Hello Ward 3,
Every drop of rain that falls on Somerville pavement eventually makes it way into our storm-water system. The huge rainstorm on Tuesday was an excellent reminder of why the Somerville Ave. infrastructure overhaul is such a critical investment for our city. If you look closely at this map of Somerville's sewer system, you can see the age of the pipes in our neighborhood: 1888, 1894, 1921...
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What's more, most of our current sewer system is "combined" - meaning that rainwater is combined with sewage, and in heavy rainstorms winds up being dumped into the Alewife Brook and the Mystic River. The Somerville Ave infrastructure work will separate the sewage and the storm-water outflow so they can be discharged separately - and given that ~60% of Somerville's outflow comes through Union Square, this is relevant for the whole city. Infrastructure maintenance and upgrades are never as popular as new projects (and, of course the three years of construction is a pain for neighbors), but these are critical investments for our city's long-term health. You can see many more details about the infrastructure project here.
And speaking of enormous infrastructure projects: the Green Line Extension (GLX) team has begun to provide a bit more detail on their construction timeline, including more information on the proposed bridge closures throughout the city - you can see the most recent draft here. I encourage you to take a look - this link contains the latest thinking around closing the Washington St. bridge. This timeline is not set in stone, but is now estimated to be from April-November 2019, and April-August 2020. Whenever the closures happens, both cars and pedestrians/bikes will be forced around a substantial detour to avoid the point Washington St. crosses under the McGrath Highway (this map shows pedestrian/bike - follow the link above for car detours):
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I will be working hard alongside my colleagues and neighbors to make sure that the construction detours are as well-planned and minimally-disruptive as humanly possible, but there really is no scenario in which this isn't rough. Of course, at the end of all this construction, not only do we get Green Line service throughout Somerville, but also a full Community Path running from past Davis Square all the way to Lechmere! If you have specific questions or concerns throughout the process, you can always reach out to me, or to the GLX team directly (1-855-GLX-INFO or info@glxinfo.com), or Somerville's Construction Liason, Jesse Moos (construction@somervillema.gov or 617-666-3311). If you'd like to get more involved, I highly encourage you to reach out to Justin Moeling, our local community representative on the GLX working group - learn more here.
And now for some additional updates:
The Board of Aldermen is officially on recess until late August, meaning there are no Board or Committee meetings, but I'm around to help with any neighborhood issues, and there is plenty going on in the community. A few particularly interesting updates:
1) Community meeting on short-term rentals (e.g. AirBNB) Thursday, July 19, 6:00pm, Argenziano School Cafeteria.
The Mayor's office is hosting a second community meeting to gather feedback on possible regulations of the short-term rental industry in Somerville. You can find the presentation from their first meeting, as well as a resident survey, at this link: https://www.somervillema.gov/strs. I look forward to taking up this important issue in the fall - please reach out with any questions or feedback at any time.
2) Neighborhood meeting for a proposed residential development at 124 Highland Ave (the American Legion Post 19.). Tuesday, July 31, 6:30, at the site (entrance on Trull)
A developer named Tony Barros has submitted a proposal for a 17-unit residential development at the site of the American Legion Hall at 124 Highland Ave. This is the first neighborhood meeting for the project, and the developers will present their proposal to the neighbors and gather feedback. I have seen the plans, and can share them with anyone interested - shoot me an email. I encourage anyone interested to attend. Flyers will be dropped throughout the neighborhood this weekend - please spread the word!
3) Lincoln Park Grand Re-Opening! Friday, July 20, 9:00am - see you there.
Games, face-painting, refreshments - I'm so happy the park is finally re-opening! More info here.
4) Ward 3's School Committee Representative, Lee Erica Palmer, was honored by the Boston Globe and Scout Somerville for her outstanding legislative work to help single parents run for office.
Check out what the Boston Globe had to say: "As a single mom running for office, Lee Erica Palmer racked up thousands of dollars in baby sitter bills, but she could not tap any campaign funds to defray the cost. She probably would have been fine with that except for the absurdity of state campaign finance rules that would sooner allow a candidate to expense a tuxedo for an inauguration than help a working parent pay for child care while campaigning. Palmer won her race for Somerville School Committee in 2015 and vowed to work to change the law. Turns out she was ahead of her time: In May, the Federal Election Commission ruled that a congressional candidate in New York could use campaign funds to pay for child care. But Palmer got going in 2017, persuading state Senator Pat Jehlen and state Representatives Mike Connolly and Joan Meschino to cosponsor a bill that would allow a candidate for state or local office to list child care as a campaign expense." Congrats, Lee, and thanks for everything you do for Somerville!
5) Three Updates on Union Square development:
The Board of Aldermen officially designated the Union Square Neighborhood Council to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement. Following the Board's unanimous vote on July 12 to designate the USNC as the negotiating partner for a Community Benefits Agreement with the Union Square developer, US2, I believe that the two sides will soon begin negotiations, and I am hopeful that these will be fruitful. (For more context, please see my previous newsletters, or the "CBA summit report" put together by the Union Square Neighborhood Council.) The Union Square Neighborhood Council is a non-profit community organization, open to all who live nearby, which means that anyone who lives in the area is welcome to join, participate, and contribute to their efforts to increase community engagement and involvement in guiding the future of Union Square. Learn more here.
US2 is also currently undergoing review from the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office ("MEPA"), which is examining US2's request to expedite the environmental review of the "D-2" parcel (the vacant lot across from Dunkin Donuts at the corner of Prospect & Somerville), known as a "Phase 1 waiver." The MEPA process is notoriously complex (and is a State process, not directly involving the Aldermen), but it is a public process that I encourage anyone interested to get involved in - send me an email for more info. A public site walk and public meeting regarding the MEPA process will be held Thursday, August 2, 2018: site walk at 26 Prospect St at 5:00pm, followed by meeting at 5:30 PM at the Public Safety Building, 220 Washington St.
In addition, US2 is still working their way through Somerville's "Design Review Process." To my knowledge, the date of their first public meeting has not yet been set, and I will let you know as soon as it is - this will be a very important opportunity to weigh in on the physical design of the proposed development.
6) Next steps on recreational marijuana. I recently spoke to Somerville Scout about my disappointment that Somerville wasn't ready to roll out recreational marijuana by the time it officially became legal in Massachusetts, but I'm glad to say that the administration has now submitted draft proposals for zoning and licensing. The Board will begin discussion of these items in the fall, and if you are interested in getting a head start on the details, please take a look and let me know your questions and concerns: here and here. We are (thankfully) legally required to settle these details by the end of the 2018, and I hope to do so sooner.
Lastly, I was quoted in a very interesting article by DigBoston about the fact that the Recycling contractor employed by Boston, Cambridge and Somerville (Casella Waste Systems) does not pay a living wage to many of its employees, taking advantage of a loop-hole in our Living Wage Ordinance. I look forward to working with the administration and our neighboring cities to right this wrong.
As always, please feel free to reach out anytime with questions or concerns, and I hope you're all enjoying July!
Sincerely,
Ben Ewen-Campen
P.S. I recently paid a visit to the famous "sign room" in the basement of Traffic & Parking - quite a sight! Check out the new street sign for Bow Market :)
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