Greetings, we hope you all remembered to set your clocks ahead last night and survived the time change. It’s another sign that Spring really is around the corner, and we are looking forward to enjoying the evening light as we keep getting more daylight every day.
Let’s start out with a shout out and big THANK YOU to everyone who attended GBIO’s Housing Justice Rally last Sunday at the ISBCC in Roxbury. (You can see the Globe’s coverage here.) There were 1,700+ of us there, including over a hundred from Brookline, demanding that the Legislature pass the Governor’s Affordable Homes Act, including significant increases for public housing capital and operating costs, a local-option Real Estate Transfer Fee to fund affordable housing, and housing justice for returning citizens (see GBIO’s full platform here). The atmosphere in the room was powerful and electric. We will keep you posted (and ask for your help) as this important legislation works its way toward final passage before the end of the 2024 legislation session this summer. Congratulations GBIO!
Two Brookline Town Board Meetings this Monday
Unfortunately, this week’s two meetings of interest overlap Monday. Both will be worthwhile, but if you want to advocate for affordable housing in Brookline, we recommend attending the CPAC meeting to support the BHA’s housing proposals. More details are below:
- The Community Preservation Act Committee (CPAC) will be meeting for the next three Mondays (March 11, 18, and 25) at 6:30 pm (via Zoom) for their final review of applications, with a meeting on April 8 for final decisions (meeting link here; no registration required, and the full agenda is here). This week they are reviewing four Historic Preservation applications plus the two applications from the Brookline Housing Authority, including $3.75M for the Walnut/Juniper/High Street public housing redevelopment (see B4E’s support letter here). Most of the affordable housing applications are scheduled for the March 25 meeting. Final decisions will be made on April 8, so please mark that one in your calendar. We encourage you to send a brief statement supporting the BHA funding to CPAC in care of Lyndsy Butler (lbutler@brooklinema.gov).
- Also on Monday, the Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB) meets at 7:00 pm. The agenda includes a discussion of the HAB’s proposed Warrant Article to make ADUs (accessory dwelling units) more feasible in Brookline. There will also be a discussion of EDAB’s Economic Development Strategic Plan, and updates on the Washington Complete Streets Plan, the planned Coolidge Corner Parking Study, and a Chestnut Hill Commercial Area Study. The full agenda is here, and you can register for the Zoom meeting here.
Not Too Late to Run for Town Meeting + Support the B4E PAC
We know this is getting repetitive, but there is STILL time to run for Brookline’s 255+ member Town Meeting, which is our legislature, and some precincts still have open seats. 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. There is still time before the March 19 deadline to submit your petition (you only need 10 signatures, and we will help!), so if you are interested, just email us at BrooklineForEveryone@gmail.com; we’d love to connect (about this or anything else!).
And, 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
- Fast Track Housing in Los Angeles. Seems like a good idea — why can’t we do that here?
- Upzone Update: Meaningful or Marginal? This is part of a series of regular updates on the progress of the MBTA-CA across the region by noted researcher Amy Dain and the Boston Indicators project; you can subscribe here.
- Both Sides Overselling the MBTA Communities Act, by Luc Schuster (of Boston Indicators) in Commonwealth Magazine. We appreciate this very balanced view of what MBTA-CA implementation could actually accomplish statewide, and why both the hopes and fears are overblown. For pro-housing advocates, “it’s a single, not a home-run.”
- The Surprising Left-Right Alliance That Wants More Apartments in Suburbs, a summary from the NYT about the recent Yimbytown (YIMBY=Yes In My Backyard) conference in Austin, Texas.