Reviewing Town Meeting 2010

Some believe the French Revolution actually began a few weeks before the storming of the Bastille in 1789, on a tennis court in Paris where the bourgeoisie pledged to oppose the nasty King Louis.

In Belmont this week, it was Town Meeting members who revolted against the town government when it suggested tearing up the tennis courts on Grove Street.

In both cases, democracy won out.

When the history of the 2010 Town Meeting is written, it will be remembered for the efficiency of resolving the articles put before it by the town in the guise of recommendations from the Warrant Committee and the Board of Selectmen.

With so much discussion in the public arena on the looming  $2 million Proposition 2 1/2 override in June, the Town Meeting allowed that fight to be fought outside the auditoriums, not allowing the contentious feelings to overwhelm discussions on the fiscal year 2011 budget.

For the most part, the most discussion occurred when discussing non-budgetary matters. A seemingly straightforward document from the Planning Board on the future of zoning and planning known as The Comprehensive Plan could not get a simple recommendation from Town Meeting as members were a bit too nervous in what they viewed was ceding that much power to a single entity.

While the members were not likely to support a study that they believed gave up too much control, neither did they want to support funding a study from an outside entity. Town Meeting denied a request from the headmaster of Minuteman Career & Technical High School to help fund a feasibility study on the school's infrastructural requirements.  

And attempts by Member Roger Colton to open the Town Meeting by dictating what sort of information be released and when to representatives were defeated in the initial meetings. But in a twist, rather than fight another battle in seeking approval his ideas of openness before members, Colton joined with Town Moderator Michael Widmer to create an ad hoc committee to come up with a workable solution.

But while there wasn't the drama of past years — despite rumors on the last night, there was only one attempt to raid free cash and it, using $17,000 to increase the salary of newly elected Town Clerk Ellen O'Brien Cushman, was defeated – there were sparks from the representatives that revealed a willingness to right some basic wrongs.

The one great inspirational battle came on the last night when the capital budget was presented. A single item of $24,100 for the repair many tennis courts that also called for the removal of the Grove Street courts – deemed beyond repair by the Selectmen who approved the plan of the Public Works Department last year – struck the wrong chord from two members who simply had to tell the assembled members that this action by the town was wrong.

Donna Ruvolo from Precinct 7 took to the microphone and spoke with heart and conviction that such an action result in the town being neglectful of the health and well being of its citizens.

"We have a commitment to the health of our residents and removing these courts," she said to a rousing cheer from the members.

Building on the momentum, Maryann Scali, a long-time Town Meeting member and 30-year-member of the town's tennis cub said the demolition of the courts would eliminate any chance nearby residents would have to raise money to repair the court.

Despite the facts that the court will need substantially more money to repair them to playing condition, upwards of $50,000 per court, and that past attempts to raise private money to repair other courts have been wholly unsuccessful, Town Meeting members rallied behind Ruvolo and Scali. The body voted to take the money that would have done to create open space at Grove Street and repair the courts at the Winn Brook Elementary School and at Pequossette Park in the coming year.

Within a multimillion-dollar budget, saving a tennis court – broken as it is – is a fairly small victory, admitted Ruvolo.

"But this is what Town Meeting is suppose to be about," she said, accepting with Scali congratulations from members.

"This shows that people who share your feelings can make a difference," she said.