Based on interviews I’ve done, here’s the story on the dust up that occurred at the Brookline Zoning Board of Appeals hearing last night.
The docket for last night featured a hearing on whether to enforce a building permit violation at the single family residence at One Somerset Road. At issue is whether the developer [...]
According to sources attending last night’s hearing on the St. Aidan’s project, the developer (The Archdiocese of Boston) reports a $3 million financing gap for the project, and identifies another $2 million required from the Town’s Affordable Housing Trust fund to fill the gap.
All of this assumes a best case scenario on construction costs and [...]
Pemalink Update: Here’s what I’ve been able to piece together from those involved.
Friends of On Brookline have written in to say that things got so hot at last night’s Zoning Board of Appeals hearing (on One Somerset Road) that the police were called in. Apparently, as many as 10 police officers were on [...]
Today’s installment of “The Good News from Town Hall” (otherwise known as the TAB’s op-ed page), Brookline’s Economic Advisory Board Co-chair Robert Sperber writes a column titled “Brookline Businesses Thrive (thanks to his committee’s efforts).”
I suppose if you need $3 thousand worth of decorative snowflakes, that’s true [see previous post]. But I can’t imagine [...]
The TAB is running a front pager on “Party Houses” featuring this gem of a passage provided courtesy of former Selectman and attorney to the developers Jeffrey Allen:
“Allen, a lawyer representing (the building owners), slammed any accusations that (the owner) neglects to control his tenants.
‘It’s very easy to say things. There are absolutely no records [...]
In a kind of harmonic convergence of superciliousness, tomorrow evening’s town calendar features a Housing Advisory Board meeting where the developer’s at St. Aidan’s will likely ask for more funds to waste. And the Brookline Zoning Board of Appeals will determine whether the Building Department allowed a developer to grow a residential project at One [...]
The Summer Session of college instruction means your publisher is on the night crew (enlightening young minds until 10 PM). To keep myself apprised of all things Brookline, I rely on an historically dependable VCR to record the Selectmen’s Tuesday meeting.
As I went to view last night’s session, I was treated to only a [...]
Archie has Part 7 of his series on the protections afforded to whistleblowers and the relative anonmity in which they live here in Massachusetts. I mean, why would bother to tell employees that they are safeguarded from retribution when reporting instances of fraud and abuse?
Better to keep them wondering, I suppose.
Read Part 7 in [...]
Remember when the Town of Brookline essentially gave away a parking lot on Webster St. so that a local developer could build a hotel there? And remember how all along it was said that the Town needed to be accommodating to the developer because it wasn’t clear that a hotel would be viable in [...]
At their meeting this evening, the Brookline Selectmen will receive a report from their Housing Advisory Board (HAB) that deals with lodging houses and, principally, the way in which they are assessed for tax purposes.
What’s remarkable in the report is a scheme to “voluntarily” trade a lower assessment on the property for a “menu” of [...]
I guess we should give the Brookline Selectmen credit for instituting a public comment item on their weekly agenda, but the rules are more complicated than those governing prize giveaways by a radio station.
The comment period proscribes that residents may speak for only three minutes…and only after three sessions have lapsed since the last time [...]
While Brookline’s Representative in Congress Barney Frank is busy cashing campaign checks from businesses regulated by the committee he chairs (that’s when he’s not working deals with Republicans to cut housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina), Worcester’s Representative James McGovern is trying to live on the $3 per day that Food Stamp recipients receive.
Read the [...]
I’ve always thought that real estate developers and their lawyers called the shots at Brookline’s Building Department; but, until now, I’ve been unaware that they provided the muscle for Department employees.
First, a little background. Over the past few weeks I’ve been hearing of a Brookline Town Meeting Member (TMM) who has been dogging Building [...]
For some unknown reason, town administrators have posted the full report from Moody’s Investor’s Service that re-affirms the Town of Brookline’s Aaa bond rating [see previous post].
And I’m glad they did. Reading through the report makes me think that there’s little justification for a Proposition 2.5 over-ride in Brookline. [read the report].
Remember, during the [...]
Not for nothing, but when the Brookline Selectmen voted on Tuesday to extend the loan terms on the residential project at the former St. Aidan’s, they were told by the Town’s Planning Officers (Jeff Levine and Fran Price) that the risk of losing the principal on $2.6 million advanced is low because the property has [...]
