hello everyone i'm joanna jewel is the citizen howell reports i'm editor of the belmont citizen herald and belmont dot work and local dot com today's guest is a well known member of the belmont community he has served the town in various capacities as a town meeting member a member of the planning board and most recently as a member of the board of selectmen he has his own design design for our firm offering professional services in architecture interior design landscape architecture and planning he's helped transform many local belmont businesses including leon and company belmont carwash the wonder school the loading dock and most recently the heinz collision center i am pleased to welcome everyone and do rojas welcome mandy thank you very much joanne a pleasure to be here with you this morning how have you been the past four months since election day very well thank you you know  i expected that i would have a lot more free time than i've ended up having my business and my family very quickly filled the vacuum and as flat out as i've ever been which is good four months ago april seventh election day i i know that you were quite confident of that you would win your seat back because we met and you know we you know i ran all the your letters of support and it really did look like you were sure you were the sure win at least i thought that and i believe that you thought that too so so let's let's talk about election day and when you realized that you were not in the lead and that most likely would not win your seat back and how you felt i think that i wouldn't say that in any manner i was overconfident because i understand politics well enough to know that anything can happen however i did really feel like residents understood that i had worked very hard for the town and that i really tried my hardest and that we accomplished some really good things however that night it was very clear we know we were in my home getting precinct results right after the end of voting so eight zero five eight ten something like that  and once we saw the results from precinct one which was an overpowering win for mr williams from in that precinct i realized that it would be very difficult to make that up in the remaining precincts  shock it was a shock to me to my supporters and to even mr williams and his supporters quite frankly i in following belmont tradition upon realizing my loss i know i went to mr williams's home that night ok to concede personally and to wish him well and to offer him my support in you know on the board of selectmen for him  understood early on that the override vote would help mr williams because his constituency was a lot of the same constituency that that was promoting the override the yes constituency on the override right but also a yes i was a yes but i never felt even though i was lobbied heavily by the  promoters and obviously i felt that it was in the best interest of the town the best interests of the school department to vote yes for that override i never felt that the yes contingent as much as they told me that they were very happy with me and that they supported me i never really felt comfortable that i had their support and in fact i didn't it was a bit of a play on their part i think that they  you know play both ends against the middle and they kind of want on that one i had it to do if i had it to do differently i think and i know you're probably going to ask me what was the big you know what was your biggest mistake in this thing right what do you think the main cause of your defeat was well i'd say that had allowing i was chair of the board of selectmen at the time right and i was a i allowed and agreed to and voted for putting the override on the ballot i think the big mistake was putting the override on the ballot at the same time that i was up for reelection why do you think that because it confused the vote it made the vote and the override should have been a separate  vote not confused with a selectman trace i think had that been the case the results might have been different not for the over i think the over i would have passed you saw the tremendous you know the demand for it but i think the selectmen race might have ended up differently had it not been conflated with the override vote and when you do look at the voting zulfi yes the town clerk has reported you clearly see that a lot of people didn't even vote for so i think i think there's a you know the what appears to me is the explanation for that approximately and i'm not sure the exact number joanna but it's something like seven hundred or eight thousand people voted in the override and then didn't vote for selectman those thousand people obviously could have made the difference in the race but in my estimation those the thousand people or so that didn't vote for selectman were no voters the no voters who were mad right that both candidates were supporting the spout they were particularly you know they mad at me for being the sitting so ackman and supporting the spou they didn't vote the fact that the no voters didn't vote and as you know because perhaps i'm a little more conservative than mr williams projected they were my natural constituency and they chose to sit it out and the election results are obvious i think that's what happened well i'm sure everyone asking you this question that i'm going to ask you and that is do you think you would run again well you know i think it right now you know honestly it's too early for me to even contemplate that i will say this i certainly will not run against sammy baghdadi or mark polow why's that because i believe in their governance and i believe in their values and their mission would i run in a future race against somebody else maybe i really have no expectation to or looking back i say how do i do it for those years when i had so much less time to dedicate to my business and i think now i'm enjoying seeing the business flourish so i'm working hard at that and that's great that's great but we'll  get into what you're what you're working on now i just want to talk about the current state of affairs in belmont most recently actually you and i have bags under our eyes today i cuz we were at the special town meeting and they had they voted on this green space the big green space issue and it was a win by twelve votes for plan a and now the selectmen have to make that decision about whether or not they're going you go with plan a or keep the plan b which they voted on may twenty eighth now you also spoke last night at the special timing you spoke up and you spoke for the select m at the may twenty eighth meeting spoke in support of that you even though you said you were a plan a supporter you respect the select mins to sit in the process so if you were still selectman how would you have handled what's going on with this with the screen space issue well i think that first of all just to restate i support completely support the selectmen zx you know  authority to make this decision a town meeting voted for an appropriation for an entire project the belmont center reconstruction project from and they didn't just vote on this singular green space you know and either scheme just to be clear planet or plan b makes the green space bigger than it is today in what they called plan zero right as you know i was the one of the creative proponents of planning in fact you know i came up with the design some people call it the empty row house design which i'm flattered even though it's not really one hundred percent true but i did have a lot to do with that design so i believe in it i like it i like planning but i understand that selectman have to deal with the broad population and listen to a broad constituency and i don't ever want to be on the side of limiting public i think the selectmen have done the right thing they listened how that would i had if i were still on the board have made the same decision i'm not sure but i'll tell you what i would have listened to the same people that were there on may twenty eight think that either way plan a or plan b belmont center in its entirety not just the green space is going to be a fabulous outcome for the town we're going to have a pedestrian friendly center more time how is it pedestrians finally though if there is a road going through this green space that well that's only a tiny little piece of it all the sidewalks are being widened there are you know many more new trees being planted make it more comfortable for pedestrians all along lettered street i agree i think plan is more pedestrian friendly i do agree with that but i also see that plan b can be made and i've had some thinking and i'm still working with going clancy as you know and  town on this in the implementation pieces of this given my experience and what i do for a living it's a natural but i think that the the driveway the proposed new driveway that's going to be where that road was in front of belmont center it's going to is narrower and smaller in k i think we can if that gets chosen and remains the choice of the board of selectmen i think we can make that a pedestrian friendly material we can use it doing town events i think we can make it much more like a plaza and less like a roadway so that it can be dual purpose and i think it will serve the purpose of the parking and the cut through while still looking more like space ok well let's let's go back to one one more thing on this and that is a the process there was a notice put out about this may twenty eighth meeting that it was an update on the belmont cent improvement project and discussion of the green space but it did not mention anything about a vote on a new design which as a town meeting member last night said she would have definitely been there she would have got a sitter for her kids if she knew that they were going to be voting on a new design but she didn't know that so let's let's talk about that why i mean is that that doesn't seem right it just doesn't seem right to me i honestly you know me well i don't want to be in a position to second guess the board of selectmen but i will say this i would have been at that meeting and i wasn't on the may twenty eighth meeting i would have been at that meeting had i known that it was going to result in a vote in a new vote  nobody knew that and i think that yes i could understand i could understand why some people feel a little slighted that they that they didn't anticipate a vote and that might have been something that could have been tweaked and done better but other than that they're completely within their right the selectmen are completely within their right to make these kind of decisions and now we have to see what what happens and i agree i'm sure a decision won't be made by the time we air but if but if it delays all construction delays do is mean money and in order to limit the town's exposure on this the decision has to be made soon one way or the other and implemented so that construction remains a pace this is not the time to prevent our kate and turned us into a long drawn out process that's gone on long enough speaking of going on long enough let's talk about cushing village oh boy i know that you were you were involved with the cushing village project i can't remember if you were on the board when it got of the planning board where you were a member of the planning board when it finally did get the thumbs up i don't think you were i think at that i was already selected you were s but let's talk about what's happening there i mean now they have a new deadline of it's november seventeenth and the selectmen have to review their financing in order to sell them the the parking lot and did you ever expected to take this long did you ever think that this would joanna as you know i was on the planning board for nobody years and i was on the planning board and given again my design and planning background was involved with christian religious right from the beginning with chris starr's original concepts i stood up in front of town meeting and and basically it seems a little bit like every time something could go wrong it does go wrong which is unfortunate however it doesn't negate the fact that this project is absolutely crucial to belmont's future is absolutely crucial to the triple road corridor it's crucial to cushing square it's very important to our businesses and to residents residents will have increased retail and restaurant and other opportunities because of this project it's going to clean up parking all in on it and it's a shame that it's you know had so many highs and lows i think that finally it looks like it's on track hopefully this latest little wrinkle with chris starr's partner won't derail it right everybody is you know obviously the concern is about financing well this to rail financing it doesn't appear like it has hopefully it won't and we can have this project in that you know starting to go in the ground as soon as possible it's time it's frustrating i sense you know i know my own frustration but i sense residents frustration every day when i go to that starbucks is you know i see you in there once or yeah i go to that starbucks all the time and many many people talk to me about you know the delays on this project and it's frustrating for everybody and those businesses have hung on that they've hung up thankfully but what will happen if the selectmen decide to we're not going to do that wall to wall that i would imagine that if the selectmen decide not to sell the parking lot which is the key decision point if they decide not to sell the parking lot to smith legacy partners that's going to obviously put squelch the project but also it will move that whole development back to square one i honestly hope that that doesn't happen i hope that smith legacy partners demonstrates the appropriate financing so that the selectmen feel comfortable selling the parking lot hope so and that we move on with the project if it doesn't joanna it could be another multi year and you know the implementation of it started on there are watch and i and i think that's a big project because it's going to be a much bigger boon to belmont than people anticipated now people are beginning to see what your pal road can be now with the trees and the new sidewalks and so on it's going to be quite nice rather we hope the flaking doesn't have a yeah i know that's a technical construction issue i'm sure that'll be resolved but the other big you know other accomplishments that i feel good about is would fall ro feel very good about that right todd finally made a deal on that i also feel very good about the the contracts that we negotiated as selectman with the various unions and so on those aren't easy contracts and we had to get in there and in collective bargaining get those done i feel great that are ministration were was able to come up with that i also feel that it's important that during the time that i s selectmen that we supported our school department obviously schools the excellent school system in belmont is a driver of growth is a driver of new residents and it's a driver of our own self esteem and i feel very confident that you know with my input we made the right have made the right moves for the school department while i was like oh that's good that's good that you can feel that way what would you say was your greatest disappointment i think you know partly cushing village i think is my greatest disappointment i fully expected when i became selectman after having been on the planning board for eight years and you know that town meeting where they approved questions were overly district was about six or seven years ago yes and i honestly felt that i would see cushing village you know i lease start construction in my terms so i came in and the fact that it didn't is a disappointment the fact that it still hasn't is a disappoint and i'm hoping that we can turn that corner and that we can all start smiling about their projects sometime soon i gree and what about all the  new construction that's happening and most recently actually this week they also demolished the house on waverly one twenty two went twenty two way really even with the demolition delay by lloyd it couldn't protect the house because really it was it was up to the owners to protect the house in the end and there's nothing that can be done to save it i i saw it come down that was quite a sight and i can understand maybe it was too expensive to renovate it was a great opportunity for a new a new developer but what do you think about that i mean obviously every time a piece of belmont's history architectural and cultural history gets demolished it's a loss for the town you know there's always a bright side to it it's going to be a probably most likely a more expensive property generate more property taxes and allow new residents to move in to a better environment for them internally but the fabric the backbone the architectural backbone of the town is being whittled away i feel very concerned about that i know the planning board is very concerned about that and the board of selectmen a very concerned about that we need to use every tool at our disposal dumbell delay by law is one tool but they i think everybody's struggling with this but everybody is trying really hard to make sure that first of all we don't step on people's property rights i'm a strong believer in individual property rights personal property rights but but there are larger overarching issues related to our community our self image our cultural heritage that need to be respected and protected and i believe that the planning board and the board of selectmen to doing all they can to do that well right entering into it has taken some work has taken residents to speak out about these issues including its that that grove street neighborhood where they were their building these houses that were just right so out of scope with the rest of the homes and now they set height restrictions it really does mean people have to speak up about these things and absolutely you have to i think one message that that sent that grove street area plan said to the rest of the belmont and i think others took note is you have to speak up for yourselves ok we need to protect their own neighborhoods from within not from without don't expect you know town officials from on high to swoop in and fix your neighborhood no we all have to take responsibility for our neighborhoods and fight for what we want and feel is right and i respect that in the g r district when that happened i respect that in the you know grocery dalton road area when that happened and i think more  districts and neighborhoods in belmont have learned from that and i think you're going to see more neighborhoods go after something like that a bylaw that that protects their massing scale and neighborhood character from the onslaught of maggie mentioned development i think it's a valuable as and we're not the only community struggling with this almost every community particularly ones with  really good school systems have the same issue but we need to from within you know each neighborhood protect itself let's talk about what you do for a living ok because collision center auto collision center a very good one they do beautiful work and you know many many residents of come up to me and said oh i use them and they're great but they needed in addition to grow their business their business is booming  designed an addition and also re redid the entire facility on the exteriors to make it cohesive right now is the new design fits in much better with the neighborhood  much more of a beautiful face entre polo road you can see it from trip powell and we've gotten very very many high compliments from people about it we're very proud of it the owners are wonderful people hoping that they have great success it's in a unique part of town as you know in brighton you know brighton street that part really needed something we really feel that that loading dock could be a catalyst for additional development there and we you know her little inklings of things that might happen around it so i think it's a good thing i think the other thing about that area is the flanders road area in general with the substation going there the belmont light substation you're going to see a lot of investment and a lot more facelift thing in that whole area and i think the loading dock will benefit from it and also contributed to it wow it's been great having you on the show and i hope to have you again and to see more of that in time now that you're not selectman it doesn't mean you have to you know disappear because we still like seeing you around town and i know your town meeting member and you're still involved in the gross treat park improvement and you're you're also helping with the belmont center improvement as a kind consultant so i wish you well and i hope to see you on the golf course and even though i don't golf i'm interested in taking it up and i don't know if you want an opportunity now to think i think you know i just want to take one brief moment to offer two things one is to thank my supporters a tremendous amount of people support me and supported me during the election and support me still and that's a a comforting heartwarming feeling that i can't be thankful enough for i feel wonderful that i can i've helped and i can continue to help some of those people the other people i'd like to thank is everybody else in belmont quite frankly it's a tough call a selectman xrays you know the choices are never simple they're never easy there's a lot of dialogue you know pro and con but the people of belmont a very reasonable trustworthy and very very intelligent people and i thank the process i thank the residents and i hope that i can continue in whatever capacity to contribute to our wonderful town and thank you very much joanna for having me on it's been a pleasure you're welcome mandy and thank you everyone for tuning in to look for a story in an upcoming edition of the belmont citizen herald a one on one interview with with andy rojas and please pick up a copy of the latest edition and tune in next