Mabfan's Musings

Last night, I attended the first session of Brookline's Special Town Meeting in my role as a Town Meeting Member from precinct 12. The Brookline TAB was live-blogging Town Meeting, and I decided to do so as well. I plan to do so again tonight, so if you're interested, you can follow on my Twitter feed (@mabfan) or watch my posts on Facebook, as they'll port over there automatically.

I was fascinated by the fact that I was not the only one live-blogging. Selectman Jesse Mermell also tends to report from Town Meeting on her own Twitter feed (@jessemermell), and apparently there were a few journalism students in attendance who also blogged it (I'm looking at you, @taliabethralph) . If anyone out there reading it wants to blog tonight, use the hashtag #btm. At least, that's what I'm trying to use. Apparently, it stands for other things as well. (I mistyped it a few times, making me wish that Twitter offered the option of editing one's tweets.)

For those of you who didn't follow along last night, we got through Articles 1-6 and Article 10. We try to adjourn after whatever article we're in the middle of at 10:30 pm, and Sandy Gadbsy, the Moderator, wisely took a motion to let us skip the three articles about the Fisher Hill reservoir and instead deal with a shorter article before we adjourned.

The two most controversial issues we voted on last night were the Runkle School bond appropriation and the restoration of the Carlton Street Foorbridge. Runkle School is the K-8 public school in my neighborhood, so I have a strong interest in seeing the renovation move forward. The school right now is overcrowded, with classes meeting in the lobby and staff members using closets as offices. Everyone agrees that the renovation has to happen, and in the end the $29 million appropriation carried unanimously. The only problem is, there are a few abutters (including one of my fellow TMMs) who are concerned with the process as it has currently played out. The town will need a special permit to make Runkle large enough to accommodate the students they are expecting over the next decade, and it's going to affect the feel of the neighborhood. I'm hoping that those with concerns about the project will have their concerns addressed, but last night we needed to approve the money if we wanted to have the project move forward.

As for the footbridge... ah. There's a lot of history about that footbridge; the precinct 1 delegation to Town Meeting has turned over twice due to voters in that precinct either favoring or opposing restoration. Last night, we had the pleasure of hearing former governor Mike Dukakis address Town Meeting in support of the bridge. Dukakis's first elected office was as a Town Meeting Member, a position he won exactly 50 years ago this past March. Town Meeting gave him a standing ovation after he spoke. In the end, restoration passed by a vote of 192-25.

(As a side note, two proponents of the footbridge gave a list of objections to the bridge that they claimed were false, including the notion that the footbridge was placed there by aliens in 1894. I'm starting to get story ideas...)

Article 6 would have been controversial had the petitioners moved it, as it dealt with amending the town budget to remove the funding for the police security cameras. Although no motion was offered, Sandy allowed Frank Farlow to address us on the issue and Selectman Betsy DeWitt to give a response. Frankly, I'm not sure how much we really needed to hear about the issue given that there was no motion being offered. I'd much rather have waited to hear these arguments once a motion is actually on the table, which will probably be in the spring.

Neal Simpson of the Brookline TAB and I have a gentlemen's bet going as to whether or not Town Meeting will finish up tonight (my guess) or continue to Thursday (his guess). There's only 18 articles total on the warrant, and most of them seem relatively uncontroversial to me. Tonight we'll start with the Fisher Hill issues, which may take a while to explain but I doubt they'll take a while to debate. The child care zoning amendment will go through easily, I'm sure, and then we'll probably have a lot of discussion about the zoning for car-sharing organizations (e.g. Zipcar, which had a strong showing of supporters last night whom I expect to see there again tonight). My guess is that we'll get far enough into the warrant that people will want to stick around to see it through, even if it takes us to midnight.

We'll see. Check my Twitter feed tonight and follow along.

Special Election Sign in Brookline

Today is Election Day across much of the country, but not in Brookline, Massachusetts, where our next election isn't until December 8 – the primary for the special election to fill the vacant senate seat. So while our friends in Boston and Newton choose a mayor today, those of us in Brookline get to relax and watch.

However, just because we don't have an election today doesn't mean that there's no politicking going on. Brookline's representative Town Meeting, of which I am a Member, meets the week before Thanksgiving, and this year the big issue seems to be the zoning of Zipcars in the town. Articles 12 and 13 on the warrant deal with changes to the zoning bylaws that would make the Zipcars currently in Brookline legal. If Town Meeting doesn't pass these bylaws, it could conceivably mean the end of Zipcars in Brookline.

Although it's extremely unlikely that Town Meeting will not pass these articles, there's been a lot of debate in town regarding exactly how Car Sharing Organizations, or CSOs, should be zoned. Not surprisingly, Zipcar has emailed their Brookline customers to ask them to contact their Town Meeting Members in support of the articles. In his letter, Dan Curtin, the General Manager of Zipcar, has explained rather well the best way to approach your elected representatives. His point is a simple one: find out what precinct you live in and contact the Town Meeting Members for your precinct. He's also encouraging people to attend the Selectmen's hearing tonight to show their support; again, quite appropriate.

However, in the wake of his email to supporters, I (and I presume other TMMs) are getting emails from people who are obviously new to this sort of things. In one email, a constituent referred to Town Meeting as Town Council. In another, I was asked to vote in favor at tonight's meeting, which is not the actual Town Meeting at which I can vote but the Selectmen's hearing. So in the interest of helping out the Brookline voters, I thought I'd offer a quick and easy guide on what to do when emailing your Town Meeting Members on an issue. (Disclaimer: I am speaking here for myself, not for all Town Meeting Members.)

1. Be polite.

This should go without saying, but you'd be surprised how often it doesn't.

2. Make sure you know what precinct you live in, and write to your own Town Meeting Members, not all of Town Meeting.

Many is the time a Brookline resident will send an email to every member of Town Meeting, and all 240 email addresses are on the list. While I appreciate the enthusiasm and passion that these residents have, the fact is that sending such an email can and does dilute the message you're trying to get across.

The reality is that I have to be responsive first and foremost to my own constituents. What might be the right way to vote for a Town Meeting Member representing Coolidge Corner may not be the right way to vote for a TMM representing Washington Square. I'm far more likely to appreciate your concerns if I know that you're writing to me because I'm one of your own representatives.

Corollary: If you do decide to write to all of Town Meeting, please use the blind carbon copy function, and make it clear from the outset what precinct you are actually residing in.

3. Do some minimal research on the issue.

At the very least, please let me know what article number you're writing to me about.

4. If you vote in local elections, tell us so; if you don't, start doing so.

Whether or not a citizen voted is a matter of public record, and I have to admit that here's an issue on which I get kind of, well, strict. On the one hand, as a Town Meeting Member from my precinct I feel an obligation to represent the interests of all my constituents. But on the other hand, if you want me to take a stand on an issue on your behalf, I'd kind of like to think that you might have voted for me and might do so again in the future.

if you don't bother to show up at elections, and I hear from some other constituent on the opposite side of the issues, whose opinion do you think I might pay more attention to?

One resident of precinct 9 used to email me about issues, but never bothered to vote in town elections. After a few years I called him on it, pointing out that if he really did care about what happened on a local level (which we all should), he should make an effort to vote. Even if there are only five candidates running for the five Town Meeting slots in a particular year, voters can show up at the polls and write in anyone they want. In fact, one year, two voters got into Town Meeting through a write-in campaign that they conducted that very day at the polls.

As a politician trying to make my community a better place, if I'm going to remain in office, I need your votes. And nothing gets my attention more than an email that begins, "Dear Mr. Burstein, I am a resident of your precinct, and I vote in every local election."

Probably the most controversial pair of articles to come in front of Brookline Town Meeting at the session just past were the ones devoted to the security cameras.

In brief, a few months back the town received money from the Department of Homeland Security to set up a few security cameras in some of the more high-traffic areas of the town. The police department planned to use these cameras to help fight crime. They had some reasonable arguments in favor of the use of these cameras, pointing out that they were only in public spaces and that the footage would be useful in reconstructing events.

Despite these assurances, though, and despite the respect and trust that the town has in our police chief and our police department, there was a grass-roots movement to fight the cameras. People opposed to them were concerned about a variety of things, including the storage of the footage, access to the footage, and a general unease having to do with anything coming from the Department of Homeland Security.

Although I myself would tend to side with the folks opposed to the cameras, I wasn't active in the fight, because I didn't really see the harm. In fact, despite my standard liberal progressive voting record in Town Meeting, I wasn't sure where I would end up voting on the cameras. I listened closely to the very reasoned arguments of two of my fellow Town Meeting Members from precinct 12 as we discussed the cameras in a discussion meeting before Town Meeting. Casey Hatchett, who is also a police officer, supported the cameras and pointed out all their usefulness to the department in keeping the town safe. David Klafter, who is firmly in the progressive camp, opposed the cameras and warned about the encroachment on our liberties. (I was pleased when both of my fellow TMMs brought their arguments to the floor of Town Meeting, one right after the other.)

The cameras have been in place in a pilot program now for a few months, the idea being that the town can evaluate how effective they are and whether or not they are a good idea. Although it is the decision of the Board of Selectmen to keep the program going, Town Meeting chose to weigh in on the issue. Article 24, if passed, would have encouraged the Selectmen to keep the program going; article 25, on the other hand, would have urged the Selectmen to end the program immediately. (Some of us were amused by the possibility that both articles might pass, but Town Moderator Sandy Gadsby reminded us before considering the articles that Town Meeting is usually consistent on our votes.)

Before Town Meeting, I took the pulse of my constituents to see where they stood on the cameras. I called two friends of ours who are married to each other and I asked my wife. Feedback was mixed, so once again I found myself having to listen to my own conscience on the issue.

And in the end, for me the tipping point was an editorial in the Brookline TAB: Editorial: Camera pilot program too risky. I urge you to go read it in full, but for me the money quote was this:

"Even if the study committee were to give the program high grades based on its mandate — and it might — it will never satisfy what we feel is the fundamental question: If a free society is monitored from a remote location, is it still free?"

I can still see the point of supporting the cameras, I have to admit; with the recent economic downturn, we seem to be experiencing more crime in Brookline. (If not, it just feels that way.) But the TAB got me thinking about the definition of a free society. And in the end, I have to say that I do worry about the tiny bits of freedom that are eroding in the wake of our new technologies. (The convenience of Google Maps, for example, has to be weighed against the knowledge that anyone on this planet can now easily see the plants I choose to put in my windows.) Stopping the cameras now is incumbent on us, because even if we trust the watchmen of today, we have no idea who will take on the role of the watchmen of tomorrow.

Afternote:

As usual, the Brookline TAB's reporting of the events of Town Meeting is comprehensive. Here are some good articles I recommend.

How did Town Meeting vote?

Last night's capsule Town Meeting

Brookline Town Meeting rejects surveillance cameras

I always feel that there's too much going on in my life to adequately note it here. For example, this past weekend we had sdelmonte and batyatoon visiting, and next weekend is Shavuot, and the weekend after we're doing something, and...

You get the idea.

Also, for everyone who keeps asking me, gnomi is continuing to do fine.

So, anyway, tonight is the first night of Brookline's Town Meeting. Having just been elected from my new precinct, I feel an obligation to show up, even though there are many other political choices tonight (do I go to a rally in support of Sotomayer or against Proposition 8?). Tonight may very well be the longest Town Meeting session of the year, as we're going to approve the town budget for Fiscal Year 2010, which starts on July 1.

Unfortunately, the state has warned all the municipalities that the amount of local aid promised may end up dropping, even though many municipalities are determining their budgets over the next few weeks. So we may end up approving a budget, only to have to reconvene to adjust it when we find that we're not getting as much money as we had expected from the state.

It'll be an interesting discussion tonight and tomorrow. Just don't expect me to get much sleep. :-)

Last night, as a newly elected Town Meeting Member from precinct 12, I attend the Neighbors Building Brookline Warrant Review Meeting. Although I've been a Town Meeting Member from precinct 9 since 2001, I’ve never participated in an advance discussion other than by email or phone. I found this gathering of my new precinct delegation most useful, as it gave me a chance to hear different perspectives on the issues in a more intimate setting.

I've written up a report on the discussion at the Neighbors Building Brookline website. The report can be found at this link: Warrant Review Meeting Report. I considered reposting the report here, but decided that if anyone's interested, you can just click through from my blog to the report. Feel free to comment here, though.

For the first time, I decided to take the day off from work to campaign during the day for Town Meeting. Nomi and I arrived at our new polling place, the Runkle School, at around 7 am, and already there were many other candidates waiting in front to meet voters. Nomi went inside to vote while I handed out campaign flyers, and then she took over for me while I went inside to vote.

At this point, I'm really not sure what kind of turnout we'll get. Last year, precinct 12 had a turnout of more than 700 people, but the weather was beautiful and there was an override on the ballot. This year, the only contested town-wide race is for School Committee, so unless you've got a horse in your Town Meeting race, there might not be much incentive to come out and vote. (Also, it's cold and drizzly, and supposed to rain more steadily later.)

We had a number of voters come this morning, but there were also a lot of parents dropping off their kids for school, and not all of the parents were planning to vote. Still, those of us there running for Town Meeting or supporting other candidates are maintaining a nice level of enthusiasm.

I'm handing out palm cards for my slate, Neighbors Building Brookline, but I also prepared a small flyer about myself. I wanted to let people know that I've never missed a night of Town Meeting ever since I was elected in 2001, and that I've been one of their Library Trustees since 2004. I'm hoping precinct 12 voters will see my dedication to representing them, and choose to elect me to represent them as I represented precinct 9 for nine years.

I'll be back out campaigning from 11 am to 1 pm and then from 3 pm to 5 pm. Members of my slate will be around during the vital evening hours, which is good because I have a press screening to attend. But if you're a voter and you're around in the middle of the day, please stop by and say hello.

As many of you already know, in my campaign to be re-elected to Brookline Town Meeting I've been endorsed by Neighbors Building Brookline, an association devoted to improving our community based in precinct 12 of the town. Yesterday we gathered to prepare the campaign mailing that goes out on Thursday morning. The flyer includes information on the five endorsed candidates, but of course on any flyer space is limited.

So in my own role as a member of the group, and with the help of fellow member Mike Oates, I've taken steps to start working more on our group's website, which is located at http://www.neighborsbuildingbrookline.org. In the future, we hope to make the website a resource for Brookline residents, but for the moment, we're mostly focused on the upcoming election. To that end, as we note in our blog post Candidate Statements Start Today, we've decided to post candidate statements this week from the five candidates we've endorsed for Town Meeting, one each from Monday to Friday. The idea here is that any precinct 12 voter who wants more information can come to the website and find out more about the candidates we've endorsed in the election.

If you're a precinct 12 voter, I welcome you to come check out the statements this week from our endorsed candidates for Town Meeting (Lee Cooke Childs, David J. Cotney, Jonathan Grand, Michael A. Burstein, and Casey Hatchett). It'll give you a chance to find out a little more about the five of us, and why Neighbors Building Brookline feels that we'd be valuable members of Town Meeting. (Actually, four of us already are members of Town Meeting.) If you live outside of Brookline, consider visiting the site anyway, as an example of local politics and community organizing in action.

And if you're a precinct 12 voter, I hope you'll vote for me next Tuesday for Town Meeting.

As many of you know, I'm very involved in local politics in my adopted hometown of Brookline. Since 2001 I've served as a Town Meeting Member from precinct 9, and since 2004 I've also served as a Trustee of the Public Library of Brookline. Both of these are elected positions, and so I face re-election to each office every three years.

As a Library Trustee, I'm in the second year of my second term, so I don't have to worry about re-election until 2010. But as a Town Meeting Member, this year is an interesting one for me. My current term expires this year, and so I would normally be running for re-election...except that in December Nomi and I bought a condominium in precinct 12, so I now have to run as a new candidate in our new precinct.

Conveniently enough, though, we happened to buy the condominium of a Town Meeting Member whose term also expired in 2009 and who was moving out of the town, thus leaving an open seat from our new precinct. I breathed a sigh of relief at this turn of events, because to be perfectly honest I don't like challenging incumbents unless I feel very strongly that they're not the folks for the job. This way, I could file papers as a candidate and not feel like I was challenging anyone already present.

(Brief explanation: each precinct has 15 TMMs representing it, in staggered three-year terms. So this year, there are five TMM seats to be filled from each precinct.)

As it turned out, one of the other incumbents chose not to run, meaning that only three incumbents were running for re-election. But then beside me, three other residents of the precinct decided to run, meaning that there would now be a challenged election, seven people running for five positions.

In a race like this one, it's always good if you can get endorsements, and I'm pleased to be able to announce two endorsements for my candidacy.

The first endorsement has come from Neighbors Building Brookline, a coalition of precinct 12 residents who first came together in 1994 to support an override. I already knew some members of the coalition through my work in town politics, and I was hoping for their endorsement. The simple fact of this year, though, is that all seven candidates from precinct 12 are excellent candidates. So when I met with NBB earlier this week, I knew that I couldn't take their endorsement for granted. I very much appreciate the difficult job they must have had in picking their candidates, and I am delighted that they saw fit to endorse me. Assuming I am elected, I plan to be an active member of the coalition, meeting with them to dissect the warrant as they do in the weeks before every Town Meeting.

One notable thing about NBB is that they don't actually take positions on the warrant. The people in the group span the political spectrum, but they're all dedicated to doing as good a job as possible understanding the articles that come before Town Meeting, so they can cast educated votes on the issues. As someone who always wants to hear the opposition's point of view on an issue before casting my own vote, I'm looking forward to these discussions.

(As an aside, although the Town Meeting Members of precinct 9 all knew each other, we generally didn't get together to discuss the warrant beforehand. But we did often email each other.)

My second endorsement was not entirely unexpected, but one that still pleases me nevertheless. Once again Brookline PAX, a local political action group, has chosen to endorse me for Town Meeting. Brookline PAX has actually endorsed me in every local race I've been in, and I hope they've been satisfied with my work as I've fought for better library services and good development for the town.

Election day is May 5; for the next month or so, other than observing Passover, I'll be working toward convincing my new neighbors that I would be as good a Town Meeting Member for them as I was for my previous neighbors from precinct 9. If you're reading this and you're a registered voter from precinct 12, please consider casting your vote for me on May 5.

Back in 2001, I ran for Brookline Town Meeting and won. Ever since, I've been a Town Meeting Member representing precinct 9.

Last December, Nomi and I moved from precinct 9 to precinct 12. Conveniently enough, we ended up buying the condominium of another Town Meeting Member, one whose term, like mine, expired in 2009. Furthermore, she moved out of town entirely, leaving an open seat for me to run for in the new precinct.

However, because we're new residents in precinct 12, I'm no longer considered an incumbent for my seat. So over the past month, I've been collecting signatures from registered voters in my new precinct, asking them for the opportunity to represent them the way I represented the voters of my old precinct for these past nine years.

Yesterday, I filed my nomination papers with the Town Clerk's office and am now an official candidate for Town Meeting once again.

Interestingly enough, there's not a lot of competition going on in town this year in the local elections. The TAB posted an article today from tomorrow's paper, Prospective Selectmen, Town Meeting candidates sitting Brookline election out, in which writer Steve Bagley notes that a large number of precincts have no competition in the local races. I'm quoted in the article, pointing out that there tends not to be a lot of interest in the races unless there's a pressing local issue. And this year, the biggest issue on the table is the economy, which doesn't really have a clear-cut way to be addressed on a local level (as noted by TMM Marty Rosenthal, who is also quoted in the article).

As it stands, I may end up having an actual race, because six people have pulled nomination papers for the five Town Meeting Member positions up for election in precinct 12 this year. As a candidate myself, I'll be honest and say that it would be a lot easier for me if the race ended up uncontested. Even if that were the case, I'm still planning to call up many of my new neighbors to introduce myself as a candidate for Town Meeting Member from precinct 12.

But as a proponent of democracy, I wouldn't mind seeing more contested races throughout the town.

As I mentioned on Friday, a bit of Town Meeting/Library Trustee business threatened to fill up my time. But no matter what might happen in the world, Nomi and I always have Friday night and Saturday off, because, of course, of shabbat.

Nomi and I had a very nice shabbat. On Friday night, we ate dinner at the home of our friends the Cypesses, and we met a most fascinating visitor to Boston for the year, an air force chaplain who has been sent to study at Boston University. You don't meet too many Orthodox Jewish rabbis from the air force.

Shabbat lunch we were invited to the home of the Weinbergers, a family we're been meaning to have lunch with for a very long time. The food was delicious, and the conversation flowed.

Finally, back at Kadimah, I gave a talk on this week's Torah portion, Vayeira. My father died many years ago on the shabbat of this parsha, which includes the story of Abraham arguing with God about Sodom and Gommorah. I based my talk on the question, "Shall not the judge of all the Earth deal justly?" and used it to discuss both my father's love and pursuit of justice and my own belief that God created the world with scientific principles and laws that we can trust in.

When shabbat ended, I discovered two things that had developed over the day to press upon my time.

The first one had to do with town politics, more of the same from Friday.

The second one is best described on the Apex Digest blog, under the post The Battering of Burstein. The basic facts are that two of the boxes of autographed hardcovers of I Remember the Future that Nomi and I packed up very carefully, with the same padding in which they arrived at our home, ended up arriving at the publisher in damaged condition. One of the boxes was apparently completely sealed and intact, but with nothing in it. Needless to say, this has both of us distraught on many levels; Nomi and I went to great effort to take these 30 pound boxes to the Post Office, and I can't understand how one box could end up empty and sealed in transit unless someone stole the contents within.

If you see signed and personalized copies of the book being offered anywhere, I'd appreciate it if you'd alert me immediately. And if you're inclined to purchase a ticket in the Apex raffle for any of the items they're offering, Apex and I would both appreciate it.

Anyway, the rest of Sunday worked out nicely. Nomi and I went to the movies, saw many friends, and caught up on a little television. But for the rest of the week I have Town Meeting, so expect me to be scarce.

So next week is Town Meeting.

So on Sunday a Town Meeting Member filed an amendment to the standard revisiting-the-budget article to move the Library RFID money out of the capital budget and into a reserve.

So on Monday we had a Library Trustees Meeting to discuss a response.

So on Tuesday I crafted a response, which the Trustees looked over and which we sent out as from the Trustees.

So on Wednesday I was on the phone a lot.

So on Thursday night I was out at the Old Lincoln School, the temporary Town Hall, to attend meetings of the Advisory Committee's Administration and Finance Subcommittee and the Advisory Committee, along with a few other Trustees and our Library Director.

So today, I'm exhausted. And the three nights of staying up late for Town Meeting aren't until next week.

If I have time, I'll post details later. All you need to know is that Trustees still fully support funding the RFID program, as Town Meeting voted to do back in May.

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...

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.