davis_square | Entries tagged with local government

All are welcome, and you can take the 95 bus to get there. For the ones at City Hall, you can also take the 96. I've attended elections inspector and clerk trainings held by Sandy, she's very thorough.

https://patch.com/massachusetts/medford/medford-hosting-voter-education-workshop-series-may
( Read more... )

squirrelitude

A cool bit of local news that I missed until I happened to see an offhand reference in a national newspaper: Somerville has, to the extent it is possible for a city to do so, decriminalized all naturally-occurring psychedelic drugs: https://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?MeetingID=3289&ID=24035

- The city can't use "funds or resources" in enforcement of criminal penalties against "use or possession" of these plants (and fungi).
- Changed to be "amongst the lowest law enforcement priority": Cultivation and transactions of entheogenic plants/fungi; use/possession of controlled substances in general

Until the county, state, and federal government are on board there will of course be some risk of having your life ruined by possessing psychedelics, but... for people who were already at risk of having their life ruined by *not* having certain psychedelics, this is a big improvement.

(The city cites the opioid epidemic and the therapeutic uses of these drugs as strong reasons to make this change.)

ron_newman

The Somerville elections department emailed me a spreadsheet of unofficial results from Tuesday's preliminary election. (I think they consider me to be a news reporter.) Here are the totals for Mayor:

Turnout: 5304 ballots cast (10.2%), of 52228 registered voters.

Joe Curtatone - 3013 (56.8%)
Marianne Walles - 1945 (36.7%)
Kenneth Van Buskirk - 249 (4.7%)
Write-In - 36 (0.7%)
Blank - 61 (1.2%)

In Ward 3 School Committee, Sarah Phillips received 624 votes, Mary Marshall 414 votes, and Michele LIppens (eliminated) got 351 votes.

I do not know why anyone would show up at the polls and then cast a blank ballot for the only race on the ballot, but at least 25 voters did exactly that. (61 minus the 36 mayoral blanks cast in ward 3, whose ballot also had a School Committee race.)

3rdragon

There are three candidates for mayor:

Joe Curtatone, incumbent (website)
Marianne Walles (website | campaign announcement in the Patch)
Kenneth Van Buskirk III (???)

Here's an article on campaign funding in Wicked Local.

Ron's post in 2017 suggested that Kenneth Van Buskirk wasn't running much of a campaign, and he doesn't seem to be running much of one this time around, either. Googling his name mostly turned up articles about how he got bumped out in the last preliminary election. I will admit to a certain amount of puzzlement as to his motivation here.

-------------

Ward 3 also has a contested race for School Committee (note that Wicked Local has a 2 article limit unless you have an account, and a five article limit with a free account, so you may want to pick your links carefully if you don't have a paid account):
Sarah Phillips (Wicked Local Candidate Profile | Wicked Local article)
Mary Marshall (Wicked Local Candidate Profile | Wicked Local article
Michele Lippens (Wicked Local Candidate Profile | Wicked Local Article

I don't know about races in any of the other wards. Sorry if any of those links are messed up; I just realized that I should have left the house ten minutes ago.

jlauspitz

From Chris Iwerks and the DavisNow Steering Committee

DavisNow.org Public Meeting Mid June

DavisNow.org is pleased to report that the City of Somerville is beginning to make progress on the Davis Square Punch List. See our Progress Report Card online: http://www.davisnow.org/progress.html In mid- June we are planning another public meeting to:

· Discuss Punch List progress

· Hear directly from city councilors and city staff on the status of projects

· Hear from two affiliated citizen groups: Staying Put and Somervision 2040

· Discuss next steps

We are arranging the venue and will send out an email with location, date and time next week. This is an important meeting. We need to keep a focus on the repairs to make Davis Square safe and appealing, and we need the repairs now. Your support will help make this happen. Join us at DavisNow.orgSee more…
Progress

DavisNow.org

theresa_99

Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Ward 7 City Councilor Katjana Ballantyne invite you to attend the Ward 7 ResiStat neighborhood meeting on Wednesday, May 8, at the West Somerville Neighborhood School, 177 Powder House Blvd. The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and will include neighborhood and city updates, neighborhood public safety stats, and other important information. Please also join us before the meeting from 6 to 6:30 p.m. for pizza and a chance to talk with elected officials, City staff, and neighbors. There will also be time after the meeting for one-on-one conversations.

The meeting is hosted by the City's ResiStat program, which updates residents on the latest city news and data. For more information, contact Taylor Ko at tko@somervillema.gov.

Current Location: 177 Powder House Blvd

bg1

Free workshop for homeowners and prospective homeowners who are invited to learn about home improvement programs that they may qualify for, resources to help with landlord/tenant disputes, information on fair housing exemptions and the new Office of Housing Stability.

Current Location: Somerville Library-79 Highland Avenue

ron_newman

an email I received today:

Save this date!
Davis Square needs repair – Public meeting:
February 13 @ 6.00pm
Dilboy Post
371 Summer St Davis Square

The city has agreed to work with the DavisNow community organization to repair Davis Square.
We need your support and your inputs.
This is a community meeting to talk about what is going to happen and when.

DavisNOW provided the city with an illustrated Punch List that inventories the myriad problems with the square that need remedy. The city was also provided with cost estimates and where to find the tools they need to fix the problems. The mayor agrees that these problems need fixing. Preventing further decline, and undertaking repair and restoration, is a critical first step before any consideration of redevelopment is advanced (which is not budgeted or planned for the next 10 years at a minimum). We invite you to come, participate, and lend your support to the community’s efforts to fix the square.

See the punch list and all the issues on http://DavisNow.org

theresa_99

Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Ward 7 Alderman Katjana Ballantyne invite you to attend the Ward 7 ResiStat neighborhood meeting on Thurs., Nov. 15, in the Tufts Administration Building at 167 Holland St., in the senior center on the 2nd floor. The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and will include an open Q&A with the Mayor and City staff, neighborhood and city updates, neighborhood crime stats, and other important information. Please also join us before the meeting from 6 to 6:30 p.m. for pizza and a chance to speak one-to-one with City officials.

The meeting is hosted by the City's ResiStat program, which updates residents on the latest city news and data. For more information, contact Meghann Ackerman at mackerman@somervillema.gov.

ron_newman

Somerville unofficial election results, broken out by ward and precinct, are here. There are few surprises.

https://www.somervillema.gov/sites/default/files/unofficial-election-totals-11-6-2018-REV.pdf

Unlike the state at large, we voted for Gonzalez for Governor.
Like the state at large, we voted against question 1.

(a summation, not broken out by ward and precinct, is at https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/programs/votesomerville )

jlauspitz

DAVISNOW.ORG
OCT. 27TH, 2018 01:05 PM
A new website is up sparked by the City's ten-year budgeting of zero funds for capital improvements in Davis Square through 2027. The site details repairs immediately needed, with pictures and cost estimates for repairs.

www.DavisNow.org

The 62-page, illustrated punch list, developed by architect Chris Iwerks, a Davis Sq resident, is also available at:

http://online.flipbuilder.com/havm/ixly/

The group's self-description follows:

"DavisNow.org focuses on fixing problems now. It does not address the City’s long-term plans for Davis Square, such as increasing building heights, altering intersections, or completely replacing sidewalks. This is a much more modest scope and cost proposal. It’s just what’s needed to renew the elements we already have.

"We have created a punch-list book of the many issues afflicting Davis Square, which can be viewed here:

http://online.flipbuilder.com/havm/ixly/

"We plan to have a community meeting... to discuss what our next steps should be and how to partner with city officials to fund these needed repairs."
TAGS:

redbird

The city is planning significant changes to the traffic/pedestrian lights in Davis Square, on Wednesday June 27. Instead of having all the walk lights on at the same time, they're going to be coordinated with red and green lights for vehicles, in part by giving pedestrians a walk light at times when everyone is crossing anyway because we can see it's safe.

The city says (hopes) that this will make it significantly faster to cross Davis on foot, especially diagonally. It's supposed to give pedestrians more walk lights and give traffic on both Highland Avenue and Holland Street more green light time per hour, and add more green lights for buses leaving the Davis Square busway. (For more and possibly clearer information, see the info and background pages on the city website.)

I was alerted to this by some not-very-large posters taped to some of the light poles in Davis Square, a couple of days ago. I haven't gotten an email from the city, which I would have expected. Also, Ron, I can't find a better tag for this than "local government," since we don't have one for walking, traffic, or pedestrian.

ron_newman

Starting on June 11 and continuing into early September, the Community Path west of Davis Square, from Buena Vista Road to Cameron Ave, will be closed for drainage and retaining wall construction. This project should alleviate the chronic flooding problems on that part of the path.

I can't tell from that page whether it will still be possible to cross the path at Thorndike Street during the construction.

The northbound bicycle detour shown on the map is sub-optimal. A better detour is: northbound on Cameron Ave, right on Tannery Brook Row, straight onto Howard Street, left onto Thorndike St to Holland Street.

ron_newman

The PowerPoint slides from the May 8 Ward 6 ResiStat meeting are now online as a PDF.

ams16

Does anyone know of any projects to create municipal broadband in Eastern Massachusetts? Considering the possibility of the death of net-neutrality, I was just wondering if there are any efforts in that direction.

(Yes, I know the Senate managed to vote to save net-neutrality. I doubt it will get by the House.)

ron_newman

Get your eyes on the Davis Square Neighborhood Plan draft! Four years of community ideas, involvement, and input have led us here. Now, join the SomervillebyDesign planning team for an open house-style meeting to see the highlights.

Monday, April 30th, 6 pm
Somerville Baptist Church
31 College Avenue

You can learn more at www.somervillebydesign.com/neighborhoods/davis

lancedavisward6

There are several public hearings coming up, on three different nights.

1. Wednesday, Nov. 15th, 7:30 P.M. City Hall -- This is for the proposed extension of the Medical Marijuana Overlay District (http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=2547&MediaPosition=&ID=16946&CssClass=), which expired in June of this year. Five applicants received a letter of non-opposition from the city. Of those, one is now open, one is under construction, two have withdrawn, and one still wants to go forward with their plan (in Union Square). In order to obtain the Special Permit required to do so, the MMOD would need to be extended. I'm told that at this time the Administration has no plans to consider additional applications (though that could be revisited in the future). The Administration does expect to include a permanent MMOD in the proposed zoning overhaul, which is not yet before the Board.

2. Monday, November 27th, 6:00 P.M. City Hall -- There are technically four separate public hearings to be held on the 27th, on two topics:

A) Creating a jobs linkage fee:
- http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=2548&MediaPosition=&ID=17127&CssClass=

and

- http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=2548&MediaPosition=&ID=17257&CssClass=

B) Raising the affordable housing linkage percentage:
- http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=2548&MediaPosition=&ID=17128&CssClass=

and

- http://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=2548&MediaPosition=&ID=17256&CssClass=

3. Tuesday, November 28, 6:00 P.M. City Hall -- Finally, there will be a public hearing on the proposed District Improvement Financing (DIF) that is before the Board, which would finance major infrastructure repairs and upgrades to the City's sewer and stormwater system. The work would focus on extended areas surrounding Union Square, as that is the "down stream" part of the system that needs to be addressed first, before working back upstream. More information, including materials submitted to the Board's Committee on Finance can be found here: www.somervillema.gov/usqdif

ron_newman

Unofficial results sent to me from the Somerville Election Department tonight:

16251 ballots cast, out of 51378 registered voters, a turnout of 31.6%.

Mayor: Joe Curtatone(i) 11472, Payton Corbett 4208

Alderman-at-Large:

Mary Jo Rossetti(i) 10283
Stephanie Hirsch 8823
Bill White(i) 8203
Will Mbah 7905
Jack Connolly(i) 6977
Dennis Sullivan(i) 6350
Kevin Tarpley 2475

Ward 1 Alderman: Matt McLaughlin(i) 1353, Elio LoRusso 613

Ward 2 Alderman: JT Scott 1426, Maryann Heuston(i) 1046

Ward 3 Alderman: Ben Ewen-Campen 1654, Bob McWatters(i) 1197

Ward 4 Alderman: Jesse Clingan 1532, Omar Boukili 240

Ward 1 School Committee: Emily Ackman 1190, Ken Salvato 623

Ward 2 School Committee: Dan Futrell(i) 1223, Susan McDonald-Nionakis 829

(i) indicates incumbent

kent37

The city is finally going to address the flooding issues on the Community Path west of Davis!
http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/79571

somervilleplanning

Join us for our next round of Davis Square Neighborhood Plan discussions! To fulfill the goal of strengthening Davis Square as a Local Center, we will be showing potential development on sites in the Davis Square core.

These two meetings will build off of one another. The first will show site layouts, height, and potential jobs/housing numbers. The second will refine layouts based on your feedback and start to show design details. Both meetings are an open house format so drop by anytime.

Time
6-8 pm

First Meeting
Wednesday, November 1
First Church UCC
89 College Ave

Second Meeting
Monday, November 13
First Church UCC
89 College Ave

For questions please contact us at planning@somervillema.gov

Current Location: First Church UCC 89 College Ave

Profile

The Davis Square Community

April 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Syndicate

Page Summary

gingicat - Voters' Workshop in Medford
squirrelitude - In case you missed it: Somerville will ignore use/possession of psychedelics
ron_newman - Somerville preliminary election results
3rdragon - Preliminary election on Tuesday (9/10)
jlauspitz - DavisNow Progress Report
theresa_99 - Ward 7 ResiStat Neighborhood Meeting
bg1 - Property Owner Workshop on April 24th from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at Somerville Library-79 Highland
ron_newman - Davis Now repair meeting - Wednesday 2/13
theresa_99 - Ward 7 ResiStat neighborhood meeting - Thurs, Nov 15, 6:30-8:00 pm
ron_newman - Somerville election results
jlauspitz - DavisNow.org
redbird - Pedestrian/traffic signal changes
ron_newman - Community Path west of Davis Square CLOSING for repairs, June 11 through September
ron_newman - Slides from Ward 6 ResiStat meeting are now online
ams16 - Municipal Broadband
ron_newman - Davis Square Neighborhood Plan presentation, Monday 4/30
lancedavisward6 - Upcoming Public Hearings
ron_newman - Somerville election results
kent37 - Community path repairs
somervilleplanning - Davis Square Neighborhood Planning Meeting

Style Credit

Base style: Lefty by sarken
Theme: City Spring by forthwritten

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated May. 23rd, 2025 07:28 am

The Davis Square Community

Entries tagged with local government

Navigation

Voters' Workshop in Medford

In case you missed it: Somerville will ignore use/possession of psychedelics

Somerville preliminary election results

Preliminary election on Tuesday (9/10)

DavisNow Progress Report

Ward 7 ResiStat Neighborhood Meeting

Property Owner Workshop on April 24th from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at Somerville Library-79 Highland

Davis Now repair meeting - Wednesday 2/13

Ward 7 ResiStat neighborhood meeting - Thurs, Nov 15, 6:30-8:00 pm

Somerville election results

DavisNow.org

Pedestrian/traffic signal changes

Community Path west of Davis Square CLOSING for repairs, June 11 through September

Slides from Ward 6 ResiStat meeting are now online

Municipal Broadband

Davis Square Neighborhood Plan presentation, Monday 4/30

Upcoming Public Hearings

Somerville election results

Community path repairs

Davis Square Neighborhood Planning Meeting

Profile

April 2025

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags