Members of the Somerville City Council have reaffirmed their interest in anti-displacement measures for the city’s small business community.

By Jim Clark

An order was put forward at the latest meeting of the Somerville City Council on Thursday, January 11, requesting that the Director of Economic Development, Rachel Nadkarni, update the Council on the “Mitigating Commercial Displacement in Somerville” report released in December 2023, and any action steps taken as a result of the report.

Co-sponsor of the order, Ward 7 City Councilor Judy Pineda Neufeld, explained that she would like to have the Council get ahead of any recommendations made in the report.

“For those who didn’t know this is happening or haven’t seen this, it kind of got released in the midst of the holiday season, in the last year, year-and-a-half, a group of Harvard students looked at small business development in Somerville and how do we mitigate, in particular, displacement of our small businesses, our beloved small businesses, so that we don’t become a city full of chains,” said Pineda Neufeld.

“And so, this really interesting report came out and I started digging through it and I thought this is a great conversation to have with colleagues about sort of what came out of it, recommendations, or future potential zoning conversations for us to have. And so, I thought we could get ahead of any potential recommendations by having some kind of presentation or an update from the administration on the report,” Pineda Neufeld continued. “So, I think Housing and Community Development is the right place for that conversation. But looking forward to getting more robust report-back from the administration on it.”

City Councilor At Large Kristen Strezo said that she has spoken with OSPCD and was informed that the Economic Development staff is ready to make a presentation on the report. “Yes, absolutely, I just spoke to Economic Development today and came from the Anti-Displacement Task Force for small businesses, and they’re ready to present it and it should come on the agenda soon and Housing and Community Development,” Strezo said. “I’m super excited. There’s a lot of great feedback, and hopefully quick changes that will help our small businesses. Yeah, I love that this conversation is happening.”

Councilors Strezo, Scott and Wilson signed on to the order, which was approved and sent for discussion by the Housing and Community Development Committee.