The Davis Square Community

As usual, I didn't take extensive notes, but here's what I remember. (Agenda here.)

( DARBI (Davis Area Resident-Business Initiative) )

The traffic study group is focusing on Willow Avenue, between Elm St. and Highland Avenue. You can read more about their work at http://willave.blogspot.com .

One Davis Square, with CVS and Boston Sports Club, should be open by November.

Nobody quite knows what's going to happen to the former Enterprise rent-a-car site at Summer St. and Cutter Ave.

( 135 Willow Ave (corner of Willow and Morrison) )

( Carli Fence )

( Summer Street Shaft Site (343-349 Summer St) )

( Airplane noise )

( Sacco's Bowl-Haven )

( Burren's 2 am license )

The Y-Not Variety store, at Willow and Morrison, has applied for a license to sell beer and wine. They have 130 signatures of support from customers. The store will continue to close at 8:30 each night.

The Buena Vista garage repair is nearly complete. The garage will close one more day, Friday October 12, to finish the work.

Next meeting will probably be Monday, December 3.

The Davis Square Task Force meets this Monday, July 23 at 7 pm in the Cafeteria at 167 Holland Street (Tufts Administration Building).

I will not be able to attend this meeting, so I hope someone else can be there and post some notes afterwards. Here is the agenda:

7:00-7:15: Intros

7:15-7:45 Group Updates in Davis Square

• DARBI update
  
• Davis Square Business Interest Group (BIG) trash pick up initiative
  
• Crime Watch group and Resistat
  
• Traffic group forming in Davis Square

7:45-8:00 - Burren Update on 2am License

8:00-8:10 - Introduce new Director of Strategic Planning and Community Development, Monica Lamboy

8:10-8:20 - Update on Bike Path renovations behind Brooks to the MBTA head house on College Ave

8:20-8:30 - Buena Vista lot construction - Jerry Boyle.

8:30-8:55 - Davis Square renovations and new businesses, Davis Square T Station art project

8:55-9:00 - Next Meeting

If you have any questions about the above items, please contact Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz or Chris Daveta or Alice Martin in the Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development at 617-625-6600

Last night, the Licensing Commission granted The Burren a probationary extension of hours to 2 am on Friday and Saturday nights. They will review it again in six months. Former mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay spoke in support. I didn't attend this very crowded meeting, but a Somerville Journal reporter did, and you can read her report here.

While that was going on upstairs, I attended the rather placid Davis Square Task Force meeting downstairs. There's not really much news to report from it:

Boloco and Chipotle both gave presentations. The founder of Boloco handed out free mini-burritos and coupons for $1 burritos. Chipotle expects to open on July 1 in the former Buck-a-Book space. They will have 34 seats indoors and another 20 out on the plaza across from Starbucks. They will serve beer, but not margaritas (those would require a full liquor license). If anyone wants to try Chipotle before then, they just opened one at Wellington Circle in Medford. All Chipotle restaurants are company-owned, not franchises.

Mayor Curtatone commissioned a study of hotel demand in Somerville, which you can read on the city's web site. The study suggests a 100-125 room hotel on one of three vacant sites in Davis Square -- the Day-Herbert city parking lot, the private parking lot behind One Davis Square, or the Buena Vista garage next to Harvard Vanguard. I asked whether a hotel of this size could be built within the current zoning's 4-story/50-foot height limit, and the city officials said yes. Sara Rosenfeld reminded us that Mayor Capuano made a similar push for a Davis Square hotel back in 1992, but nothing had happened at the time.

Discussion of the bike path connection through Davis Square was postponed until the next meeting, whose date hasn't yet been set.

The Davis Square Task Force met on Wednesday, December 6, with this agenda. I took some notes, which as always are entirely unofficial and subject to my own bias:

( Davis Area Resident-Business Initiative (DARBI) )

( Somerville Theatre Liquor License Application )

( Buena Vista parking garage )

Middlesex Federal Savings has made its sign less bright, with slower-moving text, and more local news. If you'd like to place a notice on the sign, e-mail generalmail@middlesexfederal.com .

Sacco's Bowl-Haven and the Someday Cafe folks are still talking about how to work together; no news to report yet.

( Proposal to limit business hours to 1 am )

Next meeting will be Monday, February 26, 2007.

Some incomplete notes from Monday's Davis Square Task Force meeting:

The city and the T will work together to select and place new artwork in the Red Line station, replacing the large white panels that are above the benches and in the mezzanine.

Middlesex Bank will send a representative to the next DSTF meeting to discuss their electric sign.

A meeting to discuss the Wall of Respect to Women will take place tonight (Wednesday) at 6:30 at the Field House in Powder House Park.

About 75 people suddenly crowded into the room to lobby for The Burren's application for a 2 am license for Friday and Saturday nights only. There was a lot of hostility between this new group and some of the long-time residents who had been in the room before they arrived. Alderman Gewirtz struggled to keep control of the meeting, and at one point it threatened to degenerate into fisticuffs between two or three people. The Burren presented a petition signed by 1436 people, at least 370 of which lived in zip code 02144. Some of the established residents are countering with a petition of their own.

This is The Burren's third attempt to get a 2 am license. Eight other establishments in Somerville have 2 am licenses now, but none of them are in Davis Square. The closest one is PJ Ryan's in Teele Square. No date has yet been sent for The Burren's hearing before the city Licensing Commission.

The entire new group of people left immediately after the Burren discussion was over, which led to some grumbling from those of us who stayed.

Dunkin Donuts did not show up, so we did not discuss their application for a 24-hour license.

O'Natural's is closing and will be replaced by a Mexican restaurant. We don't know who it will be.

The Someday Cafe employee group are talking to the owners of Sacco's Bowl-Haven to see if some mutually acceptable arrangement can be worked out. One possibility is for a cafe and restaurant to replace the pool tables, which apparently are not well-used.

Alderman Gewirtz will soon be meeting with Rocco Antonelli who owns much commercial property in the square, including Buck-a-Book, Mini-Mart, Starbucks, and the Post Office. (This meeting may have already happened by now)

Next meeting is Tuesday, November 28 at 7 pm.

The Davis Square Task Force meets next Monday, October 23, at 7 pm, at the Tufts Administration Building (Senior Center), 167 Holland St.

7:00-7:10 - Intros, pick note taker
Updates: Davis T Art Project, Signs in square (Middlesex Bank, Extreme Tanning),
next mural meeting - October 25, 2006, 6:30 pm at Powder House Field House

7:10-7:25 - DARBI Update [DARBI == Davis Area Resident-Business Initiative]

7:25-8:00 - The Burren 2am License Petition

8-8:20 - Dunkin' Donuts 24 Hour Petition

8:20-8:40 - Davis T Station Changes

8:40-8:55 - Davis Sq. Store front updates, Someday Café and Sacco’s Bowl Haven

8:55-9:00 - Wrap up and next meeting

If you have any changes or additions to this list, please contact Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz, or Chris Daveta or Alice Martin in the city's Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development.

A reminder that the Davis Square Task Force meets at 7 pm this Wednesday, September 27, at 167 Holland Street.

See this post for a full agenda, including items regarding the Wall of Respect for Women mural, Someday Cafe, and Sacco's Bowl-Haven.

I did not take written notes, so this is just from memory:

Michele Biscoe: Som|Dog presentation about off-leash areas on bike path. The organization would like to build one or more small fenced-in off-leash dog runs along the Community Path, similar to the successful one at Nunziato Field near Union Square. Possible locations are Lexington Park, Cedar Street, or Willow Avenue.

Sara Rosenfeld about Community Servings: would like to recruit people to sell "Pie in the Sky" around Davis Square at Thanksgiving time. The organization prepares and delivers meals to people suffering from AIDS and other debilitating illnesses. Their website is servings.org.

Sign at Middlesex Bank: the sign is permitted by zoning, but is not allowed to advertise the bank's services. It is limited by law to time, temperature, and public service announcements. The bank's president(?) was there, and got an earful from people in the room who complained that it does not belong in the Square, is too bright, doesn't fit the building well, and is irritating to the eye. He says he wants the sign to promote community events and activities. We'll see if he listened to the feedback he got.

Someday Cafe and Mr. Crepe: All interested parties were present: Richard Fraiman (who owns the building), Gus Rancatore (who owns the Someday Cafe), Ian Judge (who manages the Somerville Theatre), Mr. Crepe himself (whose real name I did not get), and a whole lot of Someday employees and customers.

The basic facts, agreed upon by all: the Someday's lease expired in February, Rancatore neglected to renew it, and Fraiman did not notify Rancatore of his failure to renew. After several months of hearing nothing from Rancatore, Fraiman entered into negotiation with Mr. Crepe, and last week told Rancatore he needed to vacate by September 1. Mr. Crepe has not yet signed a lease with Fraiman but is close to doing so.

As you might expect, the next hour was quite emotional. Local residents were upset to see a beloved community space about to disappear. Someday employees were unhappy that the city learned of the cafe's fate (and announced it to the public) before they did. Some people said they would never patronize Mr. Crepe if he displaced the Someday. Rancatore apologized for overlooking the lease expiration. People asked if the two businesses could somehow divide the space, or time-share it, or otherwise work together.

In the meeting, Fraiman did not appear to offer much flexibility, but out of public view, there may soon be back-room negotiations involving Fraiman, Rancatore, Mr. Crepe, and Ward 6 alderman Rebekah Gewirtz.

The Davis Square Task Force meets on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7 pm at the Tufts Administration Building, 167 Holland Street.

This meeting will provide a venue for the business community, through the Davis Sq Business Interest Group, to join the Task Force in talking about the future of the Square.

( Read the full agenda here... )

For more information, please contact Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz at (617)
718-0792; rebekah@rcn.com or Christopher Daveta at (617) 625-6600 x 2500;
cdaveta@ci.somerville.ma.us