Guest Column: Systemic Accountability (Part 2).
By Archie Mazmanian • Jun 2nd, 2008 • Category: Brookline Override, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Town Government, Previous Columns, The Allen FilesThe ultimate question is, how can Brookline residents be assured that our Selectmen have duly and truly accounted for the Town Administrator’s performance if the Boards evaluations rendered pursuant to Section XI are not available to the public?
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The Reckoning.
By Jim Conley • May 22nd, 2008 • Category: Brookline Override, Brookline Politics, Brookline Schools, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Town Government, Previous Columns, The Allen FilesThere’s a reckoning coming, a swift and painful collapse at the foundation of our public institutions. A reckoning that will put to the lie the town hall propaganda of Brookline as “Massachusetts’ best run community.” A reckoning that will show the folly of placing our trust in a Board of Selectmen featuring four intellectually and ethically corrupted individuals (i.e., Allen, Daly, DeWitt and Mermell).
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The New Selflessness.
By Jim Conley • May 19th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Advisory Committee, Brookline Override, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Town Government, Brookline Town Meeting, Jesse Mermell, Nancy Daly, Previous Columns, Robert Allen, St. Aidan's, The Allen FilesI’ll tell you what’s selfish - it’s school administrators and teachers whipping parents into a state of fear so as to vote them a pay raise. It’s the selectmen and the school committee unwilling to manage their $200 and $70 million budgets, respectively, in a way that avoids a tax increase on the elderly, who now get to choose between winter heat and paying their property tax bill.
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Brookline Does a Flashdance.
By Jim Conley • May 15th, 2008 • Category: Betsy DeWitt, Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline Police, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Town Government, Gil Hoy, Jesse Mermell, Nancy Daly, Previous Columns, Robert Allen, The Allen FilesWait a minute. Don’t voters have the right to know of Hoy’s traffic transgression before the election? Sure. But Hoy is also due that the charges be aired by more reliable sources than his opponent and her two campaign chairs (Selectmen Bobby Allen and Jesse Mermell). Voters also have the right to know that these three “colleagues” were likely lying when they said that they had first heard of the badge flash from Hoy himself.
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Can’t a Guy Get a Day Off? (2)
By Jim Conley • May 8th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Zoning, Condo and Metro, Robert Allen, The Allen FilesI’ve been told that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments in appeal of the Land Court’s decision permitting Brookline’s Zoning by-law concerning attic conversions.
This comes out of the controversial residential development at 71-81 Spooner Road
They’ll also discuss the appellant developer’s (Selectman Bobby Allen is corporate counsel) attempt to designate second floor bedrooms as [...]
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Hack Attack — Condition Red
By Jim Conley • May 1st, 2008 • Category: Betsy DeWitt, Brookline Police, Brookline Politics, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Town Government, Campaigns, Gil Hoy, Robert Allen, The Allen FilesI’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 [...]
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Character Watch.
By Jim Conley • Apr 13th, 2008 • Category: Brookline Politics, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Town Government, Nancy Daly, Robert Allen, St. Aidan's, The Allen FilesThe Globe’s City Weekly section takes a run at political analysis in today’s issue. And let’s just say they’d better stick to re-purposing press releases from Brookline Town Hall.
Beyond not knowing the proper spelling of the saint (Aidan) whose name graces a demolition project wreaking havoc in North Brookline, the Globe thinks that the [...]
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Benka Shows Up.
By Jim Conley • Apr 1st, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, Brookline Politics, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Town Government, Campaigns, Robert Allen, Spooner Road, St. Aidan's, The Allen FilesGee, you would think that after imposing the burden of the St. Aidan’s housing project on residents around Pleasant Street, our selectmen would show up to hear their neighbor’s concerns over lead and asbestos abatement. You’d be wrong.
Sure, Bobby Allen was on hand to provide his concierge service to this developer. But no others made [...]
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Depends on Your Definition of Broad (2).
By Jim Conley • Mar 19th, 2008 • Category: Betsy DeWitt, Brookline Finances, Brookline Override, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Town Government, The Allen FilesRemember when the pro-override organization “Yes for Brookline” (founding member Selectman Robert L. Allen, Jr.) announced that they have “broad support” for an override in Brookline? Remember that?
Well, I had heard that the organization headed by Selectman Betsy DeWitt and School Committee members Alan Morse and Judy Meyers had been polling the ballot (adios [...]
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Depends on Your Definition of Broad.
By Jim Conley • Mar 16th, 2008 • Category: Betsy DeWitt, Brookline Finances, Brookline Override, Brookline Politics, Brookline Schools, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Town Government, CPA Vote, Robert Allen, The Allen FilesAccording to the TAB, the pro-override campaign effort has been launched and it’s a doozy. The TAB runs the press release which features the announcement of a Web site, and that Selectman Robert Allen is a “founding member” of the committee. Co-chairs are Selectman Betsy DeWitt and School Committee Chair Judy Meyers.
Of course [...]
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