two important public hearings Thursday

[elibeck.livejournal.com]

There are two important hearings in Somerville tomorrow. I'm mainly posting because I think we can't sit back any longer while our communities get transformed without our input.

The first hearing is about the new ZONING IN UNION SQUARE.
6PM at Somerville City Hall

The second hearing is a public safety hearing on the BU BioLab (bioweapons research lab) in Roxbury/South End

BU BIO LAB HEARING THURSDAY,
7 PM at SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM

HEARING ON UNION SQUARE ZONING
6PM at Somerville City Hall

Unfortunately without rent control it will be difficult to prevent the displacement of working families from Union Square -- but Union is next in line for the attack on our neighborhoods that is gentrification/homogenization.  It's all happening under the guise of an artists overlay district -- but how long before even the artists will be outpriced from the community they help build?

These zoning changes ask for a paltry 15% of housing units being developed in the new Union Square developments to be kept affordable, and yet the City of Somerville has refused to go along with it! Maybe we can show up in force and let
them know that even 15% is not enough!!!

Thursday April 19th
6PM at Somerville City Hall

The Planning Board and the Land Use Committee will host a public hearing on Thursday, April 19th at 6:00 in City Hall to hear public comment on amendments submitted by the SCC's Affordable Housing Organizing Committee (AHOC) to increase the affordable housing requirement in Union Square.

Over the last five months affordable housing advocates have been the loudest voice in the debate around zoning changes, unified in our call for development that benefits the working families in Union Square. Thank you for joining the Affordable Housing Organizing Committee in this important campaign.

Despite our hard work, unified voice, and support from residents all across Somerville, the City is determined to go forward with zoning changes that ignore our proposal to increase affordable housing requirements to 15%. While a higher affordable housing requirement is only a small part of tackling the problem of squeezing out working class families, it is a critical step that we simply can't afford to have the city ignore.

The City's proposed new zoning combined with the Green Line extension will entice the kind of high-end development that will dive up housing costs and create an even greater burden for working people in the neighborhood. Your help is needed to bring the message: "Keep our families in Somerville: Zone for People."

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The second hearing is about BU and the Dept of Homeland Security placing a bio-weapons research lab in the heart of  the densely populated Roxbury/South End community. Brookline and Cambridge both passed resolutions opposing this lab, and Somerville is having a hearing tomorrow:

BU BIO LAB HEARING THURSDAY,
7 PM at SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM

Dear Friends,

This Thursday, April 19, we have an opportunity to express our opinions at a public hearing about the proposed biological weapons research lab that Boston University intends to build in the South End/Roxbury area.  This lab, just a few miles from Somerville, would study the most dangerous pathogens in the world, including lethal self-replicating organisms.

SMUJP, in cooperation with Mass. United for Justice with Peace, opposes the lab, and is asking the Somerville Board of Aldermen to pass a resolution stating their opposition.   Brookline and Cambridge have already passed similar resolutions.

There are many reasons to oppose the lab (see below for more information) .

We're asking all Somerville/Medford UJP members and supporters to help:

* Spread the word.  Forward this email to others who might be interested.

* Come to the public hearing on Thursday, April 19, 7PM at Somerville High School, 81 Highland Ave.  Learn more about the dangers of operating a Level 4 lab in our densely populated urban environment.  Tell the Aldermen what you think; they want to hear from us.

*******

Press Release
Public Hearing on Proposed B.U. Bio-Lab, April 19, 2007 , 7:00 pm
Somerville High School Auditorium - 81 Highland Avenue

A public hearing on Boston University's proposed bio-weapons research laboratory will be convened by the Public Health and Safety Committee of the Board of Alderman at the Somerville High School Auditorium at 7 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2007.  The purpose of this hearing, requested by Somerville/Medford United for Justice with Peace, is to take testimony regarding the Bio-Safety Level 4 laboratory that Boston University is building near the Boston Medical Center, and potential risks to the surrounding communities, including Somerville.


According to SMUJP member Duncan McFarland, "We're concerned about the risks of building this lab in a densely populated area, and of its potential effects on surrounding communities.  An accidental release of deadly pathogens, contact with infected lab workers, or the laboratory becoming the target of a terrorist attack can disastrously affect our community as well as the immediately adjacent Roxbury/South end neighborhood. We're asking the Aldermen to sign on to a resolution calling for National Institutes of Health to halt construction of the bio-lab until a more adequate environmental impact review, ordered by the courts, is completed.  Brookline and Cambridge have already done so."

People are invited to give testimony at the meeting about the impact of the bio-lab on our community. Those who wish to speak can sign up when they arrive at City Hall.  There is a three-minute limit on testimony.

Top Ten Reasons To Oppose the BIolab:
www.ace-ej.org/BiolabWeb/Biolabdocs/Ozonofftopten.pdf

Comments

[ron_newman]

Not sure how I feel about this, really. Part of me says "this is a Union Square issue, and it's not my place as a Davis Square resident to butt into it."

el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[elibeck.livejournal.com]

the people, united, will never be defeated.

divide-and-conquer is the game they play.

if we don't unite with the people and businesses who got ousted from harvard square, then central square, then davis square, then union square... then it'll go on and on and on.

we will lose Somedays, La Contessas, McIntyre & Moores, ad infinitum. How much longer can Sacco's, Mike's, McKinnon's, Sligo's hold out? what will Davis Square look and feel like in 20 years? better? shinier? hipper?

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[ron_newman]

But -- is it my place to say what zoning is best for Union Square? I don't live there and I only occasionally eat or shop there. The people there have a better understanding of their neighborhood's needs than I do.

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

zoning in general reduces property values (usually/often) resulting in reduced tax revenues, meaning reduced services for all of the city. therefore, zoning is a city-wide issue.

:)

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[modstgodds.livejournal.com]

The entire state of Massachusetts voted out rent control in Brookline and Cambridge back in the day (sorry, the year is very cloudy in my middle aged brain) and boy, I did not feel that was my place. However, this is Somerville and you are in Somerville. It could affect other parts of the city as well.

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

divide-and-conquer is the game they play.

Who is this "they" you see conspiring against "us?" I don't see anything more at work than Adam Smith's invisible hand of economics.

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[ron_newman]

Which sometimes should be restrained, or bent behind its owner's back.

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[elibeck.livejournal.com]

i agree the hand is invisible, but it's not the hand of some idealized free market. the hand has been accumulating wealth, buying policies that favor itself, and manipulating markets for its advantage. it's real estate developers big and small, flooding the political process with money to overwhelm our democratic aspirations. we (somerville) had rent control because we saw the human side of housing policy. today everything - housing, healthcare, water, education - is threatened by profit motives and privatization. "they"
is groups like the Small Property Owners Association who pollute the process with their money.

for some background check out http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/80/massrent.html

the "invisible hand" has been socializing costs and privatizing profits for a long time now... at some point we can't "afford" to keep letting that happen.

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

we (somerville) had rent control because we saw the human side of housing policy.

According to the link you post, The city of Somerville only had rent control from 1970 to 1979. That was a nine-year block which ended twenty-eight years ago. Beyond the memories, if not even the lifetimes, of most contributors to this thread.

Are you holding the 1970's (http://www.retrowardrobe.com/era1970.asp) up as a golden age?

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[mrf-arch.livejournal.com]

we (somerville) had rent control because we saw the human side of housing policy.

When you put a cap on how much rent someone can charge, you create a significant disincentive to investment. If it costs the landlord $500 to carry the mortgage on a piece of property, but they're only ever allowed to charge $600 for it, you can be sure that the average monthly investment in maintaining the place won't be more than about $50 - regardless of how much investment the property might need in order to be an actual pleasant place to live.

Likewise, more restrictive zoning is a case study in perverse incentives. Over the last 20 years, Boston zoning has steadily gotten more and more restrictive, with special overlay districts, more opportunities for neighbors to weigh in in a project, more design oversight, more requirements of affordable housing. The result is entirely predictable - the projects get bigger, less human-scaled, and cater to an ever more affluent market. Simply put, only the most powerful and well-financed developers have a chance of staying the course in such a tough regulatory environment. And given the level of risk and difficulty, only the biggest towers have a reasonable payback for even them.

I would look at what's happening across the river, before I got set in my head the notion that Union Square could somehow use the zoning process to freeze itself in time.

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[ron_newman]

Also, there are some businesses that I'd love to see "ousted" from Union Square, because they don't contribute anything useful to an urban neighborhood: Goodyear, Riverside Kawasaki, all those auto-body and repair shops.

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I dunno, it's very nice to have a car place within walking distance for when your car has broken down. Being able to walk home from the shop is a nice bonus of an urban neighborhood.

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

you beat me to it!

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[nalz.livejournal.com]

Not only that - but just because you don't find it useful doesn't mean others don't either! I love having a motorcycle shop so close, personally. And if they're not in an 'urban' setting - where exactly do you propose they go?

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

Having a public transit-accessible place to take your car to get it fixed is really useful. You can drop it off and still get to work, and also get back to it at the end of the day. I ride the T almost every day, but I still have and use a car and I use a car repair place near Davis. Those businesses may not be trendy, and they may require effort if they're being bad neighbors by polluting, but they serve the people who live there.

[ron_newman]

But wouldn't you still rather have the theatre that was torn down to build Goodyear?

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[thegecko.livejournal.com]

Being a motorcycle owner in the immediate area, i LOVE having Riverside there. It's one of only two shops in the entire STATE that know anything about my particular bike.

I'd also argue that a shop that sells & repairs motorcycles & scooters is great for an urban area. more bikes, less cars, less gas.

Re: el pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido

[nalz.livejournal.com]

+1

[rekling.livejournal.com]

Having lived in Davis Square for 2.5 years, and then in Union Square for 1 year, I think it absolutely is important for Davis residents to be involved. Here's why:

1) Somerville is NOT a huge city. The two squares are relatively close to each other, and what effects one can have an impact on the other.

2) Davis is already well into the gentrification process, while Union Square only beginning the big shifts into trendy cafes, more white people with money, more condos, less affordable housing, etc. I think it can definitely help to have voices from Davis who can speak to the importance of preserving neighborhoods.

3) Regarding the BU Biolab: Well, that's a no brainer. The damn thing isn't in Somerville, but if something goes wrong, it will effect people in Union, and Davis, and in quite a lot of other places too.

-Rek

[ron_newman]

Fair enough. The question is, how do I (or other Davis folk) avoid crossing the line into saying "we know what's best for this neighborhood where we don't live"? If I'm saying one thing and the Union Square residents are saying something else, I hope the city pays more attention to the residents.

[rekling.livejournal.com]

That's a good question, and I think the fact that you're asking shows that you're probably a good person to attend this meeting (because you're aware that what works for you, as a Davis resident, may not be what folks in Union want).

I'd suggest sitting back and following the lead of things that are said by folks from Union. Remember, the city pays attention to how many people show up at these meetings, and so even your presence tells them that there is one more person (or, if you bring friends, several more people) who care about zoning enough to attend a meeting.

You can also use it as a chance to meet folks from Union and find out what they are trying to tell the city and find out if you can help (remember, you can talk to your alderperson about issues that aren't directly related to your ward).

When I went to my first meeting at city hall, (regarding the variances that the now-built condos at the old autobody place on willow and morrison were requesting), I kept pretty quiet, since I hadn't been involved with the neighborhood group before. But I got to hear what my neighbors were workign on, got to network with them, and got to find out more about what was going on, so that I could speak up more next time.

-Rek

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

You say "this is my experience in Davis Square."

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

You know, I've lived in Davis for a while now (on and off for about 15 years, and I was thinking now that I need a bigger place for my family, I might look into buying a fixer-upper in Union. You know, the kind of place that with enough work could be really nice someday and that my kids could grow up in. I won't reveal my income or my race, but will admit that I do like me some fancy coffee from trendy cafes. I hadn't realized what a force for evil I've become. I'm the barbarian at your gate, flying my gentrification flag. Beware Union--something wicked your way comes!

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I picked up a fixer-upper in Davis about fifteen years ago, and look at me now! I've become the embodiment of eeeeevil, without doing a thing.

;-)

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

i know, right! i had no idea that being white and having money to invest into local businesses was such a terrible crime!