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Somerville Stands Together is celebrating the launch of talks between Somerville’s newly-elected Community Benefits Negotiation Committee and Union Square developers US2. The committee consists of 15 residents, elected by their neighbors, who will represent residents concerns in negotiations with real estate developers. This is an important victory for the working people of Somerville, who see a growing disconnect between City Hall and Somerville’s progressive values. Now, for the first time, Somerville residents will have a formal seat at the table to ensure that as the city continues to grow, Somerville is a city that works for all of us.
Somerville Stands Together, a group of labor, community and social justice organizations, stands in support of Union Square neighbors as they negotiate for good jobs, affordable housing and responsible development that doesn’t displace longtime residents. The Community Benefits Negotiation Committee, born from the Union Square Neighborhood Council, will make sure community benefits agreements between Somerville city government and developers provide real value to residents. The Negotiation Committee will fight for a significant increase in affordable housing, good jobs with community standards for residents, and the highest safety standards possible on construction projects.
The Board of Alderpersons approved the Union Square Neighborhood Council’s application to become the first-ever Community Benefits Negotiation Committee on July 9th. This followed the Board of Alderpersons (BOA) previous vote to allow community groups to apply to be recognized by the city as the official neighborhood body charged with negotiating on behalf of the public as the Community Benefits Negotiation Committee.
The launch of negotiations between the Community Benefits Negotiation Committee and Union Square developer US2 is a watershed moment in the city’s real estate development process and a tremendous win for Somerville residents who have been fighting to have their voices heard. It marks a significant break from the status quo — when the Mayor and the developer, alone, finalized development deals with no public input or accountability.
The upcoming billion-dollar Union Square project will deliver profits larger than the entire Somerville annual city budget to a wealthy out-of-town developer. Somerville has an opportunity to create shared economic prosperity if the project is done right: that means lifting up the entire community, not merely lining the pockets of private developers.
Somerville Stands Together urges all Somerville residents to support the Community Benefits Negotiations Committee, and to hold developers accountable–since City Hall has proven time and again it will not do so. Somerville hopeful that these negotiations will serve as a model for responsible development across the city and the Commonwealth at large.
“Developers can no longer ignore the needs of the neighborhoods where they are seeking to profit off prime real estate,” Somerville Stands Together organizer Penelope Jennewein said. “We are very hopeful that the Community Benefits Negotiation Committee will successfully negotiate for a development deal that respects Somerville’s progressive values.”
Somerville Stands Together is calling on elected officials and all developers to commit to Somerville values. This means:
- providing good union jobs
- maintaining and expanding affordable housing
- responsible development – including high safety standards and protection of the environment
–Somerville Stands Together
About Somerville Stands Together: Somerville Stands Together is a coalition of community and labor groups committed to maintaining the city’s diversity and its history as a place where hardworking families can build a life and a community. Somerville must continue to uphold progressive principles, where everyone is welcome regardless of race, creed or orientation; and where creativity and innovation are part of the fabric of our city. Somerville stands for immigrant rights, quality education, LGBTQIA rights, racial and economic justice, green justice, affordable housing and workers’ rights. The coalition includes AFSCME Local 274, Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District, Firefighters Local 76, Good Jobs Somerville, Good Jobs, Strong Communities Coalition, Our Revolution – Somerville, Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters, Somerville Municipal Employees Association, SEIU Fireman & Oilers Local 3, SEIU Local 509, SEIU Local 888, and Teamsters Local 122.
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There are so many errors in this publicity written by Somerville Stands Together that I don’t know where to begin. For an advocacy group that claims to support the community so strongly, it appears they weren’t involved with the Union Square Neighborhood Council process at all given all the basic errors in their press piece.
There are 15 Union Square Neighborhood Council Board members. They were elected in a private election last December where 700 people voted out of a district that has >10,000 registered voters (and since non-citizens, people over 16, and workers, business owners, and landowners in Union Square were allowed to vote in this private election, there were even more possible voters).
The 15 member board chose 7 people for this Community Benefits Negotiation Committee, all deliberation done in Executive Session that no one else is allowed to know the details about. Only 10 people applied for the Negotiating Committee. The USNC Board chose 6 and decided to add another person who did not apply by the deadline.
In case anyone doesn’t know, the only people who attend USNC meetings are ~7-12 Board members plus up to ~10 other residents who are regular attendees and often do more work on their own for the future of Union Square. I encourage all those who have a stake in Union Square to read all the meeting minutes (that aren’t hidden in Executive Session) of the USNC and its Committees at this website:
http://unionsquareneighborhoodcouncil.org/meetings
http://unionsquareneighborhoodcouncil.org/committees
“The Negotiation Committee will fight for a significant increase in affordable housing, good jobs with community standards for residents, and the highest safety standards possible on construction projects.”
This is not what the Committee is doing, or at least not what they are supposed to be doing. The Committee has priorities based on feedback from the community. It seems like Somerville Stands Together hasn’t even read the report the USNC wrote:
http://unionsquareneighborhoodcouncil.org/docs/pdf/CBA/180322-CBA_report.pdf
Affordable housing and jobs are listed here, but equally important are more green and open space for our children and their health and all of our health. In addition, supporting local businesses and creative economies is equally important. Just as is mitigating pollution from transportation.
Somerville Stands Together from their website is only a coalition of regional Union Labor groups. What percentage of each of those groups live in Somerville? Union Labor is important, but the USNC and the Community Benefits Ordinance as passed by the Board of Aldermen that allowed this negotiation to begin tasks such groups with a focus on Somerville residents: “Be organized with a corporate purpose to maintain and improve the health, safety and welfare of all Somerville residents, with special attention given to the members of the community for whom quality of life and permanence in the community may be harder to attain, including environmental justice populations and residents facing mobility, age and/or other personal and family challenges;”
Furthermore, the USNC is only negotiating with US2 right now. US2 must do this because of a Covenant (i.e. contract) they signed with the City. No other developers are required to negotiate any formal agreements with this Neighborhood Council. This Council has just as much power as any other neighborhood groups and associations and individual residents who push back with concerns about any developments in their neighborhoods. The Board of Aldermen needs to go through and approve the new Zoning to really allow much more responsible development in Somerville. Otherwise, we have developers who must get variances for any development in order to be compliant with out of date zoning. To get support for their variances, they curry favor with any local group that will lend its support in exchange for benefits to those specific groups.
Thank you, Union Sq Resident, for a very thorough reply. I enjoyed reading it.