On Brookline

Hold them up, hold them up
Never do let them fall
Prey to the dust and the rust and the ruin
That names us and claims us and shames us all

- James Taylor

I’m still trying to get my head around the new selflessness that the Brookline elite think manifested itself during May’s override ballot. It seems rather selfish that throngs of school parents—acting out of unjustified fear—would impose a tax increase on those who can’t afford the additional burden.

Oh sure, we can paint the money grab in hues of community spirit and greater good, but we’re kidding ourselves. Because not only did we turn our backs on those on the margin, once again we stiffed the town employees who most need our support — Brookline’s firefighters.

We found our way to providing a pay raise to teachers (by extending the school day) while preserving $6 million in Brookline School Department administrative salaries; but we can’t throw a bit of coin in the boot for firefighters. The override added only $150 thousand in funds for the Fire Department. That’s about two percent of the total proceeds (and that will only restore the overtime cuts in Town Administrator Richard Kelliher’s non-override budget).

This is nothing new. Our town administration is quite hostile to those in red trucks. I chalk it up to resentment over the hero potential that comes from rescuing babies from buildings ablaze, a status not conferred on the average purchasing agent. Plus, most firefighters are slotted within the working class and that makes you persona non grata in Brookline.

Too harsh?

Well, consider the “red flu” (sick time abuse) alarm sounded by Brookline Fire Chief Peter Skerry (left) and Assistant Town Administrator Melissa Goff in April. (Instructive in this is that Globe’s “City Weekly” ran the story — from town hall’s lips to your Sunday morning doorstep). The “red flu” was likely responsible, say Goff and Skerry, for a $100 thousand deficit in the Department’s sick pay account.

It’s bullshit; and they know it. The fact is that the Selectmen never adequately fund this account, and they are always running it into deficit.

That’s not the end of it, though. Chief Skerry also told the Globe that he was going to investigate the matter and determine the extent of abuse involved.

A full two months later, I asked Kelliher and the selectmen for the results of the Chief’s investigation.

Guess what? There are no investigate results, because there has been no investigation. It was all a sham, one designed to blame firefighters for the woeful fiscal facility found with our town government.

The Fire that Burns.

Also at the two two month mark are the five firefighters still out on sick leave due to injuries suffered fighting a Harrison Street blaze. These firefighters aren’t working second jobs or grilling steaks on Sunday (as the red flu canard suggests) because, as it turns out, they are in considerable physical pain.

Where’s the community support for them? The Town’s Web site features a fund drive for the victims of the fire but no mention of those injured fighting it.

I suppose we could live in a community where firefighters refuse to risk injury from fighting blazes caused by the careless mixing of lit cigarettes with astroturf (as is the case with Harrison Street), but we don’t. They rush in while the careless rush out. Only to be later accused of milking the system by the princes and princesses in our (well adorned) public palace.

Adding insult to injury is our town government opting to spend $700 thousand in new office furniture for a renovated town hall with not one dime going to firehouse furniture. As pictured to the right, firefighters await calls on furniture not fit for a frat house. Plastic lawn chairs for dinner seating? C’mon.

During the recently completed Brookline town meeting, only one member rose to object to the $700 thousand expenditure for town hall office furniture. Only one. The rest were cowered by Town Moderator Sandy Gadsby who said the subject was off limits. And indeed it was.

I have to believe there’s a sociological or psychological theory that explains our tendency to resent those on whom we depend the most. And I believe most firefighters understand this better than anyone.

Still, let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that we are that shining city on a hill because we passed a Proposition 2.5 override last month. We’re not even a city. Even if we were, we’d happily let it burn if we thought it would keep our property values high, or it would keep our kids out of the state university.

That’s what it means to be selfless in Brookline.