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  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    This will be the last column (and post) I'll write for On Brookline. On February 15th, I'll be taking the site down. There are lots of reasons behind this decision -- the site is not financially viable (despite the few donations received), the time commitment (owing to the secrecy of town [...]
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    Posted: January 07, 2009, 11:56am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 4
    Tomorrow evening, the panel reviewing procedures under which citizens can contest the actions of police officers will hold a public hearing. Why bother? The panel has already issued their (nonsensical) report; and within it, they dismiss outright the need for an independent police review panel.  Thanks to the efforts of committee member [...]
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    Posted: January 06, 2009, 9:33am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Now, we'll ask this same town government to disassemble the worst economic environment in decades in order to provide services and programs to an increasingly needy public. We're off to a poor start as the early knives have been thrown at a fire department already under strain, when they ought [...]
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    Posted: January 05, 2009, 2:41pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Don’t forget Wednesday’s public hearing by the panel reviewing procedures used by citizens to complain against police officers. I’ve read the report the panel has issued, and I have no idea how it helps clean up the mess made by the previous iteration of the policy.  Nor can I see how [...]
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    Posted: January 05, 2009, 1:44pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    This couldn’t wait two weeks? On December 22nd, the Brookline Selectmen held a rare Monday morning session with a single agenda item — renewing the restaurant license for Bertucci’s at 2 Brookline Place. See, the last I checked the Town of Brookline took may have taken possession* of (contaminated) property at Brookline [...]
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    Posted: January 03, 2009, 6:40pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    I have the data used by the Brookline Selectmen’s so-called Efficiency Committee in support of their claim that we have “too many firefighters.” It’s a joke.  In fact, it makes the case for restoring Brookline’s force to pre-Proposition 2.5 levels. I’ll have more on this later, but among the many flaws  is [...]
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    Posted: January 03, 2009, 2:33pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    There’s no doubt that Brookline town government will need to make major cuts to the municipal budget.  And we’ll hear lots of moaning over how difficult is the task that faces our elected set. I don’t think it’s that difficult, at least politically. Brookline voters have weighed in on two ballot questions [...]
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    Posted: January 02, 2009, 10:14am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    This is good.  At a time when Brookline town government is proposing to cut 36 firefighters from the force, a historically significant house at 83 Penniman Place goes up in flames. How significant is the house? Well, the property owners and the Brookline Preservation Commission had wrangled for months over a preservation [...]
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    Posted: January 01, 2009, 2:15pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    The Globe has an item up saying that the Brookline Selectmen’s “efficiency committee” will recommend cuts of up to 36 firefighters from the Brookline force. According to committee members, “We have more firefighters than we need.” Oh really? I’m told that the so-called extensive research performed by committee member Peg Senturia is a [...]
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    Posted: December 28, 2008, 3:13pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    Every nine months or so, your publisher goes through a period of virtual blackout when corresponding to town and school officials.  Coincidentally, the current darkness coincides with the Winter Solstice.  Even the ever-reliable Schools Superintendent Bill Lupini has gone mute (on the costs of a statistician to examine MCAS performance [...]
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    Posted: December 24, 2008, 11:23am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Remember back in May when Brookline voters approved an $800 thousand increase in property tax revenue to fund a world languages program in the elementary schools?  And remember how all but one school elected to teach Spanish as their world language [see previous]? Remember that? Well, it looks like we had it [...]
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    Posted: December 22, 2008, 12:27pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    What can we expect as Brookline town government begins to grapple with the financial crisis they missed brewing? More fear.  Just like with last May’s override campaign. Look, what town government wants most of all is more revenue.  The report of the Brookline Selectmen’s Override Study Committee has pages given over to [...]
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    Posted: December 22, 2008, 9:30am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    There’s been chatter these past few months of signs missed in financial markets.  We missed the impending collapse of the US credit markets, thanks to worthless mortgage-backed securities.  Nobody could have known that Bernard Madoff was operating a colossal Ponzi scheme.  And now we’ll begin to see pensions and retirement [...]
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    Posted: December 20, 2008, 7:55pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    I hear that last night’s planning board meeting was a tour de farce, as Children’s Hospital presented plans to build its much ballyhooed office building in Brookline Village. It seems that the structure, which caused a stir at 125 feet in height, has grown to 150 feet. Better yet, the Hospital [...]
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    Posted: December 19, 2008, 8:45pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    Last night, the Brookline School Committee was presented data on minority and low income student performance that is quite alarming.  Not that they care, but it’s still alarming. At a time when MCAS scores are climbing for minority students, the number of Brookline students scoring advanced or proficient (compared to 2007) [...]
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    Posted: December 19, 2008, 10:57am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    The TAB’s Steve Bagley covers Brookline’s public employee* pension fund, in light of current market woes, and reports this: “The reason why Brookline’s pensions are being hurt by Wall Street’s anemia is pretty simple: The money Brookline takes in for its pension fund from employee contributions and the state gets invested, [...]
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    Posted: December 18, 2008, 1:31pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    The TAB has a story up on potential candidates for Brookline Selectman on the May 2009 ballot and it looks like there may be, just maybe, a race for one of the two seats to be filled. The interest to me is the potential candidacy of Fred Levitan.  I’ve sparred with [...]
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    Posted: December 18, 2008, 9:18am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Food prices may be going down, but the cost of public records in Brookline are on a steep incline.  It’s clear to me that new town hall defense is to charge me outrageous fees to get the materials that answer the questions they won’t answer. Now that we’re at year’s end [...]
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    Posted: December 17, 2008, 4:48pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    Brookline Town Treasurer Stephen Cirillo has reduced the cost of public records (that I want to determine the validity of his assumptions on the Town’s Long Range Financial Plan) to $564 [see previous]. All of this over my wanting to know how the local receipt accounts are performing according to plan.  [...]
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    Posted: December 17, 2008, 10:12am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Just for fun, here’s a link to a TAB column penned by Selectmen Jesse Mermell and Betsy Dewitt telling us to vote for a tax increase in May because they—as “responsible fiscal stewards”— are set to bring spending under control.  It’s where they write that: “Last week, almost 40 staff members [...]
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    Posted: December 17, 2008, 2:52am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    It looks as if aid to towns and cities will be cut for this fiscal year, as the Patrick Administration struggles with a $2 billion deficit [see Globe story]. This is bad news everywhere, but especially for those municipalities who increased expenditures—through a tax increase—in advance of this fiscal year (instead [...]
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    Posted: December 16, 2008, 3:38pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Every once in awhile, I like to handle questions asked by readers (mostly in the composite) on the stories swirling around our hamlet on the mighty Muddy River. This will serve as the last Tuesday column until after the new year. I'll continue to post news and updates as warranted.
    [...]
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    Posted: December 16, 2008, 9:14am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Well, I did manage to wrestle one document away from Brookline Town Treasurer Stephen Cirillo today, and it’s got me scratching my head. The spreadsheet Cirillo sent [view here] shows a $3.3 million surplus for the local receipts account during the 2008 budget year.  The municipal budget year runs from June [...]
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    Posted: December 15, 2008, 6:03pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    Here’s Town Treasurer Steven Cirillo’s response to my public records request on local receipts collections for this fiscal year to date [see previous]: “Per your request for a quote on the cost of providing information used in compiling the FY2010 Revenue Forecast, I have determined that the following information was used: 1.  [...]
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    Posted: December 15, 2008, 9:51am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    The Globe covers Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary’s plan to deploy surveillance cameras about town, saying our little burg “is wary”. We ought to be wary. The danger for abuse with the cameras and it comes not from the raw feed but the use of images by a department that has proved [...]
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    Posted: December 15, 2008, 9:38am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 2
    The Globe reports today that Boston area hospitals are sharply curtailing their capital expansion plans (i.e., building projects) due to the deepening recession. That can’t be good news for the planned Children’s Hospital office building at 2 Brookline Place. In fact, during their presentation on the Town’s long range fiscal plan town [...]
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    Posted: December 14, 2008, 7:49am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    I stiil can’t get Brookline Town Treasurer (and non-resident) Stephen Cirillo to tell me how much he has collected in the “Local Receipts” budget for the first six months of the municipal fiscal year [see below]. I’ve always said that the more they resist, the more I want the documents. So, I’ve [...]
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    Posted: December 12, 2008, 5:59pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    The TAB has a story up on three firefighters who received medals of valor because they risked their lives to save a brother in trouble. You know when we will really show our appreciation to Brookline’s firefighters? It will be the day we elect people to Brookline town government who see the [...]
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    Posted: December 11, 2008, 4:19pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    There was a very odd moment at Tuesday’s Brookline Selectmen’s meeting, as town managers presented their long range financial forecast.  After finishing up the revenue section of the plan, Deputy Town Administrator Sean Cronin asked if there were questions from the Board. Not a word was spoken. I have a theory as [...]
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    Posted: December 11, 2008, 11:01am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Get this. For days now, I’ve been asking Brookline Town Treasurer Stephen Cirillo to provide the amounts collected in so-called local receipts for the first half of the (town’s) fiscal year.  Cirillio responds the same way each time, saying: “In regard to excise taxes, the collection is backended around March, April and [...]
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    Posted: December 11, 2008, 10:42am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 2
    I suppose the big news out of the Selectmen’s meeting last night is that Selectman Bobby Allen says he is thinking that he’ll have to buy the bigger house he needs outside of Brookline. Please God, make it so. See, after having imposed more of a tax burden on residents only hours [...]
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    Posted: December 10, 2008, 9:49am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Sitting in on the Brookline Selectmen’s financial forecast meeting, one thing is clear - these people have no idea what is about to hit them in their next fiscal budget. They want to discuss the things they can’t control —the amount of state aid, the prospects of a local meal tax, [...]
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    Posted: December 09, 2008, 9:49pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Brookline town government’s fiscal savants have just posted their assumptions for the 2010 municipal budget and I guess Brookline really is different.  According to their long range forecast, there’ll be no adverse effect to the $20 million “local receipts” revenue line due to the severe economic downturn. Now, the receipts line [...]
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    Posted: December 09, 2008, 4:03pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    As we fast approach a close to 2008, it's time to look at the strength of our public knitting in advance of what promises to be a rather arduous 2009. I can't see much point in completely unraveling the year past, simply because Brookline town government's decision to pull the [...]
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    Posted: December 09, 2008, 12:47pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Tomorrow evening, Brookline’s town managers will unveil their long-range fiscal forecast.  This, in the face of some really bad news out of Beacon Hill today. It will be fascinating to see how an entire government apparatus, which was apoplectic over cuts to the Brookline municipal budget before last May’s override, will [...]
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    Posted: December 08, 2008, 5:44pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • On Brookline -- Brookline, Mass

    Number of comments: 1
    One of the more nauseating storylines coming out of Police Chief Daniel O’Leary’s plan to deploy surveillance cameras throughout Brookline is that, “because O’Leary didn’t have to seek approval from the selectmen, it shows him as a leader without peers.” Apparently, our town hall boosters believe that because other towns just [...]
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    Posted: December 08, 2008, 11:26am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Is Different (2).

    Now I’m a true believer in the Brookline exceptionalism. See, I just received the 50 page “draft report” from the panel reviewing the procedures used by citizens to complain against police officers, and it’s remarkable. This so-called panel of experts has produced a report examining the shortcomings of previous complaint procedures without [...]
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    Posted: December 05, 2008, 4:13pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Is Different.

    Number of comments: 1
    I guess those in town government are right when they say that Brookline is different than any other Massachusetts community. This is evident from comments made by the head of the Brookline Patrolman’s Union during a public hearing on Chief Daniel O’Leary’s plan to deploy surveillance cameras about town.  The union [...]
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    Posted: December 05, 2008, 11:38am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Can’t See How This Helps.

    This site finds little good to say about Rep. Barney Frank.  And here’s the latest example as to why. This business of “Frankly Speaking” may make for good political entertainment, but it is a most loathsome characteristic in a Chair of the House Financial Services Committee.  Frankly speaking, our Barney is [...]
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    Posted: December 05, 2008, 10:35am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • A Note on Sourcing.

    Some readers wonder why columns (like this week’s piece on Woodcliff Road) don’t feature comments from town officials. That’s simple.  They don’t return my calls or e-mails.  It’s why I have to rely on public records to build the column. I learned a long time ago that small-minded people think that the [...]
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    Posted: December 04, 2008, 1:20pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • I’d Hate to See What They Do With a Washington Street Call.

    Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary’s combined dispatch center strikes again [see lead column above]. Yesterday, a dispatcher  tried to send Engine 1 & Ladder 2 (Brookline Village Firehouse) to 25 Boylston St on a call concerning a chemical leak. The only problem — 25 Boylston St is in Newton. Even if [...]
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    Posted: December 03, 2008, 10:15am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Hello world!

    Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

    [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

    [...]
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    Posted: December 03, 2008, 8:14am EST
    by admin

  • Hello world!

    Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

    [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

    [...]
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    Posted: December 03, 2008, 8:12am EST
    by admin

  • More Asbestos Woe at St. Aidan’s.

    I’m no expert on asbestos removal, so there may be more to the picture above showing a laborer removing flashing from the roof at the Boston Archdiocese’s St. Aidan’s housing project.  As I understand it, this work is classified as an asbestos abatement project. Now, the abatement projects I have seen [...]
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    Posted: December 02, 2008, 3:59pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Oh Fallon Where Art Thou?

    Enclosure: [download]
    Updated on December 3rd at 12:49 PM The episode involves a 911 call reporting a gentleman down on the ground at a Woodcliff Road address. Having received records of the call and the audio from combined dispatch, the episode is much more troubling than I originally imagined.

    [[ This is [...]
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    Posted: December 02, 2008, 2:48pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Preview of Coming Attractions.

    I’m finishing up a report on October’s botched call by Brookline Public Safety’s so-called combined dispatch center to a medical emergency on Woodcliff Road [see previous], and it looks like I’ll be late on the Tuesday column. Wait until you hear the audio. It will make you plan your medical emergencies for [...]
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    Posted: December 01, 2008, 4:46pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • The Mythical Structural Deficit.

    Remember back in May when all of Brookline town government was in a lather over the structural deficit plaguing our municipal finances?  Remember how we were told that a Proposition 2.5 override was only balm that could cure it? Remember that? Well, if the Town’s finances were inflicted by a structural deficit [...]
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    Posted: December 01, 2008, 8:49am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Shutter the Camera Plan (2).

    Number of comments: 3
    Let me clear up a bit of confusion on the public records debate when it comes to the use of surveillance cameras in Brookline.  On Tuesday, the Town’s attorney and and a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts both took the position that it would be difficult [...]
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    Posted: November 28, 2008, 9:29am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Shutter the Camera Plan.

    Number of comments: 2
    Last night’s public hearing over deploying police surveillance cameras around Brookline felt like a 6th grade civics lesson on constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms.  Except that the instruction was pretty much superfluous. Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary says that he wants to deploy cameras in order to assist during an emergency evacuation.  Then he [...]
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    Posted: November 26, 2008, 11:17am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Don’t Think of an Elephant.

    So, here I sit during the public hearing on surveillance cameras for Brookline. And you, dear reader, ought to be afraid. Not just because our local civil libertarians are typically anemic in their opposition but because of the strong police turnout (presumably in favor of the proposal). The sharp shiver down my [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2008, 9:20pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Already Paying for Herself.

    The Brookline Economic Development Advisory Board will be meeting this evening, and the agenda (as they say on the Town’s Web site) is hot! See, I guess we need a new ED director to sort out the “Town Hall Move” and to give a town meeting update.  Who knew? Hit the ground [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2008, 4:04pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • A Poor Excuse for a Holiday.

    Number of comments: 1
    I suppose that it's only fitting we have a holiday dedicated to America's selfish mores. Just don't ask me to pretend that I am blessed in some significant way because the yams are candied. I would be blessed if not for the knowledge that 18 million children in America won't have [...]
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    Posted: November 24, 2008, 2:59pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • This Should Be Good.

    Number of comments: 1
    Tomorrow evening (beginning at 7:30) the Brookline Selectmen will hold a public hearing on the use of police surveillance cameras about town. Gee, will more cameras mean that we need fewer patrol officers?  Now that would get our local civil libertarians in a lather [see previous].

    [[ This is a [...]
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    Posted: November 24, 2008, 8:44am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Stranded in the Idiocracy.

    Today’s New York Times features a story on the elderly stranded in their homes because they can’t sell them (and then move to assisted living facilities). This calls to mind the ridiculous rationale used by town officials during their May override scare campaign that a tax increase could not harm the [...]
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    Posted: November 22, 2008, 8:02am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • The Brookline Dispatch Stigma.

    So, I’ve just collected documents on the botched dispatch of a rescue crew to Woodcliff Road (more on that next week) from Town Counsel Jennifer Dopazo’s office. As usual, the documents have been redacted to protect the privacy of individuals.  But instead of marking out the name of the former dispatcher [...]
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    Posted: November 21, 2008, 3:03pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Have You Seen This Man?

    Number of comments: 1
    I’m trying to locate Brookline’s Chief Assessor Gary McCabe. See, after the Brookline Assessors made their townwide valuation public earlier this month, I asked McCabe how luxury properties in Chestnut Hill could be discounted over the previous year while properties under seven figures could increase in assessment. I wanted to know more [...]
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    Posted: November 21, 2008, 9:42am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Do the Herky Jerky.

    I suppose Brookline school officials are deploying breathalyzers at the annual Powder Puff game so as to avoid students making a spectacle of themselves.  You know, like the adults who got sloppy at  the Brookline High School 21st Century Club’s annual gala…as pictured on page 22 of Today’s TAB. The gala, [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2008, 11:04am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • What, We Should Talk to the People Affected by Our Plans?

    Number of comments: 1
    A correspondent and Town Meeting Member (identity withheld for political reasons) writes: “Tonight, town meeting considered an article to down-zone a dozen or so parcels in the Coolidge Corner/North Brookline area. The argument for the down-zoning was compelling - too much density, a history of bad multi-unit buildings going up on [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2008, 10:30am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Speaking of Ad Hominem Attacks.

    The TAB has a story up detailing the MCAS test performance for minority students in Brookline. Uh oh.  Remember back in June when Brookline High School Headmaster Bob Weintraub and various school officials attacked Arthur Conquest in a TAB column because Conquest challenged the school’s academic stewardship of minority students?  The [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2008, 11:10am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • They Put the Super in Supercilious.

    I found myself in the strange position of cheering on Moderator Sandy Gadsby as he admonished Library Trustee Chair Carol Axelrod for an ad hominem (and supercilious) attack on member Stanley Spiegel last night over radio gizmos. [Too bad the admonishment didn't stop her.] Look, Spiegel has every right to bring [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2008, 10:40am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • What Say the Oracles?

    Number of comments: 1
    I think it’s a good thing that Brookline Town Meeting stripped health care benefits from the selectmen last night.  I don’t know if it’s legal, but I think it’s a good thing. Here’s what worries me. Unlike most fiscal questions raised over the past 18 months, nobody appears to have tried to [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2008, 9:01am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • What Planet Are They On?

    Looking in on the ridiculous debate over radio gizmos for the Brookline Library, one can’t help wonder if they ought to deploy the breathalyzers to the high school auditorium. Selectman Jesse Mermell, members of the town’s advisory committee and the library trustees seem to think that the current economic difficulty may [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2008, 8:54pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • With Liberals Like These…

    The so-called panel of experts reviewing the way in which citizens lodge complaints against police officers will be three months late making its report. Brookline High School officials are deploying breathalyzers at the annual Powder Puff game (confirmed). Brookline Police are busily planning to deploy surveillance cameras around town. And what are local [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2008, 7:58pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Just My Luck.

    Number of comments: 1
    At the same time I’m trying to raise awareness for a lack of recorded votes and poor attendance at Brookline Town Meeting, some anonymous (of course) person sends a postcard to members—written in Unabomberese—threatening… Well, I can’t quite tell what. I don’t know where this crazy thinks he or she is going [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2008, 7:06am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Once More for a Futile System.

    These elected voters are not interested in letting you know whether they went yea or nay on a question. Only on rare occasions do they record their votes. Why? Many members believe that you don't know enough to decide whether they cast a responsible vote, or not. And they don't [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2008, 5:13pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Riddle Me This.

    Number of comments: 1
    There’s an interesting side note to the debate over whether the Brookline Selectmen can continue participating in the Town’s medical insurance plan, as scheduled for this week’s town meeting. On most measures the selectmen hear the warrant article and make a recommendation to the town meeting assembly.  But on this, they [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2008, 9:46am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Why We Can Live Without the City Weekly (2).

    Number of comments: 2
    There she goes again.  In today’s edition of the “Good News from Brookline Town Hall”, Boston Globe correspondent Andreae Downs reports on the $13.8 million [sic] town hall renovation. The cost to taxpayers is not even close to that. Back in June, I asked the town treasurer to detail the total costs [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2008, 7:11am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Forever Blowing Bubbles.

    Number of comments: 5
    My first contact with stock brokers came in the early 1960s when I started receiving “cold calls” at my law office in the early years of establishing my practice. I recall a joke back at that time that was told as a “lawyer joke.”

    [[ This is a content [...]
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    Posted: November 15, 2008, 11:38am EST
    by Archie Mazmanian

  • Brookline’s Economic Tsunami.

    Number of comments: 1
    As the meeting of our local Mensas (i.e., Brookline Town Meeting) gets underway next week, remember that this is the group who, in the face of dire economic warnings, proceeded with a $25 million town hall renovation, poured more than $400 thousand into library radio gizmos, allocated $700 thousand into [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2008, 11:30am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Blow in the Tube.

    I’m hearing from a variety of sources that Brookline High School’s annual Powder Puff football match will see breathalyzers on hand for random sobriety checks of students. I haven’t heard that the same will be done for 21st Century Club members who belly up to the full bar set up in [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2008, 9:21am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • The Best and the Brightest.

    Number of comments: 1
    Today’s TAB features an item concerning Brookline’s Committee on Town Organization and Structure’s (CTOS) recommendation to “limit the hiring powers of selectmen” and giving that power over to the town administrator. Oh yeah, that’s a great idea (not just because the Committee’s membership registers a 10 on the hack-o-meter). Folks, it doesn’t...
    [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2008, 10:50am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Breathing Lessons.

    Boy, I’m sure glad Representative Barney Frank helped ram a multi-billion dollar bailout package through the Congress last month.  You know, the one that was designed to buy the so-called troubled assets (i.e., mortgage-related securities) from firms buckling under their weight. I seem to recall Frank saying that there was no [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2008, 1:06pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • How to Wreck a Microeconomy.

    Number of comments: 1
    Remember when propononents a Proposition 2.5 override for Brookline argued that the cost of the tax increase amounted to a cup of coffee per day?  And remember how this site said that that means money is being taken out of the local economy for no productive purpose?  And that local [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2008, 9:04am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Inherently Conflicted.

    Number of comments: 1
    In the immediate future, reforms need to be enacted -- stricter campaign finance requirements (including restrictions on third party donors), standard disclosure of financial and political conflicts throughout application review, attested logs detailing contacts between employees and officials with hiring authority (as well as the lawyers for applicants), strengthened whistleblower [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2008, 6:30pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Mass -- Right on Time.

    Number of comments: 5
    I received a copy of a message posted on Brookline’s Town Meeting Members’ (private) listserve announcing a proposal by advisory committee member Stanley Spiegel to bank the $465 thousand that the body allocated in May for new library check-out equipment. Talk about to little, too late. Says Spiegel: “When Town Meeting voted [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2008, 5:27pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Mass -- Assessing the Damage.

    Number of comments: 5
    The Brookline Assessors have completed their 2009 townwide valuation [view here].  And there’s some strange hoodoo in the numbers.  Trying to get a bead on it…stay tuned. Update: What I’m trying to get a fix on is the sales data used to allow a reduced valuation in the upper-tier of property [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2008, 9:45am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Mass -- Assessing the Damage.

    Number of comments: 5
    Here’s an interesting news item — the reconstruction of the Filene’s building has been stalled and/or scaled back [read Globe story].  The reason?  The developer is $100 million short in its financing package. This is the environment in which the Brookline Selectmen filled the vacant post of an economic development director [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2008, 8:41am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Mass -- Accredit to Incompetence.

    Number of comments: 5
    As the gang who can’t get an emergency response team to the scene (the Brookline Police Department) continue with their accreditation effort [see below], I hear that the ciivil rights section of the 400-page police manual is being drafted by Brookline PAX chairman Martin Rosenthal. That’s like putting Sarah Palin in [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2008, 8:43am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Mass -- Breathe It In.

    Number of comments: 5
    After eight long years, I can finally breathe again. Let’s put last night’s national election results into this context — it marks the end of the passive electorate.  Every four years (and to a lesser extent half-way between a presidential term) Americans are asked to conduct a revolution without bullets. Yesterday, they [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2008, 11:03am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Mass -- Brooklne Election Results.

    There are no measures specific to Brookline on today’s ballot (except for a nonsensical plebiscite on the environment), so On Brookline is not your best source for election results.  The Town Clerk’s office will post Brookline results on their Web site and you can view them here. Once again, the Clerk’s [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2008, 6:42pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Mass -- You Only Get What You Give.

    Number of comments: 3
    There's an equally troubling force laid bare by the political season, though it's hardly new. Because for all the talk of change, for all the talk of an American renewal, and for all the talk of restoring the American dream, this election was about American selfishness.

    [[ This is a [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2008, 8:46am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Mass -- Election Day in Brookline.

    Poverty could be just another ugly thing. And bigotry is seen only as obscene. And the ones who run this land, Help the poor and common man. This is our country. - John Mellencamp

    [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

    [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2008, 3:56pm EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Brookline Mass -- Barney Frank Sends a Mailer.

    I’m sure On Brookline readers received the strange campaign mailer [not worth the server space to link to] from Representative Barney Frank that I did on Saturday.  You know, the one with the pictures of Newt Gingrich, “Hot Tub” Tom DeLay and Bill “Falafel” O’Reilly.  The headline reads: “Why does [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2008, 9:01am EST
    by Jim Conley

  • Dispatch Strikes Again (3).

    During their meeting on Wednesday, the Brookline Selectmen will take up the 400 page policy manual [view here] produced by the Brookline Police as part of a department accreditation process. What the..? I have no idea why accreditation is necessary, or how it benefits residents. It just seems to me, though, that instead [...]
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    Posted: November 01, 2008, 12:29pm EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Dispatch Strikes Again (2).

    It’s becoming clear that the response to a call of a “man down” on Woodcliff Road was another in a series of egregious failures by the combined (police and fire) dispatch at Brooklne Public Safety. From what I can piece together, after the 911 call arrived a police cruiser parked at [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2008, 7:39pm EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Institutional Manifest Destiny.

    Number of comments: 1
    Perhaps the Commonwealth should be rethinking exemption of these institutions from property taxes. Perhaps Congress should be rethinking income and other tax exemptions available to these institutions. Perhaps there should be geographical apportionment of such institutions such that their burdens do not fall too heavily on just a few communities.
    [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2008, 3:49pm EDT
    by Archie Mazmanian

  • BREAKING NEWS: Dispatch Strikes Again.

    This site has reported on the woeful state of Brookline Public Safety’s dispatch operation [see previous]. And the toll continues to mount. Details are sketchy, but I’m hearing that, on Monday, the response to a heart attack on Woodcliff Road was hopelessly mangled by the dispatcher (who reportedly redirected the town’s [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2008, 10:58am EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • The Great Signng Disaster of 2008.

    Over at the TAB, editorial writers are fretting over whether a local business ought to be able to post a sign if they pay for the upkeep of a public park. The reason?  It will result in cost savings to the town (in these difficult times).  Just like a hiring freeze. Yowser. This [...]
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    Posted: October 30, 2008, 12:59pm EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Programming Note.

    Readers of On Brookline may have noticed that, over the past few weeks, the publishing schedule for columns has been quite erratic.  For some reason your publisher’s consulting business has an inverse relationship to economic woe (I get plenty busy in down times). I’ll be publishing only one column per week [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2008, 9:08am EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Gatehouse Update (3).

    I love this.  In one installment of his blog rant about this site, the Brookline TAB’s (a Gatehouse media publication) managing editor Greg Reibman writes: “Wow. So if one mimics Jim Conley’s unique disregard for the facts with his ability to link unrelated events to each other then it’s actually possible [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2008, 1:40pm EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Paging Dr. Barney.

    Appearing at the Boston Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Representative Barney Frank is reported to have said: “Massachusetts has fared better than some states because the commonwealth has not been hit as hard by foreclosures and because of the Bay State’s strong health-care industry. ‘People are still going to get sick,’ he said.” Hmm, [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2008, 12:23pm EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Gatehouse Update (2).

    Must of struck a nerve.  Over at the TAB’s blog (a Gatehouse Media publication), the kids are in a huff over yesterday’s post reporting on events in our local media universe. The post had two parts.  First, I reported that the investment firm which owns the TAB has been de-listed from [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2008, 10:36am EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Gatehouse Update.

    A few months back, I reported that Gatehouse Media, the investment company which owns the Brookline TAB, was getting roughed up on the New York Stock Exchange [see previous]. As you can see here, those were the good old days.  Gatehouse has been de-listed (thrown out) by the NYSE and shares [...]
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    Posted: October 27, 2008, 4:25pm EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Great Moments in Role Modeling.

    I’ve been trying for weeks to get someone on the Brookline School Committee or the superintendent’s office to tell me why they think it’s a good idea to let the 21st Century Club set up a gin joint in a high school gym during its gala next month [see previous]. Oddly, [...]
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    Posted: October 27, 2008, 3:51pm EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Urban Ring: Countdown to November 30, 2008

    Number of comments: 1
    Financing for Phase 2’s $2.4 billion costs (in 2007 dollars) remains a problem. EOT projects that at the “2016 midpoint,” these costs may range from $3 – 3.7 billion. (These projections may raise eyebrows of those familiar with the escalation of the BIG DIG’s costs.) The RDEIR/DEIS will reflect the [...]
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    Posted: October 27, 2008, 3:14pm EDT
    by Archie Mazmanian

  • A What-if Scenario — Part Two.

    Number of comments: 1
    Where's the incentive in that for a town government lorded over by the rel estate industry? To them, it's the Brookline image that allows the next buyer to pay significantly more than the previous. It's the image of the Brookline school system that matters (not the performance). It's the image [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: October 24, 2008, 11:14am EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Yeah, We Get It.

    Number of comments: 2
    Last night’s Brookline Selectmen’s meeting featured a strange soliloquy from Dick Benka clarifying his rationale for hiring a new developer of economic development [see On Brookline's coverage] a week prior to instituting a hiring freeze. In essence, Benka repeated what he said last week — that this position will pay for [...]
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    Posted: October 22, 2008, 11:03am EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • The Big Chill.

    Number of comments: 2
    I’m just back from the confab of the Clueless Five (i.e., the Brookline Selectmen) and their riveting discussion on a (rather meaningless) hiring freeze in town government.  Sent a chill down my spine, alright. I don’t know which is more frightening — the idea that Selectman Betsy DeWitt presented the economic [...]
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    Posted: October 21, 2008, 8:32pm EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • Barney’s Bailout.

    There’s a fascinating op-ed [read here] in today’s New York Times concerning the banking industry bailout underway.  The authors (Harvard faculty both) argue that dividends paid to shareholders ought to be suspended.  There’s no plan to make the banks do such a thing, though. Essentially by paying dividends, the banks are [...]
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    Posted: October 21, 2008, 11:40am EDT
    by Jim Conley

  • They’re Screwed.

    Number of comments: 1
    In the post below, I may seem bewildered by the narrow focus on the State’s budget difficulties as the subject for Tuesday’s Brookline Selectmen’s meeting.  I ask, shouldn’t we be worrying about the challenges facing Brookline? I’m being smarmy. The reason the management team at town hall needs to talk about cuts [...]
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    Posted: October 19, 2008, 3:15pm EDT
    by Jim Conley
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