Greetings, Everyone! Welcome to another full week as we move toward the Spring Town Elections (May 6, early voting begins April 26) and Spring Town Meeting (starting May 27).
Coming This Week: Endorsements from B4E
Our board and volunteers have been reviewing dozens of questionnaires and voting records from Select Board and Town Meeting candidates, and our full list of endorsements drops later this week. Spoiler alert: informed sources say B4E is likely to endorse Michael Rubenstein for Select Board — the only candidate who strongly supported and voted for the widely backed “Consensus Plan” to rezone the Harvard Street corridor, which passed Town Meeting with 84% support and ensures Brookline complies with the statewide MBTA Communities Act by enabling more mixed-use development and multifamily housing.
There is Still Plenty of Time to Make a Difference
- If you have more time and less money: We need volunteers to flyer, talk with voters, and help out at the polls. You can do as little (or as much!) as you want; just sign up here to get involved.
- If you have more money and less time: Reaching voters isn’t cheap. If you can chip in to support pro-housing candidates, PLEASE DONATE HERE. Every bit helps — thank you!
Candidate Forums Coming Up
There are plenty of upcoming opportunities to meet the candidates and hear their positions:
- Climate Action Brookline (Select Board only) – Monday, March 24, 2025, at 5:00 PM (Zoom only; no registration required, click here to join).
- North Brookline Forum (Select Board and School Committee) – Tuesday, April 1, 2025, from 5:00–8:00 PM hosted by Coolidge Corner Library (register here)
- South Brookline Forum (Select Board and School Committee) – Saturday, April 5, 2025, from 1:00–3:00 PM hosted by the Putterham Library.
- Brookline for Racial Justice & Equity (Select Board and School Committee) – Monday, April 7, 2025, from 6:00–8:00 PM at the Select Board Hearing Room, hybrid (register here for in-person and live-streaming).
- BrooklineCAN / League of Women (Select Board and School Committee) – Thursday, April 10, 2025, from 4:00–6:00 PM at the Brookline Senior Center, no registration required.
- Brookline Neighborhood Alliance (Select Board only) – Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at 7:00-8:30 PM (refreshments at 6:30 PM) at the Select Board Hearing Room, live-streamed by BIG, no registration required.
Two Brookline Meetings of Note this Week
- The Chestnut Hill Commercial Area Study Community Advisory Group will meet Monday, March 24 at 6:30 PM, and is expected to hear an updated (and hopefully improved) proposal from City Realty for their mixed-use development along Route 9, including more homes and commercial space — and much-needed tax revenue. The hybrid meeting will be in person at Town Hall, Room 103 and via Zoom (register here).
- The Select Board meets as usual on the 6th floor of Town Hall on Tuesday, March 15, starting at 5:00 PM with a long agenda. Starting at 8:00 PM, they will hold Public Hearings on several Warrant Articles (with possible votes), including three we’re tracking:
- Article 22, establishing a Good Landlord Tax Abatement Program;
- Article 24, a Home Rule Petition asking the state to permit us to levy a Real Estate Transfer Fee that would fund affordable housing;
- Article 26, a resolution asking the state to forbid requiring tenants to pay broker fees.
The full Full text of Warrant Articles and Explanations are available online here.
Please consider attending the Public Hearing to support Articles 22, 24 and 26, or send a quick email with that message to the Select Board at kmacgillivray@brooklinema.gov. The full meeting agenda is here and Zoom registration is here.
Coming Next Week: March Happy Hour and AHMA Policy Webinar
The next B4E Happy Hour is Monday, March 31st, 5:30-7:30, at The Washington Square Tavern (new location). Please join us to meet old and new friends and relax together; you can sign up here.
For Policy Wonks: Join Abundant Housing MA on Thursday, April 3rd at 6:00 pm for an in-depth discussion of their 2025-2026 Statewide Policy Agenda. The Healy Administration recently released A Home for Everyone: A Comprehensive Plan for Massachusetts outlining how we need to build 222,000 new homes over the next ten years to reign in prices and make Massachusetts a place where young families can afford to stay. During the webinar, AMHA will review their priority bills to accomplish this ambitious goal, discuss the strategy for getting them passed, and have time for Q&A. You can register here for this Zoom only event.
What We’re Not Reading Yet (But Want To)
Abundance, the new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, sold out in a day at Brookline Booksmith, though you can now download the ebook here and the audiobook here. The key message — that we need to radically rethink “progressive” policies from the 20th century that have limited our ability to build the housing, rapid transit, and clean-energy infrastructure we desperately need — is right on point for Brookline. Klein and Thompson challenge the paradox of “blue city” liberalism, arguing that true progress requires tackling the regulations that stifle density, affordability, and innovation so we can build more: more homes, more infrastructure, more opportunity. For a short preview, check out Klein’s March 9th NYT column: There is a Liberal Answer to the Trump-Musk Wrecking Ball.
Finally, A Call to National Action on April 5: Hands Off Rally in Boston
We usually focus on local housing work, but the national moment calls for action, and we need to challenge the many irresponsible and illegal actions that are decimating our civil liberties, the Federal government, and the programs our community relies on — including Federal support for affordable housing. On Saturday, April 5, from 11:00-2:00, many of us at B4E will be at the Hands Off Rally at the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common. You can find more information here; please spread the word to your family and friends. If you want to connect with other B4E folks and take the train downtown together that morning, send us a quick email here and we’ll let you know when and where to meet.
Thanks, and have a great week,
Jonathan Klein on behalf of Brookline for Everyone