A heated exchange took place Monday night following Select Board member Taylor Yates’ statement on the Belmont Center Business Association’s decision to ban Belmont’s two political committees from having a table at Town Day this fall.
“Political activists’ tables have been a positive part of Town Day for many years,” Yates said Monday night. “They create an opportunity for residents to engage directly with the people who influence local government. Banning political tables would say to Belmontonians that their values are not welcome, and that local democracy does not matter.”
Specifically, the Democratic Town Committee and Republican Town Committee are banned from having a table at the event, now scheduled for September after its cancellation in May.
“This wasn’t a decision that was made by me alone,” business association President Deran Muckjian said in response to Yates’ statement. “Our decisions are not made lightly … The reason we did it this year … was the political unrest going on in our country.”
Yates noted that a third organization, Citizens for a Fiscally Responsible Belmont—which is vocal on issues in local politics—was permitted. Muckjian, who argued that the organization is nonpartisan, is listed on its website as a charter supporter.
Muckjian said he spoke to other business association members, but ultimately it wasn’t a decision made by a vote of the whole association. According to Muckjian, this was a decision for this year only, and that he did it to “protect the children and the families” in case of protest or confrontation.
“There’s a lot of turmoil going on,” he said. “I didn’t want to take a chance or have that turmoil come into the center … when parents and children are having a fun day.”
Following the exchange, Town Administrator Patrice Garvin noted that with Town Day permitted for a certain area, a protest wouldn’t be permitted to take place within the same space.
“Protests could occur; they just couldn’t happen with the permitted sector,” she said.
In a statement to The Voice, Democratic Town Committee Chair Linda Levin-Sherz said she didn’t support the Belmont Center Business Association’s decision and argued it violates the First Amendment, which protects free speech.
“The Belmont Democratic Town Committee has always had a table at Town Day,” Levin-Sherz wrote in a statement to The Voice. “In all the years we staffed one, we have never had an unpleasant interaction, just many friendly people who saw it as an opportunity to learn more about the organization and say hi to neighbors. Certainly, not everyone who stopped by was a democrat, but conversations were always respectful.”
According to Levin-Sherz, full members of the Democratic Town Committee are elected on the presidential ballot; as such, they’re considered public officials, “deserving of our rights to represent the group in a public setting.”
Belmont Republican Town Committee Chair Tommasina Olson, meanwhile, supported the association’s decision.
“Town Day is a non-political event. It is for the children and families. The organizers have the right to set the parameters,” Olson wrote in an email to The Voice.
Asked by Yates whether there had ever been a problem before with the two tables at the annual event, Muckjian said no, but pointed instead to the ‘No Kings’ protest earlier this month that expressed frustration with the direction the country was headed under President Donald Trump’s administration.
“It hurt the business downtown [with] all the people protesting,” Muckjian said.
There was no overt police presence, no confrontations, or raised voices at the protest on June 14. Yates countered that it was, in fact, a peaceful protest.
Muckjian, however, said not everyone felt that way and as a result avoided businesses downtown.
“This feels like a very narrowly and discriminatorily targeted (decision),” Yates said.
Muckjian emphasized that other political entities, including the Select Board and state Sen. William Brownsberger, would have tables at the event.
“We’re a private organization of volunteers,” he said. “We can choose to do what we do.”
