Revitalizing Brookline: My Last Word

It's been awhile since I posted here. The reason for this is that it has become perfectly and abundantly clear that people don't want to hear what I have to say. After a certain supposed luminary of the community viciously insulted and attacked me repeatedly for daring to suggest that some things could be done to improve the community, I decided to take a break.

I have since seen many articles and incidents that have convinced me more than ever that Brookline is run by a clique of aging retirees who willfully close their ears and eyes to any problems in the community and prefer to look at Brookline and see it as it may have been back in the 50s.

Certain folks who supposedly ran their own business 20 years ago and have been retired for an age think they still have their finger on the pulse of what's needed to revitalize a community--or, to be more frank, think the community doesn't need revitalizing. Others think that rebuilding sidewalks is going to be a magic fix. Still others claim that since I don't waste my time attending Chamber of Commerce meetings where these same people will dismiss out of hand any suggestions on how to make the community better, that I'm not really concerned about Brookline. Or that I'm somehow a bad citizen because I don't attend little league games, when I dislike baseball.

Never mind that I'm a semi-regular at Cannon and the Moonlite Cafe, that I get my hair cut at Sal's, that I buy my doughnuts and cakes from Party Cake and Kribel's. That I often eat at the Tong Garden and almost always order my pizza from Vinny's. Forget that I got the tuxedos for my wedding--and my wife had her wedding dress repaired and altered--at Decios. I'm a horrible citizen who just whines and never actually supports the community.

They claim that my opinions of the Chamber of Commerce are based on second-hand reports from a friend. Well, they're also based on reports from someone (who shall remain nameless) who is on the Chamber of Commerce.

The truth is, a certain someone who decided to cause a fuss about my articles here isn't someone I ever want to meet, and he seems to be a loud voice in the community. He's also a voice that is going to be the ruin of the community. But that's not uncommon these days at any level from neighborhood to city to state to federal issues.

The Brookline news rag printed my inaugural article in March. They have since, it seems, opted not to run any others because one person threatened to stop reading if they ran anymore. I base this on the following month's editorial, and suspect strongly it's the same loudmouthed angry old man.

So, please forgive me for offering constructive criticism. The truth is, nothing will ever be fixed if someone doesn't point out the areas that need adjustment. And if you think Brookline doesn't need fixing, you clearly don't read the police blotters. Get on the Zone 6 newsletter for a few months, then come back and talk to me.

In any case, stick a fork in me. The blind and bitter retirees have won. There's no revitalizing Brookline, because there's nothing that needs to be revitalized. A fresh coat of concrete on the sidewalk is just what the doctor ordered, and is all we need. For me, I've already told my wife that as soon as we have a kid (which we're starting to work on) we're in a five-year plan to get out of this neighborhood. You can have your aging community. Even as I hit 40 years of age, I'll look for somewhere more vibrant and vital to live, with progressive eyes that look to the future instead of the past.

Yep, forgive me for caring.