Alderman at Large and President of the Board of Aldermen William A. White Jr.

By Oliver Bok

Bill White, Alderman at Large and president of the Board of Aldermen, has seen a lot of change come to Somerville since he graduated from Somerville High in the seventies.

“When I was in high school, if you had told somebody that a house in West Somerville would sell for $1.7 million…” His voice trailed off. “Nobody would have thought of that, okay?”

White devotes much of his work as an alderman to figuring out how the municipal government can help the city grow economically while also making sure that Somerville doesn’t price families out or lose its sense of community.

When I asked him what he was most proud of achieving, he answered quickly: Assembly Square and raising the residential exemption.

At his first meeting as an alderman in 1998, White submitted legislation to have the city examine future development in Assembly Square, including the possibility of having an Orange Line stop there.

“Back then a lot of folks thought I was crazy, but now you see it,” White said. “So when I walk down there with my dog, you can sort of see the fruition of that.”

Since the beginning of his career on the Board of Aldermen, White has pushed to raise the residential exemption that allows homeowners who live in their homes to pay lower property taxes. In 1998, the residential exemption was 17 percent. Now, after petitioning state government to allow Somerville to raise it over the statewide limit, the exemption is 35 percent.

According to White, the residential exemption is key to making sure that residents aren’t forced to move because of Somerville’s burgeoning real estate market.

“If taxes were another 35 percent higher, a lot of folks, especially seniors, might have been forced to sell their homes,” he said.

Looking forward, one of White’s biggest priorities is getting the new zoning rules right.

“That is probably one of the most important documents that has ever gone before the Board of Aldermen in the last hundred years because it will set the tone for how development will take place,” White said.

White said that he didn’t want to see too much new residential development because commercial development pays more in taxes, and Somerville has a limited amount of unused land.

“We have to preserve a lot of this [land] to make sure that it’s here for commercial development to bring the jobs and also bring some tax benefits to the community and take some of the burden off of homeowners,” White said.

White is also focused on instituting stricter caps on campaign spending by developers, particularly in light of fact that the Commonwealth doubled the cap on campaign contributions this year. However, White’s plan has been vetoed by Mayor Curtatone who has submitted his own plan. White said he hopes to thrash out a compromise this fall.

While they may not agree about everything, White stated that he has developed a “cordial and professional” working relationship with the mayor.

“We’re each at a point where we can freely contact the other person and know that there’s not going to be any kind of political maneuverings, it’s just going to be our respective views of what we think is important and best for the city,” White said.

White ran for state senate against Pat Jehlen in 2005 as a Republican. He lost, and the following year he changed his party affiliation to Democrat and endorsed Deval Patrick.

“I always considered myself a liberal republican, and there’s no role for liberal republicans,” White said. “The party drastically changed.”

For now, White seems content in his role as president of the Board of Aldermen, where he runs the meetings and helps his more junior colleagues understand how the Board works.

According to White, the job of alderman has grown since he was first elected in 1998. Back then, he only had to go to four or five meetings a month. Now, largely because of the all the development underway, aldermen often find themselves at meetings four times a week. For White, who has a full time law practice, fitting in time for everything is “difficult.”

But despite the time commitment, White, who has already announced his reelection campaign for this fall, clearly isn’t planning on quitting any time soon.

“I’d like to continue as long as the people want me and I can do the job,” White said.