On Brookline

News and commentary (mostly commentary) on events in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Archive for May, 2007

The Hit Parade.

By Jim Conley • May 12th, 2007 • Category: Brookline Selectmen

Only because I’ve been digging into the traffic statistics to try and explain (away) the huge jump in traffic for May, have I become familiar with the interest in content (as measured by page reads). By far, the content on this site that continues to pull the most is the two part series, Dennis [...]



Is It the New Boss?

By Jim Conley • May 12th, 2007 • Category: Brookline Selectmen

I suppose it’s just timing, but the first Brookline Selectmen’s agenda put together by new chair Gil Hoy will feature hearings on liquor license violations on the part of Village Smokehouse and Food Center Liquors (so I’m told by Town Administrator Richard Kelliher).
This, of course, has been the subject of some ranting by your publisher. [...]



46,017.

By Jim Conley • May 11th, 2007 • Category: News and Updates

That’s the number of page reads (the most reliable measure of site traffic) that On Brookline has logged thus far in May. In April, the total for the month was around 60 thousand. I can’t explain the dramatic increase in traffic, except that it seemed to kick in with the May 1 election.
Don’t [...]



5,822.

By Jim Conley • May 11th, 2007 • Category: News and Updates

That’s the number of signatures that would be required to put to the voters the question of a Charter Commission to examine a mayor/council system in Brookline.  The number represents 15% of voters registered at the time of the last state election.
Of course, a lot more names than that would need to be collected so [...]



Even More Urban Ring.

By Jim Conley • May 11th, 2007 • Category: News and Updates

Will BIG DIG history repeat itself with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Urban Ring project? Archie has some thoughts in this installment of his series.
Click here to read.



Around Whose Collar?

By Archie Mazmanian • May 11th, 2007 • Category: News and Updates, Urban Ring

by Arshag A. Mazmanian
Urban Ring has such a nice ring to it, bringing to mind Route 128’s circumferential highway that contributed so much to the “Massachusetts Miracle.” The Urban Ring is expected to bring about a similar economic miracle in a circular fashion along its corridor surrounding downtown Boston, the center of Massachusetts’ universe.
But [...]



May Column.

By Jim Conley • May 11th, 2007 • Category: News and Updates

It’s been some time since an installment of the New Pickwicks, so I’ve mixed literary metaphors to put an end cap on this month’s local election. And to recommit to a new form (mayoral) form of government for Brookline.
Read column here.
Update:  I’ve been reminded that the inspiration behind the two central characters in Dickens’ [...]



Renovation Roulette.

By Jim Conley • May 10th, 2007 • Category: News and Updates

One of my favorite sayings of all time is this: “The time to worry about the bet is not while the wheel is spinning.”
With Brookline’s annual town meeting fast approaching, there’s some chatter over striking the $16-18 million town hall renovation from the capital budget. Too late.
What did the body think they were approving [...]



Daly Derailed?

By Jim Conley • May 8th, 2007 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Brookline, MA Politics

Did the Nancy Daly deal as Chair of the Board of Selectmen get derailed? What would have happened to bring that about? I doubt it would have anything to do with a little sunshine being shone on the backroom dealing. Or did it?
We’ll have more tomorrow.
Update: With Gil Hoy as Chair of [...]



The Allen Guide to Deciding Policy.

By Jim Conley • May 8th, 2007 • Category: Brookline Selectmen

There appears to be a lot of interest in a proposal coming before this month’s Town Meeting to increase the excise tax on SUV’s. Who knows if it’s a good idea or not? Certainly not Brookline Selectman’s Chair Robert L. Allen, Jr.
The Herald reports:

“Selectman Chairman Robert Allen, whose wife drives an [...]



St. Aidan’s Curiosities (2).

By Jim Conley • May 7th, 2007 • Category: Brookline Selectmen

As I understand it, Brookline’s Housing Advisory Board (HAB) is going to take up the question of throwing more money into the St. Aidan’s sinkhole on May 22nd. Given that the HAB is the only thing standing in the way of a major failure and a colossal one, I’m hoping that they will advise [...]



St. Aidan’s Curiosities.

By Jim Conley • May 7th, 2007 • Category: News and Updates

There have been a number of developments on the affordable housing/luxury condominium project sponsored by the Town of Brookline and the Boston Archdiocese.  A complete report to follow…
In the meantime, St. Aidan himself (an Irish monk ferociously dedicated to an educated and informed populace) must be red faced by just how much the Town and [...]



Beautiful People?

By Jim Conley • May 6th, 2007 • Category: News and Updates

Boston Herald Columnist Howie Carr weighs in on “The People’s Republic of Brookline” and a proposal to raise the excise tax on SUV’s. Carr’s all hopped up over the “beautiful people” and their “self-righteous attack on SUV’s.” Talk about non sequiturs.
I’ll confess to not getting the alleged humor in a Carr column, [...]



Say Amen Somebody.

By Jim Conley • May 5th, 2007 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Brookline, MA Politics

Lux writes in the comments on the ascension [see previous post] of Nancy Daly:
The first agenda item at the upcoming May 8th Selectmen’s meeting is ‘election of a chairman for the ensuing year.’ Given that they already secretly discussed this election and worked out a deal, I suppose the public performance will be nothing but [...]



No Action on Liquor Licenses.

By Jim Conley • May 4th, 2007 • Category: Brookline Selectmen

Another Selectman’s meeting agenda and still no action on the reports made to them by the Brookline Police regarding the liquor licenses of the Village Smokehouse and Food Center Liquors [see previous posts].
I’m sure when Nancy Daly becomes Chair of the Board, we’ll get some movement. Or maybe with 6 percent of Brookline’s voters [...]



The Nightmare Scenario.

By Jim Conley • May 3rd, 2007 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Brookline, MA Politics

Word on the street is that Nancy Daly will become the next Chair of the Brookline Board of Selectman. That’s right three members of the Board (each of whom couldn’t pull more than 2,500 votes in their respective races) - Robert Allen, Jesse Mermell and Daly - will move to give Daly the gavel.
It’s [...]



More Urban Ring.

By Jim Conley • May 2nd, 2007 • Category: News and Updates

A few weeks ago, Archie reported that Harvard University was the “tail wagging the dog” when it comes to the Massachusetts’ Department of Transportation’s Urban Ring project. In today’s Globe, columnist Steve Bailey has more on the Harvard angle. [read Bailey's column]
There’s a meeting of the Urban Ring’s Citizen’s Advisory Committee this evening [click [...]



Inner Belt Redux?

By Archie Mazmanian • May 2nd, 2007 • Category: News and Updates, Urban Ring

By: Arshag A. Mazmanian
When we moved in 1973 to our home in Brookline’s Cottage Farm neighborhood, I was amazed that such an oasis could exist so close to Commonwealth Avenue, the BU Bridge and Boston University’s expanding Charles River Campus, so conveniently accessible to downtown Boston via the MBTA’s Green Line’s B, C and [...]