Brookline Improves Communication and Empowers Local Businesses with Neighborhood Signs
The Town of Brookline launched the neighborhood news feed in its commercial districts to improve neighborhood communication and empower the local business community!
Soofa Signs first arrived in Brookline in late September 2019, championed by the Brookline Select Board and supported by numerous Town departments like Transportation and Economic Development, and local organizations including the Brookline Chamber of Commerce, Coolidge Corner Merchants Association, Brookline Village Business Association, and many resident advisory committees.
As Select Board Member Heather Hamilton described at the Soofa Sign ribbon cutting and launch ceremony, “It is essential in any democracy to have participation. And one of the limitations that we find in government is that we don’t have the money to reach everybody the way they want to be reached [outside in the public realm - in the neighborhoods where they live, work, and play]… So, something like the neighborhood news feed helps us to get the word out when we have very important public meetings that are changing neighborhood fabric.”
The Soofa Signs are sponsored by Brookline Bank, an institution with deep roots in the Brookline community.
Peter Roveto, Brookline Bank’s SVP and Director of Marketing, proudly described the bank’s role as the annual launch partner of the neighborhood news feed: “Brookline Bank is pleased to have been able to help launch Soofa in Brookline. This fits well with Brookline Bank’s place in this community and we are proud to support Soofa and the Town of Brookline's vision to make our neighborhoods more connected and sustainable with state of the art technology like the neighborhood news feed."
Neighborhood community users are posting content daily in Brookline through Soofa Talk.
Local artist Lindsay Roffman is sharing her artwork on the Brookline Signs and the Brookline Bicycle Advisory Committee is using the signs to spread the news of their event “Envision Beacon Street” with the community. Brookline local businesses like Mathnasium and Boston Smile Center are using the new signs to reach the offline neighborhood in an authentic way with the Soofa Talk Local Business plan.
Danielle Schlesier poses with her latest Soofa content!
At the Coolidge Corner launch event, Massachusetts State Representative Tommy Vitolo announced, “[Soofa] is part of what you need to do to keep people on the streets talking to each other, engaging with our businesses and community as a whole. This represents 21st century thinking on these topics... It is necessary, but not enough, to have street trees and park benches in our public spaces. We need to continue looking for ways to engage people of all ages, of all abilities, of all interests in our public spaces, and that includes using technology.”
"The Soofa Sign pilot in the Town of Brookline is an important step in improving outdoor communication in some of our most frequently visited and walkable neighborhoods like Coolidge Corner, St. Marys, Washington Square, and Brookline Village. Soofa's neighborhood news feeds will communicate a mixture of things throughout the Town including upcoming events (both municipal and private), local business promotions and specials, and will increase the awareness and use of mobility options like the MBTA by showing up to date arrival times, BlueBike availability and wayfinding to the nearest dock, and educational messaging for safe and responsible scooting."
– Todd Kirrane, Transportation Administrator for the Town of Brookline
Soofa is thrilled to be working with the Town of Brookline and the residents that call Brookline home. Over the next few weeks additional signs will be added to more of Brookline’s great neighborhoods including Brookline Village, St. Marys, and Washington Square.