Just a note to our many supporters that this afternoon I e-mailed a copy of the signatures and comments you submitted for our petition to restore the "town lawn" to plans currently underway for the revitalization of Belmont Center. This isn't the end. Next Monday, June 22nd, we will present a paper copy of the petition to the Board of Selectmen during office hours. Please continue to pass around the link for this petition. We would like to add as many signatures between now and June 22nd as possible! I am including the full text of my email to the Selectman below. Thanks for all your support, and stay tuned for more information on the status of our petition to restore green space to Belmont Center! +++ Text of the e-mail+++ Sami, Mark and Jim: I am writing as a Belmont resident and a member of Town Meeting to submit a petition for your review that I have been circulating online and in person here in town for the past few days. This petition, to date, has collected over 430 signatures, almost all (more than 400) the work of Belmont residents or business owners. I have organized this into two documents: one presenting signatures of Belmont residents (~400) collected online and (some) in person. A second document presents the signatures of non residents, including Belmont Center business owners (~30). The two petitions are presented as separate PDF files. Please contact me if you have any trouble viewing these and I would be happy to supply you with an Excel Spreadsheet version or a paper copy. Simply put, the petition asks you, the Board of Selectmen, to restore green space (aka the "town lawn") to current blueprint for the redesign of Belmont Center, as specified in the plans that were developed by the Traffic Advisory Committee, duly presented to-, debated by and approved by Town Meeting in its special meeting in November, 2014 and put out to bid in January of this year. We, the petitioners are asking you, the Board of Selectmen, to respectfully reverse a decision you made at a special hearing in May that installed a new, heretofore unseen and untested plan created at the last minute by your office in the place of Plan A. Reinstating Plan A will respect the work of the Traffic Advisory Committee, the wishes of Town Meeting and - as this petition suggests - the wishes of the voting public." You may view the petition here, where it continues to collect new signatures. Rather than weigh you down with words in this e-mail, I am humbly requesting the following: + That you review this petition. As you do so, pay close attention to the names contained on it, which represent the full spectrum of Belmont politics and include former Selectmen Angelo Firenze, Paul Solomon and Anne Paulsen, current and former members of the Warrant Committee, the Traffic Advisory Committee and many, many members of Town Meeting. + That you read the many comments that Belmont residents submitted along with their signature. Comments such as: "Plan A" was the approved plan. It was an excellent plan. The last-minute substitution of another plan, which bypassed a multi-year town-wide process, by a small group to effectively undo the good works done by many people over many years is a shameful act and should not be allowed to happen." - Andrew Bennett "The decision to go with Plan A was done democratically. Any changes to that plan should be done democratically as well, not unilaterally without input from the residents who voted and supported it." - Nancy DuBois "I am signing because I don't think a small group pressuring the Selectmen should be able to overturn a Town Meeting Vote and also years of work by various volunteers. How will the town get volunteers in the future for its various committees if all their work can be undone at the last minute by a small group pressuring the Selectmen." - Nancy O. Almquist + Finally, that you place this petition and the concerns of the 400+ residents contained in it on the agenda at your next, possible Board of Selectmen meeting on June 22, 2015 and allow a full airing of the issues surrounding your last minute changes to the Town Center Reconstruction. We further ask that you be open to the possibility of reversing your decision from the late May meeting and restoring the original "Plan A" blueprint for Belmont Center, which includes an expanded Town Green. I and other petitioners will present a paper copy of this petition, including any signatures garnered in the next week, during your Board of Selectmen Office Hours at 6:00pm on Monday, June 22. Given the lateness of the hour and the fact that work in Belmont Center is ongoing based on a design that Town Meeting did not approve or explicitly fund, is our desire that our concerns be on the agenda for the meeting that begins at 7:00pm that evening so that we may resolve this issue as soon as possible. Respectfully, Paul F. Roberts, TMM P8