Candidates
*incumbent
Sections
About the Candidates
Do you personally walk to destinations in your community? If yes, how often do you do so?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| I walk around East Somerville pretty much daily, whether its just down the street to get a burrito from Taco Loco, or around the corner to have dinner at the Mt. Vernon. Throughout the week or on weekends I’ll walk to other destinations like Union or Magoun Sq.’s or to meetings at City Hall(during the week). |
I walk every morning with my wife around our neighborhood in Somerville Ten Hills. Sometimes we take the path along the Mystic River to Assembly Row. I also walk to meetings during the day, typically from City Hall down to Union Square. |
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Do you personally travel by/ use public transit to get around? If yes, which trains and buses do you routinely use?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Mostly the Orange Line, as I live right by Sullivan Sq. but I will also sometimes take the 89 or 90 across the city to Davis Sq or the 86 to meet my wife at Harvard where she works. I will occasionally utilize the Commuter Rail to visit friends in Providence or take the Cape Flyer down to Hyannis in the Summertime. |
I sometimes like the Red Line down to Harvard Square. More frequently I take the Orange Line from Assembly Row to downtown Boston for professional and political events. Assembly Row is right across Rt. 28 from my home-neighborhood Ten Hills in Somerville. |
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Do you personally bike in your community or commute by bike to other communities? If no, would you be willing to give it a try periodically, e.g. once or twice per month?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Yes, I’d definitely give it a shot. I’ve been talking about getting a bike for years now and just have not gotten around to it. A flat black single gear bike. |
I bike with my 4 boys at the Fells Reservation, the Mystic River Reservation, and we also take the Minuteman Path. |
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Policy Proposals
How will you work to establish funding for the infrastructure changes needed to slow traffic on your community’s streets, and improve crosswalks and intersections to make them safer for people who are walking and using mobility assistive devices?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| I may sound like a broken record by the end of this questionnaire but funding needs to come primarily from the large corporations, for-profit developers, and so called “non profits” who all make, or are slated to make millions and millions of dollars in our community. As someone who walks this city and others(Cambridge, Boston) quite often I’ve found most of our crosswalks and intersections to be pretty friendly to pedestrians, but I’d definitely be open to sitting down with others to see what improvements could be made. |
Under my leadership, the City of Somerville has delivered high levels of funding for both large-scale capital infrastructure upgrades as well as small scale operations & maintenance of walking and bicycling infrastructure. Every year, our Traffic & Parking department invests to repaint crosswalks and bike lanes. For smaller scale, year-to-year street maintenance, Somerville administers roughly local Chapter 90 funding annually, and my administration has successfully implemented a series of operational protocols that align paving funds with street design funds and lane marking funds to expand infrastructure for walking and bicycling. Highland Avenue in Davis Square provides a great recent example of this approach, and we are applying this strategy to build traffic calming infrastructure on Cedar Street and Lowell Street in fall 2017, and Powder House Boulevard in spring 2018. For larger capital projects, the City has had an exceptional record of securing outside grant awards and traditional municipal bond financing that specifically target creating better streets for people. Recent examples include $2 million for McGrath Highway’s interim improvements, $9 million for East Broadway’s road diet and streetscape, and $11 million for Beacon Street reconstruction. My administration is currently working to secure financing for large-scale streetscape reconstruction on Somerville Avenue between Medford Street and Prospect Street as well as Mystic Avenue at key pedestrian intersections including Shore Drive, Temple Street and the Kensington Underpass. |
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How will you improve the reach, frequency, and quality of public transit in your city/town?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| The MBTA is a state agency so there is very little control that a city Mayor has over it, however as Mayor I will use my office to exert as much influence as possible. Somerville has access to two MBTA train lines, and one more on the way, we are in much better shape than many other communities in the Commonwealth. That said it doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. I think it once again goes back to putting pressure on big business and so called non profits and making them pay their share. I will say that I think putting the taxpayers on the line for the $50 MILLION DOLLAR GLX tab was completely wrong, and US2 Partners and others should have been made to pay. |
The City of Somerville has a unique and productive partnership with the MBTA. Regarding day-to-day operations, the City has worked on bus route optimization, including through stop planning, lane markings, and signal work. In late 2017 a bus prioritization project will be completed at the corner of Mystic Avenue and Temple Street, and a small-scale bus prioritization lane will be tested on Prospect Street in Union Square. Regarding major service expansions, my Administration championed and strategized construction of the Orange Line station at Assembly Square, and we secured $15 million from the private developer at Assembly Row to help pay for it. More recently, I led a coalition of community partners that saved the Green Line Extension from cancellation; the City continues its work to support the MBTA’s project team as construction resumes in late 2017. Our 2018 priority for new service planning is related to Bus Rapid Transit connecting the Logan Airport-Chelsea Silver Line expansion to Kendall Square via Somerville. As we work to make sure that all our residents can benefit from these service expansions, my focus will be on safe walking and bicycling routes to bus and rail transit. |
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How will you ensure fast-tracked implementation of a city-/town-wide network of off-street paths and protected bike lanes* on major thoroughfares and connecting streets that are comfortable for people of all ages and abilities?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| To be perfectly honest, this is not an issue that I have given much thought. My campaign is built around Economic Justice: affordability, tenants rights, creating pathways to homeownership, strong community benefit agreements, workers rights, more payments in lieu of taxes from non profits(Tufts, Partners Healthcare)etc… As well as more transparency at City Hall and campaign finance reform. Thats not to say that safer and better bicycle infrastructure does not tie into some of those issues or isn’t important, I think they do and its extremely important. When elected I would be more than happy to sit down and find solutions that will work for everyone. I would also entertain the idea of a board or committee of elected officials, city employees, and community members- both cyclists and non cyclists, who could work together on these ideas with each other and through community outreach. |
In mid–2017, I directed my administration to fast-track a small pilot of a parking-protected bike lane on Washington Street between Union Square and McGrath Highway; installation of this facility will be completed in September. In late 2017, parking protected bike lanes will be installed on Broadway between Ball Square and Magoun Square, and on Washington Street between Sullivan Square and Tufts Street. |
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How will you increase access to biking in every neighborhood equally? What do you see as the major obstacles to encouraging ridership, and how will you address them?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| I think our weather is a major obstacle, harsh winters and hot and humid summers are a major disqualifying factor for many would be cyclists and there is obviously not much we can do about that. I also think that commuting by bike is not realistic for many working people and families in the city, and there is a major disconnect between many cyclists and non cyclists. This comes down to organizing. People often dislike what they don’t understand and biking advocates need to get out and educate the public. Not just through mass bike rides, because I think those often have the opposite effect, but by actually going out into the community on bikes and knocking on peoples doors and talking to their neighbors about the benefits of cycling. Advocates could get together and canvas ward by ward and precinct by precinct and engage with people. As Mayor I would be happy to support initiatives like this both publicly and financially. |
In Somerville, community advocacy and agency can vary widely among our residents. I have directed my Administration’s planning team to emphasize geographic and demographic equity in our bicycle facilities planning so that all of our residents have access to quality facilities that serve all ages and abilities. I have also established and scaled-up the “SomerViva” multilingual engagement program in the City’s Communications Department to build capacity for advocacy among the City’s large population of residents who may speak English as a second language. East Broadway in East Somerville is our most progressive recent street reconstruction, and post-construction data collected by my staff indicate that bicycle ridership is increasing as intended in this historic environmental justice neighborhood. Parking-protected bike facilities will be installed on Washington Street in East Somerville in late 2017. Winter Hill is another neighborhood prioritized by this equity focus; the City has secured outside resources to rebuild Mystic Avenue as a more humane street, and will complete multimodal improvements in 2017 and 2018. A bicycle lane will be striped on Temple Street in late 2017. Central Broadway in Winter Hill will receive new pavement markings in 2018 after roadway resurfacing. |
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How will you increase funding for biking infrastructure?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Make Federal Reality Investment Trust, US2 Partners, Tufts University, Partners Healthcare, and anyone else making big money in our community pay for it. |
My Administration has delivered tremendous federal, state, local and private resources to improve bicycling infrastructure in Somerville. In late 2017 and early 2018, the City will be administering $400,000 of MassDOT funding through the state’s Complete Streets grant program, $100,000 of federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funding, and $100,000 in local pavement marking funds. We recently concluded an agreement with Eversource to provide roughly $1 million in multimodal improvements along Mystic Avenue, and large private developers are obligate to pay mitigation fees for off-site streetscape infrastructure calculated at predictable, per-square-foot rates. Beyond capital construction, my Administration is proposing to add temporary project management staff for large capital projects. |
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Yes/No Questions
Do you support the adoption of Vision Zero* and funding for its rapid implementation? Vision Zero is an approach which aims to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030 and has been adopted by several communities, including Boston and Cambridge.
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| |
Vision Zero is completely consistent with the values and priorities of the City of Somerville. Our City’s approach to public health, environmental resilience, and economic opportunity are all dependent on making Somerville the best place in the United States to walk, bicycle and ride public transit. My Administration has spent the past 18 months getting ready for Somerville’s Vision Zero commitment, preparing the analytical framework, peer community research and interagency coordination process needed for this policy initiative. |
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Do you support lowering design speeds* through traffic calming measures* on downtown and neighborhood streets as a means of enhancing the safety of people walking, using mobility assistive devices, biking, and driving? This may involve the expansion and enhancement of programs like Neighborhood Slow Streets* (Boston) and Neighborways* (Somerville).
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| I think the city has been on the right path with Neighborways, but I believe we need to do more community outreach with people who are actually living in these neighborhoods. Having community meetings is not good enough, many working people don’t have the time to make it to them. Go to most meetings and you are bound to see the same people the majority of the time. This goes back to actually engaging the community with person to person contact by canvasing and door knocking. One complaint I hear quite often is that this current administration “likes to talk, but they don’t like to listen”. |
Since my election as Mayor, I have asserted that Somerville will not serve as the on- and off-ramp for the metro Boston driving public. Our streets are intended to serve people first, and my administration has a proven record of implementing traffic calming measures to control driving speeds and improve safety for all road users. Our recent road-diet project on East Broadway was very controversial, with many critics challenging my Administration’s proposal to eliminate a travel lane in each direction in order to provide high-quality walking and bicycling infrastructure. |
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One key strategy that has been proven to effectively reduce speeding, improve safety, and remove racial bias in traffic enforcement in other states and countries is automated enforcement (i.e. speed cameras and red light cameras). Do you support state legislation that authorizes the use of automated enforcement in Massachusetts, per the July 2017 recommendation of the National Transportation Safety Board*?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| No |
Yes |
Yes |
| I think people deserve the right to face their accusers, and in these cases the accuser is a camera. As I understand it tickets are issued to whoever the vehicle is registered to, regardless of whether they were driving or not, and the burden of proof is on the owner to prove they were not the driver, I believe people should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. I think think there are also privacy issues and opens the door for more “Big Brother” intrusions. These are really nothing more than money grabs by most cities. I feel we should be more focused on Community Policing by hiring more Police Officers and actually have them walk beats like they used to and be out in the neighborhoods. |
In my experience municipalities need every tool in the toolbox available to them. |
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Do you support redesigning space on the street in order to improve safety for people biking by creating protected bike lanes?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Again, I think this needs to be done through community outreach and input from residents, business owners, and cyclists/advocates. |
Re-balancing street space to serve non-automobile users has been a hallmark of my administration, and this commitment remains solid. When the City of Somerville was challenged to turn its back on a people-centered design for Beacon Street in 2013–2014, I made the controversial decision to include a separated bicycle facility at the expense of on-street parking. |
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Do you support the increased use of curb extensions* to improve safety and visibility at intersections, even if it requires the removal of one to two parking spaces?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| I understand that parking spaces in this city are at a premium and eliminating even a few here and there may be controversial but you can’t really put a price on safety. |
Somerville has been using curb extensions with great success for many years, and we will continue to rely on them. My administration recently guided a design process for a major curb extension near Tufts University on College Avenue, understanding that the safety benefits far outweighed the 6–7 parking spaces that were removed. In late 2017, we will be constructing several curb extensions along Cedar Street between Broadway and Highland Avenue. |
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Do you commit to implementation of improved bike facilities identified in your community’s Bike Network Plan or do you commit to the creation of a Bike Network Plan if none already exists?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Do you support the creation of the joint biking-pedestrian Grand Junction Path and Somerville Community Path through mandates, resolutions or zoning ordinances targeted at adjacent property owners?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| I answered YES here but only because “UNSURE” was not an option. I like the idea in theory but I don’t know enough about it. |
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Will you address age-friendly walking in your community – an issue raised by many seniors as critical to their ability to “age in community”? If yes, how?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| I speak to seniors almost everyday and this has not been something that any of them have brought up with me but I would definitely be interested in finding out ways to make walking better for them. Many who I speak with voice concern over not being able to age in the community because of increasing tax burdens and fees, I think we need to focus on relieving some of those burdens on them. Ironically most seniors I speak with absolutely hate bike lanes and complain at great lengths about cyclists. |
My Administration recently published its ADA Transition Plan to guide investment around all-ages and all-abilities walking infrastructure. This plan has been recognized as one the best-written ADA Transition Plans in Massachusetts. |
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Do you support the restriction of on-street parking during rush hour on major thoroughfares in order to provide lanes for the exclusive use of buses?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| In certain areas sure, but in others no. |
MBTA ridership data illustrate the importance of bus transit for Somerville residents: in 2015 there were roughly 20,000 daily bus boardings on an average weekday in Somerville. I have directed my staff to study national and local precedents for peak-hour bus prioritization lanes, including the recent example in the City of Everett. The City of Somerville is currently testing a similar pilot project on Prospect Street in Union Square, and intends to initiate queue-jump prioritization in September 2017. In 2018, the City will implement queue-jumping lanes on Broadway in Winter Hill to better serve the customers of the 89 and 101 bus routes. |
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Do you support exploring new ways of raising revenue to provide the City of Somerville with more tools to improve conditions for people walking, using mobility assistive devices, and biking (e.g. congestion pricing)? If yes, please give examples that interest you.
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Not through congestion pricing, but like I have said many times already, lets make big business and “non profits” pay their fare share. |
As a Ten Hills resident and father of four, I am acutely aware of the public health impacts of vehicle exhaust from I–93’s 200,000 daily vehicle trips. Somerville has partnered with Tufts University to establish leading-edge academic research on the effects of particulate pollution, and is currently using that information to lobby for aggressive public intervention to get cars off the road. My Administration recently used cutting-edge cell phone data records to determine that 80% of traffic in Union Square is regional cut-through traffic. This information will also strengthen our ability to make arguments around policies to discourage automobile travel through Somerville. The City is currently working with adjacent municipalities, regional and state agencies to evaluate the benefits of congestion management road pricing at the regional scale, and is simultaneously investigating local equivalents through internal mobility planning work. |
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Do you support raising the annual fee for residential parking permits?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Fees in Somerville have been continually rising and its nothing more than another tax on working families. In fact I support lowering them. |
The City increased its fee structure in 2016, and I support continued efforts to right-size our parking fee structures. |
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Do you support the rollout of dynamic parking meter pricing* (i.e. increasing meter rates during periods of increased demand) in business districts to free up on-street parking and reduce cars “cruising” for open spaces?
| Payton Corbett |
Joseph Curtatone |
Kenneth Van Buskirk |
| No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Its getting harder and harder for working families to afford this city, lets not make it harder. |
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