“In the still of the night, in the world’s ancient light,
Where wisdom grows up in strife,
My bewildering brain, toils in vain,
Through the darkness on the pathways of life.
Each invisible prayer is like a cloud in the air,
Tomorrow keeps turning around,
We live and we die, we know not why,
But I’ll be with you when the deal [...]
Yes, the fact that we enter 2008 with Brookline Town Counsel Jennifer Dopazo’s name still on the letterhead is our top story for 2007.
It is an amazing survival story. Despite her contempt for the public interest, despite her selective interpretation of rules and by-laws, and despite the fact that her office costs taxpayers hundreds [...]
The saga of Arthur Conquest might easily have been the top story of 2007 (we’ll bring you that tomorrow). Never have the faux liberalism of Brookline and the progressive posers that trip the rights fantastic been better put to the lie.
Conquest, an African American town meeting member was within a breath of being charged [...]
When it comes to care for those on the margin, Brookline town government couldn’t be bothered. But every once in awhile, an opportunity comes along that allows our town hall team to present a charade around the public trust while advancing the interests of real estate developers.
Such is the case with the housing project [...]
If you’ve been paying attention, you know that Brookline town government is an adjunct to local real estate interests. There are the sweetheart deals and land giveaways. There’s the jerry-rigging of zoning ordinances and the tinkering with regulatory boards by the selectmen [see "Dennis DeWitt and the Thanks You Get"].
But nothing [...]
We still don’t know why Gil Hoy resigned his chairmanship of the Brookline Selectmen earlier this year (and On Brookline doesn’t much care). What we do know is that two of our so-called professional town administrators did all they could to smear the guy.
When Hoy announced his resignation, Town Administrator Richard Kelliher and Police [...]
Most of On Brookline’s 2007 coverage went to the penchant for secrecy and the hostility to public disclosure that exists at Brookline Town Hall. And in his series on Brookline town government’s (woeful) whistleblower policy, Archie Mazmanian chronicles the lengths town managers and the Clueless Five (i.e., the Brookline Selectmen) have gone to tamping [...]
Next year, as the Brookline Selectmen ask you for an additional $8 million in property tax revenue (to bail them out from their fiscal mismanagement), remember their attempts to renegotiate a contract with the Brookline Farmer’s Market. I mean, how can a town government that can’t accurately calculate lost revenue from a parking lot [...]
Let’s begin our 2007 review near the middle and the election of Jesse Mermell to the Brookline Board of Selectmen. It’s been proven, over these few short months, that those who dubbed the May election as “Jesse’s turn” found the perfect stooge for the bullying self interests who wield clout at Brookline Town Hall. [...]
There’s lots more to say on the sorry state of affairs wrought by Brookline town government, but the pull of the holidays tells us it will have to wait for 2008. In the meantime, On Brookline will present a daily countdown (beginning Wednesday) of the top stories from 2007 (at least from our [...]
