Members of the public are invited to attend and speak at two April 4 Public Hearings on a request from Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone to file a Home Rule Petition to the State Legislature requesting that 16- and 17-year-old Somerville citizens be granted legal voting rights for municipal elections.
The City of Somerville has been working to produce a strategic plan to guide its safe streets work, using the global “Vision Zero” movement as a framework to eliminate traffic crashes that result in severe injuries and fatalities. A series of community engagement opportunities have been scheduled for residents and stakeholders to discuss the City’s public policy framework around safe streets. Upcoming opportunties include:
The City is now accepting applications for positions on Mayor Joseph Curtatone’s Appointments Advisory Committee (AAC). The Committee reviews applications and makes recommendations for vacant Mayor-appointed posts on boards and commissions with regulatory or decision-making authority.
Mayor Marc C. McGovern and Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced this morning the establishment of the United Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants, a partnership between the Mayors’ Offices and the Cambridge Community Foundation.
“By unifying efforts to raise funds for the most vulnerable families in our community, we can help valued neighbors and stabilize families impacted by the stress and uncertainty of ongoing shifts in TPS and DACA
status, and those seeking asylum.”
In Somerville, we pride ourselves on being a city that is home to people from all around the world and of every religion. So, when an atrocity like the mosque attacks in New Zealand takes place, we feel it here. We want to state emphatically our revulsion over this type of prejudice-driven violence and our solidarity with the people in our local Muslim community.
The Somerville City Council wishes to inform the community that two significant votes may take place on Thursday, March 21. At the 6 p.m. meeting of the Legislative Matters Committee of the Whole at City Hall, Committee Chair & Ward 5 Councilor Mark Niedergang believes that votes may be taken on the Proposed Condominium Conversion Ordinance as well as the Proposed Short-Term Rental Ordinance.
SOMERVILLE – The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) is holding their annual Community Preservation Plan public hearing on Wednesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. in the 3rd floor Community Room at the Visiting Nurse Association, 259 Lowell St. The Community Preservation Plan establishes the annual funding priorities and allocations for the three categories that Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds can support. From fiscal years 2015 to 2018, the annual funding minimums were 45% for affordable housing, 15% for historic resources, and 15% for open space/recreation land.
Additional volunteers are needed!
Somerville's Docent Program operates on a scheduled basis during the months of May through October. Public openings are offered at three historic sites, twice a month -- the Milk Row Cemetery on Somerville Avenue, Prospect Hill Tower above Union Square, and the Powder House in Nathan Tufts Park, off the Powder House rotary. The Docent Program was started in 2012 at the Cemetery and expanded to three historic sites in 2017.
The Council would like to thank all who attended and testified at the March 12 Public Hearing on Regulation of Tree Removal on Private Property.
On April 4, the Legislative Matters Committee will begin discussion of the Proposed Tree Preservation Ordinance linked to here.
The Council encourages the public to continue to participate in this important effort to best protect the mature urban forest and significant private trees.
With the groundbreaking for the new Somerville High School building project behind us and construction underway, gradual changes to parking options on the Central Hill Campus (which includes City Hall, Somerville High School, and the Somerville Public Library) and the surrounding public streets have begun. Join City staff for a series of public quarterly meetings where updates about parking changes, new data collection, and strategies for impact mitigation will be discussed.
To complete the next phase of work on the Green Line Extension (GLX) Project, the Broadway bridge, between Ball Square and Magoun Square, will close for construction for approximately one-year beginning March 22. This is the first in a series of three 8- to 12-month closures planned for 2019: Closures on Washington St. and Medford St. will follow in April and July, respectively. Wider bridges will be constructed at each location to accommodate the new light-rail service, among other improvements.
Please join Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, Ward 1 City Councilor Matthew McLaughlin, Ward 2 City Councilor J.T. Scott, Ward 3 City Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen, City of Somerville staff, and representatives from the GLX team for a community meeting on Wednesday, March 13, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. to discuss the upcoming Washington St. bridge closure and detour routes. The meeting will be held in the auditorium at the East Somerville Community School, 50 Cross St.
Somerville residents and the City both stand to benefit if 230 Somerville households sign up for a no-cost Mass Save® Home Energy Assessment in 2019. The Mass Save Program can help Somerville property owners and tenants save on energy and maintenance costs, increase the home’s comfort and value, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, if 230 households complete no-cost Home Energy Assessments and a cumulative 300 energy upgrades, the City can receive up to $8,700 in grants from the National Grid Community Initiative.
As part of the next phase of the Somerville Ave. Utility & Streetscape Improvements Project, City contractors will set up a large work zone in Union Square on or around February 19. It will remain in place for approximately six months.
Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced that the City filed suit today against opioid manufacturers and distributors, including the chain pharmacy Walgreens as a distributor, for their alleged deceptive and illegal promotion of opioids and failure to investigate, report, maintain effective control, and take steps to terminate suspicious orders of the highly addictive prescription drugs.
The City of Somerville announced this week its third Poet Laureate, Lloyd Schwartz. Schwartz is a Somerville resident with an impressive literary background including his current work as the Frederick S. Troy Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His poetry collections include These People; Goodnight, Gracie; Cairo Traffic; and most recently, Little Kisses (University of Chicago Press).
The Somerville Community Preservation Committee (CPC) invites residents to join a conservation about options for a dog park in West Somerville at their Wednesday, January 23 meeting. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Visiting Nurse Association 3rd floor community room (259 Lowell St), and seeks to receive community feedback if and where there is space for a dog park in West Somerville, and how dog parks can be effectively managed in a densely populated urban community.
The City of Somerville’s legislative body will officially become the Somerville City Council (formerly the Board of Alderman) on January 31, 2019. The name change was approved when Gov. Charlie Baker signed a home rule petition on January 1 requesting the switch to City Council.
“I am very happy not to be called an elder man anymore,” said City Council President Katjana Ballantyne.
SOMERVILLE — If you’re interested in big issues like housing, development, job creation, and open space we need your help in planning for the future of Somerville. As part of the launch of SomerVision 2040, the City of Somerville is seeking members for a steering committee that will help shape the community process and immediate goals.
Are you a Somerville resident with 15 minutes to spare? The City of Somerville would appreciate your response to a shared mobility survey that will help us plan for future transportation needs. The survey, which takes about 15 minutes to complete, asks questions about your current modes of transportation as well as options you might consider in the future, like autonomous vehicles.
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