Denise Provost
Alderman-at-Large
What is Happening in Somerville?
To get the latest news on what is happening in Somerville,
subscribe to Denise Provost's e.newsletter, Somerville at Large.
To join the newsletter mailing list, send a BLANK email to provost_citywide-subscribe@topica.com. Many of the links on this page are to articles in back issues
of Somerville at Large. To return to this page, use your browser's BACK button.
Background Information is available on my "Why" page
Chapter 40B
Somerville is subject to the override provisions of this statute because less than 10% of our total housing stock is subsidized
through state or federal funding programs. Communities that exceed the 10% threshold are so certified by the Commonwealth's Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), and their zoning is not subject to state override when comprehensive permits are sought.
Another clause of Chapter 40B, however, provides an alternate measure for determining whether a community has a supply of subsidized housing "consistent with local needs." The more-than-10% provision is the only measure currently used by DHCD to certify compliance with 40B. The statute, however, also decrees compliance where subsidized housing exists "on sites
comprising one and one half per cent or more of the total land area zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial use," in a city or town.
During my tenure on the Board of Aldermen,
an important theme has been the fate of "surplus" city properties; their re-use, sale, and
redevelopment. The city itself is a major landowner in Somerville, and has the ability to dispose
of surplus properties in a strategic manner, to stimulate economic development. Recently, as
state aid has shrunk, the pressure to liquidate real property assets to fuel the city's operating
budget has intensified.
- SOMERVILLE'S REAL ESTATE PLAN UNVEILED March 2004
- Bow Street Police Station, Union Square
- Broadway Theater
On Nov. 19, the city received three thoughtful and interesting mixed-use proposals response
to its Request for Proposals (RFP) for re-development of the former Broadway Theater. This property, at 79-83 Broadway in East Somerville, came to the city through tax title proceedings in 1996.
- Conwell School
The Conwell has not been in use as a "neighborhood" school for a number of years. During the '97-'98 and '98-'99 school years,
it was known as "Healey West," and was one of two facilities (the other being St. Polycarp's School) that provided
"swing space" for the Healey School during its demolition and reconstruction. Since then, the site has been leased by the city
to the Shore Collaborative for special needs programming.
- Durrel School, Beacon Street
This former school building has been leased since the 1980s to CASPAR for use as a detoxification facility.
- Edgerley School, Bonair Street
This was the site of the Somerville Trade School, until it was integrated into the Somerville High School in the mid-eighties.
The Edgerley School was then used for early childhood classrooms, until most of its occupants moved to the
Capuano Early Education Center when it opened in September 2003, just a few blocks away. The
building is still home to the Special Education administrative offices, and to the Next Wave and
Full Circle schools, alternative junior high school/high school programs within the Somerville public school system.
- Homans Building
![[Homans Building]](homans.jpg)
|
The city's administration is proposing to renovate the Homans Building, at the intersection of
Medford Street and Pearl Street, into office space for several city departments, and a re-located Council on Aging Center. The city purchased the building for $1.1 million several
years ago, originally for use as a community center. Its first floor is presently being used for
storage of surplus furniture and equipment; the second and third floors are lying empty.
|
- Kemp Nute site, Walnut Street
This former light manufacturing site was purchased by the city during the Capuano
administration for re-development as open space/green space. When the state granted permission
for locating the new Capuano Center in Glen Park, it required the city to create compensatory
park land in Ward 1, and this was the site chosen.
- Kiley Barrel Site, Union Square
The "Kiley Barrel" site comprises 25,391 square feet adjacent to the city-owned parking lot near the intersection of Somerville Avenue and Prospect Street. The Somerville Redevelopment Authority (SRA) purchased the property as a redevelopment site in 2002.
- Powderhouse School, Broadway
- Yard 21, Assembly Square
This former railroad yard is a long, rectangular, 9-acre parcel along the Orange Line tracks, in the northeastern part of Assembly Square. The city purchased Yard 21 from the MBTA, then solicited private proposals for its redevelopment. In November 2001, the Somerville Redevelopment Authority voted to designate the Sturtevant Partnership as the developer for this site.
Over the last couple of years, there have been neighborhood meetings in East Somerville concerning aggressive activities, mainly assaults, committed by young men believed to be involved in gang activity. At a meeting in May 2002 at the East Somerville Community School, Police Chief George McLean informed the assembly that there were fifty to eighty young men living in East Somerville who were self-identified members of a gang called MS-13.
- School Committee
- Conwell School
- Edgerley School
- Lincoln Park School
School Department plans to build a new Lincoln Park Community School on the other side of Lincoln Park from its present Washington Street location. The proposed new school would stretch along the south side of the park for 480 feet along Lincoln Parkway, eliminating the present baseball field.
- Powderhouse School
Background Information is available on my "Why" page
Background Information is available on my "Why" page
Can you answer correctly the following questions about the this quotation
(answers given at the bottom of the page):
"I...am quite sure that those who come after us will blame us for sacrificing such a spot to
the demands of business...."
a) Whose words are these?
b) In what year?
c) About what Somerville "spot"?
d) "Sacrificed" when?
e) To what "demands of business"?
f) Under what Mayor?
Assembly Square, at 145 acres, is the city's largest redevelopment area. Since its designation as an Urban Renewal Area in the 1970s, it has been controversial, holding both problems and promise for Somerville. For all the news on this area, check out the Assembly Square page.
![[Somerville Lumber]](somerville-lumber1.jpg)
![[Stop & Shop]](stop&shop.jpg)
Spot the improvement - Somerville Lumber beautifies into Super Stop & Shop
This 48-acre site, on the northeastern edge of the City of
Cambridge, is separated from the rest of that city by the McGrath/O'Brien Highway and the
elevated section of the Green Line between Science Park and Lechmere. The site is bordered
by the Charles River and has stunning views of Boston and of the new Zakim Bridge. Access
to it is had by crossing under the elevated tracks just across from the Museum of Science.
Union Square is Somerville's oldest commercial district. For all the latest news on this area, check out the Union Square page.
Developer Gerard Meehan has submitted to the city a proposal to construct a single building comprising 30 condominium units (of which 8 would be affordable) on a 25,000 sq. foot parcel of land at 9-11 Aldersey Street. The project would include demolition of the existing building, the historically significant home of Quincy Vinal, one of Somerville's first settlers.
Union Square is Somerville's oldest commercial district. For all the latest news on this area, check out the Union Square page.
![[St Polycarps]](stpolycarps1.jpg)
![[St Polycarps]](stpolycarps2.jpg)
- St Polycarp's Church
- St Polycarp's Convent
- St Polycarp's Rectory
- St Polycarp's Men's Club
- St Polycarp's School
Magoun Square is a small, intact square of small businesses, shops, and restaurants that
principally serve the surrounding neighborhood. An active group of business people and an
active neighborhood group have been meeting with city officials for the last two years to
discuss and plan revitalization of the square. Much design work has been done, and funding
secured, for features such as new lighting and crosswalks, and a landscaped plaza at the front
of the municipal parking lot.
The best way to view this four-acre former industrial site is to stand on the Lowell Street Bridge
and look west (that is, with your back to the VNA Assisted Living facility, if you're vague about
directions.) If your view is somewhat obstructed by a graffiti-covered building, you're looking
in the right place, that is the site. It consists of two parcels of land, a rough triangle stretching
between the former Arlington and Lexington Branch Line right of way (better known as the
place beyond the Cedar Street end of the Bike Path) and the Lowell Line of the MBTA
commuter rail service.
![[MaxPak Site]](maxpak.jpg)
Last spring, the former National Guard Armory on Highland Avenue was
sold at auction to Joseph and Nabil Sater, owners of the Middle East
Restaurant and nightclub complex in Central Square, Cambridge. At a
neighborhood meeting in September 2004, Joseph Sater presented plans for
the re-use of the 33,320 square foot building. While the reception
was generally favorable, neighbors have concerns about many details
of the project.
![[Somerville Armory]](armory2.jpg)
For details of the neighborhood fight to stop the potential legalization of the building expansion at 1-4 Hayden Terrace visit:
http://www.haydenterrace.com
For details of Emerald Development's
proposal to build a huge condominium complex at 343 Summer Street, the site of an MBTA
ventilation shaft visit: http://www.braceus.com/sssc
A proposal to put another large condominium complex on Willow Avenue, between Morrison
and the Bike Path. This project will require at least three variances, and have no setback from
the bike path.
HYPODERMIC NEEDLE SIGHTINGS
Background Information is available on my "Why" page
WHAT'S GOING ON BEHIND CITY HALL? November 2004
Background Information is available on my "Why" page
Lowell Street Bridge is owned and maintained by Mass. Highway. It was closed in May 2000, following a routine inspection, when the bridge was deemed unsafe for vehicular traffic.
Sycamore Street Bridge is owned and maintained by Mass. Highway. It was closed in April 10 2001, following a routine inspection, when the bridge was deemed unsafe for vehicular traffic.
![[Water Main Burst]](watermain_burst1.jpg)
Background Information is available on my "Why" page
The Big Picture: More Cars in our Future
MPO's 25 Year Transportation Plan
![[Bike Path Extension]](bikepathextension.jpg)
Proposed extension route beyond Cedar Street, showing current encroachment on the MBTA right-of-way.
| Friends of the Community Bike Path support the proposed extension of Somerville's Linear Park as a bike path from its present terminus at Cedar Street to the Charles River path in Boston, via
Lechmere. The Linear Park is itself an extension of the Minuteman Bike Path, which extends from Bedford, through Lexington and Arlington, into Cambridge.
|
Logan Airport
Answers to Quiz
a) Whose words are these? Martha Perry Lowe, who came to Somerville in 1859, when her
husband became minister of the Parish of the First Congregational (Unitarian) Society of
Somerville.
b) In what year? Mrs. Lowe wrote these words in 1897.
c) About what Somerville "spot"? Mrs. Lowe referred to the McLean Asylum, which then
stood on Cobble Hill in East Somerville. Its main building was the former Joseph Barrell
mansion, designed in 1792 by Charles Bulfinch, the architect of the Massachusetts State
House and many other notable structures.
d) "Sacrificed" when? The Barrell mansion was demolished in 1896.
e) To what "demands of business"? The business proposal was to construct railroad yards in
East Somerville.
f) Under what Mayor? Albion A. Perry was elected mayor in 1896.
Denise Provost, Alderman-at-Large, Somerville, MA