Facebook
41.8 F
Brookline
Sunday, December 21, 2025
Facebook
Home Blog Page 35

Brookline’s Grab At Pine Manor Land Is Ill-Conceived

By
Brookline.com
-

Re: “Town broke law, says college” (Metro, Oct. 11): If the residents of Brookline allow the town to take by eminent domain land from Pine Manor College for a new elementary school, this might encourage other cities and towns to use similar land-grabbing techniques for their projects.

Why is the need for Brookline’s new elementary school more important than the need of Pine Manor to serve its diverse student population?

Selectmen Chairman Neil Wishinsky and his supporters on the board should be voted out of office as soon as possible for wasting taxpayer money on their ill-conceived plan of eminent domain.

 

 

Classical Piano Recital

By
Brookline.com
-

The Public Library of Brookline has the pleasure to invite you to a Classical piano recital with Andrei Baumann, pianist.

The event will be held on October 21, 2017 between the hours of 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner – Meeting Room of the Public Library of Brookline, 31 Pleasant Street, Brookline, MA 02446.

 

New 25 mph Default Speed Limit In Brookline

By
Brookline.com
-

This week Brookline’s default speed limit went down to 25 mph where not otherwise posted.

State law historically made a reduction in the speed limit pretty difficult lowering the speed limit around town has been tricky – until recently. So earlier this year Brookline’s Transportation Board joined with advocacy groups throughout the state to lobby in favor of proposals to amend that law and reduce the statutory speed limit in thickly settled residential or business districts to 25 mph.

In 2016, the Governor signed a bill that would keep the statutory speed limit at 30 mph, but inserted a new provision that provides the ability to local authorities to either establish and post a speed limit of 25 miles per hour on specified roadways within thickly settled residential areas or business districts or establish and post a speed limit of 25 miles per hour Town-wide on all thickly settled residential areas or business districts. The second option would require signage being posted at the Town boundaries.

Brookline Town Meeting members voted in the Spring to recognize that bill and let the town’s Transportation division take on the question of whether to lower the default speed limit in town on all streets in Brookline (aside from the State Controlled Route 9) or post a speed limit of 25 mph where the neighborhood is considered “thickly settled.”

Some residents were concerned that lowering the speed limit would unfairly and have a greater impact on minority populations and cautioned officials to study carefully before making any decisions. Officials noted that, actually, one of the leading causes of death in minority communities, especially among children was traffic related.

At the May Town Meeting 176 Town Meeting Members (out of 240) voted in favor of the move. 18 voted against.

 

Brookline Residents Are Divided Over Whether To Seize Pine Manor Land

By
Brookline.com
-
More than 200 people gathered in a high school auditorium Monday evening to spar over whether Brookline should seize 7 acres land from Pine Manor College by eminent domain to build an elementary school.The more than three-hour meeting grew testy at times, with much applause and even some jeers as speakers voiced their concerns before a group of town officials who will decide in the coming months whether to take the land.
 Pine Manor College president Tom O’Reilly, who has vowed to fight the eminent domain proposal, attended the meeting along with a group of Pine Manor students and other college supporters wearing T-shirts that said “Pine Manor College = Our Home.”

“If you take this land it will cut right through the heart of our positive community,” said Peggie Krippendorf, a 1996 graduate of the college, who described how the campus’s rolling front lawn and sports fields drew her to the school as a student-athlete.

Town officials listened to residents’ concerns about the college, which for years struggled financially. But town officials say they have a crisis to solve — Brookline’s elementary schools are bursting at the seams.

There are 80 elementary school classrooms in town with more than 22 students, said School Committee chairman David Pollak. The school district’s enrollment has grown 40 percent since 2006, he said, and it is expected to keep growing.

At the Baker School, the music room is beneath a gym, which makes it hard to play music with basketballs thumping above, he said. At the Driscoll School, there are five lunch periods, beginning at 10:15 a.m. At the Pierce School, one second-grade classroom is located in a tunnel between two buildings, and at the Heath School, students have to walk through a Spanish class to get to French.

 “And on and on,” Pollak said.

Town officials have been looking for a location for a new school for more than five years and, after many setbacks, have narrowed a list of more than 20 options down to three. Two options involve a site near Pine Manor College, known as the Baldwin site, and the third option is to seize seven acres of the Pine Manor campus along Heath Street and build the school there.

At the meeting, officials showed a video of what a school on the Baldwin site might look like — one option is a five-story school, and another would have fewer stories, depending on how much land is used. Building on that site is complicated by federal conservation restrictions.

Pollak said the town began to look at Pine Manor because the college sold land in the past, most recently in 2013 to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. O’Reilly, the college president, has said the school is now financially healthy and does not plan to sell more land.

Pine Manor’s roots are as a two-year finishing school, but it now serves mostly low-income, first-generation, and minority students who receive substantial financial aid.

Pollak said the Pine Manor site presents “significant benefits” when compared to the other site because of the layout of the land, and would likely be cheaper, even when factoring in the fair-market value the town would be required to pay to the college to take the land.

Resident Sarah Lucas, who lives on Heath Street near both of the sites under consideration, urged the town to build on the Baldwin site.

“Build on the land you own. Do it. Get going,” she said.

Other speakers urged the town to take the college land, saying the need for an elementary school outweighs the college’s objections. They said the town has searched long enough for a site and it is time to pick one. “It is a desperate measure and we are at the point of desperation, our schools are wildly overcrowded,” said Adrienne Bowman, a Town Meeting member who lives on the VFW Parkway.

Sarah Griffen, a mother of two Baker School students, agreed. She said she is a consultant who studies the effect of stress and said the school overcrowding could impede students’ learning.

“Pine Manor is not perfect . . . but that is what I support,” she said.

As the night went on, other speakers, including several Pine Manor graduates and employees, described how important the seven acres in question are to the campus. Teams use that land for soccer, softball, and other sports, they said. The serene environment of the campus is a refuge for the many inner-city students who attend.

“The campus which nurtured me and exposed me to nature in a new way while being so close to home meant a lot,” said graduate Dorasella Kaluma.

Paul Harris, also a Town Meeting member, took the issue to a meta level. The country’s Founding Fathers, as they authored the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, disagreed with one another, he said, and they quibbled and they compromised. He urged the town to do the same.

“Where we put the ninth school in Brookline will not be perfect, but it will be all right,” he said.

 

Gen Sou En To Open Japanese Tea House In Brookline

By
Brookline.com
-

Gen Sou En has leased 5,500 square feet of retail space and announced the introduction of its modern Japanese tea house, set to open in Brookline, MA, in early 2018.

The new concept will offer guests a traditional Japanese tea experience blended with contemporary food pairings for breakfast, lunch, light dinner and dessert, as well as sake, wine and beer in the evening. The tea house will be located at 299 Harvard St. in Coolidge Corner.

Gen Sou En – which loosely translated means farm-to-cup – brings 100 years of Japanese tea expertise to the Boston area, from the cultivation and blending of tea leaves to the meticulous preparation and artful presentation of every cup. For both beverages and food, the tea house menu will combine locally sourced, seasonal ingredients with traditional Japanese culture.

The 125-seat, 5,500 square-foot tea house will feature premium Japanese green tea, in addition to black tea, matcha beverages, coffee brewed from beans roasted in Vermont and locally made sake. Guests will be able to choose from three signature green tea blends: umami (round and savory), kokumi (deep and full bodied) and shibumi (sharp and intense), all prepared at the exact temperature and brewing time needed to extract the full flavor of each leaf.

All green tea blends will be served brewed or kyusu style, the authentic Japanese way in a teapot. Food pairings will be suggested for each blend to enhance its flavor profile.

“We are excited for the guests of our Brookline tea house to enjoy green tea the traditional way it’s served in Japan,” said Haruo Abe, co-founder of Gen Sou En Tea House, Brookline, and president of Harada Tea & Foods, Inc. “We are creating a vibrant and relaxing environment with a focus on the attention to detail that defines Japanese hospitality.”

Gen Sou En will also offer matcha lattes and hoji (roasted green tea) lattes, two of the most popular beverages served in Tokyo and Kyoto tea houses. The bakery will also feature matcha-containing treats, such as matcha tiramisu and matcha croissants, along with many other house-made pastries, breads and desserts. Food choices will include a wide array of savory Japanese selections for any time of day, such as temaki (cone-shaped sushi handrolls), tempura, and onigiri (triangular Japanese rice balls).

Gen Sou En was designed by Suzumori Architecture, based in New York. Boston-based Marquis Design is creating all of the branding, graphic design elements and website. The headquarters of Gen Sou En’s parent company in Japan, Harada Tea Processing Co. Ltd., is located in Shizuoka near Mt. Fuji.

Gen Sou En Tea House is bringing 100 years of tradition to Brookline with its new, modern Japanese tea house. The concept combines traditional green tea preparation with contemporary food pairings, and blends Japanese culture with local sourcing and community. In addition to a full array of tea and coffee, Gen Sou En will serve breakfast, lunch, light dinner and dessert, plus sake, wine and beer during evening hours. Located in the heart of Coolidge Corner, Gen Sou En plans to open in early 2018.

 

Brookline Resident Writes Book On Russian Jews

By
Brookline.com
-

A richly journalistic portrait of Russia’s dwindling but still vibrant and influential Jewish community is presented in a new book by bilingual author Maxim D. Shrayer, a Brookline resident and Boston College professor of Russian, English, and Jewish studies.

“With or Without You: The Prospect for Today’s Jews in Russia,” based on new evidence and a series of interviews, is both an exploration of the texture of Jewish life in Putin’s Russia and an emigre’s elegy for Russia’s Jews, a group that constituted one of the world’s largest Jewish populations 40 years ago.

Shrayer, born in Moscow in 1967 to a Jewish-Russian family, spent nearly nine years as a refusenik with his parents; they left the USSR and immigrated to the U.S. in 1987.

“In contrast to my previous writings — which examined the culture and history of Jews in Tsarist and Soviet Russia and also in diaspora, mainly in the United States and Israel — this book investigates the present while also attempting a bit of punditry,” Shrayer said.

The book began as a fact-finding mission for a magazine essay and evolved into a first-person narrative account of Russia’s declining Jewish community.

“In 1989, according to the last official Soviet census, there were 1,480,000 Jews in the USSR, of whom 570,500 were living in the Russian Soviet Federative Republic,” Shrayer said.

“Today’s core Jewish population of about 180,000 puts Russia behind Israel and the United States by millions and also behind France, Canada and the United Kingdom,” he said. “Despite that, while anti-Semitism has not disappeared in Russia, its presence and prevalence is less manifest in Russia’s mainstream.”

Shrayer initially researched the book during a visit to Moscow last fall, where he sought answers to questions central to modern Jewish history and culture: Why do Jews continue to live in Russia, after everything they had been though? What are the prospects of Jewish life in Russia? What awaits the children born to Jews of my own generation who have not left? Shrayer also pondered: “Is it time to compose an elegy for Russia’s Jewry?”

“With or Without You,” which details his interviews with a diverse group of Jews and includes his own observations as an “outsider-insider,” yields insights into the complex situation of Russian Jews today — about the minority that has remained, against all odds, in their mother country and about Russia, a country continuously losing its Jews.

 

Brookline Symphony To Welcome Music Director, Hold Concert

By
Brookline.com
-

The Brookline Symphony Orchestra will officially welcome new music director Andrew Altenbach at its “Clashes of Passion and Fate,” the opening concert of the 2017-18 season, at 8:00 p.m. October 21 at All Saints Parish, 1773 Beacon Street, Brookline.

Altenbach was appointed music director in June 2017 after a yearlong search. Known for his deep sense of musical style and nuance, with a repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary works, Altenbach is music director of opera at the Boston Conservatory, as well as artistic director and conductor of the Minnesota Bach Ensemble.

His symphonic conducting credits include engagements with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

The concert will feature 2017 Concerto Competition winner Yun Jae Choi performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3, “Polish,” which is unique among Tchaikovsky’s symphonies in that it is in a major key and has five movements.

A gala reception will be held after the concert.

Concert tickets are $15 general admission, $10 for students and seniors 65 years of age and older, and free for ages 12 and younger.

For further details, please visit here. For more details about the new maestro, please visit here.

 

Officials Put Out Fire At Apartment Building In Brookline

By
Brookline.com
-

Officials put out a fire at an apartment building in Brookline.

Brookline Police and Fire crews responded to the fire on Aspinwall Avenue.

Officials believe the fire started in the first floor bedroom.

Crews initially though the fire may have been related to a drug lab, but confirmed that was untrue once they arrived on scene.

Police said four people were taken to the hospital, including one elderly resident. Crews also rescued two cats and took them to an animal hospital.

There is no information on the cause of the fire.

 

Brookline Interactive Group, VR Team Links Up With The Globe For Hubweek

By
Brookline.com
-

Brookline Interactive Group (BIG) and its VR-in-the-Public-Interest project, the Public VR Lab, launched an innovative 360 video/VR immersive journalism collaboration with the #STAT team from the Boston Globe.

The two will be showing off their Virtual Reality reporting at Hubweek 2017 until Sunday.

Brookline citizen journalists from the STAT team trained Boston Globe journalists in immersive storytelling production techniques, and they will be working side-by-side with them to create three day-in-the-life 360 experiences of Boston’s science and medical world.

Visitors can go places where normally only doctors and scientists go: An infant trauma unit functioning under pressure at Boston’ s Children’s Hospital, the activities of a student at Tuft’s Dental School, the world’s leading Ebola scientists working in a lab here in Boston to make Ebola “happy” in order to study how it grows and spreads.

The collaborative will be at shipping Container #18 through Sunday.

 

Resurgent Wild Turkeys Clash With Human Neighbors

By
Brookline.com
-

Not everyone is celebrating the return of the wild turkeys.

After being wiped out from New England in the 1800s, the birds have stormed back in what is considered a major success story for wildlife restoration. But as they spread farther into urban areas, they are increasingly clashing with residents who say they destroy gardens, damage cars, chase pets and attack people.

Complaints about troublesome turkeys have surged in Boston and its suburbs over the past three years, causing headaches for police and health officials called to handle problems, according to city and town records provided to The Associated Press. It is a familiar dilemma for some other U.S. towns from coast to coast that have been overrun by turkeys in recent years.

Boston city officials say they received at least 60 complaints last year, a threefold increase over the year before. Nearby Somerville, Belmont and Brookline have seen similar upticks, combining for a total of 137 turkey gripes since the start of last year.

“Several years ago it was more of an isolated situation here and there,” said David Scarpitti, the wild turkey and upland game biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. “Now it’s starting to spread into communities all around Boston.”

Often the grievance is little more than a wayward turkey blocking traffic, but in at least five cases turkeys became so aggressive that police said they had to shoot them as a matter of public safety. Some area residents have suffered minor injuries from the birds, including a 72-year-old woman who told police she was bruised in August after a gang of turkeys scratched and pecked her during a walk.

Turkeys in the wild are far stronger and faster than the ones that land on Thanksgiving tables, experts say. Males in particular are driven to show physical aggression as a way to climb the social pecking order, and they sometimes view humans as potential competitors.

“Turkeys don’t really mean to harm people — it’s just tied to their social dynamics within the flock,” Scarpitti said. “They lose perspective that humans are humans and turkeys are turkeys. They just want to assert dominance over anything.”

Even the earliest Americans picked up on that characteristic, with Ben Franklin famously writing that the turkey is a “Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”

In the town of Brookline, Tess Bundy has come to loathe the turkeys that roost behind her home and often come charging when she leaves. She called police in April after a big tom repeatedly launched itself at her and her infant daughter, backing down only after Bundy whacked it several times with a shovel.

“They’re terrible. Every year they’re worse,” said Bundy, a history professor at Merrimack College. “I really do think that they’re a menace to the town.”

The complaints have sent some cities searching for answers, including in Cambridge, where the city council says it is working on a plan. Officials in Brookline issued new guidance for fowl encounters in August, telling residents to “step toward the turkey and act confidently.”

Wildlife experts say much of the problem can be blamed on residents who leave out food for turkeys, which entices flocks to settle in and helps them survive winters.

Towns with similar problems in New Jersey, Iowa and Oregon have banned turkey feeding in recent years, and Montana enacted a similar statewide ban in May. But the idea has not spread to the Boston area, where some residents say they enjoy the return of native wildlife.

Not far from two sites where turkeys were shot by police, Brookline resident Suzette Abbott says she’s had no problems with the turkeys that roam her block.

“I don’t think they’re dangerous,” Abbott said. “In the spring they look pretty amazing when the males are displaying their colors. I think they’re quite beautiful if you actually look at their feathers.”

 

You Are My Favorite Customer: The Coolidge Grapples With Midnight Screenings Of ”The Room”

By
Brookline.com
-

The lights go off, the crowd roars, and the Wiseau Films logo appears on the screen. What follows is a 90 minute onslaught of gratuitous sex scenes, intoxicated 20-somethings yelling their favorite quotes in unison, and the offbeat delivery of eccentric star and director Tommy Wiseau. This is what happens when you attend a midnight showing of The Room, the 2003 cult classic that has been called “the best worst movie ever made.”

Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre has been hosting these screenings since 2007. In those 10 years, the screenings have grown from tiny audiences to sold-out theaters packed with rowdy diehards, and as is often the case lately, tonight’s showing is sold out in advance. These days it seem to be more about the experience of viewing the film in a packed room than the actual film itself, with the most rabid followers often drowning out the dialogue with their call-and-response references and inside jokes. Audiences have also started a tradition of throwing hundreds of plastic spoons at the screen whenever a particular framed picture of a spoon appears in the background.

“The rowdiness is part of the charm. That’s why you go to The Room, for the craziness of it,” says Brookline resident Garrett Stevens, who attended the most recent screening of The Room last month. “It’s a communal thing I think more than any other moviegoing experience.”

But that fun, communal environment often causes problems for the Coolidge staff.

“I’ve always had to do introductions to let people know they’re watching a bad film, and also to set up our expectations for the audience’s behavior,” Coolidge After Midnite curator Mark Anastasio says.

According to Anastasio, it is not uncommon for the staff to be picking up plastic spoons and popcorn until 3:30 a.m. They have also had problems with people throwing footballs in the crowd, yelling inappropriate or sexist things during the film, and bringing drugs and alcohol into the theater.

“As a film programmer I shouldn’t be complaining about a film that reliably brings sold-out audiences,” Anastasio adds. “One sold-out screening of The Room can fund two or three weeks of films that only bring in 30 to 50 people.”

However, almost 10 years of increasingly raucous screenings combined with a deteriorating relationship with Wiseau led the Coolidge to stop showing the film last year. But the film suddenly began making headlines again when it was announced that James Franco and Seth Rogen would be releasing a screen adaptation of The Disaster Artist in December, based on a novel written by Room co-star Greg Sestero about the making of the film and his friendship with Wiseau.

Sestero is a longtime patron of the Coolidge and even witnessed his first midnight screening of the film at the Brookline cinema many years ago, so the theater decided to support him by resuming monthly screenings of The Room this summer. They also hope to host a full script read through of The Room with Sestero in December and have members of the audience read characters’ parts.

While the newfound attention brought by The Disaster Artist will only expand the film’s audience, the future of The Room at Coolidge Corner Theatre is uncertain. According to Anastasio, they will continue the screenings for at least a few months after the new film is released, but beyond that, they will need to have a serious discussion about how they can continue to accommodate the crowds that it brings. One thing is certain though: As long as The Room is showing, there will be hundreds of eager fans lining up outside the theater to throw spoons during the best worst movie ever made.

‘THE ROOM’ :: Friday, October 13 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre :: 11:59 p.m., all ages, sold out :: Coolidge event page :: Facebook event page.

 

Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition Premier Event (AUDIO)

By
Brookline.com
-

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Cheryl Osimo Executive Director of the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition about the 20th anniversary of their premier fundraising event the Lesbians and Friends LGBTQ Dance Party For Prevention that takes place in Brookline, Massachusetts on October 21st. This year MBCC will be honoring Attorney Susan Wilson the founder of this dance event who has been an inspiration and supporter of MBCC for over two decades. MBCC’s annual fundraising events like the upcoming Lesbians and Friends LGBTQ Dance Party For Prevention helps subsidize crucial funding for its sister organization, Silent Spring Institute. Since 1994 Silent Spring Institute has conducted scientifically sound and environmentally focused breast cancer prevention research. The funding will be used to study exposure to toxic cancer-causing chemicals in drinking water and homes throughout Massachusetts. Unfortunately this year the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has radically decreased their funding to $25,000, a fraction of the $647,500 needed, making fundraising events like the Lesbians and Friends LGBTQ Dance Party For Prevention more important than ever.

We talked to Cheryl about MBCC’s vital work and her spin on our LGBTQ issues. When asked how she sees our LGBTQ community moving forward in a Trump administration Osimo stated, “I think that the LGBTQ community is stronger than ever. We cannot let this administration turn anything around in terms of how we have made progress, how we moved ahead. We need to stay strong as he would say and move to not let him derail us in anyway, shape or form. We’re going to be okay because we are strong and we’ve come so far and continue with our work, remain strong, stick together and not allow him to derail us. That’s the most important thing.”

Cheryl Osimo is a fierce LGBTQ ally and devoted breast cancer activist and advocate since 1991 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 41. She has been a catalyst in raising public awareness of the possible environmental links to breast cancer. Her commitment to breast cancer prevention and awareness will benefit women worldwide. The 20th Annual Lesbians and Friends LGBTQ Dance Party For Prevention takes place on Saturday October 21st from 8P to12A at the Brookline-Boston Holiday Inn located at 1200 Beacon Street in Brookline, MA. Hundreds of women will come together to celebrate and hope for a future free of breast cancer. Their goal is to raise at least $20,000. Directly before the event dance instructor Liz Nania will lead a free Merengue dance workshop for all interested participants from 7P to 8P. Refreshments including complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar will also be provided to all attendees. There will be a silent auction with items donated from celebrities including Melissa Etheridge, Pink Martini, Ann Hampton Callaway, Liz Callaway, Patti Lupone, The Boston Pops and LGBTQ friendly businesses. Sponsors for this year’s event are Eastern Bank, Fenway Health, Lisa J. Drapkin & Debbie Lewis, Sue Wilson, Esq & Founder, Hy-Line Cruises, Kauffman Law Mediation, The Davis Group, Neiman & Associates Financial Services, LLC, Gonzalez & Associates, PC, OUT to DANCE, Estelle Disch Phototransformations, Ellen Janis & Josh Real Estate Team, Pure Haven Independent Consultant, The Meeting Point, South Cove Community Health, Stop & Shop and OUTTAKE™ LLC. DJ Triana will provide the music. Tickets are $45 in advance and $50 at the door.

For More Info & TIX: mbcc.org.

 

New Public Art In Brookline’s Coolidge Corner

By
Brookline.com
-

A holiday project by the artist who floated a giant lamb in Boston’s Fort Point Channel in 2015. Inspired in part by the witch hazel flower, a winter-blooming flower found in Massachusetts, artist Hilary Zelson is creating garlands of artificial rose-blossoms that will illuminate Brookline’s Coolidge Corner at the intersection of Harvard and Beacon streets this holiday season.As part of her “Winter Blooms” public art project, Zelson will also lead free community workshops to make paper flowers that will be displayed in shop windows in the neighborhood. Workshops will be held at Coolidge Corner Library on October 14, 2017 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., at Brookline Art Center on October 15, 2017 from noon to 3:00 p.m., and at the Brookline Senior Center on October 20, 2017 and 27 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

All workshops are free and open to the public. Reservations are recommended for the workshop at Brookline Senior Center, call 617-730-2770 to reserve a space. “Winter Blooms” will be on view from mid-November to the end of January. The 60-foot-long chains of silicone flowers will be suspended from street lights and appear white during the daytime then light up each evening with pink, orange and yellow LEDs. (High res photos for publication are available here: here. Reporters and photojournalists are welcome to see Zelson working on the project in her Waltham studio and/or witness the installation of the artwork at Coolidge Corner in mid-November.) “How can I add warmth and bring life to this neighborhood?” the Waltham-based artist asked herself when coming up with the idea. She aims for the glowing winter blossoms to add light and enchantment to the neighborhood during the longest nights of the year—the goal of holiday celebrations from numerous traditions.Zelson’s installation of the temporary public artwork coincides with First Light Brookline from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. November 30, 2017, the annual town cultural festival and night of holiday shopping that encourages people to buy locally.Zelson’s glowing winter garlands are part of her ongoing series of public artworks.

In 2015, she attracted attention when she floated a 10-foot tall Styrofoam sheep and lamb on a patch of artificial grass in Boston’s Fort Point Channel. (Boston Globe coverage: here) Her “Spectacle Butterfly”—a giant monarch butterfly assembled from thousands of red, orange, and black sunglass lenses for a stained-glass effect—is on view at the Nashville International Airport from March 2017 to January 2018. The project was commissioned as part of the annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee. (Nashville Arts Magazine coverage.) For 2013’s “Play Me, I’m Yours” street piano festival around Boston, she added an easel atop a baby grand piano and got the combination stationed outside Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts for three weeks.For more information about Zelson’s project visit here.

 

Brookline Offers Flu Clinics

By
Brookline.com
-

Everyone 6 months of age or older should get a flu vaccine each year. There is no charge for the flu vaccine; however, please bring all health insurance cards to the clinic. Wear loose-sleeved clothing. Flu mist will NOT be available this year.

The seasonal flu clinics are sponsored by Brookline Department of Public Health, Public Schools of Brookline, Brookline Housing Authority, and Brookline Council on Aging. For further Information, pleasencontact Lynne Karsten, lkarsten@brooklinema.gov; 617-730- 2336. Also, join us on Twitter discussion:
@BrooklineHealth, Facebook: Brookline Department of Public Health, or Instagram: Brooklinehealth.

 

Recycling Corner: Hybrid Pay As You Throw Program Provides An Amnesty Trash Collection

By
Brookline.com
-

The town of Brookline will provide a Trash Amnesty Week on residents scheduled pick up day the week of Oct. 23-27. During this period residents on the town’s trash service are welcome to dispose of extra household trash along with their regular trash. Pickups will occur on your regular pickup day. During this period residents will be free to put out excess bags of trash and latex-based paints that are unable to fit HPAYT trash carts. Paint must be completely dried out and left out with the covers off for testing. Bulky items such as sofas, mattresses, TVs and appliances need to be called in and scheduled for pickup at 617-730-2156. All excess trash bags, paint and bulky items should be placed next to their trash and recycling carts.

Household hazardous waste items and flammable materials will not be permitted and should be brought to the Town Hazardous Recycling Drop Off Center at 815 Newton St. on Tuesdays between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Yard waste pickups will occur as normal on your pickup day.

The Brookline Department of Public Works is pleased to offer this amnesty week as a part of our Hybrid Pay as You Throw Trash Program.

Any questions or concerns should be directed to our offices at 617-730-2156.

 

Legal Pot Opponents Urge Cannabis Commission To “Protect The People”

By
Brookline.com
-

One year ago, the battle over whether marijuana should be legal for adults to use was raging in Massachusetts. Now that it’s settled, the combatants are still engaged in a skirmish over how the legal marijuana market should be structured and regulated in Massachusetts.

The Cannabis Control Commission is in the middle of a series of listening sessions around the state and organizations from both sides of the legalization debate are hoping to pack those sessions to sway the commission’s regulations in their favor.

“We need the prevention community’s voice heard at these meetings,” the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance, which opposed medical marijuana and adult use legalization, wrote to supporters in an email Tuesday. “PLEASE arrange your schedules to attend the remaining four of seven sessions THIS WEEK.”

Jody Hensley, policy advisor for the Prevention Alliance, said the organization wants to make sure community health supersedes interests of the marijuana industry as the CCC writes the rules of the budding industry.

“The overarching point is that the Cannabis Control Commission needs to be very clear that this drug is not harmless,” Hensley said. “Our government is here to protect us from the excesses of industry that could harm the public, and the Cannabis Control Commission is here to protect the people, not the industry.”

The alliance’s priority is protecting “community rights to maintain norms that protect families and children from drug use,” Hensley said. That means restricting marijuana edibles and concentrates “as much as possible,” limiting the potency of certain marijuana products, mandating strict advertising restrictions, cracking down on public consumption, and state-funded marijuana prevention education in every school.

“Open advertising of drugs works against protecting communities and families. Outlet density works against protecting families and children,” she said. “The data is clear; in Colorado where more pot is available the general population use rates are higher. Where there is more of this drug, more people are using it.”

Prevention Alliance supporters are also expected to press the CCC to impose strict product liability standards and dram shop laws to hold marijuana shops liable if they sell psychotropic marijuana to a person who is clearly impaired, and to adopt a strong standard for driving while high in order to discourage impaired driving.

The alliance is also worried that the “real and growing problem” of cannabis use disorder and the potential for addiction is being overlooked, especially by teens, because the prevailing message is that marijuana is legal and not harmful to adults.

“It absolutely has gotten lost,” Hensley said. “The pro-marijuana campaigns have captured a narrative that no one gets hurt by this drug, but a lot of people get hurt by this drug.”

She said the Prevention Alliance is trying to muster as many of its supporters as it can to counter the messaging of marijuana industry groups at the CCC listening sessions. Alliance supporters told her they were vastly outnumbered by industry lobbyists at a CCC listening session last week in Holyoke.

The legal cannabis industry and its advocates are also encouraging its supporters to make their voices heard at CCC listening sessions as a way to blunt the impact of testimony from groups like the Prevention Alliance.

“It is likely that legalization opponents will show up and advocate for restrictive regulations that would harm the rollout of a safe, effective legalization system,” Matt Schweich, the director of state campaigns for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), wrote in a Tuesday email to supporters. “We need as many legalization supporters as possible to balance the opposition messaging and to call on the CCC to meet their deadlines.”

The MPP, the national group that backed the Yes on 4 legalization campaign here, already had its chance to tell the CCC how it should craft its regulations. Last week, Will Luzier and Jim Borghesani — formerly of Yes on 4, now working for MPP — laid out three principles they would like the CCC to follow: appropriately controlling the legal market while withering the black market, keeping marijuana regulations similar to those for alcohol and writing cannabis regulations that mirror those in other legal states.

Though the legality of marijuana is settled, the fine details are left to the CCC to hammer out in its regulations.

Among the topics the CCC regulations must cover are: the method and form of application for a marijuana license, a schedule of fees related to the application and licensing process, qualifications for licensure and minimum standards for employment, requirements for record keeping and tracking marijuana, minimum security and insurance standards, health and safety standards, and agricultural standards.

The bulk of the regulations, the ones which must be in place in order for the CCC to issue licenses, must be promulgated no later than March 15, 2018. Retail sales are expected to begin in July 2018.

The CCC held a listening session on Martha’s Vineyard on Tuesday, in Worcester on Wednesday morning, and plans to hold sessions in Boston on Thursday and Pittsfield on Friday. The CCC will also accept written comments until the end of the month by email at cannabiscommission@state.ma.us.

Once the CCC drafts its regulations and releases them, the commission plans to conduct a separate public hearing and comment period before the rules take effect.

Remains Of Brookline WWII Airman Returned

By
Brookline.com
-

After 72 years of being missing in action the remains of Brookline WWII airman, Richard Horwitz, have been identified and returned to Massachusetts.

Seventy-two years after his Army Air Forces bomber disappeared over the mountaintops in Northern Italy, Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Richard M. Horwitz is coming home.

Horwitz will be buried in West Roxbury Sunday with full military honors, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency reports. Gov. Charlie Baker has also ordered all flags in the commonwealth to be flown at half staff for the day.

Horwitz, a Brookline native and 22 at the time, was a member of the 716th Bomber Squadron, 449th Bombardment Group and, along with 10 other airmen, was assigned to a B-24J Liberator aircraft. Flying out of Grottaglie Army Air Base in Italy on Feb. 28, 1945, the bomber had completed a combat mission targeting a railroad bridge in Northern Italy to disrupt German supply lines and was headed with other aircraft to a rallying point to regroup. But Horwitz’ bomber never made it.

The B-24J was later seen skimming the mountain tops with at least two damaged engines before disappearing near a lake in Austria. The crew were reported missing in action.

The bodies of five of the 11 crew members were recovered in the years immediately after the disappearance, but the aircraft’s wreckage and other crew members remained unaccounted for. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the American Graves Registration Service, meeting in Rome in 1948, concluded the plane crashed somewhere in the north Adriatic Sea.

In 2013, an Italian citizen located the wreckage of the plane off the coast of Grado, Italy. Horwitz’ remains were identified in 2015. Horwitz’s remains were identified through historical evidence, dental and bone analysis and by comparing DNA to a relative, the Associated Press reports.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, there are 72,990 service members still unaccounted for from World War II. The Agency estimates approximately 26,000 are potentially recoverable.

 

Brookline Farmers’ Market

By
Brookline.com
-

The Brookline Farmers’ Market has been running for over thirty years, thanks to hard-working vendors and wonderful customers.  Market vendors bring a diversity of products, most of which are produced here in Massachusetts.

The market runs every Thursday 1:30 – 6:30 p.m. from June 1 – November 16, 2017, rain or shine.  It is held in the Centre Street West Parking Lot in Coolidge Corner.

Please explore the Brookline Farmers’ Market website to find out more.

 

Brookline’s New Leaf Blower Laws Take Effect

By
Brookline.com
-

It is officially leaf blower season in Brookline, and officials are getting the word out to residents about new regulations approved at Town Meeting a year ago.

A pamphlet detailing the new changes was sent out to all Brookline residents, said Kevin Johnson, the town’s director of highway and sanitation.

The main change in the leaf blower bylaw is that property owners are now liable for any offense, and can be fined up to $150 for repeated infractions.

More specifically, property owners are now co-responsible, along with hired landscaping companies, to adhere to the new permitted hours and times.

In Brookline, leaf blowers are banned between May 16 and September 30, and between January 1 and March 14. During any of the permitted days, leaf blowers are allowed, as long as they comply with noise level restrictions, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays, and from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekends and holidays.

Previously, the town allowed leaf blower operation until 8 p.m. on weekends.

First offenses come with a written warning, while second offenses will result in a $50 fine. A third offense is a $100 fine, while any subsequent violations would be a $150 penalty.

The revised bylaw also states that only a maximum of two leaf blowers are allowed on properties of 7,500 square feet or less.

Yet another change in the bylaw concerns how the town handles and enforces complaints.

The Department of Public Works is now in charge of receiving and keeping track of complaints and the police department handles enforcement.

Additionally, Johnson said the town recently hired an assistant recycling coordinator, who will partly have the responsibility of monitoring and helping to enforce new changes to the leaf blower bylaw.

Catching rogue leaf blowers in the act, however, is difficult, said Johnson, since a fine can only be doled out if a town official witnesses the infraction.

To comply with the town’s permissible leaf blower noise level, operators must use leaf blowers with a manufacturer’s sticker or a DPW sticker certifying a noise level of no more than 67 decibels when measured at a distance of 50 feet.

To get a sticker from the DPW, operators can visit the town’s Municipal Service Center on the first and third Tuesday of the following months: October, November, December, March, April and May.

 

Tales Of A Brookline Boyhood Recounted

By
Brookline.com
-

As a fourth-generation Brookline resident, Jim Harnedy grew up surrounded by an entire clan of relatives that can trace their history in town back to the 1850s. But over the years, his family has scattered around the country and not one of his relatives remains in town today.

Now living in Machiasport, Maine, Harnedy has just finished working on an autobiographical novel called “A Brookline Boyhood in the 1930s and 40s.” In his book, Harnedy shares a series of personal memories, interwoven with local and worldwide historical events such as the burning of Brookline High School in 1936, the Great Depression and World War II. The book is set for release on Nov. 14.

“The book is written from the standpoint of a kid. So if it’s written from that standpoint it provides a totally different view of history, of that tumultuous era of the Great Depression and the war years,” said Harnedy.

In addition to personal anecdotes, you can also find a total of 75 vintage photos depicting Harnedy and his family as he grew up in Brookline.

“A Brookline Boyhood” begins with Harnedy’s family tree, laying out all of his grandparents, aunts and uncles in Brookline. Except for his immediate family, all of Harnedy’s relatives lived on the same street. Many of his relatives were active members of the community — for example, one of his uncles was a firefighter, and another was the postmaster of the Brookline Village post office.

One of the first memories Harnedy presents in his book features Saturday dinners at his grandma’s house. Every week, the entire family would get together and eat.

“The whole clan would show up. For years everyone in the family would gather around the table and dinner would always be the same: baked beans, hot dogs, brown bread and for dessert some kind of pie,” said Harnedy.

After introducing his family, Harnedy then begins a series of memories starting from the 1930s up until his freshman year at Boston College.

“After that, I left Brookline and I haven’t been back to live or do anything in town since then,” said Harnedy.

Even so, Harnedy remembers his Brookline life vividly.

“I didn’t have to do much research. A lot of this came from the top of my head because I have a pretty good memory. I would go back and edit, and if I had questions I would make sure everything was correct,” said Harnedy.

Harnedy describes witnessing the smoke coming out of Brookline High School in 1936 and performing emergency surgery on a kitten during one of his family vacations. He also recounts learning about the German invasion of Poland in 1939 from a portable radio while he and his family were fishing on a lake.

“I talk about what it was like being on the home front during World War II, what radio programs we listened to, my first experience going to a baseball game and our vacations. [The book] tells what life was like before the internet and TV,” said Harnedy.

Harnedy dedicated the book to his best friend, Lieutenant Leroy Randall Filmore Jr., who passed away in a crash in 1958 while doing naval exercises in the Mediterranean. Filmore grew up in Brookline across the street from Harnedy.

Harnedy now lives with his wife and dog in Maine. He is currently a senior editor of “Activities Guide of Maine,” which is a quarterly magazine. He also has extensive experience writing historical novels; “A Brookline Boyhood” is Harnedy’s ninth book. He is currently working on a tenth called “Forgotten Tales of Down East Maine,” which will be published in 2018. Both books will be published by Fonthill Media/Arcadia Publishing.

Harnedy’s latest book offers a unique and personalized account of what it was like to live in the Boston area during the 1930s and 40s. As the Goodreads blurb says, “Through masterful storytelling and a vast assortment of vintage photos, Jim captures the culture, traditions and mood of the country during some of our nation’s most tumultuous times.”

 

Looking To Hire Speech Language Pathologist

By
Brookline.com
-

ATX Learning is looking for Speech Language Pathologist for our sites. This is an exciting opportunity to join a stable and growing organization. Candidate must have a current Massachusetts license / eligible to apply, to practice as a speech pathologist.

Benefits:

  • best salaries, 12 months payment schedule;;
  • insurance and retirement plan (with company match);
  • direct deposit;
  • paid time off (PTO) to spend with your family and friends;
  • longevity bonus;
  • paid licensing fees;
  • paid ASHA dues;
  • budget for tools;
  • CFY supervision;
  • referral bonuses;
  • genuine appreciation;
  • career growth;
  • … and many more!

Responsibilities:

  • Responsibilities include providing direct and indirect speech/language services for students.
  • Management of all aspects of student programming include: speech/language therapy, assessment, writing IEP’s, and collaborating with staff and parents effectively.
  • Must be flexible, have a strong desire to improve student learning, and collaborate in a professional learning community.
  • Possess the ability to support children with communication challenges.
  • Develop and maintain collaboration with colleagues, staff and other providers.
  • Demonstrate effective skills in evaluation, screening and assessment, including adhering to state and federal guidelines and procedures.

Qualifications:

  • Connecticut SLP Certification;
  • Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology;
  • ASHA CCC or Clinical Fellow.

Occupation Classification Requirements:

  • Speech-Language Pathologist or
  • Speech-Language Pathologist (CFY) or
  • Speech-Language Pathology Assistant.

To apply, please click here.

 

Brookline To Consider Indigenous Peoples Day Instead Of Columbus Day

By
Brookline.com
-

A resolution has been brought forth in Brookline to recognize the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day rather than Columbus Day.

The change would bring awareness to the history and importance of Native Americans in the U.S. rather than celebrate the deaths of those people, supporters say.

Voters will take up the resolution at Brookline Special Town Meeting on Nov. 14.

“As we write this, there is increasing awareness about the pain and damage caused by symbols such as confederate flags and statues, attention should also be paid to the longstanding request of many native people to abolish the Columbus Day holiday, which to them is a celebration of the deaths of millions of their people, and instead declare Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday in October in order to bring more awareness to the history and continued presence of native people here in the US,” reads the resolution, which is article 20 on the Town Meeting warrant.

Cities are beginning to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day rather than Columbus Day in New England and beyond.

Cambridge, Amherst and Northampton all celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, celebrating the natives who lived on the land before Columbus arrived in 1492.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the first Massachusetts tribe to make contact with the Pilgrims, will now call the second Monday in October Indigenous Peoples Day.

And, Plimouth Plantation recently announced that it would recognize Indigenous Peoples Day.

There is a petition circling to name an Indigenous Peoples Day in Boston.

The Indigenous Peoples Day movement started in Berkeley, California in 1992 to change the scope of the holiday in protest of honoring cruelty against natives by Christopher Columbus and his men.

In Brookline, supporters cite various reasons for wanting to make the change, including the reported rape and enslavement of native women and girls and accounts of murder against natives.

The resolution claims that two Brookline residents purchased seven Native Americans and sold them as slaves.

“Other accounts refer to signs of an Indigenous village that was located in the area where the Ackers family subsequently established a farm, near the present-day Brookline Reservoir, by Boylston and Eliot Streets,” the resolution reads.

A Facebook page for the Brookline movement has been updating people with meeting dates ahead of the Special Town Meeting.

 

Police Investigating Thefts In Women-Owned Businesses In Brookline

By
Brookline.com
-

Brookline Police are urging business owners to be on the lookout for a man posing as a customer at local businesses as part of a scheme to steal from employees.

Police were first called to Poppy’s Dressmaking back on September 21.

“They heard the front door open, when they went out front, a male was standing there and asked what it cost to have a shirt dry cleaned,” said Lieutenant Phil Harrington.

Moments after the man left, the owner realized he had taken her iPhone right off the front counter.

“The employee then returned to where they had been working, and realized their cellphone was also missing,” said Lt. Phil Harrington, a spokesperson for the department.

Police used the “Find my iPhone” app to track the phone a few blocks down from Beacon Street before it was shut off. When police began canvassing the area, they found the same man hit a nail salon on the same say.

“He asked about paying for an appointment. He was told ‘no, you have to pay at the time of service.

He then asked to use the bathroom in the back of the store and then proceeded to exit the store,” said Lt. Harrington.

Police are now working to determine if these incidents have any connection to a string of similar crimes that happened last year.

Anthony Binsfield hit five stores in Brookline and several in Boston late last year, posing as an HVAC technician to steal credit cards and personal items from employees. He was released from jail August 31 after serving eight months for larceny.

“(It’s a) very specific type of crime where they are taking advantage of these local businesses,” said Lt. Harrington. “It’s very frustrating to think these people were taken advantage of, these employees.”

As the investigation continues, police are urging local store owners to be aware and to keep customers in eyesight if possible.

“If somebody comes in and asks to use your employee bathroom, let us know or keep an eye on them. Escort them to and from the bathroom,” Lt. Harrington said. “It’s unfortunate where we’re at right now, (that) people are out there doing this.”

 

Betty M. Donahue Passes At 89

By
Brookline.com
-

Betty M. (Michelini) Donahue of Westwood, a former resident of Mashpee, died October 2, at the age of 89.

She was the widow of Thomas F. Donahue. High school sweethearts, the couple had been married for nearly 60 years at the time of his death in 2013.

Born in Brookline, she was the daughter of Adam J. Michelini and Marion E. (Ingalls) Michelini.

She attended the Devotion School in Coolidge Corner and graduated from Brookline High School in 1945 and Boston University in 1949. She went on to receive her master’s degree in education in 1953 from the Boston University School of Education.

Ms. Donahue worked for many years as an educator in the Lexington, Boston, and Mashpee school systems, as well as at St. John’s in Canton.

She loved to entertain friends playing the piano, including at venues like The Popponesset Inn.

A former resident of Needham, she had also lived in New Seabury; and Stuart, Florida.

She leaves her children, Thomas Donahue Jr. and his wife, Anne Donahue, of Vernon, Connecticut, Patricia Donahue and her husband, Greg Sacca, of Gloucester, Nancy Mihos and her husband, Chris Mihos, of North Easton, Katherine Kelleher of Walpole, and John Donahue and his wife, Lynn Donahue, of Wellesley; 12 grandchildren; her brother, Bradford Michelini of Latham, New York; and extended family.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated yesterday at Parish of Christ the King in Mashpee.

Burial was at Great Neck Woods Cemetery in Mashpee.

 

Parking Garage Extension Forms Home For Architects Ensamble

By
Brookline.com
-

To build their own home in the Massachusetts town of Brookline, the principals of Spanish firm Ensamble Studio prefabricated individual parts of the structure in Madrid and sailed them across the Atlantic to be assembled on site.

Although usually based in the Spanish capital, Ensamble founders Débora Mesa and Antón García-Abril conduct research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, USA. They therefore needed a secondary residence close to the university, so decided to create one for themselves. The result is Cyclopean House, which was completed in 2015.

A decommissioned parking garage serves as the base of the home, in which the architects have installed a workshop, parking, and utility spaces. Their intervention is an extension upwards, which accommodates the family’s living spaces within a 240-square-metre box.

“The gloomy construction is completed with the big room built on it by the assembly of the large prefabricated elements that rest after their long transatlantic voyage,” said a statement from Ensamble, which Mesa and García-Abril founded in 2000.

Prefabricated metal trusses form the living space above the garage, which has a flexible, open-concept layout. “This open-plan double-height living area includes the main domestic activities and enables the transformation of the residual building into a two-story residential unit,” the architects said.

Furniture and other amenities were tucked into spaces that match the depth of the structural beams. On the western facade, the architects tucked away a kitchen nook, bathroom and storage spaces.

To the south, a pull-out bed and wardrobes were also hidden away within the thick walls. The north and eastern sides of the square plan are occupied by bright red couches, which can accommodate guests if necessary.

A flight of metallic stairs with a glass guardrail leads up to a mezzanine overlooking the entire space. Expansive windows on this level bring light into the house, while maintaining some privacy for the open-plan configuration.

“The rest of the plan is cleared to be shared by different events succeeding in time, and functions have the option to expand into the central space as needed, determining its temporary layout,” said Ensamble.

A rooftop deck allows the residents to enjoy an elevated view of the surrounding neighbourhood. A wall on the side of the terrace facing the street partially cuts off the space. However, the other three sides of the square are protected by a simple chain-link fence, which can be seen through easily.

The architects envision this construction system as a rapid and effective way of building. The beams that form the walls of the house are mostly comprised of insulation, making them very light. Furthermore, their size makes it possible to deliver them to a job site ready-made, potentially saving on resources for construction.

“Dry joints and material lightness enable the different elements to be produced out of site, including finishes and fixtures,” the studio said. “These are easily transported by ship and regular trucks and quickly placed together following a rhythmic sequence that is carefully planned beforehand.”

Last year, Ensamble completed several monumental interventions at the newly opened Tippet Rise Arts Center in Montana. More recently, they were invited to participate in the Chicago Architecture Biennial’s reinterpretation of the 1922 Chicago Tribune skyscraper competition.

 

Pine Manor To Brookline’s Elected Officials: You Are Not Welcome Here

By
Brookline.com
-

Yesterday the president of Pine Manor, which sits on some 52 acres of land in Brookline, 7 of which the town is considering taking by eminent domain wrote a letter to the town and residents letting them know that they are still welcome to come to the campus, to use the tennis courts, the library and check out the museum. But town officials? Not welcome.

It is the latest in the sudden public back and forth between the college and the town in the past two weeks, following the release of a letter by the board of selectmen outlining why they are looking into the possibility of taking part of the college property to use as a place to build a ninth elementary school.

The president of Pine Manor College previously told town officials the college was not interested in sectioning off any more property (It sold land to the Patriot’s Tom Brady and sectioned off some land if it needed to sell during a period before the current president came on board). But the town has run up against roadblocks to each of the other options it previously thought viable. Two weeks ago the Board of Selectmen and School Committee voted to explore the possibility of taking the Pine Manor land by eminent domain and bring it to the public, to the surprise of Pine Manor.

The president of the college wrote a letter imploring town officials to reconsider. The following week officials invited him to speak at a public meeting regarding what taking of the land could look like. The following day Pine Manor filed an open meeting law complaint. And then wrote another letter to the town.

The first part of the letter is addressed to residents and neighbors inviting them to come visit the campus. The second part takes a more terse tone with elected officials.

“To the Town Officials of Brookline, this letter shall serve as notice that Town of Brookline officials, employees, and their agents, including professional engineers, surveyors, or others Working for the Town, may not come onto Pine Manor College property for the purpose of testing, excavating, examining, or otherwise inspecting Pine Manor College’s property, without prior written notice and written approval by the President of the College, until further notice. I regret having to take this action, but recent events, of which Town officials are aware, make this action and notice necessary,” reads the letter signed by Tom O’Reilly.

O’Reilly said he sent the letter because at the Tuesday meeting where the unveiling of the potential plans the town mentioned they would need to do the testing.

“Given a hostile seizure has been proposed, the Town cannot be allowed to do this,” said O’Reilly.

The chairman of the Board of Selectmen was not immediately available for comment. We will update.

The full letter:

“To the residents of Brookline, our friends and our neighbors:

On behalf of the Pine Manor College Community I want to affirm that all Brookline residents and the Brookline Community at large are welcome to visit and enjoy the Pine Manor College campus. It has always been that way, and it will remain that way. Come, spend time with us in the way you would with any neighbor or friend.

To the Town Officials of Brookline, this letter shall serve as notice that Town of Brookline officials, employees, and their agents, including professional engineers, surveyors, or others Working for the Town, may not come onto Pine Manor College property for the purpose of testing, excavating, examining, or otherwise inspecting Pine Manor College’s property, without prior written notice and written approval by the President of the College, until further notice. I regret having to take this action, but recent events, of which Town officials are aware, make this action and notice necessary.

If you have any questions concerning this notice, please contact me at the College.

Very truly yours,
Tom O’Reilly”

Paraprofessional / Teacher Assistant Job

By
Brookline.com
-

Brookline, Massachusetts – High School Paraprofessional job available – immediate interviews.

Full time, full school year.

Will also provide classroom support for students – wide range of instructional / behavioral needs.

Minimal qualifications:

Candidates must have a Bachelor’s Degree and experience working with adolescents. Experience working with a behaviorally challenged population is preferred.

Contact Stacy Richardson at 813-749-5187 for additional details, or forward a resume to stacy.richardson@sunbeltstaffing.com for review.

Stacy Richardson
National Staffing Manager- Pupil Services Division

 

DNA Links Man To 2013 Brookline Break Ins

By
Brookline.com
-

Brookline police recently connected evidence with a man who previously served time for breaking into St. Mary’s Church and stole the church car to another break in in town. On Sept. 29, the man was sentenced to an additional three to four years of state prison followed by a year on probation, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The connected evidence? Brookline Police were able to capture DNA from the crime scene and send it to the lab for analysis.

Gerard Cribbie, of Dorchester pleaded guilty on Sept. 29 to all of the charges against him: one count of breaking and entering in the night time to commit a felony and two counts of attempting to commit a 2013 crime in Brookline.

Prosecutor David Ringius, Jr. asked the judge to send him to state prison for 5 years with 2 years of probation supervision after. Defense attorney J. Dan Silverman asked for 2 years state prison with 1 year probation to follow.

“We’ve always processed crime scenes for fingerprints, but there have been times recently that we’ve seen culprits wearing gloves,” said Brookline Chief of Police Dan O’Leary. So some times processing for prints is not as successful as it once was. “A half dozen years ago we trained everybody on DNA collection and what to look for,” he said.

They submit DNA samples to an outside lab for analysis. If the lab has a record of the same DNA there’s a match and the case can go from there. The upside is that DNA collection and the database are growing.

“The only downside to that is it does take longer,” he said. If the DNA match is in the database, and it’s not a person to person crime. it can take about 9 months which is better than previously, he said. But it still takes a while.

What happened in Brookline:

On August 18, 2013, Brookline Police received reports of an attempted breaking and entering into several offices at 7 Harvard Street in Brookline. One particular office was in a state of disarray with papers and other objects moved around, a briefcase and polo shirt were both missing. But it appeared the suspect left behind a coke bottle and red t-shirt. Police took various such items for processing as they investigated the case.

That same day, police arrested Cribbie, then 45, for breaking into St. Mary’s on the corner of Harvard and Linden and stealing a laptop, an iPod, and a car that had “St. Mary’s Church” plastered on the side just two days earlier. Dedham police found the car with the hood still warm. Officers were able to charge the man, who they said was known to them for breaking into area churches, after finding his fingerprints on a candy dish. Cribbie had been on the state’s most wanted list in 2006 for escaping from the Department of Corrections Pre-Release center in Boston while serving a sentence for breaking and entering.

He was convicted of the church break in and was still serving time when, in January of 2015, the State Lab was able to get a DNA sample from Cribbie’s shirt and match it to the shirt left behind in the office break in, according to a Brookline Police blog post.

He had just finished serving time for a different breaking and entering this month and taken into custody for the new charges. He was also charged in connection with a break-in in Western Mass while this case was pending and was being held in lieu of bail on that case at the time of this sentencing.

 

Darrius Lee Meets With Members Of The BPD

By
Brookline.com
-

Last week members of the Brookline Police Special Response Team had the chance to meet Darrius Lee who spent the day as an honorary member of the Phoenix Police SWAT team.

Darrius has been diagnosed with sickle cell anemia and brought his best friend along to be his partner. Darrius’s day was facilitated through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The BPD was honored to meet such a brave boy.

 

Triwizard Tournament – Teens & Adults

By
Brookline.com
-

Join us at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament — will you be this year’s Champion?

Once you disembark at Hogwarts, you will:

  • pick up your School (and House, if applicable) badge;
  • pick up your wand at Ollivander’s at your appointed time (check your ticket for your time!);
  • wander through Diagon Alley;
  • show off your Yule Ball best – dress robes at their finest;
  • get your portait taken courtesy of the Daily Prophet;
  • visit our Hogwarts Portrait Gallery (listen carefully!);
  • feast in the Great Hall;
  • compete for School points through competing in the Triwizard tournament challenges;
  • meet your favorite characters from all over the Harry Potter Universe;
  • triumph in the final confrontation with He Who Must Not Be Named.

Tickets:

  • Tickets will be available starting at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, October 20th.
  • 50 tickets will be made available on October 20th.
  • Each day after, at 6:00 p.m., 50 more tickets will become available until Friday, October 27th. By Friday, all tickets will be available.
  • We are running the ticketing this way this year to allow as many people as possible the chance to join us.

All ages: This event, taking place from 2:00-4:00 p.m. on November 5th, is for all ages with activities for younger competitors up to 8th grade.

Teens 9th grade and up and adults: Our evening event, 6:30-8:30 PM, is limited to teens in grades 9 and up through to adults. To register for that event, please register here.

If you sign up for the incorrect event, let us know ASAP at brklibeventbrite@minlib.net and we will fix your registration.

The entire trip is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Brookline Library, without which we would all be left at King’s Cross Station with no tickets. To find out more about the Friends and how they support our library, please visit their website here.

Public Library of Brookline
361 Washington Street
Brookline, MA 02445

 

Selectmen & School Committee Hold 1st Meeting About 9th School Alternative Site

By
Brookline.com
-

More than 75 people attended the first meeting to consider an alternative site for the 9th Elementary School held at the Brookline High School auditorium

Neil Wishinsky, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, opened the meeting detailing the rapid and ongoing expansion of enrollment growth in Public Schools that started in 2005 and continues today. He summarized the efforts of the Town and School Department to accommodate this growth through dividing classrooms, building classrooms, leasing space, and tolerating core spaces like gyms, cafeterias, and hallways that are two small for the number of students in the schools. Mr. Wishinsky described the legal complexities, conservation restrictions, and the threatened legal challenges from residents that have led the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee to identify a parcel owned by Pine Manor College as a possible alternative site. In voting to expand the sites under consideration, Mr. Wishinsky explained that the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee did not remove the Town-owned Baldwin site from consideration, nor did they authorize the taking of the College property by eminent domain. He quoted the exact language of the vote for those present:

“To modify the prior decision to locate the 9th elementary school on the Baldwin site by expanding the Town’s consideration of other sites to include acquiring land at Pine Manor College and conducting due diligence and obtaining public feedback to make a final decision on site selection.”

Mr. Wishinsky also reiterated that tonight’s meeting was just the first meeting of a public process to consider whether or not the Town should consider the Pine Manor parcel as a possible site and that there would be a Public Hearing on October 16th and numerous other hearings related to Town Meeting Warrant Article #5 relative to the 9th Elementary School. Mr. Wishinsky closed by saying:

“To be clear, we have not made any final decision about the site of the 9th elementary school and will not do so until more study has been completed and all public input is considered. Even then, a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting is required to authorize capital funding for a school project and authorize any taking of private property. Those questions will come before Town Meeting at a future date.”

Mr. Wishinsky then introduced Jonathan Levi, the architect who has been working with the Town and School Department on the 9th Elementary School project.Mr. Levi made a short presentation describing the planning previously completed on the Baldwin site and the upcoming review of the alternative site named by the Board of Selectmen and the School Committee. After reviewing the preferred design option for Baldwin considered by the 9th School Building Committee and the School Committee during spring 2017, he showed a new concept for Baldwin for a school that would fit on the southern portion of the Baldwin School. He explained that this alternative design at Baldwin would be between 3 and 5 stories and would have a greater impact on the existing traffic pattern at Hammond Street, Heath Street and Route 9. Mr. Levi concluded his presentation by showing a map of current and former Pine Manor property and three preliminary conceptual drawing showing how a school building could potentially fit on the Pine Manor parcel under consideration. Mr. Levi stressed that these drawings were made simply to illustrate that the site was large enough for a school building the size needed by the Town.

After Mr. Levi’s presentation, Chairman Wishinsky invited Tom O’Reilly, the President of Pine Manor College to make remarks. Mr. O’Reilly’s statement described the value of Pine Manor to its students, and shared the demographics of its students, their graduation and employment rates, and the perspective of two students and what they value about the college.

The next scheduled meeting on the 9th Elementary School will be a Joint Public Hearing on October 16 at the Brookline High School Auditorium.

Residents are encouraged to provide public comment at the public hearing or in advance via e-mail to Stephanie Orsini at sorsini@brooklinema.gov or by sending it as follows:

Board of Selectmen
Brookline Town Hall, 6th Floor
333 Washington Street
Brookline, MA 02445

 

Fenway Area To Take Time Out For New Food Hall

By
Brookline.com
-
Boston is getting another food hall — this one in the Fenway, featuring food and drink from the city’s top chefs, restaurateurs and mixologists along with work by rising Hub artists, all curated by a British media company.

Time Out Market Boston is scheduled to open in 2019 at 401 Park, the former Landmark Center in the Fenway that Samuels & Associates is redeveloping.

The 21,500-square-foot market is slated to have 16 food offerings, two bars, a cooking academy and retail store, with seating for 532 people indoors and 120 outdoors. It will be located at Brookline Avenue and Park Drive, in front of the new one-acre park that Samuels is creating to replace a former parking lot.

Time Out Group PLC’s print and digital media is focused on food, drink, music, theater, art, style, travel and entertainment for 108 cities in 39 countries. In 2014, it launched Time Out Market Lisbon in Portgual, which attracted 3.1 million visitors in 2016. A Miami market will open next year.

“We were very impressed with the overall energy of the (Lisbon) market, the great food experience and entertainment,” Samuels principal Peter Sougarides said. “We were very impressed as to how they’re using their editorial curation within their market experience as well, in terms of reviews and feedback from their digital audience.”

Time Out will manage the Hub market’s bars and provide other tenants with facilities, equipment and support services in return for a share of revenue.

“This is an exciting time to open Time Out Market in Boston, where the food scene has been steadily evolving,” Time Out Market CEO Didier Souillat said. “The restaurant sector is enormously supportive of young local chefs — as are we — which ensures … the pool of talent in the city is continuously growing.”

 

1...343536...56Page 35 of 56
Brookline, MA

Driven by the desire to keep abreast with the times, to be of use to our fellow citizens and all who are interested in what is happening in Brookline, MA, wherever in the world they might be, we created the Brookline.com website.

It is our effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, religious, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. Be part of this process, share with us your stories, opinions, successes or problems.

We are an independent non-profit educational endeavor, not associated with any local business, state or federal institution inside or outside the territory of the U.S.A.


Brookline.com

EVEN MORE NEWS

POPULAR CATEGORY

© Copyright 1996 - 2024 Brookline.com