Somerville Scout » Community

Kids Ask: ‘Is the Bus Coming?’

Somerville Scout — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:00:03 +0000

A group of children aged 5-13 are speaking out against the possible cutting of the 95 MBTA bus — the only one which directly serves the Mystic Housing Projects.

The video, prepared with help from SCATV, features interviews with children who explain the far-reaching effects the loss of the bus would have on their community.

“If you cut the buses,” one interviewee says, “it’s like cutting off the rest of the world.”

The possible service cut is a part of the T’s overall cost cutting proposals that have been unpopular since their introduction last winter to close a projected $161 million budget gap. A final announcement on the plans is expected in April.

In a press release, Mystic Learning Center Group Leader Heather McCormack said the video is being released in the lead-up to a march to the State House on March 29 dubbed “Youth Affordabili(T).”

“Their video is comprehensive, heartfelt, and completely kid-centered, and they need all the public support they can get to convince the MBTA not to cut their community’s lifeline before they make the final decision on April 4,” McCormack said.

Watch the video here:

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Photos: 2012 Ras na hEireann 5k

Somerville Scout — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:33:59 +0000

Thousands took to the streets of Somerville on Sunday for the “most genuine Irish race this side of the Atlantic.”

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Affordable Housing Proposal Proves Divisive

Aaron Dentel-Post — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:42:10 +0000

The Somerville Community Corporation’s (SCC) planned affordable housing building in Union Square filled City Hall with people on both sides of the issue at a Monday community meeting.

The group is hoping to build 40 units of affordable housing at 181 Washington Street, the former Boys & Girls Club, eight of which would be designated as Section 8 housing. The SCC is responsible for affordable housing at sites like 33 Bow St. and 110 Walnut St.

Speakers at the hearing had diverging opinions on the proposal, with opponents raising questions about traffic, density and the number of units for the proposed project.

“It seems like in terms of the affordable housing, the new zoning proposals and the current affordable housing percentages … clearly Union bears the huge brunt of those properties,” one speaker said. “The thing that I’d like to protect is Union Square, and if this is such a great proposal, let’s do it in Davis (Square).”

Supporters questioned whether the opposition amounts to not wanting lower income families in their neighborhood. One speaker pointed out that, because the median income bracket of Somerville is around $90,000, the people who would be eligible to live in the building would be earning between $30,000 and approximately $70,000.

“Do we not want people who work in the schools, who maybe work in a moving company, who work in retail — are they not good enough to live with us?” he said.

Michael Nystrom, who lives next to the proposed building, said he had several issues with the plan and ideologically reservations.

“This will obstruct my view,” Nystrom said, adding, “I have an objection to the idea of subsidizing housing because I don’t think it’s a long term solution to anything. When you subsidize something, you get more of it, so if you subsidize poor people, you’ll get more poor people.”

SCC chief executive Danny LeBlanc characterized the eligible tenants as working people and said the building’s income bracket was set to reflect that.

“It ranges up to about $56,000 for a family of four,” LeBlanc said. “So obviously, when you say $56,000 for a family of four, depending on the nature of the family, you could be talking about young teachers, firefighters, cops, you know, people in start-up professional wages.”

LeBlanc said during the hearing that the plan was not final, and that the SCC would take community concerns into account. The plan will need approval from the Planning Board to go forward.

More information about the project can be found at www.somervillecdc.org.

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Gardening, Bikes and Business Come Full Cycle in Somerville

Somerville Scout — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:44:39 +0000

BY ELYSE ANDREWS

For Wenzday Jane, work and life are inextricably intertwined. As the owner of Metro Pedal Power, Jane channels her belief in the benefits of bicycling and her passion for local, seasonal food into everything she does.

“Metro Pedal is the answer to the automobile-centric culture in the U.S.” Jane said. “We set out to show that bikes have a valid and useful place in the streets and that bikes have a lot to do with self-reliance.”

Billed as “Boston’s Human-Powered Delivery Service,” Metro Pedal has grown tremendously since it was founded in 2008. When the business started, Metro Pedal was delivering food baskets for one farm’s Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and now it has partnerships with nearly every farm in the area.

Jane knew the stress of working long hours and then rushing to her CSA pick-up, so she was eager to find a way to help more people participate in the local food culture.

“CSA home-delivery is the backbone of the business,” Jane said. “It can help busy people get involved in the CSA and get access to local food.”

It was this work that got Jane thinking about creating her own garden outside of the Metro Pedal offices near Union Square in Somerville, which actually used to be a Merlin bike factory in the 1980s and ’90s. She wanted to grow some food, but she also needed a place to go and unwind from the pressures of owning a small business.

“I like to take a break from work and put my hands in the dirt. It’s invigorating and relaxing,” Jane said.

What started as a few tomato plants in pots has now grown to include a greenhouse where Jane has grown spinach, arugula and cilantro during the winter as well as larger raised beds where broccoli, kale and salad mix grows in the summer. Jane’s urban farm also includes three chickens and a rooster, given to her by one of her farmer friends.

“I really like working with farmers,” Jane said. “We have a similar sensibility, do hard work and are in tune with the weather.”

Jane’s garden is fueled by compost that she makes in big blue bins, which contain food scraps from homes and businesses in the area. This is all part of the SoilCycle program, which Metro Pedal has partnered with Groundwork Somerville on.

Jane’s urban farm goes hand-in-hand with her philosophy that bikes enable self-reliance. Jane has always been into bikes, especially for utilitarian purposes, but really became passionate about the benefits of riding them when she started commuting to work on hers every day. She loved the mental and physical health benefits of daily exercise and the sense of control she got from getting around under her own power.

“Over the past four years or so, the bike community has coalesced,” Jane said. “It’s really encouraging to see more and more people out.”

Delivering food and collecting compost by bike isn’t always easy, but Jane says that riding in inclement weather and hauling heavy loads is worth it.

“When the opportunity came to be involved in this, it was the perfect thing,” Jane said. “You get the health benefits and the fun factor. It’s hard work, it’s tough, but you get such a rewarding feeling.”

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Latest Gilman Square, Lowell Street T Station Plans Unveiled

Adam Vaccaro — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:31:59 +0000

Latest plans for the Gilman Square and Lowell Street GLX stations were presented at a public meeting Wednesday night.

The latest plans for the proposed Gilman Square and Lowell Street Green Line stations, unveiled at a public meeting Wednesday, appeared to address some concerns residents aired earlier but left new questions unanswered for now.
Last June, at a pair of workshops, residents raised concerns with both stations. At Gilman Square, residents said they were concerned about station accessibility for all parts of the neighborhood. At Lowell Street, the largest concerns were based on the overall scale of the project in the highly residential area.

Both stations are expected to open in 2018 or 2019. Original plans had called for openings in 2012, but the Green Line Extension (GLX) has been twice delayed.

At last night’s meeting, held at Somerville High School, adjacent to the south the Gilman Square station location, residents said they were pleased to hear construction of that station will include a portion of what will later become the community path. Previous plans had not allowed for easy access from School Street, essentially requiring a walk around the block in order to access the station.

Now, the proposed community path segment, which will run from School Street to Medford Street, will provide access to the station from both streets. The station will also be accessible further north, near the intersection of Medford and Pearl streets.
“It’s such an improvement to build that path now and have that worked out,” said Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership member Wig Zamore.

The community path currently extends to Cedar Street from the Cambridge western border, where it extends from the Cambridge Linear Park. It’s slated to be extended to Central Street — a phase of the process sill being designed. Eventually, it will extend to the Charles River.

The segment to be included in the Gilman Station will be built ahead of the rest of the path and will provide easy access to the station for those coming from School Street and points further west.
“I’m very pleased about the path starting,” Lynn Weissman, co-founder of Friends of the Community Path, said, adding she had “no idea” that it would be included in the new station plans.

GLX officials also presented updated plans for Lowell Street. The station entrance will be built on the Lowell Street bridge, providing stairs and a ramp to the platform below. Some in attendance still thought the project’s size would overshadow the residential neighborhood, which had been neighbors’ chief concern at the station’s June workshop.

”Lowell Street,” Zamore said, “looks like it’s having an awful lot going on there.”

Architect Michael Epp said the plans were difficult to develop and the station “was probably one of the harder stations to design” because of the physical and spatial constraints of the neighborhood. He argued, though, that the station’s size fit the neighborhood as best it could.

View March 7 GLX Meeting in a larger map

Epp said the station would extend about 32 feet above Lowell Street, the same height as abutting residences, and that the bike cage would be three-quarters the size of a garage. Shrubbery and gardening would also be implemented in the design, said Josh Burgel, another project architect.

Karen Arpino-Shaffer, the deputy program manager for HDR Engineering and Gilbane Building Company and leader of the discussion, said the Lowell Street station wasn’t perfect but that it was the best the team could produce given its location off the bridge. “It’s what we have, not what we’d start with,” she said.

Neighbors also voiced concerns that Lowell Street’s pick-up and drop-off area, which would be put in the place of the street’s existing sidewalk, will force pedestrians to walk along the station’s front concourse. Burgel said the team had looked into extending the sidewalk while still allowing for the drop-off, but discovered that pushing the station back in order to do so would cause it to interfere with other properties, thereby making it infeasible. He said he hoped the design of the concourse, which will feature some gardening and shrubbery, would appeal to pedestrians and make the extra steps worthwhile.

Other questions, which pertained to changes in traffic patterns, lighting, sound barriers, bus access from Gilman Square, and the exact location of property lines, could not yet be addressed. Arpino-Shaffer reminded attendees that tonight’s unveiling represented the plans’ “30 percent design,” meaning not quite everything is in place.

The Gilman Square design is set to be modern but have a “masonry feel,” Epp said, to fit the aesthetic of the surrounding buildings. Epp said Lowell Street is meant to better fit a residential aesthetic, with its concourse and greenery meant to resemble a front yard.

Plans for the Ball Square and College Ave stations will be shared at a similar meeting on March 21.

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Somerville Open Cinema Festival Seeks Submissions

Somerville Scout — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 11:28:31 +0000

The Somerville Open Cinema Festival is seeking short films in order to showcase film artists who create their work in Massachusetts.

This mini film festival seeks short (under 10 minutes) films and videos made in Massachusetts.

The organizers are seeking films from all genres such as documentary, narrative, experimental, animated, etc. Acceptable formats include 8mm, Super-8, 16mm and video. Projects aren’t required to be connected to Somerville, but it’s encouraged.

More information can be found here. The deadline is April 5.

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Protesters Rally Before Somerville MBTA Hearing

Aaron Dentel-Post — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:48:10 +0000

By AARON DENTEL-POST

“When they say cutbacks, we say fight back,” was the chant at an Occupy Somerville rally held Tuesday evening outside Somerville High School. They gathered before an MBTA hearing on proposed plans to cut back services and raising fares, which the agency says will help close $161 million budget gap .

Ronald Leaks, an organizer for Groundwork Somerville, said the MBTA’s proposed cuts were unacceptable for Somerville residents because many of the buses serviced poor areas where people had few transportation options.

“It’s going to have a devastating effect on people who need it the most,” Leaks said. “This is a lifeline for us.”

At the hearing, proceedings were upended by interruptions, and more than a hundred people took numbers to give voice to their concerns, including Mayor Joseph Curtatone.

Curtatone said while he understood the MBTA was strapped for cash, Somerville had seen its share of cuts to mass transit and that it was too important, for the economy and the environment, to cut again.

“We need to have a conversation in this commonwealth,” Curtatone said. “It should start right here, tonight, about the real problem — the billions of dollars in debt that our transit system is saddled with.”

MBTA officials said they weren’t happy about the cuts either, but that the tools available to them were limited. But they added they had no power to tax the rich, as some speakers had suggested, or to fix the state’s budget woes.

Charles Planck, senior director of strategic initiatives and performance at MassDOT, said any time agencies increase fares or cut services they expect a reaction, and that the primary reason they selected the service cuts that they did was because of rider ship.

“The services we’re proposing to reduce are the lowest utilization routes,” Planck said. “In scenario one, for example, we’re cutting 25 percent of total bus route miles but we’re protecting 99 percent of our passengers.”

MBTA General Manager Jonathan Davis agreed with a speaker who said solutions for transit spending had to come on a statewide level.

“I think we’re at a crossroads in regards to having a comprehensive mass transit system,” Davis said. “Massachusetts needs a long term transportation funding plan.”

Advertising, Davis said, was one of the ways the T is trying to build revenue, and stressed throughout the hearing that the concerns and ideas of citizens were being taken into account and would be reviewed before the final budget proposal.

The MBTA is accepting comments at fareproposal@mbta.com and(617) 222-3200.

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The Changing Face of East Somerville

Adam Vaccaro — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:55:48 +0000

When talk turns to the development of East Somerville, it often focuses on Assembly Row and its potential to eventually develop into a high-end, mixed use urban village. However, three subtler neighborhood initiatives are underway right now.The Broadway Streetscape and New Harris Park projects will both break ground this summer.

The Streetscape project will expand sidewalks, eliminate one lane of traffic, and add bike lanes, turning Broadway — from the Autumn Street intersection all the way to the Boston city line — into a more pedestrian-friendly business district. The park project, meanwhile, will take Harris Park from its current location adjacent routes 28 and 93. The new location is just a block-and-a-half away at 15-25 Cross St. East – closer to Broadway – but it will be miles away in terms of appearance and features which will include movie screening capabilities and toddler play areas. (The current park is built entirely on concrete, and is limited to a basketball court and a playground).

East Somerville Main Streets (ESMS) also recently unveiled a new branding campaign for the East Broadway Business District, with the intention of marketing the area as a “vibrant, walkable, one-of-a-kind center for commerce and leisure activities,” according to the campaign’s vision statement.

“So many things are happening at once,” said ESMS director Carrie Dancy. “It’s kind of a tipping point for East Broadway.”

All three projects aim, in part, to rid East Somerville of its reputation as a spot for crime and poverty. The reputation developed in the 1970s and 1980s, and has lingered long past its expiration, Dancy said.

“Negative realities from 30 years ago have been driving people to outdated perceptions,” she said. “This is the neighborhood’s primary business district. People don’t come unless they have a reason to.”

The new branding was produced in tandem with Boston branding firm BrandAlign. Its tagline, which reads “Think Outside the Square,” encourages a positive perception of Broadway’s corridor-like structure. This contrasts with Somerville’s other major business districts, like Davis and Union squares.

The Streetscape project, meanwhile, will provide a more tangible change to the neighborhood. The $8 million project is being funded by federal and state transportation and economic development funds, and Community Development Block Grant funds. Final plans were approved in late January and were produced by Somerville’s Design Consultants, Inc. See the slideshow for details.

Finally, New Harris Park will give a new location to the original Harris Park. The state is providing a $500,000 Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities grant, and the city will spend about $280,000 to create the new park, according to Somerville Patch.

“It will be one of the most comprehensive and innovative parks the city has planned,” Dancy said.

The park will channel Somerville history some, with a toddler play area based on an auto assembly aesthetic, channeling the namesake of Assembly Square. And it will feature a slope in its center that the slide will be built on, a nod to one of the city’s nickname, the city of seven hills. Again, see the slides for more details on the new park.

With the park and the streetscape set to begin construction this summer, the East Broadway area seem poised to craft a new identity for East Somerville, independent of Assembly Row.

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TEDx Slated for Somerville

Adam Vaccaro — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:02:47 +0000

Photo credit: BradKellyPhoto flickr/CC

Big, local ideas will be shared at the Armory on Sunday, March 4.

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City Unveils Comprehensive Plan

Somerville Scout — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

The Curtatone administration submitted a draft of a comprehensive plan at this week’s Board of Alermen meeting.

Known as “Somervision” the plan is the result of three years of meetings and is “aimed at long-range, aspirational planning based on community-generated values and vision.”

According to a press release, that vision includes:

• 30,000 new jobs “as part of a responsible plan to create opportunity for all Somerville workers and entrepreneurs;”

• 125 new acres of publicly-accessible open space “as part of a realistic plan to provide high-quality and well-programmed community spaces;”

• 6,000 new housing units, 1,200 of which will be permanently designated as affordable housing “as part of a sensitive plan to attract and retain Somerville’s best asset: it’s people”

• 50 percent of new trips via transit, bike or walking “as part of an equitable plan for access and circulation to and through the city;”

• 85 percent of new development in transformative areas such as Assembly Square, Inner-Belt, Brickbottom and Boynton Yards “as part of a predictable land use plan that protects neighborhood character”

Read the whole plan and watch a video about it here.

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