The Issues

Keeping Brookline Green

While Brookline has made progress toward becoming a greener city, there are still areas of tremendous potential. Encouraging the use of public transit, walking, and cycling reduces congestion and air pollution. Improving energy efficiency of public buildings reduces waste. Improving our parks and paths will result in citizens' increased enjoyment of our greenspaces.

Green Transit

  • Biodiesel for school buses and Brookline DPW vehicles.
  • Adequate shelters for all C and D line MBTA stops.
  • More benches near bus stops.
  • Increase number of hybrid and other high MPG vehicles in town fleet.
  • Convert the yellow traffic lights to LEDs, which will reduce energy consumption and maintenance requirements.
  • Investigate introducing a requirement that taxi fleets phase high MPG vehicles into their fleets.

Green Buildings

  • Green roofs on public buildings.
  • Increase municipal use of green (renewable) energy from 1% to 2-5%.
  • Use zoning bylaws as a tool for incorporating energy efficiency and sustainability into private development projects.
  • Introducing recycling to all Brookline schools in a coordinated manner, incorporating an educational component.

Green Spaces

  • Increased maintainance on sidewalks and intersections, such as:
    • repair sections with fall hazards;
    • install more curb cuts at intersections for wheelchair
      • accessibility;
    • increase frequency of crosswalk repainting;
    • and ensure that all crosswalk signals and buttons are functioning properly.
  • Properly maintain or repair foot paths and foot bridges.

Managing Town Debt

Brookline is one of just 11 cities and towns in Massachusetts with credit rated AAA by Moody's. However, Brookline is walking a tenuous financial line—the town debt projection has grown to $150 million for fiscal year 2007. The interest payments on these loans are over $16 million! Town Meeting must work with the Selectmen to make sure that this debt gradually decreases, thereby reducing the amount of tax money funneled to banks and investors instead of city services and schools. (more budget information available here).

Furthermore, Brookline has underfunded its pension obligations by over $100 million. In private industry, unfunded pensions have left retirees with no way to purchase food, housing, and medicine. Brookline must honor its commitments to those civil servants who worked hard for the benefit of our town (2004 Budget).

Both of these issues have been identified and addressed by the Selectmen and Town Meeting in the past five years. However, its often quite easy to buy something now and put off payments until some future date. I assure you that I will keep a close eye on these two debts Brookline holds, working to make sure that interest payments on debt are reduced and to ensure that Brookline honors its financial obligations to those who have worked for her in the past.

Democratic Values

While the Town Meeting Member position is officially nonpartisan, don't think that political ideology doesn't come through in Town Meeting votes. I'm proud to be Democratic, for I believe in preserving civil liberties and equal rights for all people, affordable and accessible health care for all, sustainable environmental and energy policies, and appropriate investment in education and public infrastructure. While specific issues on the national scene aren't the same as those in Brookline, the principles and priorities I believe are important nationally are the same ones that I believe are important in our precinct.