📋 Critical Issues & Priorities
1. Land Use Planning
Brookline’s growth and development are positive signs, but our land-use regulations need a transparent upgrade. I am committed to:
- Balancing Priorities: Striking a healthy equilibrium between affordable housing needs, local quality of life, climate change awareness, and preserving our historic assets.
- Thoroughfare Improvements: Ensuring infrastructure projects on Washington, Beacon, and Boylston Streets maintain neighborhood consensus, commercial viability, and everyday livability.
2. Pedestrian & Bicycle Lighting
As a former member of the Select Board's Committee on Pedestrian Street Lighting, I believe our current lighting in Coolidge Corner, Brookline Village, and Washington Square is inconsistent and energy-inefficient.
- Complete Streets Policy: I advocate for embedding smart, sidewalk-level lighting directly into our street redevelopment policies.
- Safety First: Along with repairing uneven sidewalks, we must provide well-lit thoroughfares to keep residents of all ages safe after dark.
3. Education
Our future lies in our children and grandchildren. Brookline’s top-tier educational system is one of our town's greatest assets.
- I support maintaining exceptional preschool-through-high-school experiences.
- I want to find better ways to leverage our top-notch educational and athletic facilities to benefit community members of all ages.
🏛️ Town Activities & Public Service
📅 Town Meeting Record & Newsletters
Stay informed on how I am voting and representing our precinct:
| Session | Materials & Records |
|---|---|
| Spring 2026 | Spring 2026 Newsletter |
| Fall 2025 | Fall 2025 Newsletter |
| Spring 2025 | Spring 2025 Newsletter |
| Fall 2024 | Fall 2024 Newsletter Voting Detail |
| Spring 2024 | Spring 2024 Newsletter Voting Record Detail |
| Fall 2023 | Newsletter Highlights Video Presentation on PFAS (at 3:18) |
| Winter 2023 | Winter 2023 Newsletter Winter 2023 Voting Record |
| Spring 2022 | Spring 2022 Voting Record |
Notable Legislation: Co-authored an amendment to Warrant Article 9 (Snow and Ice Removal) in Fall 2022 alongside Lisa Shatz to allow Orthodox Jewish residents a practical path to comply with town bylaws when storms end right before or during Shabbat.
👥 Committee Involvement & Projects
- Expenditures & Revenues Study Committee (Feb 2025 – Mar 2026): Served as Chairperson of the Town Subcommittee on the Town Override Committee. Led data gathering, option analysis, and final reporting, culminating in a comprehensive 642-Page Full Report.
- Pedestrian Advisory Committee: Served from June 2023 until April 2026, when I stepped down to dedicate more focus to School Committee activities.
- Moderator’s PFAS Committee: Appointed in September 2022. Co-developed and presented Warrant Article 17 (Fall 2023) regarding fluorinated hydrocarbons.
🚗 Transportation & Infrastructure Advocacy
- Chestnut Hill Avenue Restoration: Organized a Neighborhood Advocacy Group in Spring 2025 to ensure common-sense shared access during the Spring 2026 construction phase.
- School Safety Signage: Partnered with the Transportation Board to upgrade traffic safety signage outside the Torah Academy on Williston Road.
- 845 Boylston Project: Actively attended hearings and provided public testimony regarding environmental, engineering, and neighborhood scale concerns.
🤝 Community Volunteerism
- Greater Boston Eruv Corporation: Serve as the volunteer President of this 501(c)3 non-profit, which has served the Brookline area since 1993. Spent 8 years managing the design, permitting, and fundraising phases to systematically expand its borders.
- Adult Education: Dedicated over 15 years as an adult educator for the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts, facilitating a weekly, inclusive Talmud class.
- Local Food Security: Volunteer bi-weekly to provide manual labor for a local Kosher Food Pantry. Additionally, deliver meals to senior citizen shut-ins via Jewish Family and Children's Services (Volunteer Here).
- BrookOnline Champion: Constantly monitoring and reporting street potholes and hazardous sidewalk obstructions from Middlesex Road to Ackers Ave to keep DPW informed.
👨🔬 About Jesse
- Local Roots: Brookline resident since 1984, local homeowner, taxpayer, and proud grandparent of two Roland B. Hayes School students (Go Hawks!).
- Family: Married to a Brookline native; father of 3 children (2 of whom still reside in town) and grandfather of 12.
- Professional Background: Retired from Verizon Corporation as an Associate Fellow in 2018 after a 36-year career specializing in materials science, operations research, software logistics, and data mining. Holds 5 U.S. Patents.
- Education: Earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University (1984) and spent 3 years as a Research Chemist for Shell Development Company.
- Interests: An avid woodworker, tennis player, sailor, cyclist, radio-control modeler, and skier.
📸 Campaign Memories & Canvassing
I had the immense pleasure and adventure of personally walking across our precinct to knock on doors and listen to neighbors on streets like Baxter, Buckminster, Chestnut Hill, Dean, Eliot, Loveland, Reservoir, and Warren.
Lawn sign in the neighborhood
Meeting a constituent during canvassing
Meeting a constituent in the neighborhood during canvassing, April 11, 2022
With State Senator Eric Lesser
Meeting with State Representative Tommy Vitolo