On Brookline

Check out this post from Jessica Scarpati at the TAB’s blog [click here to view].

This says it all about the state of affairs in Brookline. Your Selectmen put on a show where they pretend to deliberate over a deal with developers. And when they vote as instructed, one of the developers rises from his seat and declares the matter a “piece of cake.”

Tragic.

Update: You know, if I thought for a moment that I was the stooge people take me for (as is the case with the Selectman and their patrons in real estate development), I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning.

In her post, Scarpati is surprised that the developer from Children’s Hospital would utter such nonsense within her earshot. It is surprising; until you realize that the arrogance from the Brookline development community comes from knowing that no matter what’s underneath the frosting, this board will devour the cake put in front of them. Even if it means (over the long term) that the rest of us will end up eating s**t.

Update (2): It’s curious to some that this site goes to the trouble of breaking down policy decisions with the full knowledge that it won’t affect the decisions made by town government.

Folks, that’s not the purpose of the site. The idea is to lay down digital markers that can trace these egregious outcomes to a certain moment in time, and to certain individuals. In time, it will become apparent that the lease the Selectmen entered into last night was a bad deal for Brookline. And residents will see Archie Mazmanian’s legal analysis made before the agreement. And wonder why our town officials didn’t come to the same conclusion.

It will likely be the case that those who brought about this horror (with any luck) will be long gone from town government. But having this knowledge will help us balance decisions on matters like, say, how generous we want to be with the retiree benefits given to the knuckleheads who screwed us a few years back.

Update (3): What’s the horror referenced above, you ask? It’s the horror that comes from the Brookline Selectmen taking ownership of a piece of property that was once an industrial site (with known soil and groundwater contamination) and then thinking that the person who is unloading it on us is “doing us a favor” (as Selectman Nancy Daly put it).

That horror.