This is mother’s milk to the feisty local tabloid.
(Well, processed mother’s milk, actually – this issue surfaced last month, as a quick scan of the Googletron reveals.)
Regardless, Margery Eagan’s column puts the rumpus back in play in a most Heraldish way.
Battle Brews in Brookline
Town eyes school change on Boston border
Welcome to Brookline, my adopted hometown.
It’s a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants. It’s where Town Meeting OK’d non-citizens voting in local elections, put the kibosh on spanking and banned plastic bags and Styrofoam. We’re right-thinking and compassionate in Brookline — unless you live too close to Boston.
If you own a condo or home or rent an apartment that straddles the Brookline/Boston line — sorry, the Kumbayas are out the window. It’s get outta town and don’t try sending your kids to our schools.
Yeah, that sanctuary thing comes up every time. But there’s a lot at stake here: the value of the “straddling” homes, the education of kids too young to be in school now (straddler kids can stay in Brookline schools, but no more will get in), the example Brookline’s actions could set for other towns struggling with school overcrowding. (There are more details in this Herald report.)
What’s the solution?
As a longtime Brookline resident and one of 17 home subscribers to the Boston Herald, the hardreading staff believes it has standing to offer this modest proposal:
Keep everything the way it is now, but when the owners go to sell the “straddling” homes, they can only sell to buyers 65 years of age or older.
Think of it as a two-way Grandfather Clause.
Brookline Town Fath- . . . er, Mothers: Are you listening?
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 