Greetings,
One big event this week: Election Day on Tuesday. (Early voting has ended.) Polls will be open from 7 AM to 8 PM. Bring everyone with you to the polls. Children and dogs, too: they should all know the way.
Beyond voting, we have one final ask of you. Email and/or text everyone you know in Brookline and ask them to vote YES on the override, vote FOR Amanda Zimmerman, and Anthony Buono, and to vote for Brookline for Everyone endorsed Town Meeting Candidates. You can start by pulling out your phones (yes, right now), pull up your text groups and WhatsApp groups, remind them that the election is on Tuesday, and tell them who to vote for.
Here you can find what you need to know:
- Precincts and polling places;
- Information on our endorsed candidates: Amanda Zimmerman and Anthony Buono for Select Board; and Town Meeting Member Candidates in your precinct;
- Get The Facts on the Select Board race;
- Reasons to vote YES on the override;
- And a last chance to volunteer to help us get out the vote.
We also recommend an Open Letter by our board member Elise Couture-Stone, reminding us of the larger matters at stake in this election and beyond: preserving what is good about life in Brookline – not by reflexively blocking change, but by taking action now to keep Brookline’s future bustling, resilient, and sustainable.
How a No Vote on the Override Will Impact Economic Development and the Planning Department
Some opponents of the operating override have argued that Brookline can right our fiscal ship through economic development alone, but the reality is that Brookline needs to keep level funding for the next 3 years so we have time to “build our way out of this.” Significantly, if the override does not pass, Planning Department staff will be cut, leaving fewer professionals to turn concepts (“let’s put commercial on major transit routes”) into actual policies and legislation. The Town Administrator Chas Carey said that in a “No Override” budget scenario, three planners will be fired. This will slash our Town’s capacity to build meaningful economic development and actually expand the Town’s tax base.
Listen to Chas tell you himself when he spoke to the Advisory Committee, the Town’s fiscal oversight committee, back in February, starting at around 29 minutes (video here). In his own words: “this basically guts the economic development team.”
Read more about why we can’t build our way to short-term economic sustainability here. And let any of your friends or neighbors skeptical about the override know that this infusion of operating revenue is a vital bridge toward a more prosperous future built around increased mixed-use development in strategic parts of Brookline.
Town Meeting Updates
The complicated process of finalizing Special Town Meeting Warrant Articles 1 and 2 to rezone the Chestnut Hill Commercial Area continues. This past Tuesday, the Select Board added its unanimous endorsement to that of several other Town boards.
- On Monday, May 4, 7:00 PM, the Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB) will discuss and possibly endorse the final version. Agenda and Zoom link here.
- The Advisory Committee will continue its discussion, time permitting, in its Wednesday and/or Thursday meetings, both at 7PM on Zoom. Agendas (to be updated) and Zoom links here and here.
What we’re reading this week
You have probably heard frequent mention of the peculiarly nicknamed “Proposition 2½.” Perhaps you recall its history. Perhaps you even know that it was Massachusetts ballot proposition number 2 in 1980, and perhaps you agree that it has been a heavy burden on municipal budgets ever since. If you want to know more:
- Its history and basic facts from Wikipedia and other sources;
- Maps and other details on its statewide effects here and here.
- And if you really want to know: the Commonwealth’s explanation of technical terms and calculation methods.
Thanks, and have a great week,
Brian Ladd, for Brookline for Everyone