We are extremely excited to announce our endorsements of great pro-housing candidates, across Brookline, who will be on the ballot on May 2.
For Select Board, we believe Arden Reamer is the best candidate and deserves your vote. Arden understands the current reality of astronomical housing costs in Brookline, and the centrality of our restrictive zoning regulations in getting us to the untenable place we’re at today. Arden understands the importance of earnestly complying with the MBTA Communities Act as a significant step in legalizing the variety of housing types and prices Brookline and the region needs. For these reasons and more, Brookline for Everyone is proud to endorse Arden Reamer for Select Board.
We’ve also endorsed 64 candidates for Town Meeting. Our Town Meeting endorsements were based on a questionnaire we sent to every candidate asking for their thoughts on housing affordability, the MBTA Communities Act, and the intersections of housing policy with transportation, racial justice, and climate change. Click here for our full list of Town Meeting endorsements. And be sure to reach out to your friends and neighbors to ask that they vote for pro-housing candidates on May 2.
We are going to make sure voters know what is at stake in the upcoming election. When we elect pro-housing candidates who make sure Brookline complies with the MBTA Communities Act and creates multi-family housing near transit stations we will also help fight the climate crisis, provide housing options that promote diversity, and create walkable neighborhoods that better support local businesses.
Between now and May 2nd, we need you to help us!
Volunteer to remind supporters to vote on May 2nd.
Donate to our Political Action Committee to fund our get-out-the-vote program.
Other meetings/action items of note this week:
Meeting Number 1: The Economic Development Advisory Board will be meeting on Monday, April 3, at 7pm, with an agenda focused on the MBTA Communities Act. The meeting will begin with Maria Morelli from the Town’s Planning Department discussing the regulatory division’s Harvard Street study and MBTA Communities Act compliance, followed by a public hearing on Warrant Article 24, which would set up a moderator’s committee that would attempt to modify the direction of the MBTA Communities Act compliance efforts. This may serve to undermine both the current public process being conducted by the Planning Department at the direction of the Select Board and introduce procedural delays and hurdles that would likely make compliance by Brookline’s 12/31/2023 deadline much more difficult. EDAB will also be hearing a proposed amendment from Town Meeting Member Charlie Homer that would instead ask the Select Board to continue their current efforts and create a committee aimed at supporting the ongoing work of the Planning Department to develop a proposal to bring Brookline into compliance with the MBTA Communities Act. For more information, including the proposed amendment for article 24, and to register for the meeting click here.
Meeting Number 2: The Department of Planning and Community Development will be hosting a workshop covering an introduction to the MBTA Communities Act and compliance options being considered on April 4, 2023 at 5:30 pm via Zoom. From the event website:
Our Department is proposing to meet this requirement by leveraging analysis already completed that identified regulatory barriers to multifamily and mixed-use development and proposed remedies that can serve as an objective basis for community visioning workshops. The first installment of this study is Harvard Street, a vital mixed-use neighborhood. A kick-off meeting was held on March 15th focused on this proposal. Over 260 people attended this meeting, some that were very familiar with the complex details of both the MBTA-CA requirement as well as the Harvard Street study and proposal, and many people that were just learning about these topics.
The first part of the meeting on April 4th will be a general overview of the MBTA-CA requirements, followed by a summary of initial scenarios that our Department shared with Boards last year (prior to the final Guidelines and compliance model issued by the State), and then a collaborative workshop format to explore other community ideas for compliance beyond Harvard Street.
We encourage anyone who is able to attend to do so, and participate in the collaborative workshop portion (set to begin around 7pm). It’s important that folks who are supportive of sincere compliance with the Act, compliance that can actually lead to more homes being built in Brookline, continue to have their voices heard. Click here for more information and to register for the Zoom meeting.
And finally, thank you to everyone who came out to the Brookline Booksmith last Monday, March 27 to hear Katherine Einstein & Maxwell Palmer, authors of Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America’s Housing Crisis discuss the challenges inherent in local government public engagement work, as well as regional housing issues. We had a great turnout and hope to continue hosting events like this.
Thanks, and have a great week,
Jeff Wachter, on behalf of Brookline for Everyone