The following is the opening speech presented by R. Harvey Bravman to the Brookline Board of Selectmen at Tuesday's meeting

I want to thank Rich Kelliher for taking more time than he has available to meet with me. We're looking forward to working with his office in the future in any way we can. I also want to show appreciation to the Efficiency Initiative Committee for donating their time to their community. Dick Benka and Roberta Ornstein were kind enough to explain to me how their process worked. I applaud their efforts to do what they feel is best for Brookline. We can see from the meeting minutes and the EIC Report that there was a wealth of information not available to the committee. We hope that based on this now available information and our testimony, you will vote to retain the position of Commercial Areas Coordinator at full time status without the caveat of finding more funds.

You're going to hear from as many businesses as you will allow on how important the position of Commercial Areas Coordinator is for Brookline. In the past I've spoken from my position of Chairman of the CCMA representing the other businesses. Tonight I want to share my story of how Marge Amster helped me become a more productive member of the Brookline community.

Five years ago my company moved to the Back Bay from Brookline because we didn't know Marge.

Our business was growing. We needed a bigger office and our landlord wanted to increase our rate per square foot by a substantial margin to move within the same building. I didn't know about the office of Economic Development. I didn't know the town cared whether my business stayed or left. Maybe Marge would have helped us resolve our issues with our landlord or maybe she would have helped steer us toward another space in Brookline.

But the thing is, that while my business left, my heart stayed in Brookline. So in 2004, I became a part owner in the Coolidge Corner Gym, which led me to join the CCMA. At meetings, I sat in the back where the new members always sit, listening to everyone listening to Marge. Learning about how Brookline worked. I entered the waters slowly. At first I made very few comments, always trying to add a little humor so people wouldn't mind if I spoke again. And then slowly I became inspired, and started sitting closer to the front, coming to meetings prepared to help the organization move forward. When the co-chairmanship became available, people tried to nominate me and I backed off, I was embarrassed at first but I finally said yes. After only a month or two in the position, Marge told me that the town was going to issue parking permits without a commercial parking plan, and what the ramifications of that would be for the town. I took a shot at becoming not just someone who ran the agenda at a meeting, but a leader. I found out that I could mobilize people with my thoughts and that we could fight town hall. With the daily help of Marge's mentoring, I'm proud to say we did. We forced ourselves into the process and created our own Commercial Parking Plan for residential streets that Marge helped us write. We stood in this building and promised this Board, that if they voted for our plan it would bring in an additional $90,000 a year in revenue to Brookline. The Commercial Parking Permit Program, adopted as part of the Residential Permit Parking Program, now brings in $106,000 more per year than before those programs existed. Now my company donates our web services to the CCMA on a frequent basis and we created the Coolidge Corner Hub, an online newspaper that has a reporter in this room, covering this hearing. We've also worked with BHS interns to build a website for the Brookline Teen Center, and we've volunteered to build a site for the Brookline Food Pantry.

My commitment and passion for contributing to the town process is a product of what Marge Amster has taught me. Now we are back fighting town hall. This time we're here to protect Marge Amster's job, with Brookline as the beneficiary.

By my count, there are 42 boards and commissions in Brookline, many complete with subcommittees. You tell me how a business with concerns about parking for their customers and employees could possibly know if they are supposed to go to the Transportation Board, the Transportation Department or the Special Selectmen's Task Force on Parking for help?

It's been said that the town could replace Marge by simply producing a brochure that would explain how everything in town works. My company designs brochures. Tying together information that includes 42 boards and commissions, all the licensing information, the local citizens groups, and everything else you need to know would make one hell of a big brochure. Of course if the town were thinking about it, my company is ready to bid.

How could a town the size of Brookline have a government that isn't complex? I've been learning from Marge about the landscape since 2004 and I still don't quite get it.

Marge protects approx.1.2 billion dollars worth of commercial property that provides tax revenue based on approx. 2 billion dollars. There are over 2,000 businesses in Brookline. Besides playing key roles in countless committees around town and being an essential part of the CCMA and the Chamber, Marge personally tracks 565 of these businesses. She does all that of course when she's not running First Light.

In a guest column I wrote for the Tab, I talked about a term not often connected with business; love. That's what the business community's admiration and respect for Marge has turned into.

Tonight I want to talk about a word always used in business; money.

Marge connects the business community to town government, and more importantly connects town government to the business community. When you're talking about money, and that's what's on everyone's mind, you better keep an open ear to the people busting their tails everyday to steer their businesses through this tight economy.

If this financial crisis has taught us anything, it's that everything is connected to everything else. If a business fails, its employees lose their jobs. They don't spend money at other Brookline establishments, they don't feed the meters and they don't pay the town $500 for a parking permit. The business space is empty. The parking space is empty. There are approx. 1,500 employees in Coolidge Corner alone!

If the economic climate becomes worse and enough businesses in one building go under, you're not talking about vacancies, you're talking about foreclosures. Foreclosures mean less tax revenue. Empty storefronts take away from the town's vibrancy. The vibrancy created by the proximity of commercial areas to residential areas has played a major role in keeping Brookline residential property values from tumbling like they have in the rest of the country. When property values go down, home assessments go down, and the town collects less money in residential taxes. Everything is tied to everything else.

The position of Commercial Areas Coordinator makes money. When you staff that person with Marge Amster's talents it make more money. Money is what we are talking about. If you want to preserve a great community, and Brookline is a great community, you need caring, you need group compassion, you need a willingness to be united in good times and in bad, and you need money.

Money to pay for safety. Money to pay for firemen. Money to pay for sanitation and snow removal Money for the well being and education of our community's most valuable asset, our young people.

Money.

Marge doesn't just listen to the business community, although I urge many of you to us reach out to us earlier in the process. Marge helps struggling businesses stay relevant and she keeps the successful businesses from being lured by other communities. Marge plays a key role in holding and increasing Brookline's value, thus protecting our money.

What's the first step to keeping the town going during this recession so we can all benefit when the economy bounces back? A $32,000 investment out of a $239,000,000 budget, to keep who we all agree is the best Commercial Areas Coordinator in the universe. Take it on the advice of your business community. Keeping the position of Commercial Areas Coordinator and Marge around is smart business.

Not doing it would be the equivalent of trying to lose weight by cutting off your right arm. You may weigh less at the beginning but after a while you realize that you're missing something pretty important, and whatever you try to replace it with will not be as good as the original. We urge the Board to vote to keep Marge around full time for as many years as she will stay.

Thank you

R. Harvey Bravman
Owner, Advanced Digital Replication, Inc.
Owner, Advanced Digital Websites, Inc.
Publisher, Coolidge Corner Hub
Co-Chair, Coolidge Corner Merchants' Society