I’ve appreciated all the letters about proposed changes to zoning for Belmont Center. I’ve also appreciated people being direct about their views—for instance, outright opposition or support—and why they hold those views.
In these pages and many forums elsewhere, various people have argued for the delay of a vote by Town Meeting. The vote has already been delayed for further study and discussion. But some say they need more study and more discussion. Others are raising legalistic or procedural objections.
At this point, the Select Board and Planning Board are well within their rights to decide that most of the Town Meeting members who are not persuaded by what’s already in front of them probably won’t be persuaded a few months from now either.
We all have visions of what we want for our town’s future—and those visions are not the same. Not all our differences can be resolved by more meetings—nor by claiming we’re debating about technical details when we’re really disagreeing about what we value most.
Fortunately, our democratic process provides a way past hard-to-resolve differences: a vote. I’m only in my first term as a Town Meeting member, but I’ve already experienced being on the losing end of votes I cared a lot about. So I don’t know if my “yes” vote on the Belmont Center Overlay proposal will be on the winning or losing side.
But I do know for sure that it’s time for a vote.
Joe Wright, Edgemoor Road