My Advice On The Rink? Skip It!

As a community, Belmont has so much going for it: we’re an attractive town with an envious location close to Boston and Cambridge. We have easy access to a variety of public transportation (train, bus, subway); a diverse housing stock; highly educated population; top-quality public schools and attractive, walkable town centers.

Wanted: Public Trust

That said, we have plenty of big challenges weighing on us, also. At the top of the list: a large, structural budget deficit that has our town locked into a losing battle with inflation. Then there’s the enduring challenges of maintaining our excellent public schools, investing in our aging roads and sidewalks, and addressing our dire shortage of housing stock for workers, families and seniors. 

I write this all as a way to say: “we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, Belmont.”  Solving these problems will require focus, dedication and – critically – the trust and support of residents and the voting public to implement a new vision and solutions for our town -like the Belmont Center Overlay- that our political leadership feel are best.   

Select Board: Talk To The Hand

If you’re an elected official about to lay out big, controversial plans to a skeptical public, one thing you want to have tucked in your pocket is their good will and trust: an openness to hearing your ideas. But – as I write this- what is our Town’s executive committee doing? Essentially: flipping the bird to a broad swath of Belmont voters – many longtime residents- who are asking for something quite simple: that a town-owned building that has carried the name of a beloved – and recently deceased – local resident for nearly three decades continue to do so following the reconstruction and rededication of that facility. 

I’m talking, of course, about the Skip Viglirolo ice rink: a building that has been a pillar of our community for generations. Since the late 1990s, the rink has been named after James “Skip” Viglirolo, a lifelong Belmont resident who passed away on June 3rd at the age of 95. Skip was a talented athlete and hockey player – a Korean War veteran who represented the United States on the National Hockey Team and then, after completing his military service, worked for more than five decades on the Town’s Department of Parks and Recreation, while also serving as a varsity hockey coach and assistant coach at Belmont High for 25 years. 

Despite that impressive biography and generations of Belmont skaters going down to the “Viglirolo Rink,” the naming of the reconstructed ice rink has been the focus of months of heated and increasingly acrimonious debate with our Select Board. 

A New Idea..Pursued At All Costs

What gives? Well, our Select Board has taken the (truly) novel position that the opening and rededication of the ice rink – at a cost of more than $30 million for taxpayers – should be a revenue generating occasion for our Town. Note, this was _not_ a requirement, or even a consideration that was raised when re-opening other recent capital projects like the new Belmont Middle-High School and its redesigned Higginbotham Pool; the Belmont Public Library which is due to open in the New Year; the Underwood Pool; the Wellington Elementary School; the Belmont Police Station; the town’s DPW or any of the many capital projects this town has invested in and completed in the last two decades. 

Don’t get me wrong: negotiating for naming rights for public buildings or even parts of public buildings (meeting rooms, snack bars, etc.) is a great idea. It’s not going to “turn our town’s fiscal frown upside down,” but it could generate new, non-recurring revenue that can be used to balance our books – so why not? Had our Town Administrator or Select Board lined up a six- or seven figure donation on the condition that the new rink be named after the donor (maybe even sharing the name with Mr. Viglirolo), I doubt there would be much debate or discord. Unfortunately, there is no such offer on the table, while our Town Administrator, Patrice Garvin has indicated that any naming rights deal may take “a long time” to arrive at.

That’s almost certainly true now, that the naming of the ice rink has become a deeply divisive and toxic issue. What business in their right mind would want to spend money to earn the ire of a big swath of Town? 

Belmont: Do You Hear Us? Select Board: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In the meantime, supporters of rededicating the rink in Mr. Viglirolo’s name collected signatures to call a special Town Meeting in late July and have our Town’s legislature weigh in. The result there was a solid vote in favor or re-dedicating the rink in Skip’s name. (Sorry to not attend – was on the other side of the Atlantic in late July.)

The response of the Select Board? They voted last week to disregard Town Meeting’s vote, citing a divided Town Meeting and their early July revision to a Town’s policy for naming public assets – a vote that happened after signatures requiring the Special Town Meeting regarding the rink had already been submitted.

The Board’s vote to ignore Town Meeting has jacked up discontent within the community. Social media platforms like Facebook are blowing up and the issue even got written up in the Boston Herald. 

Three Magic Words: We. Were. Wrong.

I can’t say strongly enough how damaging this debate is to Belmont. Knowingly or not, our Select Board has fostered civil discord, distrust and division at the very moment when they should be striving to build trust and consensus within Town in anticipation of some “big asks” in the months and years ahead. While the idea of sponsored naming for public facilities is worth pursuing, absent any such offer for the rink, the new building should retain the name of a beloved and devoted community member who just recently passed away. 

Instead, what we’ve seen is a tone deaf and – frankly – arrogant display by politicians who are convinced they’re right: pointing to the restrictive language of a policy they passed _after_ the petition for the Special Town Meeting had already been submitted. Essentially: they manufactured the rope that they are now claiming is tying their hands. You’ll have to excuse me (and others) for calling “bulls**t” on that. 

The Rink? Skip It!

My advice to the Select Board on the rink naming? Skip it. That is: re-dedicate it in honor of Mr. Viglirolo. To state the (incredibly) obvious: this is not the hill you should be dying on, politically. The vast amounts of political capital  you’ve already burned are going to greatly complicate your other plans and endeavors in the months ahead. So, if you care about those, end this stand off. Please.  

As I see it: the path forward is simple: rededicate the rink in Skip’s honor and lean into the festivities around that. Celebrate the new building, and his memory along with it.

While you’re at it, admit you were wrong and ask the Town’s forgiveness for the misunderstanding and needless discord and division. Then go about the hard work of finding wealthy donors interested in naming rights for the rink inside the building, or the food stand, or even the building itself – shared with Skip of course. (The “Viglirolo CitySide Rink,” anyone?) 

Doing so now will make the road ahead less treacherous and improve the possibility of achieving some of your more bold visions and dreams for our community. Fail to do so and you, as well as our Town, will pay the price.  

Here’s hoping for a quick resolution to this dispute.