Dear Ward 3,
There are a number of important Public Hearings coming up in early April, as well as community meetings in the next few weeks - please read on below. But first:
At our last Board meeting, I submitted a Resolution honoring Marielle Franco, a city councilor from Rio de Janeiro, who was assassinated last week at the age of 38. Marielle was the only black, female city councilor (in a council of 51), and was a lifelong activist for human rights, particularly focusing on police violence in the favelas where she was raised. Marielle's death has sparked protests and calls for justice across the globe, as well as calls for the killers to be brought to justice. As you know, Somerville has a profound relationship with Brazil, and the Board was honored to be joined by two leaders from Somerville's Brazilian community: Dr. Natalicia Tracy from the Brazil Workers Center, and Mrs. Regina Bertholdo from the Somerville Public Schools. I encourage you to watch their powerful testimonies here.
Now onto upcoming business:
1) Public Hearing on the proposed real estate transfer fee – Wednesday, April 4th, 6:00PM, City Hall.
For the past several months, the Board of Aldermen has been considering a proposed real estate transfer fee for the purpose of funding affordable housing initiatives in Somerville. You may have heard about this proposal, and I want to give a bit of brief background, because this idea is not new. The idea was first proposed by an affordable housing task force appointed by Mayor Capuano in the late 1990s, and the idea again arose as one of the top priority recommendations of Somerville's Sustainable Neighborhoods Working Group in 2015. Since then, a dedicated task force has spent the past several years discussing details, including commissioning a detailed independent economic assessment of the costs and benefits of such a policy. In parallel, State Representative Mike Connolly introduced a similar "enabling act" to the State House last year that would allow towns and cities to create such transfer fees, should they choose to do so. Rep. Connolly's bill was reported out of committee favorably in the last session.
The proposal that is currently before the Board would be a 1% flat fee, at the point of sale, on all real estate transactions in the city (with certain exemptions, discussed below), or up to 2% on speculative real estate transactions (i.e., if the seller bought and sold the property within five years, without occupying it). 100% of the revenue raised would go directly to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which is legally bound to use those funds for the purpose of creating, maintaining, and supporting affordable housing in Somerville. This type of legislation is called a "Home Rule Petition," because it requires approval by the State Legislature before it could actually be enacted - a major political feat, but one that will be greatly aided by the fact that all four members of our State Delegation enthusiastically supports this policy. If the policy does pass the State, the Board of Aldermen would then craft a far more detailed ordinance laying out all of the specific details of the policy.
At present, the Board has voted to include a number of explicit exemptions in our working draft: if the seller has lived in their home for twenty or more years, or if the seller is a financially vulnerable senior citizen, or if the sale is between family members, the fee would not apply. We have discussed many other possible exemptions in detail, and I am very interested in what exemptions you all think are essential to include. What's more, we have not yet established whether the buyer or the seller should cover the cost of the fee at the time of the sale, and we have heard compelling arguments on both sides.
I very much encourage all of you to attend this Public Hearing and weigh in with your thoughts on these questions, and any other concerns, questions, or opinions on the proposal. The City has put together a dedicated website to provide information and history on the proposal, and we need your help to spread the word about this important Public Hearing.
(Relatedly, you may have heard that the Board is also considering a "Tenants Right to Purchase" home-rule petition - this proposed policy still has many, many details left to flesh out, and is unlikely to come up for a public hearing in the next few months while we research and deliberate.)
2) Public Hearing the Citywide Zoning Overhaul - Tuesday, April 3rd, 6pm, City Hall
The Public Hearing on the Citywide Zoning Overhaul was postponed due to a blizzard, and has been rescheduled for Tuesday, April 3. You can learn all about the proposal at www.somervillezoning.com - and please reach out with any questions, or send written comments directly to planning@somervillema.gov! Please do attend if you're interested - whether or not you have testimony, it will undoubtedly be interesting and informative.
And as a reminder, I will be hosting a second Community Meeting on Zoning on this Sunday, March 25th, at 11:00am, at the Union Square Police Station. In particular, this Sunday's community meeting will be focused on "southwestern" Ward 3, along Somerville Ave. between Beech & Craigie St., but of course all are welcome to come ask questions and give feedback.
3) Public Meeting on the GLX - Wednesday, March 28th, 6:30pm, High School Auditorium
With GLX construction set to begin in April, I'm sure many residents have questions for the GLX construction team and our local liasons. I've certainly already heard concerns from many residents regarding upcoming construction - including rat and tree issues, and direct disruptions to property from the heavy construction. You can learn more details here: www.greenlineextension.org, and please reach out with questions and I will do my best to put you in touch with folks who can help.
4) Working towards common-sense reforms for the Committee on Confirmation of Appointments
Last night, I joined several of my colleagues in signing onto two important Board Orders from Alderman Scott regarding common sense improvements to our City's hiring and promotion process in the Police and Fire department, in the hopes of increasing transparency and oversight.
Here's the background: As a member of the Confirmation of Appointments committee, I have been tasked with the important responsibility of voting to confirm (or not) all Mayoral appointees. This includes not only members of appointed Boards (such as Zoning and Planning), but also Police and Fire promotions and new hires. This is an incredibly important part of our job, and under the Chairmanship of Alderman Scott, the committee has been taking its work very seriously. Just this week, in a committee meeting that lasted past midnight, we proudly confirmed the excellent Lieutenant Christopher Ward to the position of Police Captain after a thorough review of his impressive and extensive career.
However, we recently learned that, when it comes to new hires for Police and Fire, the Administration will not allow our committee to review basic background information - including, for example, a background check and/or any criminal incidents (which would of course be reviewed in a non-public "Executive Session" to preserve the privacy of all candidates). I'll be honest - at first, I thought I must be misunderstanding the Administration's legal opinion - what's the point of a Confirmation Committee if we can't review the background of the candidates? But after an extensive discussion, it seems clear that this is not a misunderstanding, it is in fact the Administration's position. The Board has put in these two orders to encourage a review and change to this policy, so that our committee can simply review the background of the candidates we are asked to vote on.
If this issue interests you, please feel free to reach out and let me know your opinion - I'm curious to hear from you.
5) Conway field CLOSED until further notice due to soil contamination
This week we received the unfortunate news that soil contamination was detected at Conway Field on Somerville Ave., and that the park is closed until further notice. The City has put together a website to host information on this important issue - I'm sorry to report this news, but it's clearly important for everyone to know.
As always, you can follow along with the Board's activities here - and please reach out with any questions.
Sincerely,
Ben Ewen-Campen
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