Denise Provost

The 3 most important issues, in no particular order, are:

The way I will seek to guide the City in addressing those issues is by articulating them, and by advocating for my best vision of how sustainable growth and development can be achieved (e.g., through zoning amendments, and indirectly by advocacy at the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, state and regional transportation planning agencies, etc.). I will do so by studying each budget carefully, and making my best recommendations about spending, saving, and about how to maximize revenue without selling out the city's history, character, residents, or their neighborhoods. I will do so by seeking ways that I can communicate better, and more broadly, with constituents, and that the city can do so as well.

I hope that I can create more public awareness of the importance of city government, and the particulars of how it functions. I hope that I can encourage more people to participate in every aspect of city government, and to have faith that it is worthwhile to do so. I hope that, by example and by some modest level of accomplishment that I can make a lasting contribution to the well being of Somerville, its people, and its political and social culture.

I will continue to advocate at the state level for more revenue sharing, including an end to the diversion of lottery revenues from local government to the state. I will continue to advocate for well-planned, appropriately-sited development of a density and mix (with emphasis on commercial) that brings Somerville fiscal benefits as well as good land use.

Somerville is rather limited in the revenues it can raise through property taxes for the foreseeable future. We are presently within $100,000 of our levy limit under Proposition 2 and a half. The only way Somerville can raise higher amounts of revenue through the property tax (a regressive tax, which I disfavor) is through increases in the value of the existing tax base, and new growth.

Unfortunately, this administration had favored overly dense 'infill' development and condominium conversion, and the conversion of formerly commercial buildings to residences, in or next to existing residential neighborhoods as its principle form of 'new growth'. This policy is unfortunate, because while it increases gross tax revenues, it also increases the demand for services, canceling out revenue gains, while putting stress on neighborhoods and diminishing quality of life. What Somerville needs is relatively dense commercial development in appropriate areas, like Assembly Square, to boost its tax base.

Non-tax local revenue, apart from state aid, generally comes from fees and fines. There may be some scope in Somerville for increasing some fees. For instance, I have proposed that people enrolling in Somerville Recreation Department programs who are not Somerville residents be charged a User Fee that reflects the cost of the program. It would not necessarily be a big revenue generator, but would introduce an element of fairness, which taxpayers appreciate, too.

There may be some potential for raising revenue from fines, though some of the administration's present proposals for raising parking fines are too high, in my opinion. This administration relies heavily on parking violation fines as a revenue source, but does little law enforcement otherwise. There is potential revenue value, as well as important public safety objectives, in, for instance, fining motorists who fail to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, run red lights, or exceed speed limits.

There are certainly places where Somerville can save money, and at the same time cut down on the disproportionate burdening of the property tax levy by 'free riders'. One measure I have called for is the immediate elimination of Somerville's practice of free collection and disposal of construction debris. The cost of residential trash collection and disposal went up 25% per household between Fiscal Year 2005 and Fiscal Year 2006, essentially because home owners were subsidizing some of the costs of condominium conversion and other private development.

This free collection policy also gives developers another incentive to underestimate or under report the value of work declared on the building permit application. Declaration of the value of construction work operates as an 'honor system', and work that is under $5,000. in value qualifies for free collection and disposal. When the value of the work is under reported, the city loses twice, picking up collection and disposal cost for debris, while taking in less revenue than it should on the value of the permit.

Another area where 'free riders' and waste burden the system is through lack of accountability in our billing for water and sewer use. Somerville's combined sewer and water budget is $20 million this year, yet 33% of our water use last year was unaccounted for, and another 11% was accounted for, but not billed. So, 56% of users are paying for 100% of all water costs. Identifying and billing all users will not only bring in more revenue, but also make the system more fair. Costs in this area can also be reduced by a system of leak detection and repair in city buildings, and in the city's part of the water delivery system, as well as detection and elimination of infiltration and inflow into the sewer system.

There has been a conspicuous decline in services to youth, even in the less than six years that I have been on the Board of Aldermen. Indeed, the whole Human Services Department was eliminated in the last administration, with only a few of its functions parceled out among remaining city departments. While city programs and services are at least theoretically open to all, poor communication, lack of outreach, and language barriers exclude many from what Somerville offers.

I have consistently advocated for more and better youth services, and for improved city communications, including translation and interpretation services; more provision of web-based information, and better public communications generally. These are not the only services lacking in this city, but they seem to me the most pressing.

I would like to see more commercial activity in Somerville, of a greater variety than presently exists. Somerville is a city with a small geographic area, whose traditional commercial areas are squares that developed in the last century. Somerville benefits greatly from its restaurants, entertainment venues, and independent businesses; increasingly, from galleries and other arts-related establishments. Somerville can benefit most from these kind of unique, 'destination' businesses.

The city can encourage such development in a variety of ways, from good planning and zoning, to ensuring improved mass transit; from street design/traffic management that makes its streets and squares pedestrian friendly, to preserving the city's historic architecture and small town charm. I would like to see Somerville develop, perhaps through public-private partnership, 1) an incubator for start-up businesses, and 2) a year-round, enclosed market building, (Philadelphia has one) which would also serve as a retail incubator.

Non-profit organizations such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance have for years collected data proving that independent, locally-owned businesses bring far more in direct and indirect economic advantages to communities than do regional or national 'chain' businesses. Encouraging the former sort of enterprise, and discouraging the latter, will maximize benefits including taxes, employment, and re-investment in the local economy to the city and its residents.

I'm not sure that I understand this question. While there once was a Progressive Party in the USA, I don't think that the notion of being 'progressive' has as much to do with party affiliation as it does with philosophy; a philosophy of life that pours over into a philosophy of government. It is the philosophy expressed by Somerville's Poet Laureate, Sam Walter Foss, in 'On Prospect Hill, January 1, 1776', which we read every year at our First Flag celebration:

"They flung their banner to the wind,

They flung it in the face of foes,

And thus they published to mankind

That human nature grows."

While I do not believe that there is any cure for the human condition, I do believe that human nature grows. I believe that humanity and human institutions are capable of progressing, and that their highest purpose is to progress. In the broad sweep of our history, certain great achievements of human progress stand out: The adoption of state and federal constitutions that enshrined certain basic human aspirations as civil rights; the abolition of slavery; the institution of free, public education; the extension of voting rights to male former slaves, and then to women; the elimination of child labor, are a few that come to mind.

All of these breakthroughs in human progress came about because thousands of people struggled for decades for causes which originally may have seemed marginal, but which achieved momentum, and a kind of historic inevitability, through that struggle. The Somerville Board of Aldermen is not a terribly elevated level of government, but its example and decisions affect the daily lives of thousands of people. It is as worthy a venue as any for the struggle to achieve liberty and justice for all.

The most important thing Somerville can do to preserve affordable housing and commercial space along the Green Line corridor is to start planning now. Somerville needs a comprehensive plan for the entire city, and affordable housing and commercial development must be part of that plan. Such a plan becomes the basis for zoning changes, for partnerships based on development/economic development goals, and for strategic property acquisitions along the transit corridor.

The following list contains items, which I consider essential, in that sense, none takes 'priority' over others:

1. The Police Department can effectively provide public safety when it is well run, and when that community has trust and confidence in it. To these ends, I would:
   1. Follow through on implementation of the recommendations of the January, 2001 Management Study of the Somerville Police Department (for example, Recommendation IV-1 "The Police Department should make use of selective certification processes to employ personnel with needed language skills. As part of this process, the Police Department should participate in aggressive outreach efforts to encourage members of minority groups to take Civil Service Examinations.");
   2. Increase resources devoted to Community Policing;
   3. Have the Police Advisory Board and the Gang Task Force conduct advertised, open meetings, at which public comment is sought and given weight;
   4. Better publicize the existing processes available for residents to make official complaints about police conduct; consider creation of a Citizen Review Board;
   5. Provide better organizational services and support for residents who want to set up Neighborhood Watch groups.
2. The Fire Department has seen its personnel numbers and other resources decline with the recent deep cuts in local aid. At the same time, it has seen the nature of its work transformed over time. Somerville's Fire Department spends a relatively small proportion of its time fighter fires. The greatest proportion of incidents to which it is called are accidents and other medical emergencies, yet there is no funding source or mechanism for which the Fire Department can be reimbursed as a First Responder in life- or health-threatening emergencies.

   It would be valuable to conduct a management study of our Fire Department, to find out how best to structure and deploy the department in a city where the density of wooden buildings requires a vigilant, effective, fire service, and the changing nature of threats to public safety demands a broader range of skills and services.

3. I would like to see greater efforts to make sure that all the children in this city can swim. The YMCA and Kennedy Pool offer swimming classes, yet many children lack this basic safety skill. In recent years, three Somerville boys, all Haitian, have drowned; one in the pool at Foss Park, one in the Mystic River, and one at Sandy Beach on Upper Mystic Lake. We are a riparian city, and all of our children should have basic water safety training.

This question seems to me a rephrasing of question 4; it certainly admits of a similar answer. To my mind, the least well-served segments of the community are youth, especially immigrant youth, immigrants, especially recent immigrants and non-speakers of English, and people who are relatively new to Somerville generally. My response, as Alderman, has been to provide the best constituent services I can to all who seek my help; to reach out to all segments of the community, and to press city government to improve its communications, including foreign language capacity.

I support and encourage English language classes and citizenship classes for all who seek them. I would like to see the city more visible, accessible voter registration, and outreach and education about local government in all the city's major languages. I would support a measure to allow non-citizen legal residents to vote in local elections.

I think that my answers to questions 4, 9, and 10 have substantially answered this question, as I understand it. I would encourage all who think that they belong to, or could represent, a currently under-represented group, to run for public office.

I have consistently supported open public processes, and have solicited community input on both policy and lawmaking questions. It is always rather shocking to me that so few people participate in such processes; for instance, not a single member of the public came to testify at the single public hearing held by the Board of Aldermen on the city's Fiscal Year 2006, budget of over $164 million. I would be willing to listen to arguments that there should be a 'public comment' period at Aldermen's meetings, but I have to say that not a single constituent has suggested having such a forum, in all the years I have served on the Board.