Most nights, Joey Elasmar can be found at the Brookline Public Library.
However, a “toxic” work environment and high staff turnover led many library employees to seek employment elsewhere — a development which seemed poised to threaten the library Elasmar loves.
“I felt like, how is this happening?” said Elasmar, a Brookline High School senior. “This is such a great place. How are they letting this happen?”
Taking matters into his own hands, Elasmar decided this year to run for the Brookline Library Board of Trustees.
“I kept thinking there’s so many things that I would do differently, so many things I would change,” Elasmar said. “Why can’t I pitch my own campaign to try to get those things changed?”
He hopes to improve the library’s leadership style and push for more accountability and transparency.
“In Brookline, there are a lot of opportunities for people to get involved with town government,” Elasmar said. “I can help out in this town. I love this town. I want to help out.”
Brookline’s political system makes it accessible to young people — and it has fostered an environment with a strong emphasis on civic and youth participation, Elasmar said.
Brookline was the first town in Massachusetts to cultivate a representative Town Meeting, where citizens in each precinct can elect members to advocate for them. In Town Meeting, anyone who gathers 10 signatures can submit a warrant article for consideration.
Elasmar said Brookline’s culture of active participation makes it easier for young people to get involved.
That accessibility is what drew David Sipos, a Boston University freshman, to run for Town Meeting.
“One of the good things about Town Meeting, and about Brookline, is its very accessible, with very little experience needed,” Sipos said. “As long as you’re passionate and you’re informed about it, you can get involved.”
Sipos was inspired to run for Brookline Town Meeting after watching Article 9 — an article that would let homeowners implement a third housing unit in existing two-family zones — fail in November.
“It’s really hard to live in Brookline if you’re not wealthy, and so I want to make it possible for everyone to live in Brookline,” Sipos said.
One major reason Sipos is running is to show young people that it’s still possible to make a difference locally — especially in a time of political “apathy and pessimism,” he said.
“You don’t have to just give up on the world, on your community,” Sipos said. “One of the ways you can [contribute] is running for office wherever you are.”
The same desire to make a tangible impact resonates with other Brookline students who have taken action on issues they care about.
“I think the average Brookline high school student is probably more civically engaged than the average American high school student,” said Ezra Kleinbaum, a senior at Brookline High School.
Kleinbaum, an avid animal rights activist, first became involved in activism in eighth grade, going to protests against stores that sold animal fur and working on a bylaw to ban the sale of fur in Brookline.
“Animal rights feels like one of those things that’s just so obvious,” Kleinbaum said. “The cruelty that humans cause to animals is just so egregious and so clearly wrong, and so few people are doing anything about it, so I guess I feel compelled to do something about it.”
Kleinbaum emphasized Brookline’s commitment to progressive values.
“Brookline is a town that lives by its values,” Kleinbaum said. “Brookline has a reputation as a leader in a lot of progressive policy, and I think that is well earned.”
Kleinbaum, who started an animal rights club at Brookline High School, said he is looking forward to May, when an article he submitted prohibiting the sale of foie gras is up for vote.
Kleinbaum said he’s hopeful Brookline will support the ban, as “force feeding ducks and geese” is not something the town can “justify.”
“That is the whole idea of a democracy, the whole idea that America is founded on, or one of them anyway, that people have the power to affect their government, to affect the world around them, and to affect their society,” Kleinbaum said. “To not take advantage of that is a shame, and it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can do that.”
Toby Sillman, a senior at Brookline High School, knows what it’s like to be the youngest person in the room.
“I’ve been to so many meetings where I’m the only person under 30, and it’s completely natural just for me to be there and to speak my mind,” Sillman said. “ I’m really grateful to all those people in the town for having been so welcoming.”
Sillman, who was the first-ever student to join the Brookline Bicycle Advisory Committee, said being a bicyclist and a Brooklyn, New York, “city kid” propelled his interest in it.
“We really need to realize as a community that we can’t survive unless we pay attention to what really matters,” Sillman said. “We need safer roads. We need more sustainable transportation. We need a public transit system that works properly.”
Sillman said students have accomplished a lot within Brookline.
“We have a lot of power as citizens to get involved in local government,” Sillman said. “For me, I’ve really appreciated the opportunities I’ve had to do so.”
For Kleinbaum, Sillman, Sipos and Elasmar, Brookline is more than where they live — it’s the launchpad for activism and making a difference.
“I really love Brookline, and I’m always going to come back,” Kleinbaum said. “It’s always going to be the place where I grew up and found myself and figured out how to get things done and make an impact.”
