Don’t Get Your Hopes Up.
By Jim Conley • Jul 20th, 2007 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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This week’s TAB features a story on the brewing “lack of confidence” in the Brookline Building Department, especially in its zoning and code enforcement activities. The story features the clueless Gil Hoy’s suggestion that a performance review concerning Building Commissioner Jim Nickerson will show whether there is cause for a change in that department.
Classic Hoy, trying to have it both ways.
The last time Nickerson was on the receiving end of a review, former Selectman Michael Sher moved for his dismissal. Because, as Sher told me, the review showed little confidence in Nickerson’s performance. After receiving the review, Nickerson lobbied other selectmen to keep his job and received commitments of support from Robert Allen, “Gentleman” Michael Merrill and - you guessed it - Gil Hoy.
Click here to view the TAB column I wrote that covers Hoy’s show of support. (Incidentally, this is the column that led HAX, er PAX, Chairman Martin Rosenthal to write a counter-column calling me a blight on the landscape for calling Nickerson, “a party planner who runs the buiding department in his spare time.”)
Folks, we knew about problems in the Brookline Buidling Department two years ago. And problems have continued to pile up.
If the neighbors to Longyear, Spooner Road, One Somerset, and 135 LaGrange Street, to name a few of Nickerson’s botched enforcement efforts, are looking for someone to blame they may want to steer their attention to the two members of the Brookline Selectmen - Allen and Hoy - who chose to continue the current reign of error.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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Instead of an objective performance review of Town managers, we will probably be provided with a pony and dog show. Former Selectman Sher was in effect shunned by his fellow Selectmen when he parted from the political mantra of fawning over Town managers. Why it’s almost like challenging patriotism in the George W. Bush mode for anyone who would dare question his and his administration’s performances in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By the way, do Brookline real estate agents support the Building Commissioner? Gil can ask Mom for the skinny on this.
Jessica Scarpatti’s wonderful, right on the mark inside headline says it all -’Twilight Zoning’ - we must be in an alternate universe where we ALL see the broken enforcement process at both Building and ZBA - and those in Town Hall see something else -Does the ’stick together gang’ at Town Hall think that kind of misplaced loyalty is more important than the laws ?
Didn’t Rich Kelliher ask Nickerson to resign gracefully two years ago after his last ‘performance” (or lack of ?) review ?
When does this end ? When do we as Town Meeting Members take charge and demand change ? Is November soon enough ?