Get the Facts:
Everyone in this year's race for Select Board says they want the same things for Brookline. But words are easy. Only Michael Rubenstein has the record of votes and actions to back up his words.
Learn More About What Each Select Board Candidate Chose to Support
What's So Important?
Brookline needs more housing, more housing affordability, and more commercial development. In 2023, Brookline and other towns around Boston were required by Massachusetts to create opportunities for more housing to be built near public transit. Failure to comply would have resulted in lawsuits and a loss of state funding to the Town.
Who Did What?
Michael Rubenstein co-founded the Yes! In Brookline coalition that organized community groups and Town Meeting members to support adding more homes, more affordable homes, and more commercial development along one of Brookline’s major transit corridors, Harvard Street. The other two candidates did not contribute.
How Did They Vote?
Michael Rubenstein voted YES on legislation that permitted more homes, affordable homes and businesses near public transit, along with 84% of Town Meeting members.
Liz Linder voted to ABSTAIN on legislation that permitted more homes, affordable homes and businesses near public transit rather than take a side.
Carlos Ridruejo voted NO on legislation that permitted more homes, affordable homes and businesses near public transit because he supported a plan that would comply with state law but did not actually allow any new homes or businesses.
Why Does It Matter?
Because of the hard work of Michael Rubenstein, alongside that of many others, Brookline passed legislation that allows new housing, more affordable homes and more businesses near public transit. If his opponents had succeeded, Brookline would have either failed to allow new homes and more businesses, or faced costly lawsuits and a possible loss of state funding to our Town.
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The law is known as the MBTA Communities Act (MBTA-CA), and was passed by the Massachusetts legislature requiring towns and cities served by the MBTA to increase housing opportunities near transit.
The Select Board's Consensus MBTA Communities Act Warrant Article had four compontents:
- rezoned Harvard Street, creating new opportunities for housing and commercial development along one of Brookline's main transit corridors
- permitted the Brookline Housing Authority to add 100 new affordable homes at its Walnut-High Street property
- allowed family-sized units instead of only micro units in our Emerald Isle district
- and changed some of our M (Multi-family) district zoning to comply with MBTA-CA regulations, without adding opportunities for new homes.
The first vote Town Meeting Members took on the Select Board's Consensus MBTA-CA Article was called a "Motion to Refer." That would have put the legislation on hold and created a committee to “study” it, making Brookline miss the deadline for MBTA Communities Act compliance. That motion failed by 76%. Michael Rubenstein voted NO to refer; Liz Linder voted ABSTAIN to refer; and Carlos Ridruejo voted YES to refer.
The actual legislation passed, with 84% of Town Meeting voting "Yes."
What's So Important?
Brookline does not have enough homes for seniors who want to downsize but stay in their community. In 2022, Town Meeting asked the Transportation Board to find replacement parking nearby so affordable senior housing could be built on the Town owned Kent/Station Street parking lot in Brookline Village.
Who Did What?
Liz Linder served on two committees that discussed how to turn the Kent/Station Street parking lot into senior housing. Linder says she opposed the project at first, but eventually came to support it (Brookline.News 4/16/25 ). In his letter to Brookline.News published 4/22/2025, Don Warner, an architect, a longstanding member of Brookline’s Economic Development Advisory Board, and a Town Meeting Member in Precinct 13, explains that, “My firm memory is that Liz NEVER supported the proposed senior housing, which would have added 50+ affordable senior units in a desirable location in Brookline Village. Even after it was approved by the Select Board in 2019, she continued to oppose efforts to get it built.”
How Did They Vote?
Michael Rubenstein was elected to Town Meeting in 2023, so he did not vote in Town Meeting in 2022.
Liz Linder voted ABSTAIN on the possibility of allowing new affordable senior housing near public transit rather than take a side.
Carlos Ridruejo voted NO on the possibility of allowing new affordable senior housing near public transit.
80% of Town Meeting voted YES for the possibility of new affordable senior housing near public transit.
Why Does It Matter?
The Town began looking to convert its Kent/Station Street parking lot into affordable senior housing in 2016. The vote in 2022 was Town Meeting’s opportunity to allow Town property to upgrade a parking lot into desperately needed senior housing if offsite replacement parking was located. Whatever they may claim now, Linder’s vote to ABSTAIN and Carlos Ridruejo’s NO vote indicates they did not support creating more affordable senior housing.
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To continue to be a vibrant community, our Town needs housing types for all stages of life. Over 20% of Brookline’s population is 60 years old or older. New senior housing near our small businesses and transit that complies with fossil free fuel requirements will also make our environment cleaner, and provide health and safety benefits to older residents. The 2022 Warrant Article was supported by the Select Board, Advisory Committee, Chamber of Commerce, Brookline Village Merchants Association and 80% of Town Meeting.
What's So Important?
To achieve Brookline’s climate goals, Town Meeting was asked to approve the installation of 80 geothermal wells under the Pierce School playground. Without Town Meeting’s approval, the Pierce School would not have been able to afford this important energy efficient heating system, delayed its ongoing renovation, and significantly added to its cost. By prioritizing our climate goals, we also prioritize the lives of the students we expect to use the new Pierce School for the next 50-70 years.
How Did They Vote?
Michael Rubenstein voted YES to authorize the Pierce School to install a geothermal heating system to significantly reduce the new school's carbon footprint.
Liz Linder voted YES to authorize the Pierce School to install a geothermal heating system to significantly reduce the new school's carbon footprint.
Carlos Ridruejo voted NO to allowing the renovation to include this important energy efficient heating system for the new school.
Why Does It Matter?
To meet its climate goals, Brookline must do everything it can to reduce the carbon footprint of its municipal buildings. Which means that every Town building project must include the most energy efficient systems and materials. For the sake of the children who will use the Pierce School, we must do everything we can to prioritize our climate and our planet’s long-term health.
Learn More
Special Town Meeting 1, Warrant Article 1 (STM1, WA1) in Spring 2023 authorized the installation of 80 geothermal wells 600 feet under the Pierce School playgrounds. If Town Meeting had not passed STM1, WA1 in that session of Town Meeting, the Pierce School renovation would have been thrown significantly off schedule, increasing the cost substantially. The Warrant Article passed Town Meeting with more than 90% support.
What's So Important?
Housing costs and childcare are the two largest expenses for a new family, with childcare taking up as much as 20% of a family’s income. Our county has one of the highest daycare rates in the country, an average of $26,000 per child per year. By not prioritizing these services, young families will not be able to afford to live in our community.
Who did What?
Liz Linder sent a flyer to Brookline Village neighbors and to Town Meeting members criticizing a proposal for a new daycare center in Brookline Village largely because of concerns about parking. Linder was instrumental in reducing the proposed project to almost half the original child care capacity.
Why Does It Matter?
Young families are vital to making Brookline the exciting and dynamic place we all want to live in. Forcing a new daycare center to reduce its size by 50% means that the families of 57 children will struggle to find alternative childcare rather than contribute to a vibrant community hub in the neighborhood.
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In March, 2024, Little Children Schoolhouse filed the first development proposal under the new MBTA-CA rezoning. The initial proposal for 264 Washington Street would have constructed a new 4-story facility caring for 117 children. (see more at the Town's Website).
Brookline.News explains what happened next in its 9/24/2024 article: "In Brookline Village, a proposed four-story daycare center has forced residents to grapple with two of Brookline’s shortages: childcare and curb space." Liz Linder told Brookline.News, “As a small business owner, I need to have parking available. I’m concerned that it’s going to be harder and harder for my employees and my clients to be here.” The flyer she sent to neighbors and to Town Meeting members warned that drop off and pickup at the location “can reasonably be expected to create haphazard parking and tremendous traffic congestion on Washington Street and Davis Avenue, causing a public safety hazard for pedestrians and motorists in the immediate area.”
Department of Labor data show "parents in two Massachusetts counties pay the third-highest child care prices in the nation. The annual cost of infant center-based child care in Middlesex and Norfolk counties was more than $26,000, according to the data, eating up nearly 20 percent of median family budgets."(Boston Globe, 1/31/2023). If we actually want vibrant, walkable neighborhoods that welcome families of all ages, we must go out of our way to accommodate the vital services our young families require so they can continue to live in Brookline.
Little Children Schoolhouse owner Gladys Ruiz told Brookline News, "Most of the people love the project. They’re very excited, young families who want to have more choices with childcare." Ruiz went on to say, “I think maybe [the opposing residents] don’t know much about daycare.”
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