Monday is Patriots Day and Marathon Day, and it all runs right through Brookline. Good luck to anyone who is running, and for the rest of us, we can take advantage of Brookline’s prime location to enjoy the party as we cheer the runners on.
It is also “School Vacation Week,” so the Brookline Town schedule is very light on meetings. (For anyone interested, you can always find the full schedule of Town meetings here, or just search in your browser for “Brookline Massachusetts Town Calendar” and it usually comes up quickly.)
Election Day is Only Three Weeks Away — and We Need Your Help
The May 7 Town Election is only three weeks away, and we need your campaign help and your vote for B4E’s endorsed pro-housing candidates.
- We’ve endorsed Alec Lebovitz for Select Board, Kimberly Richardson for Housing Authority Commissioner, and 62 candidates for Town Meeting Members; you can find our endorsed TMM candidates in each Precinct here.
- You can still register to vote at the Town Clerk’s Office (Town Hall, 333 Washington Street, 1st floor) until Saturday, April 27 at 5:00 pm, and early in-person voting starts the same day and runs until Friday May 3 at 3:30 pm. If you are not sure, you can check your registration status here, and if you are a US citizen with a Massachusetts driver’s license, you can register or update your address online here.
- We need your help with our B4E table in Coolidge Corner, starting next weekend, and with other campaign activities. It’s easy and fun, and we’ll provide expert (but very short) training and back up. Let us know if you can help by filling out this simple volunteer form.
- And you can help support B4E’s campaign activities financially by donating here.
Updates on ADUs (Warrant Article 13) and Community Preservation Act Allocations
The Housing Advisory Board’s Warrant Article 13, which will make ADUs (accessory dwelling units) more feasible in Brookline, is working its way through the pre-Town Meeting process, and last week received a favorable 3-2 vote from the Land Use Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee. WA 13 revises the currently overly-restrictive by-law to make ADUs more viable for more homeowners in Brookline and provide significant benefits to the community as a whole by creating more much needed rental housing. The next stops for WA 13 will be the full Advisory Committee and Select Board; we will let you know when those meetings are scheduled for those who want to attend or send letters of support.
The Community Preservation Act Committee approved its near final recommendations for Town Meeting last Monday (April 8), including support for two applications from the Brookline Housing Authority and three from the Brookline CDC, in addition to applications for historic preservation and open space/recreation. Thank you to everyone who attended their meetings and sent written comments to support this critical funding for affordable housing.
State Level Action Recommendation from Our Friends at Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO)
GBIO encourages you to support public housing by urging your state representative to support budget amendment #1028 (sponsor: Rep. Michelle Ciccolo) to the FY25 budget proposed by the Massachusetts House. (Click here to find yours and their email address!) The House budget proposal keeps public housing subsidies at $112 million, same as the Governor’s proposal, far far below what is needed to allow housing authorities to maintain their buildings. But Rep. Ciccolo stepped up last week to co-sponsor a bill to raise the figure to $139 million, which at least is enough for housing authorities to add personnel to their woefully underfunded maintenance departments. It would make a difference in maintenance of about 43,000 units of the state’s essential housing for our most vulnerable neighbors and in getting needlessly vacant units back into service.
What We’re Listening to This Week
One of our favorite podcasts (and we have many) is Volts, by David Roberts, focused on the technology, politics, and policy of decarbonization. This week, Dave’s topic is “How much can urban land use policy do for the climate?” The answer is, quite a lot. Last month, RMI (formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute) released an analysis concluding that “addressing America’s chronic housing shortage intelligently — by building more housing where most people need it — can deliver similar climate impact as the country’s most aspirational transportation decarbonization policy.” We encourage you to listen to this smart podcast here or on your favorite podcast app.