An accessible and affordable MBTA system is crucial to Brookline residents and businesses. However, in an effort to balance their budget by April 15, 2012 MBTA officials are proposing service cuts and/or fare hikes and have scheduled public hearings in a number of Boston area communities through early March.

Fall Town Meeting is considering Article 13, which would direct the Town to study putting a pedestrian-actuated traffic control signal at the Green St. crosswalk in Coolidge Corner. That's the crosswalk going from Friendly’s to Upper Crust and the Coolidge Corner Theater, where Green St. meets Harvard St. in the heart of our beloved CC shopping district.

As the Executive Director of the Brookline Chamber of Commerce, one of the most common questions I hear when I meet someone is “what exactly does the Chamber of Commerce do?” The answer is at times both simple and complex. Simply put, the Chamber works to make Brookline the best it can be for people who live, work and do business here.

The crucial nature of the Commercial Areas Coordinator position has been demonstrated time and again during Marge’s tenure as the Brookline business community has adapted to changing regulatory and business conditions.

The recent uproar over the Brookline High School smoking policy has taken the focus away from the actual issue- nicotine addiction in teens. Whether or not the school provides students a smoking area, no one wants to see them smoke in the first place.

Part of the holiday tradition in recent years has been to suspend meter collections and ticketing in Coolidge Corner on each Saturday from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Last year the Brookline Chamber of Commerce and the Coolidge Corner Merchants Association asked the Board of Selectmen not to continue the tradition, as we felt it was not in the best interest of the town.

I am personally familiar with examples of how in a single fiscal year the position of Commercial Areas Coordinator generates, and facilitates ideas, deals, and events that at minimum pays for her own salary and arguably generates money in excess of that.  All I can think is to wonder if either of these planning groups solicited any perspectives from the business community that this involves. 

When I learned that the Commercial Areas Coordinator is the only staffed position being eliminated I couldn't help questioning whether this job elimination is truly being  initiated as an effective cost cutting measure for the Town of Brookline, or whether some other motive  is masquerading as "efficiency".  How could the elimination of only one person's job ensure our town's fiscal viability?

If you don’t have that relationship between local businesses and the town, there is no loyalty and that creates empty storefronts.  Empty storefronts, in turn, create less revenue for the town. Although some would view cutting the coordinator a “quick” fix with today’s budget issues, I believe you would be making a decision that will have a long term negative effect on the town financially.

Michael Sandman said something outside of the Selectmen Hearing Room last Tuesday that resonated with me. He said that his task was to create a parking plan for all of Brookline, not just Coolidge Corner. Those were wise words and I tried to incorporate them thinking into our plan....