Great Moments in Traffic Engineering.
By Jim Conley • Apr 28th, 2008 • Category: Brookline DPW, Brookline Override
Remember when Brookline DPW Commissioner A. Thomas DeMaio promoted a clerk in his office (with no previous experience) to transportation director [see previous post]? Well, when you aspire to the type of planning that results in the metered space pictured above (from the Beacon Street reconstruction project) it all makes sense.
Hey, I know. [...]
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Absurdity Alert - Condition Red.
By Jim Conley • Apr 14th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline DPW, Brookline Police, Brookline SelectmenI think my head is going to explode.
Last Tuesday, the Brookline Selectmen appointed special counsel to represent them and other town officers in the matter of Arthur Conquest’s complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. (Can’t pay for teachers, but billable hours are another thing.)
And who did they hire? Why, our old friend [...]
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Myth: There’s No Fat to Cut.
By Jim Conley • Apr 8th, 2008 • Category: Brookline DPW, Brookline Finances, Brookline Override, Brookline Police, Brookline Selectmen, Myths of the OverrideIn a separate universe the idea that voters would have to bail out a town government—in a community of $14 billion valuation—to the tune of $6 million (or roughly 2.5 percent of operating revenue) would be the stuff of tragic comedy, not serious policy.
But here on Planet Brookline we’re treated to an epic display of [...]
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Brookline’s Hail Mary.
By Jim Conley • Mar 28th, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, Brookline DPW, Brookline Override, Brookline Selectmen, St. Aidan'sIf there’s anything I lack, it’s a political sense. But even I can see that the prospects for a Prop 2.5 override passing in Brookline are getting shakier by the day. Today’s Herald features an interesting chart which can be interpreted to show that when economic conditions worsen, voters are likely to say [...]
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March Madness.
By Jim Conley • Mar 6th, 2008 • Category: Brookline DPW, Urban RingPublisher’s note: I’m bringing this back to Page One in advance of Monday’s CAC meeting and the substantive comments added to the initial post.
Archie briefs us in advance of a “citizens advisory committee” meeting on March 10th to consider design alternatives to the Department of Transportation’s Urban Ring project.
Read the installment here.
It deserves [...]
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Where Are They Going to Go?
By Jim Conley • Feb 28th, 2008 • Category: Brookline DPW, Brookline Finances, Brookline Override, Brookline Police, Brookline SchoolsI’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 [...]
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Do Not Ignore this Warning.
By Jim Conley • Feb 22nd, 2008 • Category: Brookline DPW, Brookline Finances, Brookline Override, Brookline PoliceA parking ban in Brookline is in effect at 4 this afternoon. Folks, they are serious, they will tow if your car is on the street.
Even without 4 inches of snow as justification to grab a car, the town’s towing company is out of control. I heard today of an elderly woman’s car [...]
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Cronies on the Rise.
By Jim Conley • Feb 22nd, 2008 • Category: Brookline DPWBrookline Town Hall is abuzz with the story of the dramatic rise of an employee in the Transportation Department. Apparently, a clerk in the department has jumped over risen through the ranks to become a program administrator, though there’s little background and training to warrant the appointment.
Transportation Commissioner A. Thomas DeMaio calls the position “middle-management” [...]
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Paving the Way to an Override.
By Jim Conley • Feb 20th, 2008 • Category: Brookline DPW, Brookline OverrideOne of the things I find amusing in Brookline’s Proposition 2.5 override debate is the near universal agreement that we need more money for street and road repair. And as the debate unfolds, we are likely to learn the reasons behind our sudden paucity in our ability to pave.
Questions will likely be raised, and [...]
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Nancy’s Going to Give Us Another Shot.
By Jim Conley • Jan 31st, 2008 • Category: Brookline DPW, Brookline Politics, Campaigns, Gil Hoy, Nancy DalyThe TAB has a front pager announcing that Selectmen Gil Hoy and Nancy Daly will seek re-election in May. I don’t know why Hoy wants to put himself through that, considering his recent history. But given the frequency with which he changes his mind, he could pull out at any moment.
And oh, delight. [...]
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History Rhymes.
By Jim Conley • Jan 24th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline DPW, Brookline PoliceRemember when the Brookline Selectmen indemnified DPW Commissioner A. Thomas DeMaio from allegations of filing a false grant application to restore the Carlton St. Footbridge? And remember how Town Administrator Richard Kelliher recruited a lawyer to give him an expert opinion on the matter? And remember how Town Counsel Jennifer Dopazo briefed the [...]
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A Political Panel Grows in Brookline.
By Jim Conley • Jan 20th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline DPW, Brookline Politics, Brookline Selectmen, Police ReportsYour publisher interrupts his planned King Day hiatus to bring readers this bulletin - word on the street is that the members of the Selectmen’s Citizen’s Complaint Anniversary Committee will indeed include Brookline PAX Co-chair Martin Rosenthal. Seeing as how Rosenthal actively campaigned for three of the five selectmen currently on the board, it’s [...]
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Jesse Mermell’s Priorities.
By Jim Conley • Jan 8th, 2008 • Category: Asbestos, Brookline DPW, CPA Vote, Jesse MermellThe black object you see to the right of Selectman Robert Allen is the empty chair of Brookline Selectman Jesse Mermell, who instead of hearing more on the treatment an African American resident endured at the hands of Brookline Police chose instead to politic in New Hampshire for Hillary Clinton.
I’m not kidding.
Remember when it was [...]
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Super Secret Selectmen (2).
By Jim Conley • Jan 5th, 2008 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline DPW, Brookline PoliceOn Tuesday, the Brookline Selectmen will hear from Arthur Conquest on events subsequent to May 24th’s Brawl at Town Hall. This new chapter in their novel attempt at racial humiliation will come on the day New Hampshire voters are likely to further advance the prospects for what would become the nation’s first president of [...]
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Wringing Out 2007: Jennifer Dopazo Keeps Her Job.
By Jim Conley • Dec 31st, 2007 • Category: Brawl at Town Hall, Brookline DPW, Brookline Police, Brookline Selectmen, Brookline Zoning, St. Aidan'sYes, 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 [...]
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