With election day less than 48 hours away let’s dive right in to how you can make an impact!
Election day is Tuesday, May 7th!
There’s still time for you to help make sure we elect pro-housing, pro-climate, and pro-transit candidates across Brookline. Here’s how:
- Email everyone you know and remind them to come out to vote, recommend votes for Alec Lebovitz, Kimberly Richardson, and Brookline for Everyone endorsed Town Meeting candidates. Here’s a sample email you’re welcome to use as you’d like. Reach out to your neighbors, the game night crew, your religious community, your kids’ class list, your Yoga class, and anyone else you know. Most people appreciate hearing from folks they know with recommendations for local elections.
- Volunteer to help talk to voters on election day! Many of the Brookline for Everyone candidates will be stationed at voting locations throughout Town on Tuesday to shake hands and offer voters candidate recommendations. But it’s always helpful to have more folks greeting voters than just the candidates and it’s a fun opportunity to meet your neighbors and say hi to neighbors you already know. There are multiple shifts throughout the day to fit any schedule. Sign up for a shift here!
We’re working hard texting voters to remind them about the election and answer their election questions, and we’re trying to meet voters where they are with online ads as well. We can’t do this work without the wonderful financial support so many of you have provided this cycle. If you haven’t yet and are able to, consider a financial contribution.
And finally, we want to wish all of our endorsed candidates luck on Tuesday. This has been an active campaign in so many precincts, and their efforts have gone a long way, both in convincing voters to vote for them and in continuing to build a pro-housing consensus in Brookline.
Virtual Community Workshop for the Chestnut Hill Commercial Area Study
The Chestnut Hill Commercial Area Study has been tasked with incentivizing new commercial growth, and enhancing the livability and identity of the neighborhood along Boylston Street just before the Newton line. There are two important opportunities to participate in this process this week:
- A virtual community workshop will also be held on Wednesday, May 8th, from 6:00-8:00 pm. You can register for the Zoom meeting here, and can contact Meredith Mooney (mmooney@brooklinema.gov) in the Planning Department for more information.
- The Planning Board will hold an in person workshop on Monday, May 6, from 7:30-9:30 pm in the 3rd Floor Conference Room at Town Hall (333 Washington Street). The public is encouraged to attend and participate. For more information, contact Polly Selkoe (pselkoe@brooklinema.gov) in the Planning Department.
The Town’s Economic Development & Long-Term Planning Division is leading the study, and will provide the Select Board with recommendations, implementation measures, and appropriate rezoning proposals for Town Meeting’s consideration in Spring 2025.
We urge anyone able to attend the Wednesday, May 8th virtual community workshop to do so. Brookline residents interested in adding commercial development and more homes were underrepresented at the previous session, and it’s important that the consultants hear from more voices. You don’t need to live within, or just outside of, the study area to participate, as this study and any subsequent policy changes will have impacts across Brookline. The Newton side of Route 9 has seen exciting growth in recent years, and a vibrant neighborhood is taking shape; Brookline has an opportunity to get in on the action, expand our commercial tax base, and create more homes for current and future neighbors.
Upcoming Event: Newton for Everyone Presents “Can New Development Help School Budgets in Cities Like Newton?”
Our friends in Newton will be hosting what is sure to be an excellent session on the potential tax base benefits of new development based on research from MassINC and Boston Indicators. Elise Rapoza, senior research associate at MassINC, and Luc Shuster, executive director of Boston Indicators, will present on “both the practical implications and research on the potential for new development, particularly an expanded housing supply, to bolster the tax base and, consequently, school funding.” The event will be held on Thursday, May 30 at 7pm, both in-person at Congregation Dorshei Tzedek/Second Church, 60 Highland St, West Newton and via Zoom. Click here for more information and to register.
What We’re Reading This Week
A new research paper out of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University considers the impact of suburban housing development on urban housing costs, with the goal of developing a broader understanding of how to tackle housing unaffordability. One of the key takeaways is that “neighborhoods where more vacancies are created by new housing experience a greater decrease in housing costs,” and “policies that promote greater urban density – and especially those that increase the supply of relatively affordable housing – will be more effective at making cities more affordable for low- and middle-income households.” The full paper, titled Suburban Housing and Urban Affordability, can be found here; and here’s a shorter blog from the author summarizing their findings.
Local policy that incentivizes low and moderate income affordability (such as an Affordable Housing Overlay that Brookline is currently studying), leveraging local resources to subsidize low-income homes, legalizing more multi-family, encouraging smaller homes, and reconsidering large minimum lot sizes, are all policies that can add more homes and impact the costs of housing.