Although I am new to precinct 12, I have been a Town Meeting Member from precinct 9 since 2001. In December 2008, my wife and I bought a condominium on Garrison Road in precinct 12, and I am hoping to represent my new precinct with the same dedication with which I represented my old precinct.
I am proud to say that in my nine years representing precinct 9, I have never once missed a night of Town Meeting.
I have long been a resident of Brookline. I first lived in the town from 1991-1993 when I was a graduate student, and my wife and I have lived in Brookline from the day we were married in 1995. In 2001, I ran for the Town Meeting seat being vacated by Representative Frank Israel Smizik, and won it with his endorsement. As a Town Meeting Member, I have paid careful attention to all the issues that have come before us and have been responsive to the concerns of my constituents.
Along with being a Town Meeting Member, since 2004 I have also been an elected Library Trustee. As a Trustee, I chair the building committee. As part of that role, I kept tabs on the renovation project at Coolidge Corner. I am now keeping tabs on a renovation at Putterham. I helped push for an extra staff member at the Coolidge Corner branch to relieve congestion. In addition, before I was on the Board, the library’s budget for purchasing items had been kept steady despite the rising cost of materials. As a Trustee, I pushed for increased funding to the materials budget, which we got. More recently, I supported and endorsed the override to keep town services at a level that our citizens expect, and I worked on getting the RFID program approved to relieve congestion in our libraries.
I grew up in New York City and graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in Physics and from Boston University with an M.A. in Physics. For many years I worked as a teacher, teaching at the Cambridge School of Weston and then at the Rashi School. I currently edit science textbooks at Pearson Education. I am also an award-winning science-fiction writer and occasional journalist; my first book, “I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein,” was published last year and is available in the Brookline libraries.
My wife and I are active members of our synagogue, Kadimah-Toras Moshe, located just over the border in Brighton. We are expecting our first children, a set of twins, this August.
For those who wish to know more about me, I maintain a website at http://www.mabfan.com and a blog at http://mabfan.livejournal.com.
I have been endorsed by Neighbors Building Brookline and by Brookline PAX.
I hope you will cast your vote for me on May 5.
