Greetings, we hope you had a good weekend. Congratulations to all the parents who survived (and maybe even enjoyed?) Brookline’s School Vacation Week.
We want to start with a reminder that early voting for the Presidential primary is underway in Brookline. You can vote at Town Hall this week, Monday through Thursday, 8am to 5pm, and Friday 8am to 12:30pm. The full schedule is here.
We have two big items to highlight this week:
First, register now to join GBIO and 1,500 pro-housing advocates for their Housing Justice Action next Sunday, March 3, 3:00 PM, at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (100 Malcolm X Blvd in Roxbury)
The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization has been leading the charge to support Governor Healey’s Affordable Homes Act and Bond Bill, which will provide over $4B (yes, that is FOUR BILLION DOLLARS!) for affordable housing over the next five years, including over $1.5B for public housing renovation and reconstruction. This is over twice the amount included in the last bond bill, and will make a huge difference in our ability to both create and improve public and other affordable housing across the date, including in Brookline. The March 3 Action is a critical step on building support for this important legislation. You can see the GBIO flier here, and can register here. If you’ve never been to a GBIO rally, it is worth it just to experience the excitement of 1,500 people from every faith and background joining together to build their power and make a difference. While Brookline for Everyone is not a member of GBIO, we have partnered with them closely in Brookline, where they were a key partner in our Yes! in Brookline coalition which secured Town Meeting’s approval (with an 84% majority) of the MBTA-CA. If you have any questions about logistics, or if you are planning to come and want to coordinate, contact me (Jonathan Klein) at jklein728@gmail.com. We hope to see many of you there!
Second, Come to Our “Run for Town Meeting Info Session” this Tuesday (February 27) at 7:00 PM
Brookline is governed by a five member Select Board, which is our “executive,” and a 255+ member Town Meeting, which is our “legislature.” One-third of the Town Meeting Members (TMMs) are elected each year, in May, which means about 85 seats are open this year, five in each of our 17 precincts, many of which may not even be contested. Town Meeting usually meets twice a year, in the fall and spring, for several nights each, in hybrid format. Being a TMM is engaging and important, and we need your voice and vote to support pro-housing and climate policies. You can learn more at our “Run for Town Meeting Info Session” on Tuesday February 27th at 7pm where we’ll cover the logistics of getting your name on the ballot (it’s easy!), how Brookline for Everyone can help, and what being a TMM entails. Sign up here to learn more. And if you can’t make the 27th and would like to chat with us directly about Town Meeting, just email us at BrooklineForEveryone@gmail.com; we’d love to connect one-on-one!
While we are talking about elections, it’s time to make sure you are registered to vote in Brookline at the proper address so we can be sure your vote will count. This year, election day in Brookline is Tuesday, May 7th, 2024. You can register online here. In addition to voting on Election Day, all registered voters are eligible to vote by mail (sign up here). Our May elections usually have a low turnout, so every vote really matters! Make sure you and all your friends, family and roommates are registered so you can participate and help us build our pro-housing coalition on the Select Board and in Town Meeting.
And finally, we continue to need your financial help to run a strong campaign to elect our pro-housing candidates. Please consider a generous donation to the Brookline for Everyone PAC to fund our campaign efforts!
What We’re Reading This Week
We love this opinion piece from the Washington Post, surveying how Governors (including our own Governor Healey) are finally focusing on the supply side of the housing affordability crisis.
Sadly, Brookline has not been doing its part to build our regional supply. See this Boston Globe article on Everett, which leads the Boston area in approving building permits as a percentage of this existing housing stock (at 16%) from 2015-2021. Cambridge is second at 11%, Boston is at 10%, Newton is at 4%, and Brookline comes in next-to-last at 2%. We know this will improve as the MBTA-CA changes take effect, and with some projects already in the pipeline, but we need to continue to do better in fulfilling our regional obligations to be part of the solution.