On Brookline

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

Archive for May, 2008

On the Brookline Override (2).

By Jim Conley • May 5th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Advisory Committee, Brookline Override Ballot, Brookline, MA Politics, Campaigns, Schools, Town Finances

Endorsement are the name of the campaign game in Brookline; and those pushing for tomorrow’s override have assembled an impressive list of town hall hacks to urge a yes vote.
Among the groups saying Yes! to an override is a majority of the town’s advisory committee members. What is the advisory committee, you ask? [...]



On Brookline Selectman Nancy Daly.

By Jim Conley • May 5th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Zoning, Brookline, MA Politics, Campaigns, Jesse Mermell, Nancy Daly, Robert Allen, St. Aidan's

Oh, where to begin.
If, after reading this site, for even the shortest period of time a voter is confused on the merits of re-electing Nancy Daly to the Brookline Board of Selectmen, let me put it to you this way — there are none.
Nancy Daly is nothing if not contemptuous of the public interest. [...]



Release the Poll Results.

By Jim Conley • May 4th, 2008 • Category: Betsy DeWitt, Brookline Override Ballot, Brookline Selectmen, Campaigns, Schools

I’ve been reporting that the Brookline selectmen (at least one anyway) used the results of a survey paid for by the pro-override group “Yes for Brookline” to construct the questions we’ll be looking at on Tuesday.
Big deal? Well, yes if you think that the ballot ought to reflect what we need, not what will [...]



On the Brookline Override.

By Jim Conley • May 3rd, 2008 • Category: Brookline Override Ballot, Brookline Selectmen, Schools, Town Finances

Thank God it’ll be over on Tuesday.
I’ve spent the better part of a year reporting on this march to a tax increase through a Brookline override, and I’m tired. Tired of the charade. Tired of the incompetence that has led to this bailout of town government. But mostly, I’m tired from what [...]



The Wild West of Brookline.

By Jim Conley • May 3rd, 2008 • Category: Brookline Override Ballot, Campaigns, St. Aidan's

Here we go again with more St. Aidan’s nonsense.
Remember how the Town of Brookline and the Boston Archdiocese agreed to protect the copper beech tree at the site of the housing project they are building? And remember, as the result of a conservation and preservation easement, the developers erected a fence around the [...]



Can’t Make This Stuff Up.

By Jim Conley • May 2nd, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Nancy Daly

After several years of covering Brookline town hall, I thought nothing could surprise me. I’ve come to expect as commonplace the mendacity and lunacy that results from putting damaged adolescents in charge. Most times, a roll of the eyes will suffice to relieve the agony.
But I never thought I’d see something like [...]



Outrage Is So Relative.

By Jim Conley • May 2nd, 2008 • Category: Brookline Override Ballot, Brookline Selectmen, Campaigns

Apparently, to the town hall apologists, the post below is much ado about nothing. Of course, we’re in the ethical realm here and that will always be lost on our local government’s groupies. Let me break it down for less addled readers.
First, the organization “Yes for Brookline” is financed largely by town government [...]



The Brookline Override Scam — An On Brookline Exclusive.

By Jim Conley • May 2nd, 2008 • Category: Brookline Override Ballot, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline, MA Politics, Campaigns, Schools

Folks, you’ve been conned.
Click here to see the campaign finance reports filed with the Town Clerk’s Office from the “Yes for Brookline” pro-override campaign. Where’s the outrage?
There ought to be some over the amount of money raised by town officials — over $35 thousand — to impose an additional tax burden on those [...]



Sign of the Times.

By Jim Conley • May 1st, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Campaigns, Nancy Daly

Remember when Brookline residents wanted to use a dud of a property on Thorndike Street as cause to create a local historic district?
It was a big deal.
So a few days ago I was driving by the property in question and it featured a Nancy Daly campaign sign. See, Nancy doesn’t have any real [...]



Blowback.

By Jim Conley • May 1st, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Brookline, MA Politics, Campaigns, Jesse Mermell, Nancy Daly, Robert Allen

My ear is bleeding from being on the phone all day on this TAB political hit job [see post below].
Seems to me that the paper has really stepped in it. You just can’t run a story like this a few days before an election. Especially when the sources are a candidate (Nancy with [...]



Hack Attack — Condition Red

By Jim Conley • May 1st, 2008 • Category: Betsy DeWitt, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline, MA Politics, Campaigns, Police, Robert Allen

I’ll bet this is going to be talked about for some time. A few days before a local election, the TAB runs a story saying that last September Gil Hoy was “forced out” as chair of the Brookline Board of Selectmen.
Of course he was. Who didn’t know that?
It was clear at the [...]