2017: A Look at What’s to Come

On January 12, 2017, in Latest News, by The Somerville Times

By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

During Mayor Joseph Curtatone’s State of the City address on Monday, January 9, 2017, he discussed many of the successes and challenges Somerville faced in 2016 – as well as some of the work the City is prioritizing this year. The excerpts below offer a glimpse into just a few of the upcoming initiatives the City is tackling. To read the entirety of Mayor Curtatone’s speech, visit www.SomervilleMA.gov. 

Zoning Overhaul

We must pass a modern zoning ordinance that brings the fundamental rules of how this city operates in line with the SomerVision community plan. … The zoning overhaul is a key step toward that.

Zoning touches almost every major issue in our community. We can’t claim to care about making housing affordable for a greater number of people if we’re not passing the zoning to make that possible. We can’t claim we care about open space if we don’t pass the zoning that delineates how we get more open space. We can’t say we want jobs and commercial growth, which shifts the local tax burden away from our residents, if we’re not going to give commercial developers a better sense of where and what they can build in our city. We can’t claim to care about preserving the character of our residential neighborhoods if we won’t change a system in which only 22 homes in the entire city conform to our zoning.

Affordable Housing

Housing affordability remains a challenge, and a top priority. There is no silver bullet, but we are working on multiple fronts to address the issue. We’ve received the first installment of $4.3 million in linkage payments from Partners Healthcare dedicated to the creation of affordable housing. We’re working with the Somerville Community Corporation to buy 100 homes to preserve them as permanent affordable housing. Thanks to the kind of grassroots efforts that make our city better, we raised our inclusionary housing requirement to among the highest in the nation at 20 percent.  To help our working families stay here, we worked to open our inclusionary housing program to middle income residents. And we just cut the ribbon for the Union Square Apartments, adding 35 affordable rental units.

I cannot stress enough that we must build the housing that SomerVision calls for – if not more. Last week, news came that for the first time since 2010, rents are declining in Boston. The decline is credited to their housing construction boom. If we believe Somerville should be affordable for all, we must do our part to address our housing shortage.

To this end, we will continue to work in earnest in the coming year toward establishing a real estate transfer charge that could support affordable housing and other pressing needs.

Support for Artists and Makers

In 2017, we will continue our efforts to support our makers and artists. Plans for the ArtFarm at the old Waste Transfer site are taking shape. It will be our next great public open space fostering art and urban agriculture programs. The zoning overhaul, here too, is critical. It includes set asides for maker and artist spaces, establishes arts and fabrication districts and work/live zoning. If we want to keep the vibrant artist community that has been at the core of this city’s modern revival, we need to have its future baked into our zoning.

Open Space and Fields

Another challenge we must meet is our need for more open space and better athletic fields. In our SomerVision plan, we set an ambitious goal of 125 acres of new open and public space. We will need to be creative to get there. And again, we’re not going to get there without the new zoning, which lays out 12 different types of open spaces around new developments.

Our fields remain a priority, and our new Fields Master Plan vetted with the community now lays out a course for methodical investment in our playing fields so that the people of Somerville can get outside and play hard.

Fair and Transparent Elections

In 2017, we will advance our work with this Board to make Somerville a standard bearer for fair and open elections. I will call together a clean elections task force. Their duty will be no less than to ensure we pursue the highest ideals of participatory democracy.  We must expand voter participation through inclusive reforms including early voting in municipal elections. And we must safeguard the right of every voter or candidate to participate equally in our political process. We must resolve to publicly finance our elections. We must be bold enough to change the status quo.

Infrastructure and Flooding

Somerville is celebrating its 175th anniversary. Some of our sewer lines are not far behind. The brick and mortar sewer in Union Square dates back to the Civil War. But we are making progress on upgrades. Somerville recently won a $13 million dollar MassWorks grant from the state. These funds will help us reduce legacy flooding issues around Union Square, improve sewer service to more than 20,000 homes, and make possible the development that SomerVision calls for.

Social Progress

We must stand up for one another. That’s why we’re intensifying our outreach efforts to our Veterans through our new SomerVets Program. That’s why we are increasing accessibility on City streets, sidewalks, and in our buildings. It’s why we hired a multi-lingual social worker.  It’s why we’re working with the Social Progress Imperative to measure improvements to our quality of life. And it’s why we are working intensively to provide important resources and support to those affected by the ravages of the opioid epidemic. It’s also why Somerville will remain a Sanctuary City no matter what happens in Washington.

 

Comments are closed.