So, next year I'm up for re-election for Town Meeting.

I got an email today noting that as part of the festivities for the opening of the new New England Comics in New Bedford (that's three "new"s), Batman and Spider-Man will be appearing at the store on Sunday.

So...

Would it be a good idea or a bad idea for me to go the New Bedford store, get a photo of myself with Batman, and use his endorsement in my 2009 campaign?

As 530nm330hz suggests, maybe I should toss a coin...

Tags: boston, brookline, comics, movies, personal, politics, silly, town-meeting

I'm surfacing from a busy week to talk about an issue that I'll be voting on next week as a member of Brookline Town Meeting. As it so happens, it's an issue I support as a member of the Board of Library Trustees.

This year, the Trustees would like to begin implementing a radio frequency identification system, otherwise known as RFID, to make it easier for library patrons to check materials in and out of the library. Although the Trustees and the Board of Selectmen support the RFID program, the town's Advisory Committee did not, so those of us on the Board of Trustees have been making our case to the members of Town Meeting.

We're also making our case to the citizens of the town. In today's Brookline TAB, we published an op-ed piece, RFID: The right tool for the job. If you're a citizen of the town, we hope you will read the piece, agree with us that RFID is important, and then contact your 15 Town Meeting Members and ask them to support the RFID in next Tuesday's vote. You can find a precinct-by-precinct listing of your representatives, along with contact information, at the Brookline TMM Precinct Listing.

A few relevant facts:

The Trustees are asking for $465,000 to be appropriated to implement a radio frequency identification system for checking library materials in and out.

The funds we're requesting are funds that the town has set aside specifically for one-time capital expenditures. Bring RFID technology to Brookline this year has actually been part of our capital improvement plan for about five years now; by sheer chance, the year we were planning to request the funds coincided with the override. These funds cannot be used for anything other than capital expenditures; it's not as if we could have used them to stave off the need for an override vote. But spending this money now may help us save money in the long run.

Library circulation has doubled in the last 14 years, and library staff has decreased by four employees in that same time. Without implementing RFID, we believe that a continued rise in circulation will force us to add staff or reduce services.

The Cambridge and Wellesley libraries, which are also both part of the Minuteman network, will have full funding to move forward with RFID this year. Sudbury also is planning to begin implementation this year. With Brookline added, we will have more influence on how the new technology is adopted.

Again, if you live in Brookline, I hope you'll support the RFID vote.

Tags: boston, brookline, politics, town-meeting

Those of you who keep up with my blog may have noticed that I haven't been posting a lot lately. November has been a busy month, and so I haven't kept up with blogging as much as I would have liked.

For example, I do want to get back to my commentary on Robert's Rules of Writing soon; a lot of people seem to like those, and I find them useful in focusing my own mind on writing. I've also been reading a few new books on writing, which I'll share with people when I have more time.

For now, here's an update on some of what's been keeping me busy in the month of November, including my final thoughts on attempting NaNoWriMo.

Town Meeting

Normally, I try to blog the interesting articles and events of Brookline Town Meeting, both for the benefit of residents and as a window into the world of local politics. We met for two nights this session, on Tuesday November 14 and Wednesday November 15, and to be honest, there wasn't much that I would consider blog-worthy. As one of my colleagues in Town Meeting said after the first night, when almost all we did was refer almost everything to the Zoning By-Law Review Committee, "Worst warrant ever!"

For those of you who want to know the results, the town has put up a PDF. And I will indeed try to get a personal report up at some point, if I can find the time.

Thanksgiving Weekend

What always hits me about Thanksgiving weekend is how I have so much time ahead of me, and then how quickly that time fills up with obligations.

On Wednesday, I ended up having an unexpected morning medical appointment, and so Nomi and I both took the day off from work. But what with afternoon errands, the day just filled up.

On Thursday, Nomi and I had our usual Thanksgiving feast at the home of osewalrus's parents. But what was odd this year is that for the first time, osewalrus and beckyfeld weren't there. We did get to see lisafeld and most of the rest of the Feld family, and it was wonderful to feel so welcome, even without the connectors there. But their presence would have been most welcome.

As for the Burstein clan, they had gathered at my older brother's family's house in Lexington, and on Friday morning we met up with all of them at the Sears portrait studio in the Burlington Mall. Nomi and I posed for pictures, spent a few hours at the house, and then headed home in time for shabbat.

On shabbat itself, we went to synagogue in the morning and had lunch with friends. That evening, we went with other friends to hear the Capitol Steps perform at Sanders Theatre, and they were very funny. (The last time we had heard them live was in 2001.)

And Sunday was another clean-up day at Chez Burstein, with the gracious help of farwing. We've organized the kitchen and dumped a lot more recycling that had piled up. There's still plenty more to do, but we continue to have a good handle on it.

NaNoWriMo

Having never tried writing 50,000 words in one month before, I have to say that I wish I had found the time to complete the goal. As it is, I ended the month with 12,501 words of a potential novel completed. And I actually attended one local write-in event, during which I had the pleasure of writing with a group of other NaNoWriMo participants focused on the same goal.

On the one hand, I didn't get the 50,000 words done. But on the other hand, I have what I consider a legitimate excuse. I had too much pay copy to work on, and pay copy has to take precedence over "on spec" work. Over the course of November, I found myself finishing off an interview, working on two essay assignments, working on a story assignment, and going over the galleys for two upcoming stories. In short, I was too busy writing to write.

But you know, there's something fun about joining with others in the shared goal of completing a certain amount of words in a given amount of time. So I may give NaNoWriMo a shot again next year. We'll see.

Tags: brookline, personal, politics, town-meeting, writing

Last night, gnomi and I went to hear John Hodgman speak at Brookline Booksmith.





For those of you who don't know who he is and don't feel like clicking the above link to his Wikipedia entry, Hodgman is a writer and humorist who has started to become more well known due to his appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a "resident expert." Nomi and I have enjoyed his segments, and one of his comments actually caused us to jump out of our seats. He was referring to towns that have "SMILFS" (Soccer Moms...) and then, looking straight at the screen, said, "I'm talking about you, Brookline, Massachusetts." What we didn't know then was that Hodgman actually grew up in Brookline and attended the high school, so his love of the town's "SMILFS" is probably genuine. (And that's as far as I will go on that topic.)

So when we heard that he would be was in town to promote the paperback edition of his book The Areas of My Expertise, we decided to go hear him. We got to the Booksmith around 6:20 pm and found the downstairs reading room already packed, which is not suprising given his local connections and level of celebrity. Around 7 pm the event began. It had been billed as a reading from the book, but it was more of a performance. Hodgman appeared with his friend, singer Jonathan Coulton, and the two of them riffed off of the topics in Hodgman's book. The book is essentially a compendium of true facts that Hodgman completely made up, including his history of hoboes in the United States and stuff about squirrels. I would try to reproduce some of what they did here, but I suspect that in my presentation the humor would not come through.

After the main part of the show, they switched to a Q&A format, for which Hodgman passed a walkie-talkie around the audience. I wanted to ask him a question, and in the end, I got to be the last person to ask a question. The walkie-talkie didn't make it to me, but he encouraged me to speak up and approved of my standing up to be heard. I introduced myself as a Town Meeting Member from precinct 9 (to which he noted that it was the best precinct in town, although he admitted that he had no idea which precinct he grew up in). I explained that as a TMM, I was disappointed that he had not made any endorsement on the town's warrant articles over the past few years, as it meant that rather than knowing how to vote from him, I had to listen to my constituents instead. (The joke fell flat.) So I asked him his opinion on the upcoming warrant article to create more parking in Putterham Circle.

(Digression: What Hodgman probably didn't realize was that I was taking my cue from Stephen Colbert, who interviewed Jeff Daniels on the October 27, 2005 episode of The Colbert Report. Daniels lives in Chelsea, Michigan, and when he was on the show, Colbert had a copy of a local newspaper in front of him during the interview. Daniels claims to be very involved with his adopted hometown, and so Colbert asked Daniels for his opinion on the bond issue to raise money for the new courthouse. Daniels didn't know much about it, which was amusing, but I can't really fault Daniels. Many people are concerned with their town local issues but aren't always able to keep track of every one.)

Hodgman seemed most amused by my question. He started off by saying that of course he keeps close tabs on what happens in the town of Brookline, and noted that he had signed up on the town website to receive weekly reports on town news. (I sheepishly admit that if there is such a mailing list, I'm not aware of it. Then again, Hodgman could have been indulging in truthiness.) At first he begged off the question, noting that as a media personality, he had to stay neutral on local issues. But in the end he seemed to take a side, as he noted that anyone living in Brookline would realize that of course Putterham Circle needed more parking.

The reading ended at around 7:45 pm, and Nomi and I waited on line for over an hour to get our book signed. Hodgman stayed very nicely in character when we met him. He kept calling me "Matthew" no matter how much I corrected him, and he signed our book to "Town Meeting Member and Mrs. Town Meeting Member."

Copyright © Michael Burstein; photo copyright © Nomi Burstein

Tags: boston, brookline, personal, politics, town-meeting

Following up on "Press Coverage of the Impeachment Vote", I've heard that today's Boston Herald has published my letter commenting on their coverage. To remind everyone, my complaint was that their article about Brookline Town Meeting passing a resolution urging the impeachment of Bush opened with this sentence: "The town that voted last year to outlaw spanking voted last night to send President Bush to the woodshed over the Iraq War."

In my letter, I pointed out that this was factually incorrect, as the anti-spanking resolution passed had been a non-binding resolution, and did not have the force of law. I am heartened by the fact that the Herald has printed my letter, although I do wish I could find it online.

Copyright © Michael Burstein

Tags: boston, brookline, personal, politics, town-meeting

As I suspected, Brookline Town Meeting's passage of a resolution calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush was picked up by the press. I've been following the coverage for a few reasons. To be honest, I was hoping to see my name show up in some of the articles as the Town Meeting Member who introduced the amendment to change the resolution calling for censure as opposed to impeachment. Although the attempted amendment is noted by the coverage, I'm not cited by name. Ah, well. I imagine I would have been had my amendment passed.

Let's look at some of the coverage.

Yesterday, the Boston Herald ran an article which also appeared on the Brookline TAB website and is still there: "Brookline votes to impeach president". What irked me about the article was the lede: "The town that voted last year to outlaw spanking voted last night to send President Bush to the woodshed over the Iraq War."

This sentence is factually incorrect. Brookline did in fact pass a resolution last year urging parents and caregivers of children not to use corporal punishment. But it was a non-binding resolution. It had absolutely no effect on the town bylaws, and in no way should be construed as Town Meeting outlawing anything.

I called Lesley Mahoney, the editor of the TAB, yesterday, leaving a message explaining their mistake. To her credit, she left me a message acknowledging the error, and on the Herald website the word "outlaw" was changed to "condemn." However, as of this morning it still isn't changed on the TAB website's version of the article. I also sent an email to the Herald yesterday pointing out their error (which of course they couldn't change in the print copies already distributed), and I can't find either my letter or a correction in today's issue. Finally, the last sentence of the article, "Closer to home, it remains unclear whether the spanking ban has been effective within Brookline's borders," continues to maintain the fiction that Town Meeting actually banned spanking.

Getting to today's coverage, the Boston Globe ran a fairly even-handed piece today, "A call to impeach from Brookline". The only mention of my attempted amendment is in the sentence, "Margolis successfully opposed an effort Tuesday night to change his resolution to seek merely a censure of the president."

The Brookline TAB's lead story in the paper edition is "Bush gets whacked." It is a much better article than the one they shared with the Herald yesterday. As for my proposed amendment, all they say is, "Voters rejected an amendment to censure, or officially reprimand, the president. Instead, they opted for the harder line -- impeachment."

Finally, in response to the Boston Herald's editorial "Next up for Brookline: Iran", in which they criticize Town Meeting for passing the resolution and ask, "Don't these people have a town budget to balance?" I say to them: We did. On the first night of Town Meeting.

Tags: boston, brookline, personal, politics, town-meeting

At 7:12 PM, the Town Moderator, Sandy Gadsby, declared a quorum and called us to order with the announcement, "Welcome to the fourth and final night of Town Meeting." We took his statement to heart, and tonight was indeed the final night. It was a night filled mostly with procedural stuff, but bookended by controversy....

( Read more... )

The final vote dispensed with, Sandy also took us through Article 32, the reports from committees, by encouraging us to read them at home. And so we dissolved Brookline Town Meeting at 9:32 PM. Join us again in November, when I'm sure we'll continue to have fascinating politics to involve the community.

Tags: boston, brookline, personal, politics, town-meeting

For those who can't wait to hear the news...

Brookline Town Meeting voted in favor of impeaching George W. Bush by a vote of 104-52.

An alternative censure amendment that I proposed failed to pass.

More detail tomorrow, I hope.

Tags: boston, brookline, personal, politics, town-meeting

The Town Moderator, Sandy Gadsby, declared a quorum and called us to order at 7:15 PM. Before we got onto tonight's business, he gave us a report on the health of Town Meeting. A little background might be in order.

Brookline Town Meeting consists of 240 representatives, fifteen from each of sixteen precincts, who are elected five at a time in staggered three-year terms. There's also a few at-large members, including the five selectmen, the Town Moderator, the Town Clerk, and any state representative who both lives in and represents Brookline. In other words, we have a total of 248 members.

Sandy reported that at the CPA roll call vote the previous night, he recorded 231 Town Meeting Members present out of 248, a 93% attendance rate. Say what you will about Town Meeting (and many people have), but in general, those of us elected to represent our precincts take our job very seriously.

And now, to the business of the night...

( Read more... )

It was now 10:09 PM, and a few Town Meeting Members shouted out a motion to adjourn. Usually, Sandy refuses to accept such a motion until 10:30 PM; however, he acknowledged that the next article would probably involve a lot of debate, and so was willing to accept the motion. I suggested that we postpone that article until next Tuesday and vote on a few of the less controversial articles, feeling that we could dispatch them quickly, but Sandy felt otherwise. So Town Meeting adjourned the earliest I can ever recall, at 10:11 PM.

I expect that tonight we will finish the warrant, and I'll do my best to file a full report tomorrow.

Tags: boston, brookline, personal, politics, town-meeting

Yesterday, Nomi and I attended the Memorial Day observance at the World War memorial near Town Hall. We try to attend every year, to make Memorial Day more than just a day off. The observance is mostly attended by older veterans, along with a scattering of other folks. It's a nice way to honor and remember those who fought and died for our freedoms.

But it always makes me sad to see how few people are there. This year, according to a reporter from the Brookline TAB who was reporting on the event, there were only about 75 people in attendance. I wish more Brookline residents would consider turning out for the event. Nomi and I both gave interviews to the reporter, explaining various reasons why we think people might not think about attending, so we may end up in the paper on Thursday.

On other local news...I'll try to have a report on last Thursday's Town Meeting session as soon as I can, but it might take until next week. And tonight, we'll most likely be voting on the impeachment of George W. Bush; I may report on that in more detail before posting about the Thursday session, since it seems people are interested in it.

Tags: boston, brookline, personal, politics, town-meeting