Some Things I Think You Should Know

Basically it works like this: Total property taxes collected in 2020 = (Total property taxes collected in 2019 * 1.025) + (any new overrides). Property taxes charged per $1,000 of property value = Total property taxes collected in 2020 / (Total adjusted value of all property in town* / 1000) * This value is adjusted by various exemptions, notably the residential exemption. So - the value of a given property affects how much you vs your neighbors pay. - the value of a given property does not affect total property taxes collected - the value of all property across town affects the tax per $1,000 of home value - the value of all property across town does not affect total property taxes collected There are some more wrinkles in the calculation (e.g., new developments), and the 2.5% is a maximum, so a town can choose to increase by less, but not by more unless there's an override. But this covers the point generally.

Introduction Since I've become a bit of local resource on voting rules and regulations (but have the freedom to speak my mind as I don't work for the Town), I thought I'd do a small summary of the bill just passed by the Massachusetts Legislature (H4820) to prepare for the remaining elections this year due to COVID19. First, a few caveats: 1. I am not an expert on election law. I do have some professional expertise in reading policy and bill texts, but not on elections specifically. Elections have been a bit of a hobby of mine and I have now worked as an Election Worker for about 12 years, but outside of those couple days a year, I do not have any official attachment to any organization on these items. 2. I think  I have a good grasp on what I've read here but I am able to make mistakes.  3. I live in Brookline, I am mostly writing this through the lens of Brookline, but broadly this should apply anywhere. Anywhere I write "Town," "City" should equal...

*Originally written in 2016, I don't see any obvious reasons to change anything other than potentially candidate names and a couple of minor edits for clarity.* I think there's a reasonable argument to be had for the American political scene to contain both Libertarian and Green platforms (whether I agree with their positions or not is irrelevant to the point below), none of what I say is about the basic philosophy of either party. However, any party that is asking for a serious vote has a responsibility to be a serious party, and I see little to no intent to actually govern from either party. Johnson and Stein make a lot of ruckus about not being taken seriously by the media, or the Commission on Presidential Debates, and by voters, and it’s certainly easy to find people who are unfairly dismissive of the views of the party, however...  There are a variety of things a party can do to be taken seriously. They can: Know the rules about inclusion in debates (as set over a year ag...

On Wednesday, April 8, the Brookline Transportation Board will be holding a hearing to consider allocating more street space to people who are walking, rolling, cycling, or using other micro-mobility devices so they may better social distance while car traffic is way down. (If you want to watch the meeting, more information is available here:  https://www.brooklinema.gov/list.aspx?MID=6597 . I know this is the night of the first seder, but the meeting starts at 5:00 so hopefully done long before it's time to pour the first cup of wine.) Regardless of your thinking about how we allocate street space normally, this is a simple thing the Town can do to support the health and well-being of Brookline residents. Please write the Select Board and Transportation Board with a letter like the one below BEFORE THE MEETING on Wednesday night. ----------------- Dear Transportation Board and Select Board, Thank you for scheduling this meeting on this very important public health and ...

I wanted to offer some unsolicited thoughts about some of the difficulties of registering students on college campuses and driving voter turnout.  A lot of the public conversation on these issues tends to center around driving up interest, fighting perceived apathy, etc. These are all serious and important, but I think it misses out on a major barrier to college student voting that is much more focused on the less  exciting  but more solvable problems of process and bureaucracy. In my time working on this, I saw very little apathy but a lot of wariness that they do not want to screw anything up... by filling out the wrong form at the wrong time.  A pause to explain my qualifications to speak on this issue. While it was now some time ago, I was a student at the University of Missouri where I led the university's non-partisan voter registration and turnout drive for the 2002 midterms. In that election, we registered over 1,000 new student voters and increase...

Note: In the time since I first wrote this, some more research has come up which indicates that building an underground spot in Brookline is closer to $100,000 in 2020 dollars.   So you can take all those quantities below and multiply by 3 .  A lot of folks who complain about new development argue both a) that it's only "luxury" apartments being built and b) that there isn't enough parking. What gets lost in this conversation is that parking (especially in dense, urban areas, well served by transit, person-sized vehicle infrastructure, and places in walking and rolling distance), is that no amount of granite countertops can make up for the price of the required parking space(s). For example, this study (http://shoup.bol.ucla.edu/HighCost.pdf) from 2014, with data necessarily predating even then puts underground parking spaces in Boston at $31,000 each just to build. This doesn't include the cost to maintain or ventilate the garage nor does it factor in any of th...