The Last Week in Brookline: July 12 to 18

If there was a common theme to this week's news in Brookline, it must have had something to do with preserving things headed toward destruction – whether by infestation, demolition or consolidation.

The week began with continued fears about last week's discovery of the tree-massacring Asian longhorn beetle just over Brookline's border with Jamaica Plain. Experts had scoured some 1,800 trees in search of the bug by Wednesday, while federal and state officials held the first in a series of town meetings in Brookline about the infestation and related wood-product quarantine that some say could last as long as five years. To date, no new beetles have been found.

At the same time, town preservation officials rejected the application of a homeowner looking to tear down a pre-Civil War home on Chestnut Place, imposing an 18-month stay on the demolition plans. And the state court system released announced that Brookline's municipal courthouse was not on the list of court facilities being targeted for consolidation, despite fears to the contrary.

We also learned this week about plans for a new "Brookline Card" that could be used at cash registers as well as parking meters across town, and a proposal that would see Red Sox fans shelling out $10 an hour to leave their cars at town parking meters on game day.

State politics also came to Brookline this week, as Sen. Cythia Creem made a campaign stop in Coolidge Corner with former Governor Michael Dukakis to drum up support in advance of the Democratic primary in September. And, Creem's opponent, Charles Rudnick, followed up by reissuing his call for more debates beyond the three already scheduled.

Meanwhile, Brookline police officers were kept busy with the usual: .

Stay tuned next week to see what else we come up with.