Residents Asked to Take Online Survey to Help Shape Meeting Agenda; Meetings to include new interactive data-gathering activity on neighborhood preferences

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone invites residents to the Fall 2013 ResiStat Community Meetings, a twice-yearly effort to share the latest city news and data directly with residents and gather their feedback. Seven neighborhood meetings, one in each ward, will be held in the coming weeks starting Thursday, Oct. 17, with the Ward 4 Winter Hill and Ten Hills Meeting with Mayor Curtatone and Ward 4 Alderman Tony Lafuente.

At each meeting, Mayor Curtatone, ward and at-large aldermen, members of the Somerville Police Department, and city staff will present updates and take questions on issues proposed by residents who take the meeting survey in advance of their ward meeting. Refreshments will be served (pizza and healthy snacks) at a meet-and-greet before each meeting, where residents can talk one-to-one with city officials and meet with neighbors.

New this season, an interactive data-gathering activity will also challenge residents at each meeting to identify the visual features in their neighborhoods that they enjoy now and those they would like to change.

Topics to choose from include crime and safety reports, updates on neighborhood and citywide development, infrastructure improvements including streets and sidewalks, rodent control, park projects in your neighborhood, transportation projects including the Green Line extension, and traffic and parking. Residents are invited to help shape the meeting agendas by taking the Meeting Survey to vote on these topics or propose others for discussion. The survey is online at  http://somervilleresistat.blogspot.com/p/meetings.html.  Or take the survey by phone by calling Community Engagement Specialist Meghann Ackerman at 617-625-6600 x2120.

In addition to these options, the Mayor will present on how the use of data contributed to recent phenomenal MCAS gains in the Somerville Public Schools, and residents will be treated to a first look at the 2013 Happiness Survey results.

SPRING 2013 ResiStat Meeting Schedule

Ward 4: Thursday, Oct. 17, for Winter Hill, Ten Hills, Mystic River, Mystic View

• Meeting: 7-8:30 p.m. at Healey School cafeteria, 5 Meacham St.
• Meet-and-Greet: 6:30-7 p.m. with refreshments

Ward 1: Tuesday, Oct. 22, for East Somerville, Assembly Square, Inner Belt 

• Meeting: 7-8:30 p.m. at East Somerville Community School auditorium, 115 Pearl St.
• Meet-and-Greet: 6:30-7 p.m. with refreshments

Ward 2: Tuesday, Oct. 29, for Union Square South, Somerville Ave. & Beacon St. areas, and the Lincoln Park and Perry park areas

• Meeting: 7-8:30 p.m. at Argenziano School cafeteria, 290 Washington St.
• Meet-and-Greet: 6:30-7 p.m. with refreshments

Ward 7: Wednesday, Nov. 13, for West Somerville and Teele Square area

• Meeting: 7-8:30 p.m. at West Somerville Neighborhood School cafeteria, 177 Powderhouse Blvd.
• Meet-and-Greet: 6:30-7 p.m. with refreshments

Ward 6: Tuesday, Nov. 19, for Greater Davis Square and SW Ball Square

• Meeting: 7-8:30 p.m. at Davis Square Theatre, 255 Elm St. (This is the small theatre below Foundry, NOT the movie theater.)
• Meet-and-Greet: 6:30-7 p.m. with refreshments

Ward 5: Wednesday, Nov, 20, for Magoun Square, NE Ball Square, Cedar & Lowell St. areas, NW Porter Square

• Meeting: 7-8:30 p.m. at John F. Kennedy Elementary School cafeteria, 5 Cherry St.
  • Meet-and-Greet: 6:30-7 p.m. with refreshments

Ward 3: Thursday, Nov. 21, for N. Union Square, Prospect Hill, Spring Hill, Central Hill

• Meeting: 7-8:30 p.m. at Somerville High School cafeteria, 81 Highland Ave.
• Meet-and-Greet: 6:30-7 p.m. with refreshments

For more information, visit http://somervilleresistat.blogspot.com and click the “Meetings” tab. Or contact Meghann Ackerman at mackerman@somervillema.gov or 617-625-6600 x 2120.