1. In a few sentences, how do you approach questions related to housing? Do you generally support building more multifamily housing in Brookline? How do you feel about density when it comes to housing?

I enthusiastically support building more multifamily housing in Brookline, particularly moderate to low-income housing. I am a renter that is struggling to stay in Brookline because of ever increasing rental costs. I am also in relationship to others in much worse situations than my own in Brookline. We are in a housing crisis that is displacing people, sinking people into significant debt, and causing long term, significant harm in the lives of less fortunate people. My approach to every issue including housing is always to look closely at the historical, current, and future impacts that policy has on those that are most often disproportionately harmed in an attempt to create or advocate for solutions that can facilitate everyone's ability to thrive in this community.

2. In 2021, the legislature passed a law requiring 175 cities and towns with MBTA stations, including Brookline, to establish a zoning district in which multifamily housing is permitted as-of-right—that is, without needing any variances or special permits. The Brookline Planning Department is working on a plan that would bring Brookline into compliance with this new law. Town Meeting will be debating their proposal in November, ahead of our compliance deadline of December 31, 2023. Do you generally support the direction that the Planning Department is taking toward leveraging Harvard Street as a key "Main Street" to bring us toward compliance? (Click here for more info on MBTA Communities Act and the Town's efforts toward compliance.) *

In addition to our housing crisis, we are in a climate crisis. The MBTA Communities Act is a law that will advance strategies to address both, if done well, by creating more housing density near public transit options. I am in support of the Planning Department's direction. As plans continue to develop, I will advocate for strategies to maximize low and moderate income housing production, the preservation of our existing businesses, and the development of new ones to expand our tax base as we move toward compliance with the MBTA Communities Act. Noncompliance is not an option. We are capable of creating a balance of density and green space while working to support our existing businesses through this transformation.

3. Housing policy is closely linked to other policy/political areas, such as transit, racial justice, and environmental policy. How do you think about housing policy as it interacts with these other issue areas?

Housing & Transportation:
As stated previously, I support the development of more density near public transit. With a combination of other strategies like rent control policies and the elimination of exclusionary zoning, higher density housing around public transportation lessens the cost of living by making it possible for many to not need a car, eliminating the physical space and costs associated with them, while making it possible to create less costly housing options.

Housing & Racial Justice:
Across the country Black, Indigenous, and Latino people experience housing insecurity at much higher rates than white people due to historical and ongoing discriminatory practices, racist housing policy, and the fact that they hold the least amount of wealth compared to white people. The work needed to begin to reverse these inequities is inextricably linked with many other problematic systems, but, really, it begins in our own mind. We can make anything happen if we want to. It begins with taking the first small steps in our sphere of influence. In Town Meeting, there are many avenues to choose from. Some examples of that are assessing the negative impacts of our policies and practices that are perpetuating barriers to the development of and access to safe and truly affordable housing; creating resources for housing insecure residents that are on the brink of eviction as COVID protections are removed; and following the lead of neighboring communities that have collaborated with organizations to establish things like community land trusts to secure affordability in perpetuity. There are many models of these concepts in action. It only takes the will to make them happen.

Housing & Climate Change:
I believe that as we move towards higher density developments to solve the housing crisis, we must require developers to build in climate change mitigation infrastructure to battle the climate crisis. We have already taken great strides in this direction in Brookline. I hope to see this become the norm across the state and the country and become less and less of a burden for residents as time goes on. 

4. Anything else you’d like to add about housing production, affordability, and economic development in town?

Housing is a human right. Housing justice should be established as a core value in our municipality.

What is a "debt exclusion"?
A debt exclusion is a temporary debt taken on by tax payers to finance a very specific project - like the building of a school in our case. Residents will be voting to agree or reject taking on a specific amount of temporary debt (tax increase) for the Pierce School project. When it is complete, that tax increase ends.

From my perspective, this is very much an equity issue. How can a town like Brookline that values our schools so highly allow one of our K-8 schools to not be ADA compliant, resulting in students with mobility issues to be sent to other schools; allow learning barriers like the open floor plan classrooms to continue to; and allow our students to be learning in hallways? 

I am 100% in alignment with the views of the YES For Brookline campaign. 
The facts below are collected from their website where you can find more details.

DO NOT be fooled by the NO on Question 1 signs that imply that Brookline will be responsible for $212 million dollars. With Massachusetts contributing up to $38 million, the new school will cost Brookline ~$172 million and is the most cost effective option we have to modernize this building that is failing the students and community. 

The 1974 Pierce renovation was designed to hold 550 students, but over the past 10+ years the school has consistently had 700 to 900 students enrolled.

One poorly designed area now holds 240+ students in a single cavernous open space filled with ineffective "classrooms" without walls surrounding the library. As someone with auditory processing challenges when there is a lot of competing noise around me, I would have struggled to succeed in this loud and distracting environment. There are many, many others like me.

With ~200 more students than originally designed, the current building results in unacceptable situations, including students learning in hallways and closets, students being forced to walk through busy classrooms to reach their own classroom or learning centers, and lunches as early as 10:15 AM.

The building also violates safety and accessibility standards. Students with physical limitations often cannot go to recess and may be reassigned to other schools.

Why renovation isn't the answer:
The best renovation option only addresses accessibility and the open floor plan - and addressing those issues actually further decreases the existing 550 student capacity of the school.

Voting Yes on Question 1 will build a modern, fossil-fuel-free, safe, accessible, appropriately-sized Pre-K, elementary AND middle school and unlock tens of millions of dollars in state matching funds.

Voting NO on Question 1 to put the project on pause to explore other options jeopardizes those tens of millions of state matching funds and ignores the fact that other options have been EXTENSIVELY explored. 

Find an extensive FAQ on the YES For Brookline campaign website. 

What is an "override"?
An override refers to the Massachusetts Prop 2 1/2 law which limits the ability of a municipality to increase taxes by more than 2.5% annually. An override raises the base of the tax levy by the amount of the override so that the annual 2.5% would now be levied on top of that amount.

This override is critically necessary for all of the needs that constituents have brought to my attention recently: road repairs, keeping our schools and our teachers functioning at the high level we have come to expect, rodent control, and competitive wages for the Town's employees. 

I am 100% in alignment with the views of the YES For Brookline campaign on Question 2A.
Some of the facts below are collected from their website where you can find more details.

Brookline has a structural operating budget deficit in which our Town expenses grow faster each year than our Town revenues given legal limits imposed by a Reagan-era state law called Proposition 2½. Because of Proposition 2½, the Town will have to make devastating cuts to town and school services if the override fails.

What are Questions 2A & 2B? 

• Question 2A is the base operating override is $4.995M for the Town and $6.988M for PSB for a total of $11.983M cumulative over 3 years. Levy increases would go up 2.2% in Year 1, 1.1% in Year 2, and 1% in Year 3. 

• Question 2B is everything in Question 2A plus an additional $1.85M for municipal composting for a total of $13.833M cumulative over 3 years.

What will the override be used for?

On the Town side:

• Maintaining and/or restoring Town staffing/services ($1.36M), DPW vehicles (e.g. snow plows) and facilities maintenance ($425K)

• Improving Town services through road/streetscape maintenance ($2.1M), rodent control ($226K), tree management ($155K), enhanced planning and building maintenance capacity ($458K)

• Support for vulnerable populations, e.g. seniors, immigrants, low-income residents ($271K)

• Question 2B would include $1.85M for curbside composting.  

On the School side:

• Maintaining existing School services ($6.1M) 

• Improving School services ($886K) through athletics programming, buses for BHS students who live in South Brookline, World Language redesign, and additional nursing and special education staff.  

If Question 2A passes: It will allow Brookline to increase the pace of completing school and town maintenance and infrastructure projects town wide (including road repair and addressing the rat problem in Brookline), and expand the planning department’s capacity to facilitate a comprehensive Town plan.

If Question 2B Passes it will establish a town wide curbside composting program

If Question 2A fails:

• In the Town, there will be significant cuts of $800K plus to Town services, Brookline will continue to lose employees due to uncompetitive salaries, and the critical new initiatives (e.g. maintaining streets, rodent control, etc) will not be funded .  

• In the Schools the superintendent shared the impact of a failed override on April 10th.  Most improvements will not occur and the Schools will be forced to cut $6.3M from its budget ($3.25M next year alone), leading to class sizes of up to 30 and (not or) elimination of multiple cherished programs.  School Committee member Mariah Nobrega has also written about the impacts at bit.ly/PSBbudget. 

• Question 2B will also fail because its passing is contingent on the passing of the base operating override (2A).

Find an extensive FAQ on the YES for Brookline website.