Brookline respectfully requests your support for another three-year term in the At-Large town seat on the Boston Region MPO. For six years, Brookline has represented the region’s cities and towns with a practical municipal perspective and a commitment to solutions that benefit communities throughout the region. We understand how the process works, where projects encounter difficulty, and what cities and towns need from the MPO. Brookline is prepared and eager to continue that work on your behalf.
A perspective that reflects the region. Brookline experiences, within its own borders, the full range of transportation conditions found across the region. North Brookline is part of the urban core. Three branches of the Green Line serve the Town, and multiple MBTA bus routes cross municipal boundaries to connect residents with Boston and neighboring cities and towns. Its commercial districts are dense and active, and many residents walk, bicycle, or use transit for daily travel. South Brookline is distinctly suburban, with limited transit service, fewer safe bicycle connections, and a greater reliance on automobiles for most trips. The same Town staff plan, fund, and deliver projects in both settings. As a result, Brookline understands the priorities of inner-core communities as well as the challenges facing suburban towns that have waited years for improved service or safe connections. Brookline is well positioned to represent both.
A complex roadway network. Route 9, a state highway managed by MassDOT, runs through Brookline, several parkways within the Town are managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and a portion of the Town extends over the Massachusetts Turnpike. Safety and access on these corridors depend on coordination with state agencies, an experience Brookline shares with many municipalities in the region. Beacon Street, Washington Street, and Commonwealth Avenue are long, linear corridors, connected to a network of small, winding local streets. These corridors also serve as main streets for commercial and civic centers such as Coolidge Corner, Brookline Village, and Washington Square, where the same right-of way must accommodate transit riders, pedestrians, cyclists, deliveries, parking, visitors, employees/employers, parking and through traffic. Like many communities, Brookline is balancing the needs of aging infrastructure, including roadway condition, lighting, signals, and utilities, with the need to rebalance, upgrade, and improve the public right-of-way. That experience informs how Brookline evaluates projects and understands the tradeoffs other municipalities face.
Safe travel for every user. Brookline has eight K–8 public elementary schools located throughout the Town and one large high school serving the entire community. The Town’s Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee focuses on safe travel for students walking, bicycling, and traveling to and from school each day. Brookline also serves hospital workers, students and young professionals, older adults, diverse cultural backgrounds, and residents aging in place. Our transportation work focuses on multimodal access, equity, asset management, and safety, guided by ADA accessibility, Vision Zero, Complete Streets, and transit coordination.
A record of work on behalf of the region’s towns. Brookline has been an active member of the TIP Process, Engagement, and Readiness Committee, examining project readiness, cost escalation, schedule changes, municipal engagement, and transparency. We also shared municipal experiences and best practices during TIP project review discussions. Brookline understands the challenges municipalities face in delivering transformative projects: evolving technical requirements, utility coordination, public and political processes, competing community needs, and cost or schedule changes beyond a municipality’s control. These challenges are significant, and they can be especially difficult for communities without large engineering staffs or capital budgets.
Building on a productive term. Over the past term, the MPO has made meaningful improvements in how it communicates with cities and towns and in how it supports their critical projects. With your support, Brookline will work collaboratively with MPO/CTPS staff, MassDOT, MAPC, MBTA, and member communities to keep that progress going: continuing to streamline the path from concept to the TIP,strengthening early and consistent communication, expanding access to design funding, and advancing more municipal projects of every size into the queue. State and federal transportation funding is critical to our regional transportation network and to serving everyone in our communities, and Brookline is committed to helping put those resources to work.
Prepared to represent the region’s towns. Our goal is a more flexible, transparent, and reliable TIP that serves municipalities of every size. Brookline offers six years of experience on the MPO, a thorough understanding of the process, and the daily perspective of both an urban and a suburban community. Brookline is ready to continue representing the region’s cities and towns and respectfully requests your vote.