I have no love for the moonbattery that comes out of Cambridge and Brookline city governments, and the people are as have been described, however, by what standard could you say Brookline has fallen into "decay"? I'd love to be able to afford a small piece of that decay, it looks pretty damn sweet to me.
Sorry - guess I'm a lot older than you. And I spent a lot of time in Coolidge Corner as a kid. Used to live nearby, actually. Compared to the way it was in those days fifty years ago, it now resembles a blighted, ageing, East European socialist sinkhole to these old eyes. I'm afraid it looks pretty d*mn cheesy to me. As in Limburger cheesy.