Gil Hoy for Selectman

"One of my highest priorities has been, and will continue to be, promoting meaningful citizen participation in all aspects of Town Government. Citizen participation, and the respect of our citizens by the Selectmen, lead to better results and are at the heart of grass-roots democracy."

-- Gil Hoy

My Priority Issues:

Participatory and Open Government and the "Trust Gap"
The Override
Our Schools
Commission for the Disabled
Fiscal Responsibility
Open Space
The Environment
Commercial Tax Base

Participatory and Open Government and the "Trust Gap"
I have been a passionate advocate for open, participatory and responsible political process in the Town since I first became a Selectman.

One of my highest priorities has been, and will continue to be, promoting meaningful citizen participation in all aspects of Town Government. Citizen participation, and the respect of our citizens by the Selectmen, lead to better results and are at the heart of grass-roots democracy.

For these reasons, I instituted a public comment period at the beginning of each Selectmen’s meeting. I will continue to work hard to make sure that every citizen has the opportunity to be heard. One of my colleagues stated in 2005 that the Selectmen need to address a “Trust Gap” with the citizenry and Town Meeting Members. He was correct. But it’s also a leadership and listening issue. The Board must work to encourage and, in fact, actively solicit public comment and input and all of our citizens deserve and must be treated with courtesy and respect. We also need to continue to work on appointing to Town Boards and Commissions more officials who will give deference to neighbors and neighborhoods. Brookline’s buck stops with the Selectmen who must not shy away from active leadership.

The Override
In Brookline, we take great pride in the excellence of our schools and Town services. We must maintain that excellence. For these reason, I have been a strong and early supporter of the regrettable but unavoidable $6.2 million override as recommended by the Override Study Committee, the School Committee and the Board of Selectmen.

As a result of prudent and responsible fiscal management and new growth, the Town has not had a general override on the ballot since 1994. Other communities have not fared as well. Since 2000, Belmont has passed two general overrides, Concord six, Dover three, Hingham one, Lexington three, Newton one, Wayland four, Wellesley six and Winchester one.

Brookline has been able to avoid an override for the past fourteen years because of the prudent and steady fiscal management of our Town and because we have taken advantage of responsible development opportunities and increased local aid and local receipts. However, as a result of rapid increases in health insurance and energy costs and slow growth in State aid and local receipts, we now need an override in order to avoid unacceptable cuts in our schools and Town services. An override is also necessary to properly maintain our buildings, roads, sidewalks and open space; to ensure an appropriate length of the school day; and to prepare and encourage our children to be able to participate in a global marketplace through a foreign language program.

We must also work harder with out statehouse delegation to address the state’s structural budget deficit and the need for substantially more local aid.

Our Schools
I have always been and will continue to be a strong supporter of our schools, which are in many ways, central to the heart and soul of our Town, as well as our property values. This support will be particularly critical in the upcoming years of tight budgets. I am committed to the core to maintaining the excellence of the Brookline Public School System.

Commission for Persons with Disabilities
For the past twelve years, I have had the privilege to be the Selectman representative to our Commission for Persons with Disabilities. During that time, we have worked hard to improve our program and facility accessibility. Most recently, we persuaded the MBTA to renovate the Longwood MBTA Station on the Green Line to provide full accessibility for persons with disabilities. This will, for the first time, provide full accessibility for that location to and from the Emerald Necklace Park System.

Fiscal Responsibility
Now, more than ever, double digit increases in health care and energy costs require Brookline to be fiscally responsible and prudent in managing its affairs. Personnel costs amount to about 75% of our budget. We must negotiate fairly but firmly with our Town employees to ensure that salary and benefit increases do not exceed the Town’s ability to pay. This means that increases in employee salaries, including all benefits, should not exceed a sustainable rate, most likely about 3.75%. We should join the GIC as soon as possible to limit health care cost increases.

We must also continue to look for smart growth opportunities within the Town to increase our tax base and find efficiencies in the ways that the Town does business. We must increase our commercial tax base, which has dropped from about 13% to about 8%.

Open Space
One of the most important objectives of any Selectman should be to work on maintaining a clean, green, safe, accessible and well-maintained network of open spaces, not just those for passive and active recreational uses but also preserving the steadily eroding private green space in the most congested parts of Brookline. We cannot underestimate the value of our open spaces on quality of life issues, recreation, property values and the many other ways in which they positively touch our lives. I fully support the $.25 million in the override proposal for the Emerald Necklace, the Beacon Street Landscape improvements, the new Newton Street Landfill Park, and the proposed Fisher Hill Park. While I eagerly support increased development in appropriate locations, we must also be conservative in protecting threatened neighborhoods.

The Environment
Climate change is an ever-increasing danger to our society, and the use of green technology has many potential benefits. These benefits include reducing Greenhouse gases and minimizing negative environmental impacts. Analysis and use of green techniques and applications will benefit the citizens of Brookline.

Over the past few years, the cost of energy has risen dramatically. We must ensure that environmentally sensitive and long-range fiscally responsible alternatives are considered for new construction and major renovations within the Town. In addition, the results of comparative analysis between conventional and green alternatives must be made public. It is indisputable that reductions in energy operating costs and increases in environmental efficiency in Town Buildings are in the Town’s best interests.

Commercial Tax Base
We need to grow our commercial tax base, not only to raise much needed revenues for our schools and Town services, but also to relieve some of the tax burden on our residents. The Board of Selectmen must continue to play a strong and critical role in this effort. If we are now asking citizens to pay additional property taxes through an override, it is only reasonable and appropriate that we should continue to attempt to raise additional revenues through responsible and neighborhood-sensitive commercial development to help avoid future overrides.