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There is no question, if you ask anyone who’s lived in or visited Somerville, that none of our squares are actually shaped like squares. Most of them represent some other shape and sometimes, not familiar ones (think of Davis Square’s main area with 7 streets)! Well, the City of Somerville’s Economic Development Division is using a play on geometry to promote the “It Takes All Shapes to Make a Square” campaign. The campaign asks folks to visit explore.somervillema.gov or scan a QR code on MBTA buses or at Logan Airport to sign up for forthcoming informational emails that will include local events, features about squares and neighborhoods in Somerville, resources for business owners, and more. Advertisements can be seen on area MBTA buses and at Logan Airport. The website can be viewed in 5 languages, including Spanish and Nepali, which is excellent to see.

“Somerville’s business districts are a reflection of our city’s spirit—diverse, eclectic, and ever-evolving,” according to city officials. “‘It Takes All Shapes to Make a Square’ encourages everyone to come and experience the local flavor that makes each square in Somerville special. Whether it’s the iconic charm of Davis Square, the welcoming energy of Teele Square, or the unique offerings in Union, Magoun, and Ball Squares, this campaign invites residents and visitors alike to explore and support the incredible array of businesses that call Somerville home.”

This is certainly good to hear and a valid attempt at bringing things local in a convenient format. On closer inspection of this burgeoning ad campaign, I was a bit underwhelmed. First off, I signed up about 10 days ago and have yet to receive an email. I did get confirmation on the website that my email had been added. And the city officials did say the first email should be out in October. It will be either a quarterly or monthly email, to be determined.

I am no marketing critic but the ads I have seen thus far, and there are a few versions out there, showed image boxes that had mostly triangular shapes and what looked like stock photos. I have yet to see one actual Somerville business represented. One ad mentioned pasta, to which I thought of Dave’s Fresh Pasta on Holland Street or Deano’s Pasta in East Somerville, who, according to its eponymous website, talks about their “cold pressed” pasta through “special bronze dies.” Another mentions custom bikes – I assume a reference to Peter Mooney who opened Wheelworks in 1977, but am unsure. I know, it is hard to prioritize one image over another, with hundreds of businesses across three zip codes and thousands of residents. Either way, all of the shapes in the ad are actually triangles, which I find more confusing.

~Photo by Jeff Shwom

What may be helpful going forward is making the marketing campaign more human and real. Perhaps they could take pictures of a business from each of our squares to show the diversity around town. Somerville’s Diversity Catalog has business logos of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBTQIA), Service Disabled Veteran, Veteran, Disability, Women, Immigrant, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, or Minority-owned businesses. Adding these to image squares is something I can get behind that lift up and actually depict the businesses already in Somerville. Or maybe there could be residents from each of the squares that could be imaged. I’d rather celebrate the diversity of, say, 02143 with images of the community than nondescript stock photos that could be anywhere.

When my wife and I moved into our first place together on Lexington Avenue just past the park, our urban planning friend gave us a wall painting titled quote “a guide to the squares of Cambridge & Somerville.” With the artist unknown, this image to me is a better geometric representation of the area’s squares. It is hard to tame these shapes, and though mostly comical and sarcastic, they do bring our minds to a more varied, more non-traditional city…a city of immigrants, a streetcar suburb, an urban village filled with, as the explore.somervillema.gov website states, “the wacky, the weird, the wonderful.”

I have served as an organizer of Ball Square Businesses, shepherding COVID-19 information like grant opportunities to businesses during the early pandemic and, later, helped coordinate conversations about the changing streetscape along Broadway. I also have served as a member of the Small Enterprise Committee for the Anti-Displacement Task Force. My experience with Economic Development is that as important as their role is in bringing and nurturing large development into Somerville (i.e. jobs and more tax revenue), they should be focused equally or more so on keeping and sustaining the small ones that are here. Even if, to start, I think the ad campaign is a bit generic, I welcome this campaign and encourage folks to sign up. There are great folks who work in this department and though the shapes may have not taken their final form, I am quite hopeful that it will.

The City acknowledges the need to continue to support businesses recovering from challenges, assumed to be COVID-19, displacement, and the everyday hustle that is owning a small business. Supporting our local businesses, which gives Somerville its entrepreneurial and cultural spirit, is more important than ever, which I couldn’t agree with more. “The goal…is to help highlight the neighborhoods that make Somerville a destination for dining, shopping, and entertainment and help strengthen the collective identity of our local business community.” Amen to this, and here’s to hoping for more.

Jeff Shwom
Somerville Resident, Former Organizer of the Ball Square District Association