Healthy cities are built of healthy neighborhoods, and healthy neighborhoods are largely determined by the existence of active neighborhood groups. Such groups, along with other community organizations, are essential to democratic government. Somerville needs to develop more opportunities for public input and city-wide dialogue.

In 2002, 43.7% of the city's land was tax exempt, which means that an additional 27 acres of land in Somerville came into tax-exempt ownership in the last year alone - a disturbing change that will be ruinous if the trend continues.

Land-poor, the city is also low on revenues, leaving us dependent on state aid to balance our budget, and lacking in the income that could provide public amenities. For its fiscal health, and to become a more liveable city, Somerville needs to expand its commercial development, yet economic development must be balanced by the need to preserve neighborhoods, squares, and existing small businesses.

Since we can't expand our boundaries, there are only three routes to increased public prosperity:

• we can raise taxes
• we can persuade exempt property owners, like Tufts, to make payments in lieu of taxes
• we can increase the city's commercial tax base.

Industrial pollution and illegal dumping have left "brownfield" sites of contaminated earth. Industrial waste and illegal sewage outflows have seriously degraded water quality in the Mystic River and alewife Brook. Our air quality is compromised by the heavy flow of traffic through Somerville and the region.

The first task of environmental stewardship for our city government is damage control - holding the line on any further deterioration of Somerville's environmental assets. Protecting Somerville's environment requires the strict enforcement of the city's zoning ordinance, and all other laws designed to protect our health and safety. It also means identifying opportunities to restore and improve the quality of our environment.

This estimate covers only that porton of the system which is under Somerille's ownership and control. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) owns and controls parts of the water supply and drainage system under Somerville's streets. Similarly, while the city controls miles of streets, many of the city's major thoroughfares - McGrath Highway (Route 28), Mystic Avenue, Alewife Brook Parkway, I-93 - are under the control of the state or Metropolitan District Commission (MDC).

While Somerville pays the fifth-highest MBTA assessment in the state, we don't receive the level of bus, subway, and train services that we pay for. For over a decade, I have been pushing for the quality of service that nearby communities enjoy. I will continue to advocate with all the region's transportation agencies for better mass transit planning and resources.