believe the process by which we develop by-laws and consider sponsors should be transparent and include community participation. The people of Belmont want a healthy school district.  The Committee and district need to have open, cordial, and continual discussions with residents on how to make that happen.  We’re lucky to have generous local businesses who already support our schools through partnerships with the Foundation for Belmont Education, through the performing arts, and on the athletic fields. I commend the FTF for thinking carefully about expanding these partnerships.

Kimberly O’Mahony

Establishing a naming rights policy for Belmont could be a creative way to increase revenue for the District. That being said, specific rules would need to apply to ensure the sponsor’s message agrees with the message of the schools. There are certain categories of companies that would not be suitable such as alcohol or tobacco. Belmont would need to recognize the incredible value it would be providing the sponsor by offering exposure to a new generation of consumers, and realize the proper compensation for that exposure. There would be many other considerations to take into account when creating such a policy, but I would not be against investigating it as an option for Belmont.

Andrea Prestwich

Belmont schools face significant financial challenges in the next few years, including construction of a new High School. Given this reality, I think we should be open to “name rights” deals on big-ticket items. However, before we go down this road the School Committee needs to craft careful policies pertaining to naming rights.  We obviously do not want to name a facility for a tobacco company or gun manufacturers. We also need to protect ourselves from so-called first amendment lawsuits if we reject a sponsor, for example, the Klu Klux Klan won the right to be included in an “Adopt a Highway” program in Missouri. We need to be able to withdraw from a deal if it turns sour. What if we named the new new High School gymnasium for a sports clothing manufacturer who later was discovered to be using child labor? 

One of the most significant downsides to commercial naming is that we lose a sense of community ownership. Think of Joey’s Park or the pool. We could have “sold” the naming rights to these facilities.   Thanks to the vision of a few local leaders, they were rebuilt with the participation of the whole community, including local businesses. The impact of such “barn raising” efforts goes far beyond a new pool and playground. They contribute to a sense of pride in, and ownership of, our town. They encourage us all to be good citizens. My preference is to keep Belmont schools owned by a partnership of citizens and local  businesses rooted in our community.

Letter to the Editor: Variety of Reasons to Support Prestwich for School Committee

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Photo: Andrea Prestwich.

To the editor:

We are writing in support of Andrea Prestwich for a three-year term on the Belmont School Committee. Her professional background makes her eminently well qualified for that position; among other responsibilities, she oversees projects and manages a multimillion dollar budget for the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and she serves on the committee that advises the Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute on policies about the Hubble Space Telescope. In these roles, she has demonstrated an ability to work in a committee context to formulate policy and to think critically about the implications of that policy.

We have known Andrea, husband Steve, and their twins for more than six years through singing in our church choir and many happy hours in various activities at our church. We have thoroughly enjoyed workshops she has led on aspects of astrophysics, where we have experienced first-hand her excellent communication skills in making complex topics accessible.  

Having two children in our schools, she has always taken a keen interest in issues before the school committee; she is passionately committed to Belmont kids. We believe Andrea’s depth of experience and skill in working with others, as well as her excellent communication skills, warm personality and understanding of current educational issues would make her an invaluable member of the Belmont School Committee. We will be enthusiastically voting for Andrea on April 5 and urge you to do the same.

David Warner and Mary Beekman

Kilburn Road  

Letter to the Editor: Ruban’s Call To End Solar Tariff Wrong For Belmont

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To the editor: 

Belmont is on track to have the most successful solarization campaign in Massachusetts. This is the result of the solar tariff and buyback policy adopted unanimously last year by the Board of Selectmen, acting as the Light Board. The policy has been highly praised by some of the most committed solar energy advocates in town.

The hallmark of the new tariff, after years of debate, is fairness. It provides a large incentive to install solar panels. The return on this investment is likely to be in the 14 percent to 18 percent range, and is virtually risk-free. Try to match that anywhere else in the world today. At the same time, it is equitable to the other Belmont residents who cannot or wish not to install solar, for whatever reason. It is equitable because the tariff will result in a modest payment to Belmont Light to help cover the cost of the local distribution system that is still needed by every solar host. This system is only paid for by local residents and other Belmont Light customers.

As the chair of Belmont’s Temporary Net Metering Task Force, I helped design the tariff.  I am proud that it resolved a very divisive policy problem efficiently and fairly and has already led to more than 120 new solar hosts. I am in fact one of those new solar users. 

So I was very surprised to hear Alexandra Ruban state in the League of Women Voters’ Candidate Forum last night [Wednesday, March 30] that she wishes to end the solar tariff. Instead, she wants to impose a different policy called “full retail net metering” that is not fair to Belmont as whole at all.  Her proposal would give an even larger payment to the solar hosts, even though it is obviously not necessary because they have already chosen to install solar under the current plan. Her policy would also drastically reduce or even eliminate the modest contribution by solar hosts to cover the cost of the local distribution system.  

This is all the more surprising because Ruban also said last night that she wants to save money for the town. Then why pay a windfall to the new and existing solar hosts?  That windfall just has to be made up by other residents. That is unfair and brings us back to the divisive debate that we were able to end last year.

Roy Epstein

Cushing Avenue

Letter to the Editor: In His Work On Override, Paolillo Deserves Our Vote

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Correction: In my letter, I mistakenly attributed statements from supporters who are campaigning for Ruban to “the Ruban campaign.” Ms. Ruban did not make these claims. 

To the editor:

I care deeply about the Belmont schools. I rely on our town services. I feel strongly that we need to fix our crumbling infrastructure; roads, sidewalks, buildings, playgrounds, etc. 

The 2015 successful override advanced all of these priorities and provided greater financial security for our town.

We owe that to Mark Paolillo.

For me, it is a clear choice:

  • Choose a selectman with 22 years of experience on the Board of Selectmen, Warrant Committee, and Town Meeting.
  • Or choose a selectman in Alexandra Ruban whose only Belmont experience is voting in one town election.

This institutional knowledge that Paolillo brings to the Board of Selectmen is irreplaceable. 

Let’s take the override as an example of Mark’s knowledge and leadership. Most people only saw the seven-week campaign. We celebrated and congratulated each other for making it happen.

But I know, it wouldn’t have happened without Mark’s multi-year preparation, advocacy, and leadership.

How did the override come to be?

  • Mark did his homework. He determined that a key reason for the failure of the 2010 override was that we didn’t adequately show the voters why we were asking for more money.
  • He laid the groundwork. He and the selectmen upgraded the town’s administrative and financial staff so we could properly do the analysis.
  • He made the case. He created and led the financial task force which exhaustively evaluated all avenues to address the town’s financial challenges. 
  • He got it on the ballot. Many obstacles could have prevented putting the override on the April ballot, but Mark made it happen.
  • He advocated for the override. Mark made presentation after presentation explaining why the town needed an infusion of new revenue.
  • And in the last seven weeks, we – the community as a whole – launched a vigorous campaign. I don’t underestimate the importance of the campaign. But I won’t overestimate it either.

Passing an override is hard work. No one wants to pay more taxes. Residents will not pass an override without believing that everything else has been tried. And that requires hard work, experience, knowledge and leadership.

Experience means you know how to get things done. You know who has the skills to solve complex problems. You know what has been tried in the past, why it worked, or why it failed. You are ready to act. In other words, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

It is not enough for our leaders to vote for our priorities. They need the experience to do the hard work that makes the vote possible.

I have only had one meeting with Ruban. I believe that she is smart and well-intentioned. But I also believe that she needs experience in Belmont town government before she is qualified to serve as a selectman.

I began my learning curve five years ago. After two years on the Warrant Committee, five years on Town Meeting, three years on the Underwood Pool Building Committee, and numerous other Belmont leadership roles (YES for Belmont, Joey’s Park, Winn Brook PTA, Belmont KidSpace), I am still on a learning curve. I do not believe it is possible to be the kind of selectman that Belmont deserves without prior experience.

Belmont has important challenges ahead: the high school project, continued enrollment growth, budgetary pressures, and quality of life projects that require Mark’s collaborative approach to complete. 

The future of Belmont’s children and seniors and everyone in between will be better served by retaining Mark Paolillo’s institutional knowledge, leadership and experience on the Board of Selectmen.

It is a clear choice.

Please join me in voting for Mark Paolillo on April 5.

Ellen Schreiber

Sandrick Road

Letter to the Editor: Mike Crowley for Town Meeting, Precinct 8

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Photo: Vote on April 5.
To the editor: 
I’m asking for your support for Town Meeting member for Precinct 8 on April 5. My family is relatively new to Belmont, but we love our community and want to see it improve.
We need to continue investing in our schools and attending to critical infrastructure needs, including a new high school building and the repair of streets and sidewalks. We should support and expand green commuting options and recreation by constructing the Belmont Community Path. We need to attend to our long-term liabilities like pensions and retiree benefits without resorting to risky, quick-fix solutions like pension obligation bonds that have injured the financial health of so many communities. We can be more attentive to business development in our commercial districts, and more creative about improving town revenues through ideas like fee-based overnight parking on neighborhood streets. Finally, we need a community preservation focus to ensure the continuity and livability of our neighborhoods; therefore, I would support a temporary moratorium on teardowns and new home construction in Precinct 8 until we can institute a review process to ensure construction appropriate for our community.
I enjoyed a career in Washington, DC that included almost 25 years with the White House Office of Management and Budget. I bring a unique view to town governance, including a focus on the budget, revenue, and government efficiency from my time in government. Since 2013, I also have been consulting and serving on the boards of organizations focused on improving criminal justice policy and our society’s responses to violence. 
Please consider me on April 5 and be sure to vote!
Mike Crowley
Farnham Street

Letter to the Editor: Common, Inclusive Solutions Needed In Belmont

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Photo: Belmont Town Hall.

To the editor:

Good day, Belmont.

It is another town election cycle and this time, I am hearing some strange things that people believe is truth. Because I am on the campaign for Alexandra Ruban, I hope to share some of who I have learned Alexandra is.

Alexandra is a wife, mother and consultant who moved to Belmont for its great schools and active community. When she attended Town Day in 2013, she, like others, heard that part of the due diligence was that the town was seeking Request for Proposals from other trash and recycling vendors, having had the same vendor for 15 years without assessing the market. Three years later, we have not requested any bids, just bids like you would get if you were seeking a roofer, painter, driveway paver – and we have locked ourselves into another two-year contract with a 12 percent increase. 

The reason I joined Alexandra in her bid for Selectman is because I, too, have been frustrated with policy and decision making in town: from global insights being used as a way to stall the adoption of solar energy, to really talented, committed experts in their fields being passed over for those who have successfully implemented moratoriums without any further policies and guidelines to help us when the moratorium lifts. There is unbelievable work happening in our town committees that takes herculean efforts (to gather data needed to be informed and make recommendations, years of complaints by few overshadowing the solutions presented that could accommodate all involved).

I gladly serve on the Economic Development Advisory Council under Tomi Olson, who has been a champion of mine as we bring forth proposals to help our home and business owners with real economic relief. Without a forward-thinking ally like Tomi, whether Alexandra has her vote or not, new, common-sense ideas would not be possible to consider at the Selectmen level. I, like Alexandra, am a business owner and present to and represent the highest level of senior executives often, yet I am afraid of how our Board of Selectmen will react to our proposal because I have experienced public and private backlash a few times already. Is this the way you want it to be?

Common, inclusive solutions, from establishing frameworks to allow us to preserve the tangible and intangible assets in Belmont are needed. Policy-making has to begin and end with an inclusive agenda to help our home and business owners thrive. For those who argue about the smallest number of transient residents who bring their families for a short period and leave, how about we figure out how to woo them to stay instead of blaming them, incorrectly, I may add, for taxing our public services.  

Finally, become informed. That is the purpose of our campaign. Whether you have decided on one candidate or the other, get informed on what each of them has and can accomplish. And determine whose values, vision, and ability to make progress while preserving our town of homes match yours. 

Erin Lubien

Unity Avenue

Letter to the Editor: Housing Authority Could Use Rickter’s Non-Profit Expertise

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Photo:

Letter to the Editor:

I’m writing to endorse Paul Rickter for the Belmont Housing Authority. 

For more than ten years, I worked as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Belmont Housing Trust, a non-profit affordable housing developer serving Belmont.  Through that work, I got to know both the mission of the Housing Authority and the ins-and-outs of the Belmont Housing Authority quite well. 

The skills needed to succeed as a member of the Housing Authority do not lie in the arena of building and financing affordable housing. Instead, the Housing Authority acts as the owner/manager of hundreds of units of rental housing in Belmont. Indeed, the Housing Authority is Belmont’s largest landlord.  

The Housing Authority is stressed by decreasing state assistance. The Housing Authority must meet the immediate needs of tenants and plan for the future needs of maintaining the physical infrastructure where people can live and thrive. What is needed, therefore, is a person who brings not merely an interest in the Housing Authority, but exceptional professional skills in management and innovation.

Paul brings 25 years of experience and skills in nonprofit management. Budgeting, strategic planning, people management. Paul brings precisely those skills that the Housing Authority needs today to meet the current and future needs of the BHA residents and, by extension, of the larger Belmont community.

I ask you to join me on April 5 in voting for Paul Rickter for Belmont Housing Authority.  

Roger Colton

Warwick Road

Letter to the Editor: Bicer’s Financial Expertise An Asset to Committee

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Photo: Murat Bicer
To the editor:
 
I would like to encourage the residents of Belmont to vote for Murat Bicer for School Committee on April 5. He has a strong understanding of the problems that face our town’s schools and a clear sense of how to help solve them.
 
My family moved to Belmont several years ago. Like many, we were drawn to the community because of its excellent schools. As our eldest daughter entered the brand new Wellington School, we were impressed by the excellent teachers and staff, as well as by the highly engaged, welcoming group of parents and children. However, as evidenced by the recent override, our school system faces tremendous pressure on resources. We face ballooning enrollment and state mandated, but unfunded, programs. On top of these pressures, we need to continue to innovate the way we educate and engage our children.
 
As we face the challenges ahead, it is my firm belief that Murat Bicer’s extensive professional experience in financial management and strategic planning makes him an excellent candidate for the school committee. He has served on the boards of both non-profit and for-profit companies. Most importantly, Murat is the father to two young children, who will be entering the public school system in the next few years. He and his wife, Katherine, are very strong proponents of public schools and the role they play in our communities. The challenges ahead are daunting but I believe Murat Bicer offers the kind of leadership necessary to overcome them.
 
Sara Townsend
Clark Street

Letter to the Editor: Prestwich Will Bring Balance to School Committee

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Photo: Andrea Prestwich.

To the editor:

I express my support for Dr. Andrea Prestwich, candidate for School Committee. Andrea has two children who currently attend Chenery Middle School. She leads small ministry groups at the First Church, Belmont, and is an avid member of the choir. At work, Andrea is an internationally respected astrophysicist who oversees projects and manages a multi-million dollar budget for the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

As a parent and former reporter covering the School Committee, I have attended countless School Committee meetings. I can attest that Prestwich has the requisite background and experience to lead our schools. She understands the budgeting process and can make difficult decisions. She appreciates the district’s recent focus on social and emotional learning and its impact on students’ development. Most importantly, she is a critical thinker who has the skills to negotiate and work through complex policy implications.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Education Association have called for later middle and high school start times (8:30 a.m. or later) so that students can get adequate amounts of sleep. Andrea formed the Belmont chapter of the national nonprofit, Start Schools Later, and has held local talks on the issue. Andrea is committed to reviewing the district’s policies around school start times to determine what is appropriate for Belmont.

Yes, financial leadership is a key issue for all of our town committees. But we also need to have a balance of diverse members on our committees. I admire Andrea’s dedication and passion to serve our children and community. I urge you all to join me in voting for Andrea Prestwich for School Committee on April 5.

Melissa Irion

Town Meeting Member Precinct 8

Letter to the Editor: The Facts Eclipse Allegations on Town’s Trash Contract

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Photo: Trash collection in Belmont.

To the editor:

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” This bit of wisdom from Daniel Patrick Moynihan is important, particularly during town elections. Paul Roberts submitted a letter to the editor to The Belmontonian that is all opinion. No facts. Belmont residents deserve to know the facts.    

According to Paul, his candidate (Alexandra Ruban) was drawn into politics by the “… sneaking suspicion that something was amiss in the town’s relationship with its recycling contractor.”  Alexandra “ … discovered that Belmont this year simply renewed its contract without soliciting bids from competing firms and that the Town had been doing this for more than a decade!”  In other words, she suspects that Belmont has been wasting money because of malfeasance by town officials.

The head of the Department of Public Works negotiates all contracts. Therefore, this fabricated allegation is a slur on the reputation of two distinguished town employees: [current DPW chief] Jay Marcotte and his predecessor, Peter Castanino. 

I will not remain silent when the work of these good men is subject to baseless allegations. Castanino devoted two decades of honorable service to the citizens of Belmont. He is one of the finest civil servants ever to serve our town.    

Even in political campaigns, there is no room for this type of attack. I am reminded of a time when a Boston attorney challenged a politician with these words: “Have you no decency, sir?”

Let’s review the facts about this year’s contract extension. 

  • FACT:  the two-year bridge contract did not exist when Roberts wrote his letter to the editor. It was considered by the Selectmen on Monday evening, March 7, and Alexandra (who opposed it) did not attend the meeting.  
  • FACT: when looking for cost savings for our taxpayers, it often is easier to get those savings from an existing contractor.
  • FACT: the cost increase in this new contract was driven by a wage increase required by the State’s prevailing wage statute. The two-year extension is a good deal as a bridge to a new five-year contract. Doug Koplow, chair of the former Solid Waste/Recycling Committee testified on Monday night and concurred in this assessment.   

Let’s review the previous decade. We achieved substantial savings. Belmont has done an excellent job of controlling costs. There have been two five-year contracts. 

  • FACT: the cost of solid waste and recycling has increased by 1.6 percent per year from FY ’05 through FY ’15.  That is less than the annual increase in the town budget. That is good management for Belmont taxpayers.   
  • FACT: all contracts have been reviewed in public by the Warrant Committee and the Board of Selectmen.

Finally, citizens should understand that Alexandra knew most of these facts. Marcotte explained the history of solid waste and recycling contracts to her in a telephone conversation earlier this year. It appears that Alexandra ignored facts that did not fit her narrative. Governing requires an ability to listen and learn.

In an election year, facts matter. Civility matters. Character matters.

I urge you to re-elect Mark Paolillo as Selectman on April 5. 

Ralph Jones

Town Meeting Member, Precinct 3, former Chair of the School Committee, Warrant Committee, and Board of Selectmen