Given the Town’s bleak fiscal outlook, I am glad this year’s Select Board debate has centered on new tax growth from mixed-use/commercial development. Only Michael Rubenstein has the voting and executive leadership record to achieve this.
I have worked on economic development for Brookline as a TMM in P13, a former co-chair of EDAB, and a member of the Brookline Fiscal Advisory Committee (BFAC). Brookline currently has no pipeline of permitted projects for new growth, and will only become more unaffordable, since our current zoning prohibits any meaningful mixed-use or commercial development.
Starting with the rezoning making possible the Coolidge Corner Marriott 25 years ago, economic development successes have been Select Board-led. The 2016 rezoning for the Hilton Garden Inn is the most recent success. In 2020, BFAC recommended the Select Board as the Town body to drive economic development. With the notable exception of the 2023 rezoning of Harvard Street, recent Select Board-led efforts to rezone sites prioritized in the 2005 Comprehensive Plan have been unsuccessful.
Rubenstein is the only candidate who voted for Harvard Street’s rezoning, joining 84% of Town Meeting. He has the vision and executive experience to promote the economic development we desperately need.