The urgent reconstruction of the Winter Hill Community Innovation School was the top concern mentioned at the Budget Public Hearing on June 5. — Photo by Maile Blume

By Maile Blume

Somerville residents highlighted three main concerns this budget season: the urgent reconstruction of Winter Hill Community Innovation School, affordable housing, and an alternative emergency response for community members experiencing mental health crises.

A majority of the speakers at the Budget Public Hearing on June 5 were parents or educators, who raised concerns about the urgent need for Winter Hill Community Innovation School to be reconstructed to provide a safe learning environment for students who are currently displaced due to concrete falling in the building on June 2.

Winter Hill Community Innovation School Educator Kristin Stier said, “By allowing the status quo we are inevitably telling our students that safety and their right to an education are not valued, and our highest needs students who don’t have a choice to go to other buildings that this is what they deserve. We constantly ask our students to meet our high expectations and it’s time that the adults in their lives meet theirs.”

Director of Community Organizing at Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) Nicole Eigbrett also joined community members in urging the mayor and members of City Council to make affordable housing a top budget priority. CAAS is an organization whose mission is to help “local families and individuals achieve financial security while working to eliminate the root causes of economic injustice.”

Eigbrett said, “The lack of affordable housing is the top barrier faced by the tens of thousands of low-income residents who live in Somerville, and this past year between January and May, our agency distributed more than $691,000 of direct assistance for housing and utilities, averaging more than $115,000 per month, which makes sure 91 households can remain living in the city. Despite this aid, CAAS still has a waitlist of 89 households each month, and the Somerville Homeless Coalition has a waitlist of nearly 100 households.”

The City Council will vote on cuts to the proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 this evening, Thursday, June 21. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

In the mayor’s current proposed budget for fiscal year 2024, $1,413,992 has been allocated to maintaining housing stability for Somerville residents, while $12,537,633 has been allocated to maintaining city buildings, including schools. In comparison, Somerville’s Police Department has been allocated $17,742,882.

The City Council had included the reallocation of funds towards an alternative emergency response that is unarmed and separate from the Police Department in its budget recommendation to the mayor last year. However, funding for an alternative emergency response was not included in the mayor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2024.

During the most recent budget hearing on June 15 for Fire, Fire Alarm, Emergency Management, Police, Animal Control, and E-911, the Police Department gave a presentation about their plans for the use of their funds, including adding two new clinicians to the Community Outreach, Help, and Recovery group (COHR).

The COHR group was created within the Police Department to respond to behavioral health calls, despite the recommendation by the City Council that the city develop an alternative emergency response outside of the Police Department.

Chief of Police Charles Femino addressed the City Council saying “I’d like you to keep in mind when you deliberate your vote on cut night, whether to accept this budget or not, the rising crime trends that we’re seeing in the city over the past two years, as well as the continued growth in the city. These factors, when you think about them, will increase the city’s transient and residential population and in turn increase demand on police services.”

Members of Defund Somerville Police Department, a local group whose mission is “to build collective power around a vision of abolition, and harness that power to defund and ultimately abolish police and prisons,” were also in attendance at the June 15 hearing.

In an interview, Defund Somerville Police Department member Meg Di Maggio said, “I think a lot of times folks always think about defund in terms of taking money away. But it’s not just about defunding. It’s also about refunding, and where can that money go instead? Where are there areas of need in our city and folks that could really use that help and assistance?”

Kevin Foster, another member of Defund Somerville Police Department added to the topic of an alternative emergency response, “I think every day there’s a risk of someone being seriously injured or killed by the police because of a 911 call, even if it’s well intentioned. And to me that is unacceptable and it’s only a matter of time. And so, I really think having these systems in place really helps limit those possibilities from happening.”

The City Council will vote on cuts to the proposed 2024 budget on Wednesday, June 21, at 7:30 p.m. The final vote on the budget will take place the following night, Thursday, June 22. The link to the Zoom meeting is posted on the City of Somerville legislative calendar website.