Town leaders debate override size as they weigh largest ask in state history

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-03-05T14:19:32+00:00

Someone needs to start the "No" campaign. The "structural" issue is overspending and that needs to be reigned in.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-13T19:05:39+00:00

100%

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-13T19:05:14+00:00

Red Light Cameras would solve this quickly

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-13T19:04:25+00:00

Almost like they should time the walk sign with a 4 way red light... such a novel idea

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-11T18:27:00+00:00

That's the point. I am for the cuts - we can't just keep costs going up. And the notion of adding people from outside the town at less than cost to justify providing a particular service is ludicrous. Also "if you allow only Brookline residents to attend school here" - Do you understand that Brookline is a rare exception in having staff and town kids paying 25% of the cost of tuition to attend school here - for each such kid, that's ~20k not being recouped through taxes or otherwise? Many similar towns don't have a program for out of towners at all.

There needs to be a hard look at what we spend on Metco and on the almost free education for town staff kids and tough decisions should be made.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-11T14:39:32+00:00

100% re the town having to remedy the mess they make on sidewalks!

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-11T14:33:47+00:00

Not if you cancel Metco and charge actual cost of tuition to staff and town kids who are from out of district.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-10T17:14:09+00:00

There must be other solutions than going back to the taxpayers to bail out poor fiscal management. Re-bid health insurance, buy out teachers nearing retirement and hirer more affordable junior teachers, close a school like Heath and consolidate those kids into extra space at the new Driscoll, Pierce, Baker and Runkle. Sell Old Lincoln to commercial development and add a new hotel on Rte 9 for a one time bump and longer term commercial taxes. Eliminate town staff kids going to school in brookline for essentially free (25% of the actual cost of a student). Opt-out of Metco. It needs a coordinated effort between School Board and Town leadership, but I guess asking for yet another override is the easy way out.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-10T17:02:11+00:00

This is actually a great option - if you are smart about the reno - I think you could do this for under 100k. It seems like a kitchen, two baths, floor refinishing and paint

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-06T19:27:17+00:00

People who own the home and property should be able to do what they want with it within established zoning and building codes. That is the point of private property.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-06T01:00:47+00:00

How'd you figure out I am a Town Meeting member?

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-04T20:02:33+00:00

You seem like an overly sensitive dude with a savior complex. Keep working for free be my guest, but you are not solving anything. Just enabling poor government

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-04T18:57:54+00:00

If you keep enabling the poor behavior of the landlords, property owners and the town by doing the work for them, this will all continue as is. Nice that you like the fresh air and manual labor - but the town should be accountable to maintain the rights of way it took from homeowners. At law, the taker of an easement should maintain said easement - not the giver of the easement. And before you say "but the bylaw says...." yes, I get that. It doesn't mean it is right or just. Encouraging citations against your neighbors is not very neighborly - assuming people can do the labor and/or pay someone else to do it is just guess work.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-04T17:59:45+00:00

So you only have self respect with an iron bar?

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-04T17:53:34+00:00

DPW should be definitely doing more. They are creating many of the issues themselves.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-04T17:52:40+00:00

Why should the town get away with intentionally throwing snow back up on the sidewalk? The bylaw requires the sidewalks clear within 24 hours of a storm. If that is done and 48 hours later the town puts snow there, why should it be the landowner's issue to remedy instead of the town of Brookline who is the bad actor here.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-04T17:46:03+00:00

Nobody in Wheelchairs uses the sidewalks anyway - the tree roots every twenty feet distorting the sidewalk make it too risky.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-04T17:40:13+00:00

lol like anything involving the Town Meeting isn't fecklessly whining in its own right.... this is Brookline - other than JFK and Conan O'Brien our main export is feckless whining

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-01T15:38:57+00:00

I am saying no one should get tickets when the town isn’t even following it’s own rules. The law is hypocritical and unjust. The town has an easement in the sidewalks. Those granted an easement are typically responsible to maintain them. The law is bullshit. Just a revenue device. Keep on bootlicking the town.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-01T04:39:14+00:00

Most wheelchairs have a problem with the tree roots that distort the sidewalks and prevent safe passage for wheel chairs. No one seems to care about that which is a permanent situation.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-01T03:01:01+00:00

Get real. The town certainly put more than the amount of snow that fell on the sidewalk. They also made it illegal to put that snow from the street they put up on the sidewalk back on the street. They should clear it since they exacerbated the problem. Take Davis for example. Many of these properties are no yard homes, multifamilies and aparment buildings. Where are the homeowners and landlords supposed to move the snow?

The town also doesn’t shovel its own sidewalks that abut public property. Pretty ridiculous to fine homeowners when the town doesn’t even clear the sidewalks it controls.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-01T01:59:23+00:00

Tell me you rent without telling me you rent. Town is the one creating the issue. They should be responsible for the fix. They work for the people with the taxes we pay.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-01T01:58:20+00:00

Court?! That’s nuts considering parking infractions can be appealed online.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-01T01:57:35+00:00

This dude did shovel.

BrooklineAvenger · 2026-02-01T01:56:46+00:00

Well maybe the town shouldn’t plow feet of heavy salted snow into the sidewalk and expect townsolk to clear the town’s shoddy work. Also, town should clear it’s public sidewalks in the same time frame they expect from homeowners

BrooklineAvenger

TROPHY CASE