On Brookline

Despite the rent-a-crowd of school supporters at the Selectman’s public hearing on an override (but not present for the school superintendent’s budget presentation two nights later), I just don’t see much support for an $8 million bailout.
As I write this, bad economic news is taking 25 points off the S&P 500 and consumers are the [...]

I’m not sure I fully understand the issue with non-resident employee tuition fees being reported and editorialized in today’s TAB. I don’t see the sharp rise in tuition hikes that the headline would suggest. Sure, comparing the cost of anything to its price twenty years ago will show a dramatic increase. But [...]

Last night’s meeting of the panel reviewing Brookline’s police complaint policy convinced me of one thing–a civilian review board is long overdue.
Many of the panel’s members rightly focused on the need to examine the events of May 24th and subsequent, events that led to the assembly of the panel. To them, their charge quickly moved [...]

I’ll have a full report tomorrow, but tonight’s opening performance of Brookline’s police complaint review panel was much more contentious than I had expected. Maybe it was because a few of the panel members have figured out that there’s more to this than reading a manual and offering helpful suggestions.
Or maybe it’s because Marty [...]

Selectman Nancy Daly continues her drive to deny herself a second term by attaching her name to this honey of a passage in tomorrow’s TAB:
Lupini said he would like to eventually extend the day further for seventh- and eighth-graders to give them more of a high school-like experience, but Selectmen Chairwoman Nancy Daly said she [...]

A reader alerted me to this story in today’s New York Times concerning New Jersey Governor John Corzine’s cuts into the bone of his state’s budget. Corzine is no slouch when it comes to matters of finance (he’s a gazillionaire). Says he:
“We must turn away from the era of spending and borrowing [...]

…in the midst of a near 30 percent decline in Massachusetts’ home sales [see today's Globe story], add more to the cost of housing in Brookline (the community second most expensive in cost of ownership) through a Proposition 2.5 override.
To top it off, let’s look at the 33 percent decline in condo sales statewide and [...]

The thing that surprises me most in writing this blog is the extent to which people will write to me to take up the side of government (often with irrelevance and unabashed ignorance of the points being made). See, my instinct is to not trust government without reason. Left unattended, a system that [...]

How’s this for irony?  In May, residents of Brookline will begin receiving Federal tax rebate checks as part of an economic stimulus package and, at the same time, Brookline town government will be asking for a portion of the proceeds (a Prop 2.5 override ballot) to cover its recent spending binge.
How did we get to [...]

The panel appointed to review Brookline’s police complaint procedures will stage Act I on Wednesday at 6 PM in the main library’s conference room. On Brookline will be covering the performance and provide the opening night review.
On another note, there’s still no word on a date for Selectman Nancy Daly’s “White Person’s Symposium on [...]