On Brookline

“And they speak about their lives as almost gone.
Waiting for the sunset from an old and distant dawn.
Selling off the land except the part they’re living on,
And they speak about their lives as almost gone.’”

- Cheryl Wheeler

I’ve always thought of Brookline town government as a cult. There’s the groupthink and the suspicion toward outsiders. There’s the oft-repeated mantra that Brookline is the “best run municipality in Massachusetts” (even though it’s not). And there’s the exceptionalism — the motive is always pure, even if the acts appear rather nefarious.

Look at the recent override campaign. The Proverriders lied about the number and impact of layoffs facing the schools, they abused public institutions to achieve their ends; and they cast those who saw it differently as selfish and stupid, as evidenced by this excerpt from an e-mail sent to parents from Brookline High School Headmaster Bob Weintraub:

“Brookline is a truly amazing community — smart, thoughtful, and generous. As many people and communities continue to embrace some version of “no new taxes,” Brookline votes to raise its taxes so that our public needs are addressed. This is so refreshing and so affirms why I love to live and work here. … We celebrate, and pay for, our valued public services — our schools, public safety, public health, and parks and recreation. It is inspiring.”

Wait a minute. Some people (and this site) felt that asking people who can barely afford to live in Brookline for more in the way of property tax would break them. And we felt this way even though our kids might benefit from the alleged improved programming at the schools. So, it’s selfish to put the needs of others in front of yours? I sure hope they don’t teach ethics at that school.

I’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.

Screw Your Elderly Neighbor.

It’s what you get from a system populated by cronies. And nothing puts the lie to Brookline town government’s enthusiasm for selflessness than the case of the Brookline Selectmen’s Sanctuary Committee.

Readers will recall that this site reported on attempts by the chairman of the Town’s Human Resources Board, Kenneth Kurnos (pictured left), to have town meeting resolve to take—by eminent domain—a parcel of land owned by an elderly couple, and which abuts his residence. All this, ostensibly, to protect his view of the woodland parcel.

The Brookline Selectmen then appointed Kurnos to a Sanctuary Committee which would investigate the taking, and the means by which it can be done. On May 2, 2008 (the date our report appeared) Kurnos resigned from the Committee.

That brings us to next week’s annual town meeting and the sorry story of Warrant Article 20.

Here’s a brief overview: The article seeks an easement to construct a turnaround at the end of Princeton Road so that the elderly couple can begin the process of (potentially) improving the lot. The Brookline Cronies Conservation Commission and Selectman Bobby Allen have been putting up roadblocks out of concern for trees, even though that’s not the Conservation Commission’s charge. And tree hugging is certainly not in character for Allen.

Hugging Trees While Kicking Ass.

The Town’s Advisory Committee voted unanimously to approve the easement (for what that’s worth). And last week, the three members of intellectually corrupt caucus on the Board of Selectmen—Allen, Nancy Daly and Jesse Mermell—recommend against granting the easement (even though they know that the Town will be sued for breach of contract should the easement not be granted).

I guess these three must really love flora. You know, like the tree where a pile driver sits in the root system at St. Aidan’s. Like the trees they planted up and down Beacon Street in August of last year with no plan to water them. And like the plant life they have destroyed by turning small parks into barren and muddied dog crapyards.

This isn’t about trees and wildlife, this is about Kenneth Kurnos taking advantage of the system and screwing an elderly couple to protect his own financial interests.

Too harsh? Well, how come Kurnos never told Brookline Town Meeting he was an abutter to the property he wants the town to take? How come he never filed a notice of financial interest with the Selectmen’s office when he was appointed to the Sanctuary Committee (chaired by Nancy “The Asterisk” Daly)? And how come the Selectmen never insisted on the disclosure?

[An aside: I can't find anywhere in the record where Kurnos objected to recent development of other lots on his street, some of which come awfully close to the sanctuary he wants to protect.]

How is it that Kurnos as the Chair of the Human Resources Board—which sets policies and mediates disputes involving town employees—is recommended to serve on the Sanctuary Committee by town employee Tom Brady? Think Brady can say otherwise? Think anyone said: “This doesn’t seem ethical”? Not from what I can learn.

And that’s why I’ve sent this complaint to the Massachusetts Ethics Commission. Let them figure it out.

But in the meantime, as we listen to the cultists in town government lecture us on selflessness, ask yourself how this egregious case of personal enrichment could get this far. Ask yourself why not one of the 240 members in Brookline town meeting stood up last November to say that Kurnos is compromised in the matter. Ask yourself why State Representative Frank Smizik, who spoke in favor of the eminent domain resolution did not disclose that he is “of counsel” to Kurnos’ law firm.

Then ask yourself whether our public institutions have become so corrupted by greed and compromised by elitism that they can no longer be trusted to protect the public interest. (They have. And they can’t.)

And then ask why the cronies want the rest of us to think that they’re being selfless by hugging the kids and the trees, while they’re kicking the elderly and middle class in the ass (so as to get for themselves).

The answers ought to inspire you.

Note: I asked Kurnos several questions while writing this column; he didn’t provide any response.

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