The VFW Hall on Trapelo Road is in danger of being abandoned, sold, or destroyed.

It is a fact of our times that fraternal organizations and veterans’ groups are having great difficulty doing anything but losing membership. The Veterans of Foreign Wars nationally have an aging membership that is diminishing by attrition.

Here’s the story of one of the consequences of that reduction in membership, one that endangers a building we can all remember from our youth.

VFW meets BMC?

By Cassie Norton
Friday, March 30, 2007

From Belmont Citizen-Herald

The Veterans of Foreign Wars has occupied its building on Trapelo Road since VFW members built it more than 50 years ago, but now they can’t afford to keep it.

The single-story building needs a new roof and HVAC system, estimated to cost about $150,000. Post Commander Brian Galvin forbore to list numbers, but he said the VFW’s bank account is “very low.”

The dire circumstances brought the VFW to Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting to discuss possible solutions.

Selectmen Chairman Paul Solomon said the board is committed to doing everything it can to keep the veterans in the building that has been their home for so long.

“We will exhaust all possibilities first, but there will always be a home for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Belmont. We just can’t guarantee that it will be in that location,” he said.

The veterans have been talking to the Belmont Media Center about moving the BMC into the top floor and moving the veterans’ operations to the basement, but there are complications in the negotiations that prompted them to approach the selectmen.

BMC Director Jeffrey Hansell said the Media Center is prepared to commit up to $300,000 for rehabilitating and renovating the interior of the building, in addition to a monthly usage fee or taking over the utility payments. However, the bulk of that initial investment will go to setting up the workspace. He said the BMC is not prepared to fund all or most of the repairs to the roof.

Further complicating the situation is the convoluted ownership of the building and land.

The hall sits on land that belongs to the town. It is surrounded by land owned by the Recreation Department. The building was built by and belongs to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and they currently pay the town $1 each year to lease the rights to the land. Their lease says if they vacate the building, it and the land revert to the town. If the town wants to dispose of the building, it must go through a bidding process.

Hansell said in an interview that the Media Center is “discussing a lot of options and [the VFW hall] is just one of them.”

The BMC is “having difficulties meeting its mission in the present space” in Belmont High School, he said: “It’s just too small.”

While exploring the space and discussing things with the veterans, the idea for the building to become more than just the BMC and the VFW arose.

Hansell envisions a community center, where recent veterans can feel comfortable and residents can learn more about the legacy of the VFW of Belmont.

“It could be a chance for the VFW to re-invent themselves for the 21st century, a way to meet the needs of today’s veterans,” Hansell said.

The veterans, Hansell and Selectman Angelo Firenze will meet with town counsel to see if there is a way to untangle the ownership and occupation issues.

Though the veterans asked the town to fund the repairs to the exterior of the building, Firenze said it was his sense “that it will be very difficult if not impossible for the town to come up with that money.”

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