Chamber Gearing Up for Candidate's Forum

A brochure mailed to Belmont residents on Tuesday lists a few of the topics the Belmont Chamber of Commerce will most likely ask city council candidates to address at Thursday's Candidate's Forum at the Belmont Library.

The forum, which is hosted by the chamber and moderated by the League of Women's Voters, will be held Thursday, Sept. 26 from 7-9 p.m. in the Taube Room of the Belmont Library. The public is invited to attend the forum and to submit questions in writing to the candidates. 

To review the League of Women Voter's Procedures for the Candidate's Forum, click on the PDF that accompanies this article.  Also attached is the Chamber flyer for the event.

This is the first of two forums; the second will be held Thursday, Oct. 24.

According to the mailer, the chamber seeks to help guide the city council in the needs of large and small businesses. It states that although some ordinances appear to be innocuous, they end up being detrimental to local businesses. 

Some of the issues the Belmont Chamber of Commerce will ask the six council candidates to address at the forum are:

• Tree Ordinance  Too restrictive? 
• Views  Why no ordinance protecting views?
• Home Expansion  Why does Belmont require at 2-car garage for a 400 square-foot home expansion?
• Infrastructure  Need more road and storm drain restoration funding in city budget.
• Sign Ordinance  Too restrictive, especially with regards to real estate open house signs.
• Downtown  Need mini-parking areas and attractive street-scaping.
• Safe Pedestrian/Bike Shared Pathways Away from vehicular traffic.

Charles Stone

Michael Verdone

Gladwyn D’Souza

Kristin Mercer

Eric Reed

Warren Lieberman (incumbent)