Henry Can Demolish.
By Jim Conley • Apr 16th, 2008 • Email This Post to a Friend •
Print This Post
• Email this author
The Brookline Preservation Commission will allow Red Sox owner John Henry to demolish the South Brookline mansion he purchased from LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.
And if you find yourself similarly situated, here’s a tip — hire a landscape architect. Seems that landscaper Joe Geller was Henry’s front man during the demolition proceedings. Geller is a former Brookline Selectman; but I guess it was his expertise on grasses and conifers —not his political connections—that swayed the Commission to allow the demolition to proceed.
Can’t make this stuff up.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
Email this author | All posts by Jim Conley
Residents in the area of this steel driving man’s property apparently had no objection to the proposed demolition; nor did they seem to wish to have their area included in a new local historic district, subjecting them to the whims of the Preservation Commission (aka the “taste police”). So demolition delay would serve no political point. Compare this to the neigborhood of the Benkas where a homeowner with an oversized lot wished to develop on it; this would have, for zoning purposes, required the demolition of only a portion of the existing home. But the homeowner was thwarted by the Preservation Commission in the application of the demolition delay bylaw since it applies not only to total but also partial demolitions. Apparently the Benkas and other neighbors did not wish to have another lot improved. So with the benefit of the Preservation Commission’s one-year delay the neighbors were able to mobilize to create a local historic district making it much more difficult for the homeowner to have another home built. Some might call this gaming the system (including Town Meeting). Sometimes the historical can be hysterical, unless it is your ox that is being gored. Eventually the homeowner sold out and moved.
More impressive for John Henry perhaps was the Red Sox “will call” window. In any event, former Selectmen are entitled to make a living in our Town, especially having contributed to our Town for low wages. Yes, the grass in our Town can be greener for former Selectmen who are lawyers or landscape architects.