Greetings,
After a long build up, we are here. PLEASE VOTE in Brookline’s Town Election this Tuesday, May 2. Polls are open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm. Visit the town website for sample ballots, and here is information on where to vote.
Finally, it’s not too late to volunteer to help us with our final push. We still need volunteers Monday 5 – 7:30pm at T stops to wave signs and remind folks to vote, as well as greeting voters and handing out literature on Election Day in many precincts.
Volunteer!
Brookline for Everyone has enthusiastically endorsed Arden Reamer for Select Board as the only Select Board candidate who is unequivocally pro-housing. Arden is a highly qualified mother of two Brookline Public School students, with a professional history in social services with underserved communities and managing budgets with the Massachusetts Office for Administration and Finance. She is a head and shoulders better candidate than her two opponents, prioritizing housing affordability, combating climate change locally, supporting our schools, encouraging economic development, and more. She has also been endorsed by our friends at both Climate Forward Brookline and the Brookline Equity Coalition. Please check out her website for more info, but it is really important to the balance of the Select Board and thus the direction Brookline’s executive branch heads in, that she gets one of the two open seats, so please vote only for Arden!
You can find our Town Meeting Member endorsements here for each Precinct. Brookline’s 255+ member Town Meeting is our legislature, and decides all important policy issues, including approving the Town’s budget and any changes to our Town and Zoning Bylaws. This Fall, Town Meeting will be voting on the Planning Department’s proposal to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, which we currently expect to require a 2/3 “supermajority” vote. Having strong, pro-housing TMMs will be critical, so please check out and vote for B4E’s endorsed slate in your precinct.
We also endorse a YES vote on Question 1 to rebuild the Pierce School!
We have not made endorsements on other races, many of which are uncontested, with the notable exception of Commissioner of the Brookline Housing Authority. The 5-member board oversees Brookline’s nearly 1,000 units of public housing, including approving policy decisions, contract awards and budgets. There are two terrific candidates, who we’ve listed in alphabetical order: Susan Cohen and Kimberly Richardson. Susan, the incumbent, is a lawyer who currently represents the Cambridge Housing Authority, and previously had her own firm specializing in public housing. She brings a wealth of experience and technical expertise to the BHA. Kimberly is a licensed social worker, and judicial secretary at the Boston Municipal Court in Roxbury, and a BHA resident. She believes the BHA needs better representation from those with lived experience in public housing. We think both are excellent choices, for different reasons, and hope that whoever does not prevail decides to run again next year. We asked each of them to answer a few short questions, and you can find their statements here.
And, for those that are able, we can still use your donations to cover the printing and mailing costs of our GOTV program.
Donate
Thanks to everyone. Let’s go out and win some victories on Tuesday to make Brookline more affordable, sustainable, welcoming and diverse!
Jonathan Klein, on behalf of Brookline for Everyone