This will probably mostly interest those of you who live in Brookline, Massachusetts, and those of you interested in local politics in general.

Tomorrow is the annual Brookline Town Election, and it's a vital one. We have an actual race for the two contested positions on the Board of Selectmen, and two Proposition 2½ override questions that, if they fail, would require some significant cuts from the budgets of the police and fire departments and the libraries and schools.

If you need to learn more about tomorrow's election, the ballot is currently available from the Town Clerk as a PDF file here. If you don't know who is running in your precinct for Town Meeting, it's a good place to look.

A list of polling places (again, provided by the Town Clerk) can be found here.

And for more nonpartisan information, the League of Women Voters Guide to the election can be found here. (That's a link to a page that includes the guide as a PDF.) Every year, the LWV sends a few questions to all the candidates and prints their responses in the Guide; it can be instructive to see who responds and who doesn't, and how they answer the questions.

As for my own recommendations, I've made the following endorsements.

First of all, in the Selectmen race, I've endorsed incumbents Gil Hoy and Nancy Daly. In my opinion, both have been very good as Selectmen. Gil, in particular, has been a fierce advocate for the town's libraries. As a member of the Board of Library Trustees, I have seen first-hand how Gil's advocacy has aided our library system. (My letter supporting Gil can be found, along with many other letters supporting Gil, here.)

Secondly, when it comes to the override vote, I have endorsed Question 1A, the $5.4 million override, which would fund everything except the World Language program in the elementary schools. Please note that although I have not endorsed Question 1B, I am not advocating against it either. I still think the World Language program is an excellent idea; I'm still not sure if the town can afford it. I'll probably make my final decision tomorrow morning in the voting booth. Yes for Brookline is advocating voting in favor of both override questions, and I should note that both the Boston Globe and the Brookline TAB have endorsed both questions as well.

If you're looking for any other guidance, I urge you to check out the Brookline PAX May 2008 Town Election Endorsements. In my own case, whenever I'm in doubt or uninformed about a candidate or an issue, I can usually rely on the PAX endorsements to guide my vote. (If you want to know what PAX stands for, read Brookline PAX Supports.)

Wherever you stand on the issues, if you live in Brookline, please vote tomorrow. Democracy is a fragile thing, and must be encouraged to thrive.

Tags: boston, brookline, politics

1. Letter in The Brookline TAB supporting the re-election of Gil Hoy to the Board of Selectmen

2. A comic strip by Seanan (LJ: cadhla)

Guess which one is more amusing. Go ahead, guess.

Tags: brookline, conventions, personal, politics

The Boston Globe reported this morning that four towns in Massachusetts had property tax override votes yesterday, but that three of them rejected the increases. (See 3 of 4 towns say no to override for details.)

As I mentioned back on March 14 in the post Override Vote in Brookline, my town is having an override vote next month, and now I'm getting a little worried about its prospects. It's true that things are tough for individual citizens as well as for towns, but I worry that voters are going to reject the override without having a clear understanding of what such a rejection would mean. As an elected Library Trustee, I'm particularly interested in making sure that our townspeople are fully aware of what steps the library is considering taking should the override fail.

So if you're a local citizen, please don't go into the override voted uninformed. Tomorrow (Thursday) evening the Public Library of Brookline is holding a meeting on Library Budget Cuts and the Override. The meeting starts at 7 pm and will take place at the Coolidge Corner Branch. We want to make sure the citizens of the town know what our options will be in the event the override fails. As I noted last month, the list of possibilities includes cutting back on evening hours, closing the Coolidge Corner branch on Sundays, scaling back on children's programs, and eliminating the book discussion groups. Many other options will be presented at the meeting.

So please consider attending. And let me apologize in advance for my own absence from that meeting; I'm attending a training session for my job and so can't be there myself. Don't take my lack of presence as a lack of support; I'd rather not spend the monthly Trustees meeting in May figuring out what goes on the chopping block.

Tags: boston, brookline, politics

While I wait to see if anyone else weighs in on the table of contents for "I Remember the Future," I know that what people really want to hear about is the Brookline override vote. So here goes.

On Tuesday night, the Board of Selectmen of Brookline, Massachusetts approved two Proposition 2 1/2 tax override ballot questions that will go to the town voters in May. For those of you who don't live in Massachusetts, Proposition 2 1/2 was a ballot question passed years ago by the citizens of the commonwealth. It states that towns cannot raise property taxes by more than 2.5% in any given fiscal year unless the voters of the town approve the larger increase in a referendum. So this year, when the town of Brookline finds itself in financial straits, we have no choice but to go to the voters if we want to fund the annual budget to the levels we'd like.

After months of discussion and debate, including an excellent report from an override study committee, the Selectmen approved two override questions. Voting yes on the first question would cover budget deficits, infrastructure repairs, and a longer school day. The second question, if passed, would also fund a world language program at the elementary schools.

(For more information, see the article "Brookline voters gets choice of $5.4M, $6.2M or no override" by Jessica Scarpati on the website of the Brookline TAB.)

Since I am a Town Meeting Member and elected Library Trustee in the town, people want to know where I stand on the override. Very simply, I have already endorsed the $5.4M override package, but I have not yet decided where I stand on the $6.2M override package.

And the main reason I support at least the lower level override vote is that I know how the budget deficit would hit the library. And the answer is that it would hit it hard.

On the evening of April 3, the Board of Library Trustees will hold a public hearing to present to the citizens of the town some of the options on the table for dealing with a budget deficit. And it doesn't look good. The list of possibilities includes cutting back on materials, but also cutting back on services. Right now the main library is open until 9 pm Monday to Thursday; cutting back its hours to close at 6 pm those nights would save a lot of money. So would closing my own branch library in Coolidge Corner early; right now, it's open late on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Closing the Coolidge Corner branch on Sundays is also on the list, even though many people (myself included) rely on its Sunday hours. And let's not get started on the possibility of cutting back on children's programs, Brookline Readers, the book discussion groups...

In short, if the citizens of the town want the library to continue to provide the levels of service they've come to expect, an override vote is going to be necessary. I'm going to do what I can to convince my fellow Brookline residents to pass the override.

Tags: boston, brookline, politics

Nomi and I voted first thing this morning.

We enjoy voting before work for a few reasons. The obvious reason, of course, is that it's nice to know that we've gotten the task out of the way and don't have to rush back home in the evening to vote. But we also enjoy voting early because we just like to exercise our franchise.

As we waited on an actual line before seven o'clock this morning, I had a few thoughts. One thought was that we're very lucky to be living in a country where the government doesn't send people with cameras to photograph you and make sure you're voting the way they want you to. The other thought was that come May, Brookline will have a very important town election due to a Proposition 2 1/2 override vote being placed on the ballot. And it always saddens me to think about how few people will come out for that election compared to this one, especially given how much more impact the town election is going to have on people's taxes and quality of life.

People reading here last week know that I, as a former John Edwards supporter, was torn between voting for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in the primary. For the past few days, I've been asking everyone I can for advice and suggestions. Last night, Nomi and I ran into Nancy Daly, the chair of the Brookline Board of Selectmen, at the supermarket (imagine running into your mayor at the supermarket, and having her greet you first), and I asked her who she was voting for.

And then it occurred to me. The one constituency I hadn't been polling have been other local former Edwards supporters.

So I called up a friend and fellow Town Meeting Member I've worked with who also happens to be a former Selectman. Like me, he had been an Edwards supporter, and I discussed my dilemma with him. He felt that a vote for Edwards now would be a waste, and he was amused by my idea of voting for either myself or Stephen Colbert. I asked him which candidate he was voting for now and why. He told me his choice, went into details on how he had come to that choice, and in the end, although he wasn't trying to urge me to vote his way, in the end that's what I decided to do.

So this morning, for better or for worse, I voted for Barack Obama.

Tags: boston, brookline, personal, politics

gnomi and I had a fun time at Arisia this past weekend. As usual, our time was filled with being on panels; interestingly enough, the only two program items we tried to attend that weren't our own had too many people in the rooms for us to fit.

We had a good time at the Friday night dinner, and many people came by to wish Nomi a happy birthday at her open house on Saturday night. Sunday, as is our custom, we checked out early from the hotel so we could bring everything home and eat breakfast at Rubin's. Since we were back in Brookline anyway, we managed to make it to a birthday party that friends were throwing for their one-year-old twins. Then it was back to Arisia for our Sunday afternoon panels.

By the end, we were exhausted, Nomi had a headache, and we both had to work today. So we went home and stayed home (except that I took a brief trip out to get us dinner.)

A fuller report may be forthcoming.

Tags: boston, brookline, conventions, personal, science-fiction

In the past few weeks here in the Boston area, we've had three snowstorms that left a lot of snow piled everywhere. It's made it difficult to get around without boots or YakTrax. A few nights ago, though, it did warm up a bit, and we can all get around again much more easily – at least, until the next snowstorm.

According to an entry in the Brookline TAB Blog four days ago, an elderly woman saw a man using "a robot and a truck" to clear out a parking lot. The TAB located a picture of the likely robot on another blog and linked to it; it looks like a yellow round dome thing with treads and two big eyes.

My only question: will the robot do a better job of following Asimov's First Law of Robotics than some of the current drivers of the snowplows?

For more information, see Brookline TAB Blog: She just wanted to say thanks for the robot.

For a photo of the robot in question, see Newton Streets and Sidewalks: Sidewalk Snowplowing Solution

Tags: boston, brookline, science, science-fiction

I am quoted in Parking-spot landlords and renters dish on Brookline’s other real estate market from today's Brookline TAB:

Michael Burstein used to rent an overnight spot for $100 per month three blocks from his former Beacon Street apartment from 1995 to 1997.

“I remember once unloading the groceries from the car … and then almost forgetting to move the car back to the space for the night,” recalled Burstein, whose current Fuller Street apartment has parking. “I had to get out of bed to move the car.”

Tags: boston, brookline, personal

That's funny. When I left for work this morning, the sidewalks were clear...

As many people, including Nomi, have already reported, we had a major snowstorm in the Boston area this afternoon. So, as usual, it meant a small adventure. Despite the weather prediction, Nomi and I both decided to wear shoes and not boots today, as neither of us really like to wear our boots unless we have to. We figured we'd take our chances this afternoon.

As the morning progressed, though, the predictions for the intensity of the storm got worse. Which would mean a more difficult slog home for both of us.

But thanks to this post from norda, I was reminded of the existence of Yaktrax Walkers, an ice traction device that slips on over one's regular shoes. (We were first informed of their existence by magid last winter, but it was near the end, and we decided we didn't need to get them right away.) Nomi tracked down two sets at an Eastern Mountain Sports store just a ten-minute walk from my office, so during my lunch hour I went out to pick them up. (I also went to Borders and bought some books and a bear.) By the time I returned to the office, the first flakes were beginning to fall.

And when I got back to my desk, I discovered that we were being sent home at 1:30 pm because of the weather. I let Nomi know, but her company hadn't yet made any sort of similar announcement. In the end, though, they did – at just about 1:30 pm. So we arranged to meet. I put on my Yaktrax Walkers, took the Green Line to Coolidge Corner, ran errands at the Post Office and library, and then boarded the Green Line again when Nomi's train pulled into Coolidge Corner. I immediately gave her the Yaktrax, and she put them on after we got off the train.

They did help us walk through the snow, quite a bit.

Since we were home earlier than expected, we went to the Butcherie to pick up some groceries, and we were relieved to discover that although they were closing early as well, they were still open when we got there. We bought what we needed and finally made it home. Nomi took advantage of our early dismissal to make her home-baked challah, which we're bringing to friends tomorrow night as a contribution to shabbat dinner.

Tags: boston, brookline, personal, weather

Is it just me, or does Thanksgiving weekend seem to go by quickly for other people as well?

Our weekend was filled with dentists, turkey, family, home electronics, errands, television, reading, and sleep. Let's take a look.

( Wednesday )

( Thursday )

( Friday )

( Saturday and Sunday )

And that was our Thanksgiving weekend. I'm very thankful for it.

Tags: brookline, mom, nyc, personal