I resisted for years. There was no way I was going to get involved in local politics. I had many excuses: three young children, zero free time, and a general sense that Belmont wasn’t really my town, since I was a transplant. The “Vote Yes on 4” yard signs didn’t mean anything to me. I figured I participated in the PTA, and that was enough.
In 2022, after 12 years of being a Belmont resident, three different people asked me to run for Town Meeting. I didn’t know all of them well, but I respected them and was flattered. My ego — and the feeling that this was really like my home now — got me to pull papers. Precinct 4 rarely has enough candidates to fill the ballot, so I handily won my first term as a Town Meeting member.
I wasn’t sure what to expect at my first Town Meeting. I hadn’t even watched one on Belmont Media Center. But over the past few years, I’ve learned a lot about what it means to take part.
For example, while there are bureaucratic elements to Town Meeting, it’s not just procedural. We vote on warrant articles that decide how the town functions — everything from budgets to bylaws. We represent over 27,000 people. As Mary Lewis, one of the three people who originally convinced me to run, said, “Town Meeting is democracy in action, and I appreciate feeling as though I make a difference in my community.”
That word, “community,” came up frequently when I asked several of my fellow Town Meeting members what they got out of the experience. Heather Rubeski says she wants “to show [her] children what it takes to make a community function.” Erica Zidel says she “felt a responsibility to be an active participant in shaping the kind of community in which I want to live.” I’ve met so many amazing people through Town Meeting I never would have crossed paths with otherwise, and I look forward to meeting up with them each year.
Once you’re in it, you start to understand the town in a different way. Those yard signs I used to ignore? I know the people behind the names now, and what voting “yes” on 4 means. It would feel strange not to know them now. You get a front-row seat to both the town’s celebrations and its challenges.
Sometimes, it’s even fun. I say this with affection: our town has some characters. Ears perk up when Angus Abercrombie steps to the microphone. He’s the youngest member and one of the few Gen Z voices in the room. Many of us appreciate Rachel Heller’s expert guidance on affordable housing. And we’d be a little disappointed if Anne Marie Mahoney didn’t give us a Winston Churchill quote. Occasionally, discussions get heated, but that’s the point. A rigorous debate is a clear sign that our local democracy is working.
We could still use more help, especially from residents in their 20s and 30s. Our town’s new moderator, Mike Crowley, has made Town Meeting hybrid, so members can join remotely. It’s still a time commitment, but I did not hesitate to run again when my first term was up. The benefits outweigh the cost. Allow me to stroke your ego a bit: you can do this. And you should.
Eric J. Perkins writes about Gen X for The Belmont Voice. When he’s not vaulting over brick walls, he’s the Director of Transformation at Addgene, a life sciences nonprofit in Watertown.