Greetings everyone, and Happy Patriots Day and Marathon Day! Congratulations and good luck for anyone who is running, and for the rest of us, let’s take advantage of Brookline’s prime location to enjoy the party as we cheer the runners on.
Now, on to the week.
Action Item Number 1: There is still plenty of time to help B4E elect pro-housing candidates in Brookline, and we need your participation between now and Election Day on May 2. We have a real opportunity to elect Select Board and Town Meeting members who will put our values into action. We need people to organize their friends to vote, pass out fliers, and wave signs in high-traffic areas. You can volunteer here (even a few hours will help!), see our full list of endorsed candidates here, and for those with financial capacity, we still need your donations to cover our “Get Out the Vote Campaign”. And finally, B4E yard signs are here! If your home or business is visible to pedestrians and you are able to display a sign, please sign up here and we’ll tell you where to pick them up. Thank you everyone for your continued support!
Action Item Number 2: This week’s Housing Advisory Board meeting, on Wednesday, April 19, at 5:30-7:30 pm via Zoom (register here) has a packed agenda, including discussion and possible approval of the 2023 Housing Production Plan and public hearings and possible votes on Warrant Article 13 (scheduled at at 6:00 pm) which would establish a new Office of Housing Stability in the Town’s Health Department (or within another department at the discretion of the Town Administrator), and Warrant Article 24 (scheduled at 6:45 pm), a resolution which would establish a new “Moderator’s Committee” to explore options for alternate ways of complying with the MBTA Communities Act (MBTA-CA). B4E thinks that WA 24 is likely to be a distraction from the excellent ongoing work by the Planning Department (under the direction of the Select Board) to both complete the Harvard Street Corridor planning and to explore possible alternatives, and we oppose WA 14 in its current form. We urge those of you who are able to attend the HAB meeting to learn more and speak up if you feel motivated.
Action Item Number 3: First, a hearty thank you to everyone who attended the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization/Brookline (GBIO) event at United Parish in Brookline last Thursday to support their campaign to increase the state budget for public housing. The event was a huge success, with over 100 people in attendance. For those who missed it, or if you attended and were so enthused you want more (GBIO actions always feel like a party!), there will be a Boston-focused GBIO Public Housing Action this Thursday, April 20th at 5:30 pm at the West Broadway public housing development in South Boston. There will be food, music, stories (from Boston tenants and beyond), all to keep up the pressure on the statehouse to significantly increase the budget for public housing! If you can attend, please register here.
And finally, we recommend this short, powerful read from The Boston Globe: It’s no surprise, but we were grateful to see this editorial in the Boston Globe last week, which documents — through Globe headlines over the years — the long term effects of restrictive zoning in many Massachusetts cities and towns. It’s short, powerful, and worth a read: A hundred years of choking housing growth catches up with Massachusetts.
Thanks and have a great week,
Jonathan Klein, on behalf of Brookline for Everyone