There are some improvements can be achieved locally. One thing Somerville can do to improve its air quality is to increase its proportion of green/open space. One such project, that has the advantage of offering an alternative transportation corridor, is completion of the full extension of the Community Path, the “urban core” of the Minuteman Bike Trail. Somerville should make and implement design modifications to make our streets truly friendly to bicyclists and pedestrians. We also need a Comprehensive Plan for the city, to guide future zoning and development, that fully assesses the vehicle trips generated by various land uses, and then re-examines the rules for provision of parking, with the aim of trip reduction.
Yet Somerville's air quality is so negatively impacted by regional traffic that regional measures will be necessary for real improvement. The city must continue to press the MBTA to increase clean mass transit in Somerville, including the promised Green Line extension, and to push for cleaner-burning replacement vehicles for the MBTA's hundreds of diesel buses and diesel-burning commuter rail train engines that daily pass through Somerville. We need a regional truck traffic plan that treats Somerville more equitably than the 2002 plan prepared by the Central Transportation Planning Staff. And, as David Luberoff pointed out in his remarks to the Move Mass members meeting on June 10, 2005, the biggest improvement to local air quality would be the closure of elevated I-93.through Somerville – a “stretch” goal that Somerville can never achieve on its own.
2. Excessive traffic and "F" rated intersections (where cars are required to queue for 2 or more light cycles) are becoming common in our cities and towns. These are creating pollution "hotspots" where concentrations of carbon monoxide and diesel particulate exceed acceptable standards. What steps would you take to mitigate or alleviate this and other traffic problems?
The problem of excessive queuing in Somerville intersections can be addressed to some degree locally by some of the planning the measures outlined above. To the extent that queuing during certain hours is related to trips to local schools, it can be helped by establishing genuine “Safe Routes to Schools,” and encouraging their use (with adequate cross walks, crossing guards, moving violation enforcement, removal of ice and snow, etc.), working with the MBTA to coordinate bus schedules with school opening/ending times, and by better school planning - our last superintendent saddled the city with an “Early Childhood Education Center” in the easternmost part of the city, virtually mandating that all 3 to 6 year old children in the city be driven in and out of the same remote neighborhood, at the same hours daily.
Excess queuing caused by regional trips requires regional solutions, though the city can help by adopting land use policies that discourage construction of destinations accessed primarily by motor vehicles.
3. Recycling: City/town purchasing policies that promote the use of materials characterized as "environmentally friendly" not only serve as models for individuals and businesses, they also help to create markets for these materials. Examples include purchasing products with a high recycled content supplies and materials containing non-toxic ingredients; sustainably harvested wood products and wood alternatives; power from sources that promote investment in fossil fuel alternatives; converting automobile fleets from fossil fuels to cleaner burning fuels; retrofitting government buildings with high efficiency water and energy systems. In what ways will you work to have your city/town apply its economic purchasing power to further reduce pollution and resource use?
Although our current Purchasing Director is willing to pay modest premiums for high recycled-content paper, I would like to see formalized policies favoring “environmentally friendly” and recycled products, switching away from fossil fuel energy sources, and other purchases that reduce pollution. I would consult Somerville's Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change, and other experts, for recommendations, then work to implement the most achievable of those goals first. I would also like Somerville to improve its own efforts of recycling, especially in the schools, which put enormous amounts of paper, food, and food packaging into the municipal waste stream. I have also called for an end to the city's outrageous policy of free pickup and disposal of construction debris from projects declared by the developer to cost $5,000 or less in value, which discourages the re-use of serviceable building materials, among other harms.
Ultimately, I would like to see Somerville adopt a comprehensive plan for recycling, as well as for the city's direct consumption of energy, and other impacts of the city on the environment, similar to Santa Monica CA's “Sustainable City Plan.”
I would also like Somerville to implement immediately the recommendations of the Energy Audits it had conducted on municipal buildings, and to look into the feasibility of erecting one or more wind turbines on its hills, to start to secure its own renewable power supply, as the Town of Hull has done so effectively.
4. Diesel: Should the city/town ban the purchase of all diesel equipment, unless the equipment is (a.) unavailable in non-diesel and/or (b.) the equipment comes with filters that remove the diesel particulate in compliance with the "2007 Standards"? Should it be required that all existing diesel equipment be retrofitted to accept low sulfur fuel?
I would like to see Somerville adopt a ban on the municipal purchase of all diesel equipment, unless unavailable in a non-diesel version, or equipped with filters to remove diesel particulate in compliance with federal 2007 standards. I am, frankly, skeptical that any filters currently marketed will remove the ultra-fine diesel particulate which is most damaging to human health, but we should take advantage of what the technology offers. I would want to see the use of such filters, as well as the retrofit of all diesel vehicles in the municipal fleet to accept low-sulphur fuel. I would also like these requirements imposed on the vehicles of city contractors, to the extent allowed by the public bid laws.
5. Municipal Passenger Vehicles: Should the city/town require that all municipally-funded departments and agencies purchase/lease passenger vehicles that meet the current CAFE standards? Should this restriction be extended to allow only the purchase of Hybrids and/or ZEVs?
Somerville should require that all municipal leases and purchases of passenger vehicles meet current CAFÉ standards. I would like to see an eventual move to the exclusive purchase of hybrids (what is a ZEV, anyway?), but would want to look at the kinds of vehicles needed, their availability, length of wait before purchase, and the recommendations of the Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change, and other interested city agencies, prior to implementation of such a policy.
6. Parks and Open Space: There are many different funding techniques that can be used to raise money for parks and open space, such as bonding, real estate transfer taxes and user fees. In what ways would you support the acquisition. and preservation of open space? Would you support raising the additional funds for land acquisition? If so, what amount and by what funding mechanism (i.e., bonding, taxation, contributions)?
I have supported placing the Community Preservation Act on the Somerville ballot since the state enacted that legislation, a position unfortunately not widely shared in our community. In the absence of that mechanism for raising funds for open space acquisition, I voted for a Home Rule Petition that will require developers to contribute a square-footage based “linkage” payment, earmarked for open space, on commercial developments of over 20,000 square feet. Additionally, I have pressed for zoning changes requiring new developments to devote a greater percentage of land area to useable open space, have supported the creation/extension of the Community Path since the mid-1980s, and have consistently fought the change of use of dedicated park land to build schools and create parking. I am interested in exploring other measures that could add to our meager amount of parks and open space.
7. Cleaning up Lakes, Rivers, Streams, and Coastal Areas: What steps should your city/town take to help clean up lakes, rivers, streams, and coastal areas, i.e. decrease its use of exemptions in EPA-mandated CSO conversion.
Somerville should continue its program of eliminating all CSOs that drain into the Mystic River or Alewife Brook. It should actively oppose the Commonwealth's proposal to downgrade the acceptable level of water quality in the Mystic River from B to B/CSO. I would have liked to have seen the Board of Aldermen vote to adopt my proposed zoning amendments to increase the no-build “buffer zone” for land along the Mystic River at Assembly Square, and to require a greater proportion of dedicated open space from all new developments there. The Board should adopt zoning amendments, such as those which I have proposed, that limit the amounts of impervious surface on private property. The city administration should enforce the current zoning requirements for landscaped area, and become vigilant about disposal of oil and other toxics into storm drains, as well as illegal tie-ins to the city's sewers and drains.
8. Green Buildings (LEED): To what compliance level should your city/town comply for all municipal construction (e.g. libraries, schools)? Should the city require LEED compliance for any new building or major renovation done under special permits where applicable (when granted by the planning board or board of zoning appeals).
The “Early Childhood Education Center” referred to in the answer to question 2 above is, ironically, an award-winning LEED building, which proves that the city is aware of, and can build to, such standards. Somerville should adopt such a standard as its norm for municipal construction, including the new Lincoln Park School, which will start construction this year. To the extent that it is within their legal authority, the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals should require LEED compliance from new developments.
9. Pesticide Use: There is a large body of evidence linking pesticide exposure to a variety of health concerns, including cancer, learning disabilities, Parkinson's Disease, reproductive disorders, and spontaneous abortion. Are the schools and daycare centers in your city/town in compliance with the Children and Families Protection Act? If not, what steps should your city/town take to ensure the safety of small children? Given that a number of municipalities in the Commonwealth have begun organic municipal turf management (Marblehead) or have committed to using fewer or no pesticides per an integrated pest management plan (Newton, Wellesley, Jamaica Plain), what steps should your city/town take to continue to decrease the use of pesticides to protect children, families, pets, city workers, and wildlife?
During the Kelly Gay administration, I brought to the Board of Aldermen an ultimately successful Order that the city move to a system of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for schools and other city buildings. Daycare centers are, to the best of my knowledge, under state jurisdiction. Turf management continues to be problematic, as its management is controlled by individuals whose aesthetic ideal for landscape is the golf course fairway. I would like to see herbicide/pesticide use eliminated, as well as a move away from turf to more sustainable ground covers, wherever feasible.
10. Record: Please describe in greater detail your public service record in environmental issues. In particular, we are interested in membership and leadership in environmental organizations, work on environmental campaigns, public positions you have taken, and environmental activities you have initiated or actively supported.
In 1972, when I started law school at Boston University, I also worked as Education direction for the Boston Food Co-op (then located on Binney Street), where I set up what I believe was the area's first recycling center (for glass only, but a start). Also in the 1970s, I started to get involved in local groups fighting construction of the proposed Inner Belt, and pressing for cleanup of contaminated sites, and appropriate urban development. In 1979, I launched a series of reviews of books on the science and regulation of environmental toxins for The American Journal of Law and Medicine, to focus the attention of both professions on this burgeoning literature.
While still in law school, I had accepted for publication in the Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review an article about whether municipalities could still regulate hazardous waste facilities, by zoning or otherwise, under the terms of the state's then-new Siting Act. I went to work as a lawyer in the municipal sector, doing a lot of land use work, and was a participant in the Special Master's Compliance Meeting for the Boston Harbor clean up ordered as a remedy in the lawsuit successfully brought by the City of Quincy for violations of the Clean Water Act. I stayed active as a citizen participant in such activities as the planning of the Environmental Mitigations connected with the Central Artery/Tunnel (CA/T) project.
Shocked that the CA/T's Transportation Mitigations were not being addressed at the same time, using CA/T funds (as the Environmental Mitigations were), I began to concentrate on transportation issues. Finding that my advocacy for a commitment to the Green Line in Somerville was falling on deaf ears, I joined the Association for Public Transportation, which had a seat on JRTC, and engaged in advocacy on the state level. I ran for office for the first time in 1993, with the Green Line and Bike Path extension as important parts of my platform (also see my website).
Since first elected to the Somerville Board of Aldermen in 1999, I have been a consistent advocate for open space, responsible stewardship of resources, and for improved mass transit. I regularly attend Greater Boston MPO meetings, public hearings on mass transit, and submit written comments on various transportation plans (the TIP and its amendments, UPWP, etc) and on ENFs, DEIRs, and FEIRs for a great number of projects going through the MEPA process.. One of my greatest successes was in preventing the siting of a new school in the center of Somerville's largest remaining park – although I was the only negative vote on the Board of Aldermen, changing the use of dedicated park land requires the approval of the Legislature, where I used enrolment figures to show that students in the existing school could be housed in other public schools, allowing the new school to be built on the site of the old school, at the edge of Lincoln Park.
I have been a member of the Sierra Club, and an automatic monthly contributor to the Sierra Club Wilderness Guardians for a very long time. I am a regular contributor to other environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund and the Nature Conservancy, and am also a member of the Mystic River Watershed Association and Massachusetts Audubon Society. I have recently been named the Chairperson of the Land Use Committee of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
11. Summary: Why should the Sierra Club support your candidacy?
The Sierra Club should support my candidacy because I am a committed urban environmentalist. I have developed my research, analysis, and advocacy skills over decades, and have demonstrated my focus on the environment and perseverance in raising the profile of a variety of tough environmental issues. Over the years, I have worked to achieve increasingly visible positions from which to promote public policies that will repair and sustain the health of the natural world.
Massachusetts Sierra Club Questionnaire reprinted by permission