Ayanna Pressley to Speak at Brookline MLK Celebration

The following information came from Jesse Mermell's office.

  The Town of Brookline will celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with “Keeping the Promise,” a special event on Monday, January 21, 2013 at 2:30 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline. The celebration will be free and open to the public. Doors will open at 2:15 p.m. Ayanna Pressley, Boston City Councilor At-Large, will deliver the keynote address. The event will also feature performances by the Workmen’s Circle Chorus, Note-A-Fy, The Winiker Band, and the Baker School Jazz Band, as well as a special video about Sojourn to the Past. Brookline High School faculty member Malcolm Cawthorne will serve as Master of Ceremonies. “The Town is proud to be sponsoring this special event in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr…

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Jesse Mermell's Last Selectmen's Meeting

Mermell has taken a position in the Patrick Administration.

Tuesday evening was Jesse Mermell’s last meeting as a member of the Board of Selectmen. Mermell announced that she had taken the position of Communications Director for the Patrick/Murray administration in a press release on January 4. Mermell said that she would be stepping down from the Board of Selectmen effective January 14 in order to perform her duties as Communications Director without any conflict of interest. The Board members thanks Mermell for her work in environmental issues, helping to bring Hubway to Brookline and for teaching the Board how to use social media. She was praised for singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Town Meeting and completing the Boston Marathon. Mermell has about four months left in her second term. …

Jesse Mermell to Join Patrick Administration

Selectwoman Jesse Mermell is joining the Patrick/Murray administration on January 14

Brookline Selectwoman Jesse Mermell is joining the Patrick/Murray administration as the Governor’s Communication Director. Mermell announced her new position in a press release on Friday afternoon. Mermell said that she will be stepping down from the Board of Selectmen effective January 14 in order to perform her duties as Communications Director without any conflict of interest. “It has been a joy and a privilege to be a member of the Brookline Board of Selectmen for nearly six years,” Mermell said. “From maintaining the Town’s Aaa bond rating and achieving Green Communities status in Massachusetts, to bringing Hubway to Brookline and updating the Town’s Climate Action Plan for the first time in a decade, I feel a great sense of …

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Brookline: Home of Top Tweeters?

Two Brookline locals make Boston Business Journal's lsit of top business tweeters, Selectman Jesse Mermell received an award end of last year.

Brookline seems to be the home of some top Twitter users, according to a Boston Business Journal list.  Their "Top Twitter users for business" list includes Brookline residents Lisa Johnson and Tom O'Keefe, better known as @LisaJohnson, and @BostonTweet respectively on the 140-characters-at-a-time social network.  Johnson owns Modern Pilates, a Coolidge Corner fitness studio, and is a principal at a local social media brand site, Healthy Dose Media. Her Twitter account currently has over 21,000 followers.  BostonTweet says O'Keefe created the account in 2008 to "create awareness for local business during a down economy." His account currently has over 55,000 followers--followers will also note that he frequents Anna's Taqueria, and often …

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Massachusetts Democrats Elect Delegates to the Democratic National Convention

The DNC will be in Charlotte, NC, from September 3-7, and local delegates will be there to choose President Obama as the official nominee for the party.

The Massachusetts Democrats elected delegates this past Saturday at statewide caucuses to attend this year’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC. Brookline Selectwoman Jesse Mermell was chosen as part of the fourth district delegation, along with representatives from Newton, Needham, Mansfield, Medway and Sharon. In September, convention delegates will cast their votes to officially nominate President Barack Obama for a second term. Massachusetts delegates are selected to the Democratic National Convention by three ways, according to the Massachusetts Democratic Party: Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair John Walsh spoke about the statewide caucuses. “We have elected an impressive and diverse group of delegates who I know will…

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Jesse Mermell on Brookline's Mobile Food Truck Program

Selectman Jesse Mermell's column on BostonInno explains more of the thinking behind the Brookline Mobile Food Truck Pilot

Brookline's Selectmen voted to approve the Mobile Food Truck regulations, but the locations have yet to be finalized. In a column posted on BostInno earlier today, Selectman Jesse Mermell expanded on the Mobile Food Truck pilot program, and how she thinks the program can succeed in Brookline.  It's important, she writes in the piece, for Brookline not to simply clone the Boston program, but to learn from it and apply lessons that will make it a success in Brookline. The important points, she feels, are: locations, the ability to create clusters of food trucks, the ability to expand on the program, and the flexibility to respond to feedback.  Read the full column on BostInno's website.  With the regulations approved, Brookline could see …

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Brookline's Jesse Mermell Not Running for Congress

Brookline Selectwoman Jesse Mermell announced earlier today that she is not planning a run for the fourth congressional district seat in the 2012 election.

Selectwoman Jesse Mermell announced by e-mail and Twitter this morning that she does not intend to run for the Democratic nomination for the Fourth Congressional District seat. Mermell's name had been suggested by some sources as a replacement after Barney Frank's announcement at the end of November.  Mermell's announcement leaves the Democratic race, formally, where it stood previously, with Brookline's Jules Levine and Newton's Herb Robinson running. We hear Joseph Kennedy III is eyeing the seat as well, and has launched an exploratory committee for the Fourth District.  On the Republican side, former Fourth District contender Sean Bielat recently tweeted his plans to make an announcement later this month regarding another run for …

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Veterans Day: Welcome Home, Farewell and Thank You

Annual Veteran's Day ceremony bittersweet for many

For many in Brookline, Veterans Day has always been a day of pride, filled with waving flags, cheering and "thank you"s to the town's veterans for the service they give. Today, those same flags waved, people clapped and cheered, but for some, the ceremony was bittersweet. This morning at the annual Veterans Day ceremony held at the War Memorial at Town Hall, three heroes were welcomed home, and wished one farewell as he will be deployed overseas soon. Brookline firefighter Brian Cadman, an Army sergeant, recently returned from a year-long deployment in Iraq. He was joined by Brookline police officers Russell O'Neil, Andrew Amendola and Duane Danforth. O'Neil, an Army captain and Amendola, an Army sergeant and Purple Heart recipient, both …

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