• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • 5 DOUBLE-U’S
    • MASTHEAD
    • DISTRIBUTION
    • ADVERTISE
    • SUBMISSIONS
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

CURRENT STREET EDITION

DIG 23.02 – 1/28/21

SOMERVILLE SUMMIT: PART II

Written by BOSTON INSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT JOURNALISM Posted April 21, 2019 Filed Under: News, NEWS+OPINIONS

Rendition of proposed Union Square development via City of Somerville Union Square Neighborhood Plan.

 

READ THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF THE SOMERVILLE SUMMIT HERE

READ THE THIRD INSTALLMENT OF THE SOMERVILLE SUMMIT HERE

READ THE FOLLOW-UP PROPOSALS TO OUR SUMMIT HERE


 

Residents vent on issues related to Union Square and other development

 

As a major initiative for 2019, the team at the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ), in collaboration with partners at DigBoston, Somerville Media Center (SMC), and various other outlets, is focusing on identifying and reporting critical stories in the City of Somerville.

 

To that end, we have been leading journalism workshops at SMC, including some with high school students, and in February BINJ turned out more than 100 Somerville residents and active community members to the ONCE ballroom on Highland Ave to converse with area journalists about issues they think need more coverage. The information these participants provided has already seeded articles and will continue to bear fruit over the coming months.

 

In addition to our follow-ups, we have transcribed all of the presentations given at ONCE. It’s a lot to chew on, so for the purpose of reporting back we parsed sentiments of the participating Somervillians into the following categories (many of which overlap at multiple intersections):

 

  • Neighborhoods, transit, and accessibility
  • Union Square and other development
  • Low-income residents and affordable housing
  • Immigrant communities
  • Trees and the environment
  • Arts, artists, and artisans

 

In addition to reports that stem from the February meetup, over the coming weeks we will also publish words and ideas that stood out at the summit. This week, we get into excerpts from various testimonies related to Union Square and other development.

 

Bill Cavellini, Union Square Neighborhood Council

One-point-five billion dollars. Fifteen acres. Two-million four-hundred thousand square feet. Over 15 years. It deserves some coverage. It’s gotten some, it needs some more. I’m talking about Union Square redevelopment.

 

I’m the co-chair of the Union Square Neighborhood Council, but my original involvement was through Union United. Which is a coalition of organizations, trade unions, and neighborhood groups. But the primary group were the Welcome Project, [Community Action Agency of Somerville], and the Somerville Community Corporation. Union United’s been in existence for five years; we have been in the street as much as we have been in the halls of decision-making and we appreciate the coverage that we’ve gotten.

 

We are in the midst of negotiations with a developer from out of town, from Chicago, that stands to make millions of dollars of profit. It’s time for Somerville to get a piece of the pie. Jobs, housing  that’s affordable to long term residents. We’re tired of families having to leave. These are the stories that should be told. The individual ones and the group ones.

 

Elaine Koury, Somerville resident

Somerville is the victim of a hostile takeover by developers … whose motive obviously is to make money. They are changing the face of our town.

 

The mayor still invites development and says, every chance he gets, that if you want to build,  come to Somerville. This development has fueled runaway real estate prices so that 17.8% of Somerville renters pay 50% or more of their income on rent.

 

There has been and there continues to be wonderful work around affordable housing, but there has not been nearly enough around market intervention. We need to stop the raging locomotive that is running us down. This is not a story, this is an investigative reporting series.

 

 

Ann Camara, Union Square Neighborhood Council

We’re working on everything … Any project that you have, come bring it to us, we will help you and we need your input and we need your help. We’re working with development for affordable, really affordable housing and jobs and training, sustainability, green space. I am also a member of Union United; if you need a voice, please join Union United. It’s someplace that you can have a voice, it’s organized and it fights for the right things.

 

Matt Lavallee, Somerville Free Press

I’ve been doing a deep dive into [the] campaign finances of our mayor, Joe Curtatone. I basically downloaded the whole database of contributions to [the] Curtatone campaign since 2010, which is something that anybody can get from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, but the data that’s in it is wicked sloppy. So I’ve been, for the last month or so, looking through to find all the connections between different people and parties [and to] fix everybody’s misspellings of their own names in there. To find out who is whose mother in law … there are a lot of cases where an executive from some company or another will give $1,000 to the mayor, and then several people with the same name and address will also give a lot of money to the mayor on the same day. Which is not illegal, but it does make you wonder.

 

There’s two reasons you might want this information—one of them is if you don’t care about campaign finance but you are in the market for an out-of-town, well-moneyed developer of real estate, a management company for apartments, somebody who owns a lot of real estate around town. If you’re interested in some heavy equipment rentals, somebody to put up a fence, construction firms of all sorts.

 

Another reason is if you think that the office of the mayor and boards appointed by the mayor are people in a unique position of power to mediate the relationship between for-profit companies and developers [and to build the] political environment in which we live in the city, you might be really interested in who it is that sees fit to give this mayor [thousands of] dollars a year to run generally with no opponent.

 

A Somerville Community Summit Follow-Up Meeting will be held on Saturday, April 27 from 12 – 2pm at the Somerville Media Center, 90 Union Square, Somerville. Hosted by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, DigBoston, and the Somerville Media Center. For more information, go to: facebook.com/events/583649248783693/.

 

Transcription by Spencer Walter.

 

This article was produced by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. To see more media like this visit binjonline.org, and you can support independent local reporting by contributing at givetobinj.org.

BOSTON INSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT JOURNALISM
More from author
  • BOSTON INSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT JOURNALISM
    https://digboston.com/author/boston-institute-for-nonprofit-journalism/
    MICHAEL MOORE TO TAPE LIVE PODCAST WITH SPECIAL GUESTS CHAPO TRAP HOUSE AT BINJ POP-UP NEWSROOM (SUN. 2.9)
  • BOSTON INSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT JOURNALISM
    https://digboston.com/author/boston-institute-for-nonprofit-journalism/
    THE CITIZENS AGENDA: WHAT DO YOU WANT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TO TALK ABOUT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE?
  • BOSTON INSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT JOURNALISM
    https://digboston.com/author/boston-institute-for-nonprofit-journalism/
    REMEMBER THEIR NAMES: STUDENT ART CHALLENGES HARVARD TO JOIN OTHER MAJOR INSTITUTIONS IN SACKING MONSTERS BEHIND OXYCONTIN
  • BOSTON INSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT JOURNALISM
    https://digboston.com/author/boston-institute-for-nonprofit-journalism/
    REVISITING 'PILGRIMS': THE CLEANUP ON CAPE COD

Filed Under: News, NEWS+OPINIONS Tagged With: Ann Camara, Bill Cavellini, Bill White, BINJ, Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, Community Action Agency of Somerville, Elaine Koury, Gilman Square, Matt Lavallee, Somerville City Council, Somerville Community Corporation, Somerville Free Press, Somerville Media Center, Somerville News Garden, Suzanne Bremer, Union Square Neighborhood Council, winter hill

WHAT’S NEW

GUEST OPINION: TPS HOLDERS DESERVE PERMANENT PROTECTION

GUEST OPINION: TPS HOLDERS DESERVE PERMANENT PROTECTION

STATE WIRE: NEW MASS PESTICIDE RULES MADE TO PROTECT POLLINATORS

STATE WIRE: NEW MASS PESTICIDE RULES MADE TO PROTECT POLLINATORS

Gov. Charlie Baker announces an educator vaccine program Wednesday in a WCVB screen capture.

STATE ADDS 400,000 EDUCATORS TO LIST FOR VACCINE

INBOX: JOHN BARROS LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN FOR MAYOR OF BOSTON

INBOX: JOHN BARROS LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN FOR MAYOR OF BOSTON

TRUMP GUY WINS THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY TO FILL DELEO’S SEAT

TRUMP GUY WINS THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY TO FILL DELEO’S SEAT

CHECKING IN ON THE COMMONWEALTH’S COMPREHENSIVE CLIMATE BILL

CHECKING IN ON THE COMMONWEALTH’S COMPREHENSIVE CLIMATE BILL

Primary Sidebar

HEMPIRE FREEDOM PACK 25% OFF

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • SPECIAL FEATURE ON THE MASS STATE POLICE: TROOPER WILSON’S WAR by CHRIS FARAONE
  • [UPDATE: WE GOT IT!] WHERE IS THE CONTRACT FOR MASSACHUSETTS’ VACCINE APPOINTMENT SOFTWARE? by POLINA WHITEHOUSE
  • BOSTON LATIN ACADEMY GRADS FIGHT FOR REPRESENTATION IN ALUMNI GROUP by CHRIS FARAONE
  • MASS KEEPS TRYING TO BUILD A NEW WOMEN’S PRISON OUTSIDE OF PUBLIC VIEW by DAN ATKINSON
  • WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH MASSACHUSETTS POLITICS AND VACCINATIONS? by ZACK HUFFMAN

READ CURRENT MEMBER EDITION

DIG Member 1.9 – 11/26/20

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG 23.02 – 1/28/21

Footer

digbos

digbos
Virtual #event this #weekend. https://digboston.co Virtual #event this #weekend. https://digboston.com/zeitgeist-press-releasing-work-by-late-boston-poet-melinda-kweskin/ #reading #poetry #Boston #Massachusetts
Now, the singer and composer is aiming to take cen Now, the singer and composer is aiming to take center stage himself … https://digboston.com/video-mass-classical-musician-johan-lenox-works-with-hip-hops-top-stars/ #video #music #classical #hiphop #Massachusetts
This is my home. We don’t deserve to live in per This is my home. We don’t deserve to live in perpetual fear. https://digboston.com/guest-opinion-tps-holders-deserve-permanent-protection/ #opinion #immigration #TPS #politics #Boston #Massachusetts
“No one wants to live in a world where music is “No one wants to live in a world where music is created to please a cold-blooded algorithm.” https://buff.ly/2OmuqPR #surveillance #interview #politics #tecnology
Barros is the fifth mayoral candidate to enter the Barros is the fifth mayoral candidate to enter the race. https://buff.ly/3bj3EAW #politics #election #Boston #Massachusetts
Can a veteran of the Wisconsin Uprising and former Can a veteran of the Wisconsin Uprising and former Mass union leader rescue the IAFF? https://digboston.com/a-firefighter-election/ #labor #firefighter #union #election #opinion #WisconsinUprising #Massachusetts #national
New #report shows 1/6 of women in Mass prisons sen New #report shows 1/6 of women in Mass prisons sentenced to life without parole. https://digboston.com/commonwealth-committed-to-other-death-penalty/ #prison #prisoner #humanrights #criticism #Massachusetts
“The gratuitous militarization of police forces “The gratuitous militarization of police forces across the United States facilitated by this program has helped to turn these agencies into brutal weapons of repression.” https://digboston.com/inbox-group-calls-for-biden-to-abolish-police-militarization-program/ #police #reform #criticism #Massachusetts
It’s the second time in less than a year that pr It’s the second time in less than a year that progressives have been dealt a bitter defeat in a crowded primary race. https://digboston.com/trump-guy-wins-the-democratic-primary-to-fill-deleos-seat/ #politics #election #Democrats #primary #legislature #Winthrop #Revere  #Massachusetts #MAGA #herp #derp
As lawmakers consider Baker’s amendments to clim As lawmakers consider Baker’s amendments to climate bill, the fight for environmental justice continues. https://digboston.com/checking-in-on-the-commonwealths-comprehensive-climate-bill/ #politics #legislature #environment #activism #globalwarming #Massachusetts
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Submissions

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]