Letter: Support for Lubien

We are writing to endorse Geoff Lubien for Belmont’s Select Board.
We strongly believe in expanding Belmont’s commercial tax base and local economy. Belmont
must diversify its tax base and support vibrant local business centers.

In the fall Special Town Meeting, we prepared and presented zoning bylaw reforms that made it
easier to open a restaurant in Belmont (along with Paul Joy, Chair of the Economic
Development Committee, who has also endorsed Geoff). This was Belmont’s first business-
friendly zoning bylaw change in decades. Town Meeting will vote on additional pro-growth
reforms this spring.

Belmont’s economic and fiscal problems are well-known. Their solutions are also well-known.
Yet it took many experienced people dedicating months of work to achieve restaurant zoning
reform.

That is why we need Geoff Lubien on the Select Board. We have proven ideas to boost
Belmont, but we need proven leaders who can manage the policy process, translating ideas into
reality.

Geoff Lubien has those skills. For the past decade, he has demonstrated his commitment to
Belmont, pushing fiscal reforms through Town Meeting, the Warrant Committee, and the
Financial Task Force.

Geoff is a consensus-builder who can bring diverse groups together: He did it when he saved
the town $100M in OPEB payments, and he did it when he negotiated the Town’s leaf blower
bylaw. As Chair of the Warrant Committee, he has brought together ideologically opposed
groups to address our fiscal problems.

Belmont’s needs are urgent. Select Board service is a difficult job, and we need an experienced
leader now. Geoff is the right person for this moment. We are excited at the prospect of what we
can accomplish with him in office.

Elizabeth Dionne,
Taylor Yates,