Precinct 13 Partners for a
Sustainable Community
2024 Candidates
Sustainability Means:
Fiscal responsibility and a stronger commercial tax base, guided by comprehensive planning
Fully funded schools and municipal services
Fair, affordable, and transit-friendly housing for all stages of life
Moving equitably toward a Net Zero future
Safe streets for all users, pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists, from children to seniors
We see sustainability for Brookline as a threefold task,
with fiscal, housing, and climate components:
1. Fiscal responsibility leading to lower tax increases will further affordability for all residents – homeowners and renters. To strengthen our commercial tax base, we need to preserve opportunities for existing businesses and also attract new and diverse enterprises, something that cannot occur under present zoning (except on the newly rezoned parts of Harvard Street). At the same time, fiscal responsibility also means fully funding our good schools, infrastructure, and important public services – police, fire, libraries, parks, roads, bike lanes and sidewalks.
2. We should enable fair, affordable, and transit-friendly housing that serves all stages of life while strengthening commercial centers and corridors. We supported last year’s rezoning to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, and Brookline must continue to do its part to thoughtfully contribute to regional solutions to the housing crisis.
3. This kind of compact development lowers energy use and creates opportunities for climate resilience. Safe streets for pedestrians and cyclists promote zero-emission transportation.
We support comprehensive planning to help advance all three aspects of sustainability. Climate-friendly growth can support a stronger tax base and more housing. This must be done with care, which is why we supported Town Meeting’s recent decision to apply design standards that guard against teardowns and excessive development pressures in residential zones.
All of our candidates have been endorsed by Brookline for Everyone.
2024 Candidates
Jonathan Fine
I am a lifelong resident of Brookline and a longtime resident of Precinct Thirteen. My wife and I were drawn to remain in Brookline and raise our children here because of its excellent services, the numerous diverse neighborhoods and its convenient location within the metropolitan area. Green Line access to Boston was especially attractive as I worked downtown. For over forty years, I worked in the financial services sector. I have been involved in civic affairs for many years. I am a current and longtime Town Meeting Member, former Library Trustee and a former member of the Advisory Committee. I have also been endorsed by Brookline PAX and Brookline by Design. 57 Willow Crescent
John Freeman
My wife and I have lived in Brookline for over 40 years, raising two boys who went through the BHS system from K-12. I have been a town meeting member for 15 years. The issues Brookline faces—housing affordability, public safety, responsible and difficult fiscal choices—are complex and not amenable to simple silver bullets. Key skills are listening, respect, reasoning, and data-based analysis. Brookline has an immense reservoir of talented and effective residents, and we can achieve practical and prudent solutions if we use those talents. I hope we can continue to be a town where renters, homeowners, and diverse groups can thrive. As an undergraduate at Williams College, my passions were science, economics, and literature. I attended and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. I pursued a career in economic regulation and intellectual property law, working with medical researchers to turn scientific breakthroughs into improvements in clinical medicine. I am a Board Member for the Metropolitan Waterworks Museum on Beacon Street at the Cleveland Circle Reservoir. The Museum has several missions, importantly including education about our precious and threatened water resources. As the parent of a significantly disabled son, I have gained the utmost respect for teachers and school administrators who did great work preparing him for college and independent living. I am excited to participate in the next phase of Brookline’s development. I have also been endorsed by Brookline PAX. 530 Clinton Road
Brian Ladd
I am an eternally hopeful Green Line rider, bicyclist, and occasional motorist. My wife and I chose Brookline as a home because of its walkability, transit access, and amenities. We were fortunate to find a Beacon Street condo that was built before decades of downzoning limited housing options, but we know that others come up short in the housing market, including our daughter, whose professional job enables her only to pay the rent of a studio apartment in Brighton. I am a historian (Yale PhD), longtime college teacher, and author of five books on how cities are put together. I serve on the board of the Boston Climate Action Network. My research in urban history informs my climate activism, including my belief that Brookline should contribute to solving our regional housing crisis by finding places for new construction in transit-oriented, environmentally sensible locations. I was appointed to a Town Meeting vacancy in 2023 and was proud to help pass our zoning reform. I have also been endorsed by Brookline PAX and the Brookline Equity Coalition. 1856 Beacon Street
Thomas Renkes
I am an attorney and urban planner by training with experience as a litigator and policymaker, but job number one for me is being a dad. My wife Courtney and I have three children, ages 6, 3, and 20 months. We moved to Brookline from Washington, D.C. in 2020 in large part because of the exceptional public school system and we are a proud Hayes family. I believe Brookline is the best possible place to raise a family and feel blessed to live here. A major reason I am running for Town Meeting is to work for better pedestrian safety infrastructure. In Precinct 13 we lack adequate crosswalks near schools, playgrounds, and transit and we endure heavy traffic without adequate traffic calming and enforcement. Brookline is such a wonderful place because we are able to enjoy the benefits of an urban core and still have the green space and single-family homes that might otherwise draw people to the outer suburbs. We have amazing opportunities to maintain and further develop our wonderfully positioned economic cores through thoughtful, transit-oriented development, while also increasing housing equity. The things I love most about Brookline are the accessibility, neighborly community, and incredible ease of access to urban and suburban amenities. Working together, we can maintain the characteristics of Brookline that make it so wonderful, while also making our community more welcoming to everyone, including new friends and neighbors. I have also been endorsed by Brookline PAX. 393 Clinton Road
Paul Saner
I was drawn to our precinct 36 years ago by the Green Line’s access to Boston, walkable commercial areas, and charming neighborhoods. Our daughters graduated from Runkle and then BHS. My volunteer leadership experience includes local non-profits and Town boards such as the 2020 fiscal advisory committee. Professionally, I have had senior management positions spanning finance and human services, most recently as the Governor-appointed Commissioner for the Blind. My diverse experience has been shaped by personal change, adjusting to vision loss, as well as evolving urgent priorities – fiscal, housing, and climate – that call for comprehensive planning and action. As an avid walker with my guide dog, pedestrian safety issues throughout our precinct is another priority. My wife and I intend to age in place in our community. Community / Town Volunteering At present: Town Meeting Member, Precinct 13 • MAB Community Services Trustee (Brookline based disability non-profit with $50 Million in annual revenue) • Brookline For Everyone Board Member • Rotary Club of Brookline Member / Co-Chair of Annual Dog Day event. Past: Founding Board Chair, Metropolitan Waterworks Museum, Boston • Brookline Economic Development Advisory Board - Co-Chair, 2011 to 2023 • Brookline Fiscal Advisory Committee Member • Brookline Community Foundation Trustee • Carroll Center for the Blind Board Vice Chair, Newton • Ad hoc group member leading to the reopening of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, Boston • Friends of BHS Rowing, President • Foundation Fighting Blindness National Trustee and Executive Committee Member; President of Massachusetts affiliate Education: University of Rochester - MBA in Finance • Trinity College - BA in Economics. Professional: Governor-appointed Commissioner, Massachusetts Commission for the Blind • BankBoston Managing Director, Boston • Winthrop Financial Principal, Boston 462 Chestnut Hill Avenue
Current Town Meeting Members
Mike Best
I am a Runkle parent and non-profit attorney, organizer and lobbyist for a more equitable economy for 15 years. I spent a great decade in D.C., but came home to Massachusetts to raise our kids and put down roots in a community where I could connect my policy and politics skills to local action. I believe in finding common ground, and building coalitions to get work done, and never letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. I hope I can lend those skills to our town.
Laura Knott
I want to help answer this question: “How can we—all of Brookline, together—apply our skills toward building a bright and fair future for our town?” I’m a volunteer with Mothers Out Front. I organized the first exhibition on climate change ever mounted by the MIT Museum. I hold a degree in Political Science, with a second major in Dance, from Duke University, and a Master’s degree in Visual Studies from MIT. My two children attended Driscoll from Pre-K through 8th grade, and graduated from BHS. My husband and I own and live in a two-family house in Washington Square.
Werner Lohe
Thirty-five years ago, I moved to Brookline with my family. Soon after we arrived, I began to work on traffic calming, an issue I felt was essential to keeping our neighborhoods livable and our kids safe. While this issue remains important to me, I believe that the more urgent challenge to livability and safety for all of us is the climate crisis. Over the last two decades, I co-founded Climate Action Brookline, served as co-chair of the Select Board’s Climate Action Committee, and have recently been appointed to the Zero Emissions Advisory Board. I am a member, and past chair, of the Brookline Conservation Commission, and former president of the Salisbury Road-Corey Farm Neighborhood Association. A retired civil rights lawyer, I have worked in both affordable housing and fair housing: as Chair of the state Housing Appeals Committee and as General Counsel of the Boston Fair Housing Commission. I have led a number of climate initiatives in Brookline. I chaired the subcommittee that drafted Brookline’s Climate Action Plan, and I led SolarizeBrookline, a public-private partnership that resulted in more than 60 new residential solar installations in Brookline. The committee I chaired resulted in the new Driscoll School being a fossil-fuel-free, all-electric building, and I co-sponsored the warrant article in Town Meeting to require that all new construction be fossil fuel free. This requirement has formed the basis of a state pilot program, which Brookline is likely to adopt this spring. I graduated from Yale College and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Our two daughters attended Driscoll School and graduated from BHS; I coached both of them in youth soccer for more than 10 years.
David Mendels
My wife and I are 24 year Brookliners and raised 2 amazing boys who graduated Driscoll and BHS. I have worked as a leader in the private sector as CEO of a software company, and in recent years in multiple social impact nonprofits. I am a co-Founder of ZeroCarbonMA, focused on developing smart policies for reaching our Net Zero goals in Brookline and MA; Board President of Resilient Coders where we teach low income people of color software engineering to advance racial and economic justice in the tech sector; and lastly, I work with first time entrepreneurs from Palestine and Israel to start social impact ventures and build trust in that conflicted region via my role at Our Generation Speaks.
Michael Rubenstein
I am a pragmatic leader who enjoys working with others to change the world as it is into the world as it could be. After 25 years as Founder and CTO of a software company, I have engaged in social justice work over the last twelve years. As Co-chair of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization healthcare team, I engaged throughout Eastern Massachusetts to lower costs and improve access in health care. I serve on the boards of a 10-year education program (Beacon Academy) and a public regional charter school (Prospect Hill Academy), closing the opportunity gap for children from under-resourced environments. I also sit on the Climate Council of the Alliance for Business Leadership. My wife and I have lived in Brookline for 30 years. We have raised two amazing children here and cherished the community of which we have become a part. Our children attended Heath school and graduated from Milton Academy.
Voting Information
Important Dates
Election Day: Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at Runkle School (50 Druce St, Brookline)
Early Voting: Saturday, April 27 - Friday, May 3, 2024. More information about early voting locations can be found here.
Last Day to Register: Saturday, April 27, 2024
