OPINION: LOCAL ACTIVISTS OPPOSE PROPOSAL FOR FORMER GLASS STOP PLOT
US2 cannot be trusted to follow through with promises to the city because it is already in serious non-compliance with the Community Benefits Agreement contract it signed in 2019 with the Union Square Neighborhood Council.
OPINION: GLX IS HERE! CELEBRATING AND LOOKING AHEAD
After decades of advocacy, I was thrilled to celebrate the opening of the Green Line Extension through my district in Somerville and Medford last week. This public works project is the result of years of hard work from countless community members, laborers, activists, and colleagues at all levels of government. I’m proud that we made […]
OPINION: WINTER HILL STAR MARKET REDEVELOPMENT HEADS TO ZONING BOARD
Over the next few months, Somerville’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) is going to be taking up one of its most consequential decisions in recent memory. It concerns a development project that has large numbers of people around the city excited but some immediate neighbors leery. The project in question is officially known by its […]
OPINION: SOMERVILLE MEDIA CENTER SHOULD REMAIN IN THE HEART OF UNION SQUARE
Mayor Emeritus and Former City Communications Director Call for Public Access Station to Be Allowed to Stay in City-Owned Firehouse Today, the Somerville Media Center is operating under the threat of eviction from the City of Somerville. We believe this eviction decision needs to be, immediately, reconsidered and reversed. SMC, in its original form, as […]
OPINION: STATE BOARD RAISES MCAS PASSING SCORE DESPITE 1/2 LEGISLATORS’ OPPOSITION
In August, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to raise the minimum score that this year’s freshman class, and classes following, will have to attain on the MCAS test in order to graduate. And against Commissioner Riley’s recommendation, they voted to increase the passing score further for classes starting in 2030. They […]
OPINION: CREATING CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN SOMERVILLE
I am a longtime community services program developer and I wanted to share some good news with my friends in Somerville: The Asian American Civic Association is working with the City of Somerville to diversify its workforce. The partnership will provide its low-income residents access to job training programs at AACA that will lead directly […]
OPINION: MY PRIDE IS A RIOT AGAINST WHITE SUPREMACY
“As a Black and queer person, I know that when a person’s very existence is criminalized it inevitably results in fear, hate crimes, and death.” The rain poured down on me and a cadre of queer and trans youth in front of the bricked facade of Somerville’s City Hall. The Progressive Pride Flag rose as […]
OPINION: TYING UP SOME LOOSE ENDS
Reflecting on the “Curtatone era” and Mayor Katjana Ballantyne’s time, so far While I realize that it’s possible that no one thought twice about something I wrote about Joe Curtatone in my last column, I regretted it immediately after seeing it in print on December 22. And I am not referring to an overly harsh […]
OPINION: SOME HOPES AND WISHES FOR 2022 AND BEYOND
Photo by Eric Kilby, Flickr “I hope and trust that our city will continue to thrive as it has for the last 18 years.” May the coming year (or two) be the last ones in which this damn pandemic hangs over the entire world like a never-ending plague. I hope that in the next few […]
OPINION: THE ‘TAKEOVER’ OF SOMERVILLE FALLS FLAT
“Vows to ‘takeover’ our city’s political agenda clearly backfired.” The Boston chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America had a rude awakening on election day. The city of Somerville wasn’t ready to be taken over by a Boston-based group that backed a slate of candidates who did their best to conceal their support for the […]
