Greetings Everyone.
This Monday, we celebrated Martin Luther King Day. Dr. King cared deeply about fair and affordable housing; see this excellent article from 2018, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Vision for Affordable Housing Remains Unfulfilled. There were many activities across Boston, but one that has been meaningful for me in the past has been the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Breakfast, at 9:00 am, which regularly gets 1,000+ Bostonians out early Monday morning for an inspiring program. This is the 55th Annual Event, and it always features inspiring speakers and music: the topic this year is “Freedom Isn’t Free.”
Brookline’s MLK Celebration had a free showing of the excellent 2023 movie about the life of Bayard Rustin, an unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement, produced by Barack and Michelle Obama. Bayard Rustin was an openly gay organizer of the March on Washington, a mentor to Dr. King, and a target of the FBI. We’d like to especially thank Brookline’s MLK Celebration Committee and its chair, our Select Board Chair Bernard Greene, for putting together an inspiring program this year, and every year.
WE’RE RECRUITING: How You Can Make a Difference in 2025
I still love my bumper sticker from the ‘70s, which is trite but true: THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY. We need your help to push our local, pro-housing agenda forward. Consider serving on a Board or Commission, becoming part of a B4E precinct team, or running for Town Meeting. We need your help, and will be holding three Zoom information sessions in the coming weeks (but you only need to attend one): Tuesday Jan. 28 from 6-7 pm, Monday Feb. 10 from 3-4 pm, or Tuesday Feb. 11 from 7-8 pm. No commitment required, just interest, but we’d love to have you come and learn ways you can get involved to “act locally” and make a difference. You can sign up here, and we will look forward to seeing you.
Good News: Select Board Approves $128,000 for BCDC Tenant Stabilization Program: Your Comments Make a Difference
Last week we asked you write to the Select Board to urge them to approve the Brookline Community Development Corporation’s request for $128,000 for their Tenant Stabilization Program (recommended by the HAB from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund), and it worked. The funding was approved at the SB meeting last Tuesday. Since its launch in 2023, the Tenant Stabilization Program has successfully provided critical financial assistance and counseling to stabilize the situation of approximately 50 Brookline households facing hardships, through funding and counseling. Now it can continue and help other Brookline households who are experiencing severe housing insecurity. Both BCDC and B4E thank you for your support!
Key Meetings of Interest this Week and Next
- The Washington Street Design Review Committee will meet on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 6:00 pm. This project promises to unlock substantial outside grant money to fund a “Complete Street” offering better pedestrian access, along with protected bike lanes, to make this central Town corridor a safer, healthier, more pleasant, and more climate-friendly place to live and shop. The meeting will include a summary of the project to date, and a possible vote on the “preferred alternative” which will be submitted to the Transportation Board. More information on the project is here; the meeting agenda is here; and the Zoom registration is here.
- Also on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 7:00 pm, the Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing on a plan to convert 25 garage parking spaces and a storage area at Hancock Village to 16 apartments, including four new affordable homes.While we haven’t reviewed the proposal in detail, we love the idea of converting housing for cars into housing for people! You can see the project materials here, register for the meeting here, and can send letters of support (all you have to say is, “I think this is a great idea, we really need more housing in Brookline”) in advance to Brookline’s Senior Planner Maria Morelli at mmorelli@brooklinema.gov.
- The Chestnut Hill Commercial Area Study Community Advisory Group (see background here) meets on Thursday, January 23 at 6:30-8:30 pm, in person at Room 103 in Town Hall and via Zoom. You can find the full agenda here, and register here.
- Next week, Representative Jake Auchincloss is holding a YIMBY Caucus Update & Town Hall (via Zoom) on Wednesday, Jan. 29 from 10:00-11:00 am. This is an opportunity to learn about his cofounding of the recently formed House YIMBY Caucus and his efforts to support housing production in Congress. The meeting will consider his ideas about how Congress can encourage housing development, remove barriers to the construction of new homes, and invest in the infrastructure needed to unlock more affordable and walkable neighborhoods nationwide. The meeting will also have the opportunity for comment and discussion. You can register for the online meeting here.
Worth Reading This Week
We liked this short article from the Boston Globe: Micro-apartments will become a cost-effective solution for renters — eventually. The article explains why microunits — which were legalized with the strong support of B4E in Brookline in 2020 — haven’t fulfilled their potential, but still could make a difference.
Have a great week,
Jonathan Klein,
on behalf of Brookline for Everyone