Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition

Willie Burnley Jr

Transportation, housing justice, and the climate justice are all interconnected and must be approached with a holistic and intersectional approach in order to positively reinforce each other. We must build infrastructure for all through universal design that helps facilitate the public good. That public good includes dense, passive housing that does not contribute to the climate crisis, especially along the GLX. We should ensure that transit opportunities are provided affordably and with renewable energy. We have to move to see each of these issues as layering each other rather than separately

Charlotte Kelly

Addressing the climate crisis is an issue of housing justice, racial justice, transit justice, economic justice, and requires intersectional analysis. We have to move with the sense of urgency that these issues require while still being intentional with any plans we put into place. Our residents do not live single issue lives, and consequently, we have to thoughtfully connect these issues through policy. Whether we are working to stop displacement, making the T free, or fighting for sound barriers around I-93, the council can put equity and justice at the core of its decision making.

Justin Klekota

Given the urgent need to reduce our carbon footprint to net zero to help prevent the worst effects of climate change, the issues of transportation, housing, and climate are inseparable. To this end, as we transition to 100% renewable energy and increase our energy efficiency, we must also transition our vehicles to electric, build electric vehicle charging stations citywide, and transition all buildings to electric heating systems and net zero emissions. We also need to build infrastructure that supports alternative modes of transportation including pedestrian, cyclist, and public transit.

Tracey Leah Pratt

In Somerville we live in a very concentrated city with regard to people, houses, apartments etc. this has a 2 fold affect with regard to transportation. We have many vehicles in a small area, we also operate many busses. vehicular emissions have a negative impact on our climate as does fuel we use in our homes. I am a strong supporter of advancing public transportation in our city. As city councilor I would advocate for the use of electric busses. I would also support legislation to incentivize the use of public transportation. I’d want to serve on a committee that addresses these issues.

Kristen Strezo

Transportation, housing, and climate issues are extremely interconnected. When looking at how we can create a more equitable city, a comprehensive approach must be taken to ensure that we can move towards a greener and more accessible city without displacing residents. As City Councilor, I have fought to prevent MBTA service cuts and have advocated for affordable housing near rail and bus stops. Additionally, I have pushed for sound barriers along I-93 as air quality along I-93 is terrible and some of our lowest income residents live along this part of the city.

Jake Wilson

We should be pushing ahead for easy wins where these areas are in alignment, like public transit and high-density housing at transit hubs. For more complex intersections like zoning and road redesign projects we need to be mindful of unintended consequences.

Regulating and incentivizing behavior is an important tool at the city's disposal. Additionally, our budget directly reflects our values as a community. As a City Councilor, I'll do everything I can to make sure that our ordinances and spending advance our stated values around these three key areas.

Willie Burnley Jr

Transforming public safety holistically has been a core theme of my candidacy and my advocacy as a resident. As someone who used to frequently walk through what has been recently dubbed "the corridor of death" to get my groceries when I moved to Somerville, I know that there we need to make structural changes to our streets in order to protect our neighbors. I have had conversations with every major mayoral candidate and they each know that I am deeply committed to my principals. I will make it clear to the incoming administration that moving forward the City Council is a co-equal branch of government, that we were elected on an agenda that included creating infrastructure for all, and that we will be steadfast in our commitment to deliver for the pressing needs of the community. I've spent my life as a Black organizer that has called out institutional and systemic racism. I'm not worried about pushback. My greater concern is losing another neighbor to a traffic fatality.

Charlotte Kelly

As an organizer, I have extensive experience bringing people together around an issue and trying to build consensus, even when people don't see eye to eye. The new mayor and council will have major mobility infrastructure plans to devise, which will require robust community engagement in order to build consensus around the future of our streets in Somerville. I am committed to building comprehensive infrastructure plans instead of piecemealing solutions. We have to repave our roads and build a citywide bike network to keep bikers and drivers safe, as well as expanding pedestrian and bike paths to connect East Somerville to West Somerville. We have to pilot fare-free buses and eventually free-at-point-of-service public transit across Somerville. We can work with the MBTA to expand bus routes and bus frequency. We have to work with small businesses to understand their clients’ mobility, transit, and parking needs in order to equitably distribute parking here in the city. We have to explore solutions like microtransit to address problems like the lack of parking near the high school and the lack of transit connecting the north and south parts of the city.

Justin Klekota

Many voters in our City ask this question, and I always emphasize the need to find the right balance to support all modes of transportation. In my opinion, it is a false choice to choose one mode of transportation over the other: different streets in Somerville can accommodate different combinations of transportation alongside street parking. Not everyone is able to ride a bike or live within walking distance of the subway, so we need to support multiple transportation options including vehicles and street parking: in particular, we need to be considerate of the needs of residents with limited mobility, the elderly, families with children, and residents working at night. Somerville is a progressive City, and there is a general recognition that vehicles speeding through our City on the way to Boston metro does not benefit us in terms of safety, pollution, or economic growth. Removing extra vehicle lanes from certain roads or making certain streets one-way gives us the opportunity to add bus lanes and an adjacent bicycle lane, while slowing high-speed traffic. I also support the creation of a citywide bicycle lane network and extension of our Community Path to East Somerville.

Tracey Leah Pratt

I’ve been a lifelong pedestrian and public transportation user. Naturally, I support projects designed to make me feel safer as I walk about Somerville. Practically, I realize that a pedestrian, I need to share space with cars, bikes and publication. As mentioned above, I’d want to serve on a transportation subcommittee that tackles investigating these issues. My concern is that the city doesn’t look at these “improvements” from all angles. For example, if parking spaces are lost because of bike or bus lanes, then where will people park to shop at local businesses? If the city is losing vehicle travel lanes, are they giving thought to traffic patterns or use of traffic lights to control the traffic. We all have to share streets and sidewalks and I think with innovative ideas we can come up with solutions that work for everyone.

Kristen Strezo

As City Councilor, I have built relationships with members and activists in the community and know to whom I should turn to gather support for transportation issues. As the only incumbent running, these resources and connections I have built will be invaluable as a new administration takes over. In my current term, I have supported collaborative, community-based approaches on how to keep Somerville safe, such as Shared Streets, and have continued communication with our pedestrian, bike, and mobility commissions. I have also introduced a resolution condemning the recent MBTA transit cuts which went to the Governor and the director of the MBTA and have supported and will continue to support and work with the Mobility Division to increase bike and bus lanes in Somerville. The work I have done in my current term and connections I have made with neighborhood residents will allow me to continue to be a strong advocate and leader on transportation issues as we work to ensure that Somerville is accessible and safe for all residents.

Jake Wilson

The tough decisions facing us when allocating space on our sidewalks and streets need to be made in the fairest and most sensible way, then communicated effectively to the public.

As a City Councilor I’ll be focused on improving mobility here in the following ways:

We must reduce automobile cut-through traffic by disrupting this behavior with prohibitions on the routes favored by these drivers and the satellite navigation services. The city should use aggregated cellular phone data to identify driving patterns and address them.

I believe public transit should be publicly funded and that no fares should be collected to ride MBTA buses and subways. Cities like ours must push for this at the state level.

The development of a bicycle network must move forward with protected bike lanes wherever possible and enforcement of bike lane restrictions elsewhere.

We need additional pedestrian safety measures like shortened and highlighted crosswalks and traffic calming measures on our city streets.

And all this must happen with our legal obligations to the ADA and moral obligations to our disabled community members in mind, as well as the needs of seniors who depend on car transportation.

Willie Burnley Jr

The need to create a comprehensive network of protected bike lanes is evident for cyclists, such as myself, and should be clear to all drivers who fear interacting with bikes in the streets. Currently, our City is currently assessing opportunities to reshape our government processes through charter reform and I hope that this process leads to a more equal distribution of power between the City Council and the Mayor's Administration. Under the current structure of our government, this is an area where the City Council needs to be a check on the Administration's ongoing work. We should be mandating annual reports from the Administration and relevant department heads to update the City on progress or explain lack thereof. Additionally, there is a lot we can learn from our partners to the South. Cambridge has mandated both a timeline for its bike plan and that any streets being rebuilt that along its proposed 20-miles network of separated bike lanes must include those bike changes at that moment. Somerville should pursue both of these opportunities.

Charlotte Kelly

As a cyclist, I know our streets need massive improvements in order to make bicyclists, pedestrians, drivers and everyone moving through our city safer. I will fight to add more bike lanes and bus lanes. I would work with the Bike Safety Committee to ensure the needs of bikers are centered in the implementation of SomerVision. We have to work on building an actual bike network instead of piecemealing together bike lanes across the city. Streets like Highland Avenue, Elm Street, Summer Street, the West Somerville end of Broadway, and Medford Street need to be assessed for putting in protected bike. However, this must be within a larger project of creating a bike network plan like our neighbors in Cambridge have built. I will use the Committee on Traffic and Safety and Committee on Public Safety to hold the city accountable to updating residents on the progress and implementation of the citywide bike network plan.

Justin Klekota

I support creating a citywide bicycle lane network and funding for all of our infrastructure projects including this. In Somerville, City Councilors organize community meetings to enlist community feedback regarding proposed redevelopment and infrastructure. If I have the opportunity to serve, I will continue this practice of enlisting community feedback on proposed infrastructure and work with our City government professionals to expand our infrastructure to support pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit. Our City needs to grows its business tax base by attracting new businesses in life science and green tech to the City, and in doing so, our City will have the financial resources it needs to expand and modernize its infrastructure including creation of a citywide bicycle lane network.

Tracey Leah Pratt

Since Vision Zero involves safer streets in general, it’s hard to prioritize bicycle networks above other plans but I’d like to think of the bicycle network a part of a whole that we would not leave out.

Kristen Strezo

As City Councilor, I have continually supported increasing bike lanes in Somerville, working closely with the Mobility Division. I have pushed for state funding to expand bike lanes and safe community paths as well as have continued a community dialogue on where and how a safe bicycle network plan can be implemented. My work with respect to increasing bike infrastructure in my current term has allowed me to build connections and relationships with community members and gain the support of strong advocates of bike infrastructure. Now that the urgency of the COVID pandemic has subsided, I am interested in focusing on the pressing issues within transportation, particularly bike infrastructure and am grateful to have the support of Great Neighborhoods Network and Vision Zero Coalition as we advocate for equitable and sustainable transportation networks.

Jake Wilson

This is great news, albeit late. Our neighbors in Cambridge have been working on their bicycle network for years now, and sadly are beating us to the punch in this area.

Having a holistic approach to transportation is key. The administration is saying all the right things about involving cyclists and bicycle advocates in the planning process. I’m hopeful this leads to bicycle routes being chosen that align with how people actually bike around Somerville. As a cyclist, I know the importance of flatter routes over routes with a lot of hills. But sometimes the city engages in wishful thinking when it comes to bike routes.

Ideally the coming charter reform will give the City Council a more active role in things like transportation planning. In the meantime, as a City Councilor I’d make funding this initiative a priority. I’d also be interested in serving on the Committee on Traffic and Safety, who should be getting frequent updates from the administration on their work in this area.

Willie Burnley Jr

I firmly believe that we must make structural changes to our streets to improve safety for our residents, include traffic calming measures like speed bumps. As a resident that has pushed the city council to do better, I know that our budgets are reflections of our values. As a city councilor, I will push the mayoral administration to fund the DPW enough to implement traffic calming measures and accessibility technology, such as walk signals that are audible throughout the city. The fact that Somerville is not ADA complaint should be a shame for everyone living here, particularly those folks without disabilities. Our City should implement and mandate universal design within our development projects in order to ensure that, as Somerville continues to grow, we are not excluding members of our community from public space. This includes ensuring that we have a fair amount of accessible housing, which is currently severely lacking, according to conversations I've had with local leading disability advocates.

Charlotte Kelly

We should start by ensuring the Commission for Persons with Disabilities has a seat at the table and the resources to help us develop solutions to improve accessibility to pedestrian infrastructure. The Commission and the Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets have named how inaccessible our sidewalks are in Somerville. We have to bring our sidewalks, crosswalks, and streets up to ADA compliance and rapidly implement the ADA Title II Transition Plan. We have to increase funding to install ADA compliant curb cuts and accessible crossing signals. As SASS has outlined, we have to update our traffic signals in order for them to be accessible to both visually impaired, blind, and autistic people, and we need to implement accessibility guidelines for lighted signage, signaling, and stopped emergency vehicles. We have to fund DPW in order to create citywide municipal snow clearing services. We have to ensure our bus stops are accessible to people with mobility assistive devices and make public transit free at point of service across the city so people can move throughout the city.

Justin Klekota

I support installation of sonic devices at all of our major intersections to assist the vision-impaired as well as installation of tactile pavers at all of our street corners. We should also have curb slopes and ramps compatible with mobility assistive devices.

Tracey Leah Pratt

Some of the most basic needs of the city with regard to pedestrian infrastructure are working and reliable crossing signals at predictable intervals on major streets and high vehicle traffic areas. Improving the lighting and safety of both underpasses and overpasses. We should also consider more overpasses in high traffic areas.

Kristen Strezo

I am committed to guaranteeing accessibility and safety for our pedestrians. I have and will continue to push for safe pedestrian pathways and state funding to make this possible. Senior and accessibility advocacy resonates with me personally. In caring for my grandmother who is well into her nineties, I have learned first-hand that many services are not readily accessible to seniors, including our pedestrian infrastructure. There is a large subset of Somerville residents with ADA needs. We must bear these needs in mind and have an ongoing community dialogue to understand and address these needs in working towards an equitable and accessible city.

Jake Wilson

We need to be maintaining our current accessible pedestrian infrastructure by ensuring that Accessible Pedestrian Signals are operational and tactile warning curb ramps are in good repair. Then we should be expanding these beyond what we currently have.

I applaud the city for introducing curb-extending bumpouts that calm traffic and reduce the length of crosswalks. We should be continuing to install these wherever we can in our city.

Crucially, we should be consulting the people who rely on this infrastructure. We have a Commission for Persons with Disabilities and they should be involved in planning these projects.

The city should be seeking federal and state funding wherever possible to pay for these improvements, but also prioritizing these projects in our municipal budget.

Willie Burnley Jr

I think we need to move with more expediency on these goals and, quite frankly, improve the Complete Streets Ordinance. There are several spaces and tactics that I think will help us move on these goals. As a city councilor at-large, I will be somewhat uniquely positioned on the council to both work closely with those re-evaluating both Elm Street and Union Square as spaces that can be more pedestrian, cyclist, and public transit-centric. Transformative projects like these will both help us reduce VMT in our city and imagine a future in which cars are not seen as a default. I am also interested in temporal zoning on some roadways to improve VMT.

The aforementioned ordinance states ""Bicycle, pedestrian, and transit facilities shall be incorporated, when applicable and practical, in all street projects, reconstruction, repaving, and rehabilitation projects"" before listing several significant exceptions which can be prohibitive for including separate or protected bike lanes. I would like to supersede some of these exceptions by passing a Cambridge-style ordinance that requires building separated bike lanes whenever roads are being redone.

Charlotte Kelly

As a cyclist and frequent pedestrian, I know our streets need massive improvements in order to make bicyclists, pedestrians and everyone traversing through our city safer. It is critical that the city implements SomerVision with the type of urgency it requires. The Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets has created an amazing list of demands that are in line with much of the Vision Zero plan and expand beyond that proposal. I would work with the Bike Safety Committee to ensure the needs of bikers are centered in the implementation of SomerVision. The City Council can use its Committee on Public Utilities, Committee on Public Safety, and the Committee on Traffic and Safety to hold the city accountable to updating residents on the progress and implementation of Vision Zero. The City Council can also improve the current Complete Streets Ordinance, and use the budget process to advocate for the necessary resources to improve Complete Streets Ordinances and implement SomerVision. I would specifically work to ensure the proper resources are made available to invest in traffic calming measures like speed bumps and chicanes.

Justin Klekota

If I have the opportunity to serve, I will continue this practice of enlisting community feedback on proposed infrastructure and work with our City government professionals to expand our infrastructure to support pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit.

Tracey Leah Pratt

It’s important to fulfill Somerville’s mission of creating and supporting safe, convenient, and healthier modes of transportation for all users by ensuring that Somerville's streets are designed to encourage walking, biking, and public transportation use. As councilor I would advocate for more blue bike access points and creatively finding ways of adding bike lanes in our city. The biggest thing I would fight for is incentivizing residents and workers to learn their cars at home through free and reliable public transportation.

Kristen Strezo

I have continuously pushed for safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists and advocated for expanded transit access. I have put forward board orders such as monitoring the speed limits for our city’s fleet; advocated for protected bike lanes; fought against MBTA cuts all the way up to the Governor’s office; put forward orders requesting that the city investigate speed monitoring devices installed in our municipal vehicle fleets; submitted numerous orders for more traffic patrol for bus lanes, to deter cars and protect cyclists; and have continuously worked with the MBTA to enhance bus and train service. I also recognize that we have residents with ADA needs that require other transportation beyond bikes, and we must bear these needs in mind. Seniors do not always have the ability to ride bikes and must rely on their cars. I am working closely with residents in the community to hear their needs and ensure that all residents have access to affordable, safe, and reliable transportation.

Jake Wilson

Having been a part of the SomerVision 2040 process, it’s personally important to me to see that community-driven process implemented.

Our Complete Streets Ordinance shows a willingness to take a holistic view of mobility into account with future transportation projects, but I’d like to see more detail spelled out. We need to recognize the variety of types of streets we have in Somerville and the different roles these streets play with the different modes of transport. I’d like to see a classification system done on a block-by-block basis for Somerville streets, with different classifications triggering appropriate approaches when streets projects are done.

The way the current ordinance is written leaves much of this vague and open to interpretation. Specifying aspects of this -- or at minimum stating that these classifications should be done and automatically trigger the appropriate elements during the project planning would make this ordinance much more effective.

Willie Burnley Jr

Speaking to truth to power is critical as both an organizer and a responsible resident of this planet. I will continue my years of statewide advocacy as a city councilor and use my platform to work alongside, and build up, organizations like SAAS, the Sunrise Movement, and the Somerville Bicycle Safety. In this way, I will encourage our residents to hold their state agencies accountable for the lives lost in our community by ensuring they are making expedient and common sense changes to our streets. We've recently seen how consistent advocacy from a large group of residents can speed these MassDOT changes. Additionally, I will engage our statehouse delegation on these points and let them know, quite frankly, the state should give us our back some of these roads if they are unwilling to do the bare minimum to keep our residents safe.

Charlotte Kelly

McGrath Highway and Mystic Avenue have been commonly referred to as the ‘Corridors of Death’ and the fact that there has not been more progress towards addressing the deadly conditions along those stretches of road is a catastrophe. I will work with my colleagues on the council and use our collective platform to advocate unrelentingly for improvements in safety conditions. I will use my platform to ensure transparency and openness around safety improvements and the involvement of MassDOT and DCR. As an advocate, I know how important it is for people in power to hear the stories of people impacted and how inaccessible governance on all levels can be. I will work with my constituents to ensure elected officials on a state and federal level hear from them. I will work to hold our elected officials who have decision making authority accountable to address this issue with the urgency and dedication it requires.

Justin Klekota

I am committed to working with our elected State legislators to improve safety on McGrath Highway and Mystic Avenue. McGrath Highway is controlled by the State, and it has adversely impacted quality of life in East Somerville and resulted in multiple recent traffic fatalities. I participated in the rally sponsored by the Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets in May in support of State Legislative action. Current plans to improve public safety include sound and pollution barriers along I-93 and raised pedestrian walkways over McGrath Highway. I support demolition of McGrath Highway and putting a combination of automobile, bus, and bike lanes in its place if the State were to give Somerville legal authority over McGrath Highway which we currently do not have.

Tracey Leah Pratt

To give Somerville a stronger voice in this matter, the city council lead by the Mayor must take on this matter from a public health and safety perspective. as a city we must be partnered with our state legislators, congressmen and senators to tackle these state agencies.

Kristen Strezo

Some dangerous roads in Somerville, including McGrath Highway have caused the deaths of many Somerville residents and decreased the living standards of communities around the roads, particularly low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. To make these roads safer for pedestrians, bikers, and residents, I will advocate for protected bike lanes and the construction of community paths. A community path will create a safer environment for those who live in the area, pedestrians, and bikers. As City Councilor, I am in full support of Vision Zero and its goal of eliminating deaths and serious injuries in Somerville. For roads such as the McGrath Highway, I would love to see a community path in place of the overpass to connect East and West Somerville. I have built relationships with state agencies and advocates to push to improve safety. For these projects to be successful, there must be many discussions with community members and residents who will be directly impacted. If re-elected, I will continue to push for a community path, talk with community members and state agencies, and set a deadline as soon as possible for projects that improve safety along busy corridors.

Jake Wilson

After frustration with MassDOT reached a boiling point this summer, I was heartened to see so many of us at the rally for highway justice in May. And it turned out that calling attention to that issue resulted in some quick action at the state level. There’s a lot to do still, and we need to keep this issue visible and continue to keep the pressure on MassDOT and DCR to act.

While much of the recent conversation has, rightfully, centered on the so-called “Corridor of Death” near Foss Park, the elevated portion of the McGrath Highway near Union Square is extremely problematic as well. It cuts off neighborhoods from one another, poses a challenge for cyclists and pedestrians crossing that area, and creates a major safety risk to cyclists on the highway by giving drivers a freeway feel that’s definitely out of whack even with the too-high 35 MPH speed limit. I want to see MassDOT commit to turning that portion of the McGrath Highway from an elevated freeway to a ground-level boulevard.

Willie Burnley Jr

Accelerating bus service is incredibly important, especially as we prioritize its infrastructure throughout the city. Consistent communication with our Somerville delegation around this will be crucial, to ensure that the MBTA is responsive to our residents who rely on these services. I am intrigued by measures we can implement locally to subsidize or make free at the point of service T-passes for Somerville residents, which I believe will increase ridership and therefore pressure on the state to accelerate service. We also may need more local assessments of how bus lanes are doing to help make the case.

Charlotte Kelly

As more people move to Somerville without cars or decide to live car free, we have to build the kind of infrastructure that supports the needs of residents while addressing car congestion on our streets. We can use the Green Line Extension refund to pilot fare-free bus routes, which can incentivize ridership on the MBTA and help us advocate for increased frequency in routes. We can improve our bus lanes by expanding the number of lanes available at peak traffic hours and working to increase bus stops along dedicated bus lane routes so residents can have more convenient locations to get on buses. I will work with our state delegation to continue to advocate for increased service along our busiest routes.

Justin Klekota

I support addition of bus lanes on major streets which also helps slow high-speed vehicle traffic through the City. I also support reclaiming street-side space for commerce, the arts, and infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit.

Tracey Leah Pratt

This sounds like a simple response but we must prioritize bus service and infrastructure with the opening of the ne meta train stations. This is a perfect time and opportunity for the city to get creative with traffic patterns, bus routes, location of stops and frequency of busses. This would be one of my top priorities.

Kristen Strezo

I recognize the crucial role that the MBTA bus service serves for Somerville residents. I have put forward numerous orders for more traffic patrol for bus lanes to deter cars, protect cyclists, and accelerate the bus service. I have also requested more communication between Tufts University and the Mobility Division so that when new Tufts students arrive to live in our city, they are briefed on Somerville’s rules for bus lanes. Additionally, I believe that Somerville and the City Council should advocate for free MBTA bus service similar to Michelle Wu’s proposition. I am working with the MBTA to enhance bus service and am working with the Mobility Division to increase bus lanes. With the addition of new bus lanes, I am also mindful about marking and maintaining our ADA accessible parking spots around Somerville to ensure that all residents, including those who must drive due to ADA or senior needs, have access to necessary transportation resources.

Jake Wilson

We’re caught in a Catch-22. We need to reduce the number of automobiles on our streets and increasing bus ridership would be a great way to do this. However, the volume of traffic in our city ensnares buses and results in people being less likely to take public transportation when it’s not reliably on time.

Putting dedicated bus lanes on Broadway and Mystic Avenue makes sense. I prefer the restricted hours of the bus-only lanes on Mystic Avenue to the 24/7 approach of Broadway. Commuters expect to encounter traffic during rush hour and having a bus blow by them in the open bus lane could cause a re-think of transportation methods. But when drivers find themselves sitting in traffic on a Saturday afternoon on Broadway with the bus schedule limited, this tends to erode support for bus lanes.

I’d support some trial programs like discounted or free fares, increased frequency of buses (both during peak and non-peak times), and experimental non-stop connections between hubs (Union Square and Davis Square).

Willie Burnley Jr

I am running to make Somerville more affordable, accessible, and accountable to the needs of its residents. The accessibility and accountability are deeply linked and include being able to have clear pathways for residents voices to be heard. This issue is more complicated as it relates to transparency in state government. However, as a councilor, I look forward to working alongside the Somerville Commission for Persons with Disabilities, the Somerville Council on Aging, SomerViva, and a potential Youth Council to engage those who most rely upon these services to help shape them. Additionally, as a community organizer that has worked within and alongside many different organizations, I hope to engage community groups to ensure that they can inform their members through newsletters, social media, and even phone calls, and texts about the ongoing state-level projects that could impact our community.

Charlotte Kelly

As an organizer, I know that listening to people’s stories is the first step in getting people more involved in the political process. We have to start by acknowledging that working class residents, residents of color, renters, and young people are structurally excluded from our political processes. In order to get robust participation from people who have been structurally denied access to our political process, we have to reach out directly to them and listen to their input. We have to do intentional outreach that understands the barriers that working people face. There are ways we can lower the barriers to entry within the political process. We can make meetings more accessible by providing childcare, doing outreach in multiple languages and providing interpretation, and having food available for participants. We have to constantly push ourselves to make our spaces more accessible. We have to meet people where they are at and recognize that engagement and trust-building takes time. We have to be committed to doing the work necessary to thoughtfully, intentionally, and meaningfully bring people into the decision making process for building a more sustainable, healthy city.

Justin Klekota

I support community meetings to enlist feedback for all our redevelopment and infrastructure projects as well as working with our City professionals to conduct traffic analysis studies to estimate need and maximize community benefit.

Tracey Leah Pratt

People who need busses are currently riding busses and using the subway. Survey should be readily available on all buses that ride through the city with drop boxes on the bus. There should also be adds on the inside, outside of busses and at major stops. These adds should have a QR code where riders can immediately access a short survey in multiple languages.

Kristen Strezo

I support increasing bus services and am working with the MBTA and Mobility Division to increase bus lanes in Somerville. I do recognize that we absolutely need to have community input in the process and listen to neighborhood residents. Listening to the voices and concerns of citizens is a crucial part in creating these lanes and other improvements to the city. I routinely hold community office hours both in-person and over zoom to ensure that all residents have an opportunity to provide feedback and have their needs heard through the process, and I make myself available to my constituents by offering them my personal phone number and email address.

Jake Wilson

As with so many things, the issue with community input on the Bus Network Redesign is that the views of actual (and potential) riders often aren’t collected well, much less taken into account.

Riders should be actively surveyed -- perhaps even while riding public transit -- and the community should be fully engaged in this process with good, targeted outreach. Cultural and language barriers need to be overcome by getting out into these communities and ensuring that surveys are translated into the key languages. Additionally, engaging leaders of these communities to help with this process will help greatly.

Willie Burnley Jr

When I first moved to Somerville, on Fellsway W, I was very near I-93 and Mystic Ave, which receives the brunt of this environmental racism. The health inequities suffered by BIPOC residents must be dealt with promptly. This is one reason I want to pass a Somerville Green New Deal in order to end environmental racism in our community, retrofit our building stock, implement air cleaning technology in areas that have historically faced the brunt of I-93's pollution, and create good paying jobs for our residents in the process. Those closest to the pain should be receiving pathways to improve both their physical and fiscal health. Part of this has to do with pressuring the state to remedy the harm that they caused by not initially constructing sound and noise barriers along some portions of this highway. Part of it has to do with our local priorities and how hard we are willing to push to ensure that we can have safety for all in our community, which requires combating pollution and the climate crisis.

Charlotte Kelly

Looking at the world through an environmental justice lens shows us that building a sustainable and livable future for all of us requires interconnected solutions, especially for those who have been disproportionately impacted by systemic oppression. COVID-19 has demonstrated our city’s ability to rapidly respond to public health needs. I would fight for a free public health clinic to be established and use our PILOT agreement with Partners Health as the vehicle to address the asthma and health crises facing working class, immigrant, and BIPOC neighborhoods. I will work with surrounding communities like Chelsea and Everett, who have won federal funds to set up cleaning air pollution hotspots. I will also work with local, state, and federal officials to ensure we have sound barriers put up around I-93 and McGrath, and ensure all neighbors have sound barriers around the entire Green Line Extension project. We have to improve safe pedestrian and bike commuting to prevent the types of tragic deaths that we have already seen in the area.

Justin Klekota

There are current plans to improve public safety including sound and pollution barriers along I-93 and raised pedestrian walkways over McGrath Highway. I fully support these efforts and am committed to working with our State delegation to expedite these life-saving projects.

Tracey Leah Pratt

As I live in one of these areas, this issue is very important to me. First of all, I’d actively pursue the building of barriers along the I-93 corridor that borders East Somerville. This will not only ease sound but will also reduce dangerous particles that are quite frankly, killing people. As mentioned in an earlier response I’d garner the support of all elected officials in Somervilke to partner with our State legislature, Senate and Congress. Lastly, I’d investigate if we need additional health care clinics in the affected areas to monitor the heart and lung health of residents, particularly our children. These clinics could be part of the schools in the affected.

Kristen Strezo

I think one of the most pressing climate, public health, and transportation issues is the need for infrastructure that mitigates and addresses the effects of high traffic roadways (such as I-93) on communities and Somerville residents. It is crucial that we add sound barriers along I-93 particularly in Wards 1 and 4 of Somerville. Air quality in this region is terrible. Many of our residents of color live in the region that is most affected by I-93, and it is a gross injustice that Massachusetts has not yet released the funding to put up sound barriers on this stretch of Somerville. Sound barriers would help shield residents from PCBs and are necessary to mitigate noise and air pollution. As City Councilor, I was part of the Somerville Transportation Equity Partners environmental/air quality study to collect data on air quality from residents who reside alongside I-93. I was also a proud co-sponsor to a recent order with Councilor McLaughlin exploring if we can create an ordinance requiring a CBA for developers to help fund the sound barriers. This is a climate change, public health, transportation, and racial justice issue that must be addressed.

Jake Wilson

As someone whose family lives about 800 feet from I-93 -- and as the parent of small children whose lungs are still developing -- this is something I live with on a daily basis.

We can’t wait for electric cars to save us. We need to act now.<

The sound barriers being sought along the highway not only reduce the noise pollution, but will help keep some of the dangerous particulate matter from I-93 out of our neighborhoods. These are a no-brainer. The combination of these sound barriers with a vegetation barrier would be an optimal approach, as the vegetation barrier would help filter out small particulate matter.

Since we know residents of these neighborhoods are at higher risk for asthma and other health problems caused by vehicle emissions, we should be ensuring that neighbors of I-93 get good health screening. For children, it makes sense to have these screenings done at the East Somerville, Healey, and Winter Hill schools.

Willie Burnley Jr

In a number of previous questions, I have mentioned various groups that I would engage around transit issues within our city who rely upon buses and the MBTA in general. These board meetings would be a receptacle for our people-powered energy where the voices of our community members could truly ring out and speak truth to power. The aims of these meetings, from an equity perspective, I believe should be reducing costs for riders, accelerating service along particular routes, and advancing climate justice in Somerville.

Charlotte Kelly

I am committed to ensuring public control and ownership over the public good that is the T. Any governance board must be democratically controlled and be representative of the riders, workers, and community the MBTA serves. It will be critical that there are representatives from Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589, T Riders Union, and other constituencies that are impacted by the MBTA, in order to ensure the body’s legitimacy. I would work with elected officials in Boston, Cambridge, and other surrounding communities to coordinate our advocacy work directed at the board, specifically when it comes to expanding services, lowering fees across the system, and eventually working to make the T free. In addition, I would work with the board to advocate to state and federal officials to increase investments in the MBTA to improve and expand services.

Justin Klekota

I am committed to working with our elected State officials to ensure that investments in our state-owned and state-managed infrastructure meet the needs of our community.

Tracey Leah Pratt

I’d want to establish a working relationship with this board, as city Councilor I’d have a strong presence at board meetings to continue voicing pressing issues regarding MBTA in our community.

Kristen Strezo

I would use these board meetings to continue building support for crucial Somerville issues that affect all residents. Currently, I am working with the MBTA to enhance bus and train service and have therefore pre-established relationships, a working history, and connections with the MBTA that with the addition of a new dedicated governance board would be instrumental in passing policy. I also have fought to prevent MBTA service cuts through introducing Board Resolutions that speak out against cuts and their adverse effect on our riders and believe that we need to have additional reserved seats near the exits for pregnant women and parents of small children in addition to the reserved seats for seniors and those with mobility issues on MBTA cars and buses. I would work with the new dedicated governance board for the MBTA on each of these issues and towards a more equitable and accessible city and Commonwealth.

Jake Wilson

Ensuring that representation on this board goes to public transit advocates and actual riders of the MBTA would be a great start.

And eliminating fares for riders of the T is going to be a long, hard fight, but a properly constructed FMCB for the MBTA would help matters.

The reality is that we let the rest of the state -- and, frankly, the entire Southern New England region -- off the hook when it comes to funding the MBTA. Without a public transit system, the Boston metropolitan area wouldn’t be anywhere near the regional economic powerhouse that it is. There wouldn’t be anywhere near the same appeal to live or work in this area if we were solely dependent on private vehicle transportation to get around.

So when a state representative from Western Massachusetts balks at spending state funds on the MBTA, they need to be reminded that a giant chunk of the revenues collected by the Department of Revenue and spent in their towns and districts are dependent on the MBTA’s existence. The T benefits other parts of the state, even if they aren’t personally riding it.

Willie Burnley Jr

The American Jobs Act will send tens of million of dollars to Somerville that is meant to foster innovations in infrastructure and I believe that we should take advantage of this opportunity to create infrastructure for all within Somerville. These funds should be used to finally implement the intersectional goals we have around integrating transportation, housing, and climate justice initiatives.

I'll aim to build a safer and stronger Somerville by repaving the crumbling roads in our neighborhoods, expediting the upgrades to our sewer system, and providing begin to fund social housing in our community. After the catastrophic impacts of this pandemic, I also look forward to exploring infrastructure that allows our residents to become better connected to one another, including establishing accessible community centers and laying the groundwork for municipal broadband so that all of our neighbors have access to affordable, high-speed internet.

Charlotte Kelly

We have an exciting opportunity to think big and be creative with the expected $90 million dollars from the American Relief Plan Act. We should consider intentional processes that we could use to engage residents in how to spend these funds, like participatory budgeting. Right now, underfunded public goods and services end up placing the financial burden back on residents, like needing to pay for a rideshare service if public transit is inaccessible, paying out of pocket for childcare, overpaying for maintenance on cars and bikes because of poorly paved streets. We must make serious investments in our infrastructure in the city by improving public goods and services, whether that’s improving roads and sidewalks, exploring municipal broadband, updating our water and sewer systems, or paying for free T passes for residents. We can create new public sector union jobs in tandem with offering robust mental health services, universal pre-K and afterschool, a youth jobs program, and a gas leak prevention team We can address the housing crisis by expanding the office of housing stability, creating ‘right to counsel’ services for tenants, continuing the emergency housing fund, and improving our public housing developments in the city.

Justin Klekota

The stimulus funds will be put to good use in our City. I support investing in infrastructure to support new housing construction affordable to all income levels as well as rehabilitating our streets in need of repair and including lanes for cyclists and public transit. We also need to maintain our City schools and government buildings and transition our City buildings and vehicles to electric in context of our broader efforts to move to 100% renewable energy and reduce our carbon footprint. I also support funding adult education at our new high school in the evenings and expanding our after-school programs so that every student who wishes to participate can.

Tracey Leah Pratt

As an educator, one of my top priorities in life is the well-being of children. First I’d advocate that children in our schools will have their meds met through recovery funds which are also part of stimulus packages. Next, housing must be a priority begging with keeping people in housing. We must be able to support residents in paying off back rents, while incentivizing landlords to forgive part or all of rents if possible. The city should be able to work with MBTA to provide free or significantly reduced fares for a period of time. This would actually be a way to collect data to see if ridership will increase with reduced fares.

Kristen Strezo

I would prioritize spending those funds in housing, transportation, and business development. I would advocate that some of the spending goes into an economic plan that better supports the Somerville community. I recently introduced a proclamation for Women’s Advancement, Equity, and Opportunity that was unanimously passed by the City Council. The proclamation expands childcare, job mentorship programs, and support for women and minority-owned businesses. We urgently need more deliberate support not only with businesses but also more support for families in housing and transportation. I live in affordable housing and am aware of the housing discrimination that exists. I know firsthand the struggles that families face in affordable housing; how hard it is to find an affordable unit that fits the needs of children, families, and residents with disabilities; and the difficult decisions that many families make in our community to avoid displacement and these difficulties have only been further exacerbated by the pandemic. Not only are families getting priced out of our city but there is insufficient transportation into Somerville for members who work but not live in Somerville. We need to increase affordable housing and transportation opportunities to ensure that all residents and members of the Somerville community have accessibility to affordable housing and transit options.

Jake Wilson

These ARPA funds are a godsend for our city, and we’re already seeing a battle for how they’ll be spent here. The reality is that there will be rules and regulations about how these funds can be used, and those will guide a lot of this.

I think it’s only fair that we start by addressing some of the inequities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This would include things like possibly rental assistance to make renters and landlords whole, as well as addressing the outdated physical plants at the Brown and Winter Hill schools that saw their student bodies relocated to other schools when Somerville students returned to classrooms this past April.

This is an opportunity for the city to invest on a major scale in things that generally might be out of our reach because of the price tags attached to them. Things that require acquiring large parcels of land and building things like housing (specifically middle-class and low-income housing), transportation projects (like the neighborhood plans already under way), the aforementioned schools, recreational facilities (like the needed community center we hear so much about), and green space.

Willie Burnley Jr

I think it is appropriate to ensure that these funds are used to mitigate the potential displacement along the GLX by creating accessible social housing, improving infrastructure, and investing in a community center where resources and wraparound services can be presented to resident.

Charlotte Kelly

The purpose of the GLX was to address the environmental racism that BIPOC and working class residents face, as well as to create more equitable access to public transit. With the GLX nearing completion, we see displacement happening. We should use the funds to provide rent stability for residents who are being pushed out and expand the Office of Housing Stability to ensure they have enough full time intake specialists to support tenants, attorneys to provide counsel to residents, resources to outreach to the community around tenant rights, and can have some funds to disperse directly to residents. We should provide financial support to local businesses to ensure they are not gentrified out of our community, and offer financial incentives for the creation of worker-owned cooperatives in any vacant business spaces. We should continue to address inequitable access to public transit by making the T free, exploring microtransit routes to connect the north and south parts of the city, and invest in our pedestrian and bike paths to connect east and west Somerville. We need to invest more money into addressing the rat problem that has been exacerbated by the GLX construction.

Justin Klekota

Beyond retiring our debt obligations associated with these returned funds, I support investing in infrastructure to support new housing construction affordable to all income levels as well as rehabilitating our streets in need of repair and including lanes for cyclists and public transit. We also need to maintain our City schools and government buildings and transition our City buildings and vehicles to electric in context of our broader efforts to move to 100% renewable energy and reduce our carbon footprint. I also support funding adult education at our new high school in the evenings and expanding our after-school programs so that every student who wishes to participate can.

Tracey Leah Pratt

This $30M should go towards offsetting potentials evictions and foreclosures in the city or subsidizing housing in the city.

Kristen Strezo

I appreciate how Somerville makes an effort to build affordability into their development projects. The Green Line Extension will aggravate displacement and many residents will be priced-out of Somerville as higher-income families move to Somerville and commute to Boston. The $30M community contribution that is being returned is a perfect opportunity to redistribute the extra money towards affordable housing and food security programs to combat the consequential displacement from the Green Line Extension. It is important that as we increase our transit access, we still ensure that the city is affordable and accessible for all residents which includes increasing the affordable housing stock throughout Somerville and specifically in areas that are close to or disrupted by new MBTA infrastructure.

Jake Wilson

The $30M that was extorted out of our city by the state should be used on transit infrastructure and on addressing the housing instability caused by the GLX.

Willie Burnley Jr

As a Black resident that has already once been displaced from Somerville and lives near one of the incoming stops, I am deeply concerned about the impact that the GLX may have on displacement, particularly among BIPOC residents. To the rise in rents for both residents and local businesses that may occur due to the GLX's presence and the further commercial development it may incentivize is one of the reasons I got into this race. I've organized alongside members of Union United that have fought for Community Benefit Agreements in order to ensure that our impacted neighbors can put legally-binding requirements onto developers that will serve our community. As a councilor, I will pass a CBA Ordinance that incentivizes CBAs throughout the city so that we have equity in our growth. I've also organized with the Somerville Community Land Trust, which is interested in acquiring and constructing permanently affordable housing to mitigate the impacts of displacement. I'd pursue these effort alongside these groups in addition to building more densely around these areas and subsidizing T-passes for residents.

Charlotte Kelly

Displacement is happening due to the GLX. We have to use the GLX refund to ensure that communities most deeply impacted by environmental racism still benefit from the GLX and are prioritized with the refund allocations. We have to allow for construction of higher density properties to be built around the GLX. This must be done with an equity lens to ensure that higher density buildings are equitably dispersed along the GLX route. We can incentivize construction by allowing more units to be built and decreasing the square foot per unit requirements if there are a certain number of affordable units. We can increase density around public transit by evaluating what vacant properties could be taken by eminent domain to build social housing, provide residents with the opportunity to buy or rent first, and increase the affordable housing percentages in any new developments by the GLX from the 20% minimum to a higher percentage. We should work with the SCLT to understand the needs of low- and moderate-income people, and continue to financially expand resources for the SCLT so they can acquire land, buildings, homes, for the purpose of making public and social housing near the GLX.

Justin Klekota

Somerville needs to build new housing including affordable units and low-income subsidized housing to keep pace with our growing population in concert with new lab space for life science and green tech to grow our business tax base to fund our housing infrastructure, schools, and City services. I support mixed-used development along the path of the Green Line Extension including construction of affordable housing units.

Tracey Leah Pratt

The monies from question 10 as noted above could be used in this situation. Also as previously noted free busses that go to bees stations and discounted MBTA passes.

Kristen Strezo

In anticipation of the GLX, it is important to concentrate affordable housing in neighborhoods close to or disrupted by new MBTA infrastructure. However, it is crucial that we not only increase the affordable housing stock in such areas but that we also maintain the existing affordable housing infrastructure. As City Councilor, I am a fierce advocate of the 100 Homes Project that works to combat the displacement of specifically low-income residents. I also helped expand the 100 Homes Project to 2,000 homes in the 2021 proposal and am working with the Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) to discuss what maintenance could look like in the years ahead. Further, as Chair of the Housing and Community Development Committee, I have in conjunction with the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, been discussing how to best support the SCC and the 100 Homes Program in the future to ensure our existing housing infrastructure is well maintained and accessible.

Jake Wilson

This is a sad reflection of how Somerville has changed over that time. Rents and property values near GLX stops already have seen marked increases relative to the rest of the city, and the start of service along the GLX only is going to make that worse.

We need middle-class and low-income housing at T stops. We should try to incentivize private developers to build this. If that fails, this should be done with public funds, potentially with a community land trust. Affordable units are great, but Somerville needs to be thinking much bigger when it comes to building new housing. We need entire developments of housing that people actually can afford.

I support co-housing at transit hubs like Davis Square and Union Square. These dorm-style units are hugely popular elsewhere and are a much more attractive option to college students and post-college residents than putting together a coalition of roommates. And by freeing up existing three- and four-bedroom units in our city, we’ll be helping keep families in Somerville as well.

Willie Burnley Jr

These are the real challenges of being a city councilor: the limited resources we have, especially in terms of space and money. There may be situations where creating underground parking, especially for particular constituents, is justified. One example is the new high school, which was proposed with underground parking for teachers. In general, though, I believe that we must move our community in a direction that advances our environmental goals while also reckoning with the real concerns that vulnerable residents and groups - particularly folks with disabilities, elderly residents, and educators - face in terms of parking. We need to distribute what parking resources we have more equitably to ameliorate any current harms and be extremely communicative about that and any further changes with the community, particularly small business owners who see parking as an economic lifeline.

Charlotte Kelly

Often when people talk about setting high standards for developers, they say that if the requirements are too high then people will not want to develop or we will scare off “good developers.” I believe that is fundamentally a myth. Developers want to develop in our community and to me the question is: are we willing to make developers play by our rules? Union United showed us that we can hold our ground and fight for development without displacement. If elected, I would push for large projects like US2 to fulfill the demand from residents made for putting in underground parking. If the city decides to upgrade schools, I will work to make sure parking solutions are in the final proposals so we can avoid making the same mistake as we did with establishing off-street parking at the high school. We can work with neighborhood associations to support them as they bargain for open space in the form of rooftop parks and gardens. As stated before, developers want to build in Somerville and even with the 20% affordable housing, developers will be making massive profits. We will have to fight to put people’s needs for housing, open space, and mobility infrastructure before profit.

Justin Klekota

I support construction of underground parking, when possible, for both commercial and residential buildings. I prefer a balanced approach that includes a combination of residential units affordable to all income levels, parking, green/open space, and commercial space. There is no need to choose one over all others: it is best to incorporate all of the above elements to various degrees in new development.

Tracey Leah Pratt

As a lifelong pedestrian I’ve never owned a car so personally it’s not a priority. With that said, most adults, drive and certainly own vehicles. The key is to strike a balance and there is a reality that we need parking even if people pay for it.

Kristen Strezo

I am open to expanding these services into any and all neighborhoods in Somerville, but definitely would prioritize several in particular. As I mentioned previously with the Green Line Extension, it is important to concentrate affordable housing in neighborhoods close to or disrupted by new MBTA infrastructure. In regards to parking, it is important to find a delicate balance between accessibility for employees who commute into the area -- like public school teachers -- and congestion. I also would like to center affordable housing in higher income neighborhoods so that residents will be able to access public schools that historically have greater resources. I am proud of how the City of Somerville has made efforts to ensure that our updated zoning code is transparent and includes input from constituents. In general, I would adopt the same approach so that these developments were community efforts tailored for the wants and needs of each distinct neighborhood and Ward.

Jake Wilson

I support the city’s policy on removing the off-street parking requirement for new residential developments near transit hubs. In some cases, I would support waiving this for other residential developments elsewhere in the city as well.

The clear trend is toward households owning fewer cars or going car-free. Ridesharing is part of this nationally, while locally here in Somerville the prioritization of buses, the coming arrival of the GLX, and the building-out of our bicycle infrastructure all help.

A lot of this opposition comes, quite understandably, from seniors and the disabled who rely on cars to get them where they need to be. I support prioritizing handicapped and senior parking in on-street parking spots in business districts with parking restrictions and introducing a senior parking permit.

Willie Burnley Jr

This is a bit of leading question. The latter option has more affordable units in it, even.

What I will say is that I am interested in seeing how far we can push the affordability of our city before we truly run into the kind of negative impacts being described in this question. I do not believe we are there yet. Whether that means increasing the percentage of affordable or lowering the amount of units down to 16, I want to ensure that we are making more of our units affordable as well as accessible. With the GLX and the line of commercial development we have in the pipeline for this decade, I am currently less worried about developers not finding Somerville attractive as I am the people who live here currently being displaced because they can neither find housing that is affordable and suitable for them.

Charlotte Kelly

Somerville needs more affordable housing units that provide good jobs to our residents and that are built with union labor. When making any decision around the construction of more housing in Somerville, I would have to consider what is being built, how it is being built, who is building it, and who is benefiting from it. We currently do not have enough public and affordable housing, I will always fight for more units of affordable housing to be built. That said, the pure number of units being built is not enough to determine how a neighborhood and our community will be impacted by a new development. As previously stated, we need developers to play by our rules and be good neighbors in our community. I would work to create a citywide CBA ordinance to ensure that neighbor councils and associations have strong policy backing them up when they negotiate with developers. We have to make sure everyone has a seat at the table as we continue to build up in our community.

Justin Klekota

I support a balanced approach that builds housing affordable to all income levels. In your hypothetical situation, the 12 unit building with 50% affordable units has 6 affordable units, and the 60 unit building with 20% affordable units has 12 affordable units. Mathematically, the 60 unit building has more housing units affordable to all income levels. The number of housing units that can be constructed varies by site, so in some cases, we may only be able to build 12 units, and in other cases, we have room to build more.

Tracey Leah Pratt

This means that all units built that are 12 units or more must allocate 50% of these units “affordable”. I would support this at a lower percentage rate, between 25-35%. I take this stance because although it’s important to support affordable housing programs there are a subset of residents I call the “in between”. These are people who are just out of the bracket to qualify for “affordable” units, yet really don’t make enough to pay market rents. I’d work to establish programs that support this group to be able to access 15% of a unit like this at a sliding scale rate they can afford.

Kristen Strezo

I live in affordable housing, and it is therefore an issue that is very personal to me. From my personal experience, I have learned that the actual number of units that are accessible is particularly important as opposed to the size of the building. When I first moved into affordable housing, I had two kids under the age of five and also lived with my 94 year old grandmother so that I could take care of her. It took my intergenerational family YEARS to find an affordable and accessible unit. In general, there was an insufficient number of affordable housing units but there were even less units that were ADA accessible and large enough for a family. As City Councilor, one of my focuses is not only pushing to expand affordable housing but specifically working to increase the number of large units for families, units for families with small children, Section 8 stock, and ADA accessible and senior units.

Jake Wilson

We do keep hearing about how these inclusionary housing requirements are going to scare off developers, but we haven't really seen any signs of that here to date. If we do start seeing developers actually dramatically cutting back on the scale of housing developments to avoid affordable housing obligations, then we can revisit this.

I view affordable housing as a small component of sound housing policy. While these affordable units are worth doing because of the difference they make for those fortunate enough to win the literal lotteries required to get them, they don't really move the needle in the big picture. We need to be building large developments of middle-class and low-income housing here, using all tools at our disposal. That’s what’s really going to make a difference for our city.

Willie Burnley Jr

Often when municipalities push for more density in their community there are those that come out and argue that adding density will transform the character of our neighborhoods. However, density has long been part of the culture of our city. Not only has it been an aspect of the community that has brought our neighbors together and helped form pride in Somerville, it has also bolstered the historic working-class character of our community. However, in the last decade, and really since the right of rent control was taken away, the working-class residents of our city have been imperiled. So, if I were to address pushback for density advocacy, I would lay out that dynamic and history in order to make it clear that we must have more density in order to ensure that we do not displace those folks that have helped shape this city. Additionally, we still severely lack accessible housing and multi-family units in our city and must fill these gaps in order to have a more inclusive future. We should see density as an opportunity. As a city councilor, I will be consistent in my advocacy, look to where we can upzone, and think holistically and equitably about our housing needs.

Charlotte Kelly

Somerville is one of the 20 most dense cities in the United States. We experience this every day when we smell our neighbors’ meals, hear families help their kids with homework, and inadvertently experience the high and lows of our neighbors’ lives. Somerville has also been even more densely packed, with roughly around 100,000 residents living in our tiny four square-mile city from the 1930s-1960s. As previously stated, we have to allow for construction of higher density properties. We have to expand the housing stock beyond just double and triple decker homes. That said, this must be done with an equity lens to ensure that higher density buildings are not being concentrated in working class, immigrant and BIPOC neighborhoods. We have to work with the SCLT to make sure that if and when people decide to donate their homes to the SCLT that we can support them in updating those homes to accommodate more units. While we do need to create more housing, we also have to make sure we are not sacrificing our parks, paths, open and green spaces, and that we are negotiating with developers to find creative solutions to expanding our need for more green space.

Justin Klekota

Mixed use development is widely supported in Somerville: that being said, we need to be considerate of the impact of new development on abutters, by including sufficient setbacks, barriers during construction, open/green space etc. Somerville needs to build new housing including affordable units to keep pace with our growing population in concert with new lab space for life science and green tech to grow our business tax base to fund our housing infrastructure, schools, and City services.

Tracey Leah Pratt

To address push back we need to get creative with our urban city planning. As a city I’d advocate for “planning” communities, particularly around our new MBTA stations. These communities should have a mixture of housing including mid rise buildings.

Kristen Strezo

Somerville adopted a new zoning code in 2019 and the changes made were critical to expanding affordable housing, climate action, safe streets for pedestrians, and accessibility in our city. Enough time has passed since the 2019 zoning amendments to hear feedback from homeowners and small businesses. The updates on the zoning code must focus on equity. Since 2019, the new mid-rise and high-rise zoned areas are concentrated in East Somerville, with very little additional density in West Somerville. Future amendments must increase density and affordable housing in West Somerville. Additionally, I think we can be increasingly bold with our climate justice vision by adding more metrics of sustainability and also incentivizing compliance to climate goals. I am excited about the goal of a carbon neutral city by 2050 and would like to explore proposals for offset programs, like more green spaces. I am proud of how Somerville has made efforts to ensure that our update zoning code is transparent and includes input from constituents, and I would adopt the same approach to address pushback in density goals.

Jake Wilson

I’ve seen this play out first-hand in my neighborhood here in Winter Hill, where a developer held a public meeting a couple of years ago about a potential project to build a large mixed-use development on the site of the vacant Star Market. But many residents showed up at this meeting and complained about the proposed height of five or six stories. And this development was along Broadway, just blocks away from existing eight-story residential buildings.

Somerville is the most densely populated city in New England and we need to be building high at transit hubs and along major corridors like Broadway, Highland Avenue, and Somerville Avenue. Single-story buildings at a transit hub like Davis Square simply don’t make sense. Local character is great, but we need to figure out how to maintain that while also constructing buildings appropriate for that area.

A lot of this pushback stems from NIMBY attitudes, but the reality is that most of these concerns are for residential areas, not the areas where we need to be building high.

Willie Burnley Jr

Firstly, extending our eviction moratorium for at least a year after the official emergency - as CAAS has asked our city and the state to do. Our City should also work with the Somerville Community Land Trust, which is hard at work strategizing on how to create permanently affordable and accessible housing. I'm an advocate of CBAs as a means to create development without displacement, as well, and will work with Union United to pass an ordinance that incentivizes them.

Charlotte Kelly

As previously stated, we should use the funds to provide rent stability for residents who are being pushed out due to gentrification, and expanding the Office of Housing Stability to ensure they have enough full time intake specialists to support tenants, attorneys to provide counsel to residents, resources to outreach to the community around tenant rights, and funds to disperse directly to residents. We should provide financial support to local businesses to ensure they are not gentrified out of our community, and provide financial incentives for the creation of worker-owned cooperatives in any vacant business spaces. We also need to support our unhoused community. I want to work with the Somerville Homeless Coalition, Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, and neighboring community groups like Project Right to Housing and Material Aid and Advocacy Program. Any model of addressing homelessness must center ‘housing first’ which means giving people stable housing without requirements, programs, or restrictions. We must work with frontline community groups to create a local Homeless Bill of Rights and fight back against the criminalization of our unhoused neighbors.

Justin Klekota

The City Council’s primary responsibility is to manage zoning, infrastructure, and our City budget. In addition to new housing construction affordable to all income levels, I support use of linkage fees tied to new development to support workers and residents impacted by new development.

Tracey Leah Pratt

I support working with our neighboring communities to develop strategies, engaging residents through this process and issue, encouraging well thought out housing development and adopt better policies that preserve affordability.

Kristen Strezo

I believe that zoning is one of the most useful tools that fall under existing municipal powers to help prevent displacement and ensure that we have accessibility mandates in our city codes. As City Councilor, affordable housing and cost of living has been a priority for me. This also includes controlling real estate development/infrastructure projects to project low-income communities. I plan to increase affordable housing and make sure zoning policies mandate a certain amount of affordable housing instructure. As I mentioned in the previous question, based on the zoning codes in 2019 and the impact they have had on East Somerville, I believe future amendments must update the zoning map and consider increasing density and affordable housing in West Somerville. I have also advocated for and will continue advocating to increase the allocation of municipal funds and expand the number of staff for the Office and Housing Stability to ensure that residents have access to the necessary resources. Finally, I believe that we must prioritize maintaining our existing affordable housing infrastructure in addition to increasing our housing stock.

Jake Wilson

Extending the eviction moratorium buys us time to try to mitigate the looming eviction crisis. We need to be making the most of this time to make sure that we're getting renters who are behind on rent any rental assistance they're entitled to. Additionally, the Office of Housing Stability needs to be fully staffed with the resources required to work with tenants and landlords to try to prevent evictions.