Greetings everyone. This newsletter will be a little shorter than most, as we are composing it a little earlier than usual before the Rosh Hashanah holiday weekend begins.
MBTA-CA Action/Register Now! On Monday, October 2, at 7:00 pm, the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization(GBIO)/Brookline Housing Team will be hosting an “MBTA-CA Teach-in/Action” at Temple Sinai, 50 Sewall Ave, near Coolidge Corner. The program will explain the details about Brookline’s plan for meaningful compliance with the MBTA-CA, plus specific training on how you can help get the plan approved by Town Meeting in November. The meeting is in-person, with a hybrid/zoom option, with socializing and light refreshments at 7:00 and the formal program at 7:30. To attend, in person or virtually, please register here. Note that while this is being planned and led by GBIO, it is open to everyone, and we encourage as many B4E supporters as possible to attend.
For more detailed information about MBTA-CA, including a helpful Frequently Asked Questions, check out the Yes! In Brookline website, and if you haven’t done so already, sign up here to join the YIB Coalition. And as another primer on MBTA-CA in Brookline, we encourage you to watch this terrific 20-minute interview with Brookline TMM Chris Dempsey on WGBH’s Greater Boston program. The interviewer is Pulitzer Prize Finalist Abdallah Fayyad from the Boston Globe, who was also moderator of the Rothstein/Crockett panel discussion mentioned below.
Community Preservation Act Update and Application Meetings. Now that the Town has adopted its 5-year Community Preservation Act Plan for FY2024-FY2029, it is ready to begin accepting applications. The time to submit a “Project Eligibility Determination Form” begins on September 18 and ends on October 16, with successful applications being approved at the May 2024 Town Meeting, so applicants who want to apply this year need to act now; you can find the full Funding Timeline and Process Overview here. The Community Preservation Act Committee will be holding three “Application Information Sessions” on Zoom: Sept 18 at 6:30 pm (register here), Sept 19 at 10:00 am (register here); and Sept 28 at 2:00 pm (register here). Community Preservation Act funds can be used in any of three categories, community housing, historic preservation, and outdoor recreation/open space. For more information, contact the Town’s CPA staff at cpa@brooklinema.gov.
What we’re watching and reading this week.
- For those who missed our engaging panel discussion on Sept. 7 with Richard Rothstein and Karilyn Crocket (authors, respectively, of Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted under the Color of Law) and People Before Highways), here is a link to the full panel discussion recording (which runs nearly two hours); you will need this passcode (bFk0WC+m) to view the Zoom recording. As a warning, there is a bit of unwanted noise near the beginning as some unmuted folks enter the Zoom, but it ends in the first 10 minutes. And be sure not to miss B4E Board Member Deborah Brown’s question and comment near the end at about 1:31 on the recording, and the concluding “Call to Action in Brookline” (at about 1:39) by yours truly.
- Next, we recommend this fascinating NYT article about Tokyo, The Big City Where Housing Is Affordable. In the past half century, by investing in transit and allowing development, Tokyo has added more housing units than the total number of units in New York City, and has remained affordable beyond anything we can imagine in our housing-starved big cities in the US.
Have a great week, and for all who celebrate the Jewish New Year, we wish you a year filled with Good Health, Joy, and Housing Justice!
Jonathan Klein, on behalf of Brookline for Everyone