Greetings. We hope everyone has survived (or even enjoyed!) this rainy Sunday.
Before we get to the week’s events, we want to make an editorial comment on a recent vote by Brookline’s 30-member Advisory Committee (AC), which is appointed by Town Meeting Moderator Kate Poverman and is charged, among other things, with reviewing and advising Town Meeting on the Town’s annual budget. At their meeting on April 11, 2023, the AC voted to make “no recommendation” regarding the FY24 budget for the Brookline Planning Department. Brookline has a highly professional and competent Planning Department, led by Planning Director Kara Brewton, which has been working overtime — literally — on plans to rezone the Harvard Street Corridor (under the direction and with the approval of the Select Board) to encourage more multifamily housing development in order to comply with the state’s new MBTA Communities Act (MBTA-CA). It appears that a majority of the AC members don’t agree with the Select Board and the Planning Department’s approach, which is their right. What we disagree with, in the strongest possible terms, is their action to punish and threaten to “defund” the Planning Department to register their disagreement, which is only likely to demoralize the already overworked Planning Department staff (none of whom, sadly, can even afford to live in Brookline given our high housing prices). It is distressing to see differences of opinion on planning issues move from discussion to a threat to withdraw funding from an essential Town Department and its committed staff. We commend and thank our friends at GBIO / Brookline for their strong letter to the AC on this issue, and strongly urge the Advisory Committee to promptly reverse course and restore the Planning Department’s full budget so it can continue their important work. If the AC refuses, then we urge the Select Board and Town Meeting to promptly overrule them.
Now, on to the week:
Fun/Action Item No. 1: Come to our Pre-Election Pizza Social at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, April 26 in Griggs Park. Meet your pro-housing neighbors and some of our endorsed candidates, enjoy the food and drink, and find out how you can help on Election Day with our GOTV efforts. Register HERE, or just come. Open to all B4E friends and supporters (no charge).
Action Item No. 2: Brookline’s Town Election is Tuesday, May 2, and early voting (at Town Hall and elsewhere; check here) continues through Friday, April 28. Bank your vote now! Make sure to vote for B4E’s endorsed pro-housing candidates, including Arden Reamer for Select Board. You can find our Town Meeting Member endorsements here for each Precinct. We also still need volunteers for our visibility events next weekend and on Election Day — please join us in making a difference!
Volunteer!
And finally, for those that are able, we can still use your donations to cover the printing and mailing costs of our GOTV efforts. Donate here.
Learning/Action Item No. 3: Join the Brookline Planning Department for their third MBTA-CA Compliance Options Workshop on Monday, April 24, 12:00-1:30 PM to learn and brainstorm about the Department’s work on options, in addition to the Harvard Street Corridor, to comply with the MBTA-CA, which requires municipalities like Brookline to create a zoning district that allows multifamily development “by right” within easy walking distance to MBTA transit stops. The meeting on April 24th will be a quick summary of initial scenarios covered at prior workshops, followed by information about potential compliance utilizing Multifamily (M) Districts as proposed by community members at the first and second workshops. The entire meeting will be formatted with rolling Q&A. Register here for the Zoom Link.
Thanks and have a great week,
Jonathan Klein, on behalf of Brookline for Everyone