Justice: Once the Soul of Brookline.
Yes, Brookline as a community had been in the forefront of justice, not only for its residents, MA and America, also for the whole world. But in recent years, there has been a gap in Brookline’s soul, as I understood it, right here in our own backyard. This was most recently reflected in the aftermath of the May 24, 2007, Town Hall Brawl, which continues with the Citizen Complaint Review Committee appointed to address certain aspects of this matter that involved Brookline resident Arthur Conquest.
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Previous Columns
Brookline in the Age of Regrets — Part II.(August 20th, 2008)
The truth is that selfishness has become institutionalized. We cast our self interest as munificent against less noble partisans, but it’s still all about getting some for our own. Ours is a society that spends more money on jails than food programs. Ours is a country whose government’s chief enterprise is blowing stuff up. Ours is a culture that has become so deluded by its blood lust that we think killing people in the name of freedom is man’s highest purpose.
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Urban Ring: Sick [Bus Rapid] Transit Gloria.(August 18th, 2008)
EOT’s Ned Codd in discussing funding sources and challenges at the recent CAC meeting made reference to the “Magic 8 Ball” – suggesting the “outlook is not good.” Since the tunneling costs for Phase 2 are so high, it appears that EOT will push its “Plan B” (my description, not EOT’s) for surface routes in the interim; but Codd conceded that federal funding might not be available for interim surface routes.
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On Brookline’s Awards of August.(August 14th, 2008)
During these summer doldrums, and as your publisher prepares for a period of repose, it’s time to recognize the people and events that have provided this site its bounty of material.
After careful review of the archives, listed are below are winners of the first annual On Brookline Augustus Awards.
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Systemic Accountability Part 3A: Anatomy of a Special Town Meeting.(August 10th, 2008)
Brookline, with its Representative Town Meeting (“RTM”) form of governance, is required to hold an Annual Town Meeting (“ATM”), usually in May. As Brookline’s population has increased to 55,000+ and its annual budget to $200 million, the ATM has not sufficed for Brookline’s legislative needs. This has resulted in recent years in a Special Town Meeting (“STM”) in the Fall. Some years ago, an STM would be reserved for zoning amendments back when zoning changes were not an annual sporting event as seems to be the case in recent years.
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Brookline in the Age of Regret.(August 6th, 2008)
It seems to me that we live in the Age of Regret, where our public policy is given over to impulsive acts that have people in power saying, “If I’d only known, I’d have done it differently.” I wouldn’t have voted to invade Iraq. I would have listened to those warning of a catastrophic housing bubble. I wouldn’t have imposed this burden on my neighbors.
It’s as if all manner of malfeasance is absolved by a flippant “who knew?”
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Night of the Bluebonnets.(August 3rd, 2008)
What surprises me is the Department’s insistence that they are delicate flowers who need to be protected from a non-adoring public. Maybe O’Leary’s sensitivity training has gone overboard, because I wonder what job they think they signed up for. Police work often results in conflict, sometimes brought on by rather poor people skills on the part of the officer.
Here’s a bit of wisdom passed down by the legion of public servants — if you find it arduous to work in a public position (or to exercise out-sized authority over the public), don’t do it. Quit. Get a security job. Drive a cab. Practice law full time.
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Guest Column: Systemic Accountablity Part 3.(July 31st, 2008)
Archie Mazmanian has part three of his series on representative town meeting and sees a way to revert back to an open town meeting — over the Internet.
Remember, Brookline does not really have a town meeting. We elect voters to serve as town meeting members. Rather republican in practice, but its members see it as the “purest form of democracy.” Except that they won’t record votes by roll call.
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At the Court of Poor Decision-making.(July 27th, 2008)
The public safety buffoonery is but one symptom of a larger problem confronting us — poor decision-making by our chancellery. Be sure on this, it’s not about making mistakes. It’s the contempt for the pubic that leads DPW Commissioner Thomas DeMaio to appoint a clerk from the Transportation Department to be its director; even though in doing so DeMaio will have passed over eminently more experienced civil engineers.
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On Brookline Blog
Not to Say I Told You So…(August 14th, 2008)
The TAB has a story up saying that foreign buyers are snatching up property in Brookline thanks to a weak dollar and declining real estate prices. Here’s a post I wrote in October of 2007 saying that this is bound to happen.
I’m not that smart, and I can figure these things out.
Trust me when I say that our town government’s failure to manage its finances without going to the taxpayer well is going to have a damaging effect on Brookline’s microeconomy. I’ll be anxious to hear from the so-called fiscal conservatives —operating as “Yes for Brookline”—who pushed for a Proposition 2.5 override when that happens.
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Nothingburger for $35 Thousand.
(August 11th, 2008)
Looks like the “special counsel”—Worcester attorney DM Moschos—handling the Brookline Selectmen’s case before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (in the Arthur Conquest matter) has some unhappy clients — selectmen in the tiny town of Ashburnham.
Seems that Moschos has fallen short of expectations in his area of concentration — employment law.
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Missing the Point.
(August 7th, 2008)
The TAB’s front page story on the Citizen’s Police Complaint Review Committee [no link available] rather misses the point on the nature of citizen’s involvement with the process. This, because it features the insufferable Martin Rosenthal as providing the Committee’s view.
The need raised by this site is for the Committee to better understand the current process from the perspective of those who have experienced it as complainants.
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Spooner Road Decision Affirms Town’s Zoning By-law.(August 4th, 2008)
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has affirmed Brookline’s Zoning By-law where it concerns the manner under which attic space is included in calculations of appropriate building size.
The Court has affirmed the decision of the Land Court, which essentially held that restrictions on the bulk of buildings relative to their lot size are not restrictions (if incidental) on the internal area of a residence; in this case the private development at 81 Spooner Road.
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But Not So Grateful That We’ll Buy You New Furniture.
(July 31st, 2008)
Oh, yes you could be more grateful. The fact is that our firefighters are persona non grata in Brookline town government. They have been left to fend for themselves while the selectmen add unnecessary positions to the town payroll and spend $700 thousand on new furniture at town hall.
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Boob Tube.
(July 30th, 2008)
There was a bizarre moment during Monday’s Citizen (we might as well drop that from the name) Complaint Review Committee as the train wreck landed on the subject of using You Tube as a public education tool. At least two members said that, “they had never watched it.”
One of them, Martin (Grandpa PAX) Rosenthal, was emphatic in making the point, as if his bona fides as a Luddite were at stake.
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Gatehouse or Bleak House (2).
(July 29th, 2008)
The financial picture continues to worsen for Gatehouse Media, the holding company which owns the Brookine TAB. Moody’s Investment Service has downgraded the company’s credit rating to near default and its stock continues to freefall.
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A Mad Cow Rodeo.
(July 28th, 2008)
I’m fresh back from a meeting of the panel reviewing police complaint procedures and I think my head is going to explode.
I’ll have a column on it next week, but it’s clear that (from a citizen’s perspective) this panel is a sop to the police. I’ve only missed one of these events, and each is the same — indulging Police Chief Daniel O’Leary ad nauseum.
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Talk About Rising from the Ashes.(July 28th, 2008)
On Thursday night, the Brookline Planning Board will begin hearings on a condominium project at 109-115 Sewall Avenue — the site of a suspicious house fire last March. The project’s developer, Jeffrey Feuerman of Chestnut Hill, will ask the Board for several variances to Brookline’s Zoning By-law.
Neighbors in the area are concerned over the proposed project’s scale (it’s too big) and will ask the Board to rein it in consistent with the Bylaw’s existing provisions — good luck with that.
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You’ve Been Warned.
(July 28th, 2008)
It’s confusing to some readers that this site pursues reforms in town government but appears to give the fire department a pass. It’s a matter of semantics. There are reforms needed in the department, beginning with appointing a chief who is less hackneyed.
This site’s concern is for the treatment of firefighters by a town government which is outright hostile to their needs.
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That Was Some Minor Glitch.
(July 24th, 2008)
The TAB has a front pager on the 2.5 hour delay in getting the Brookline fire Department at the scene of last month’s oil leak into the Muddy River.
[Click on "read full post" to view the official memorandum referenced in the TAB article.]
The story also confirms why it’s useless to interview town officials on any of their many failures. Just press play to hear the same message over and over — our screw up was actually a stunning success…the sure sign of people in way over their heads.
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Barney Frank Rescues Shareholders.(July 23rd, 2008)
I guess when he’s not busy telling us so on St. Aidan’s [see previous], Congressman Barney Frank is attending to the needs of those among our nation’s more vulnerable — the investors holding shares of the publicly traded Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
It makes good sense to make these lending businesses solvent (as evidenced by yesterday’s mortgage rate increase) through the proposal announced today in Washington. But the rescue plan Frank “mediated” asks taxpayers to cover the losses suffered by shareholders as well.
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