The View From Prospect Hill for the week of Dec. 27

The four Green Line stops on the way to Somerville will change us forever. Every inch of our city, not just “desirable West Somerville” will be in play for developers, speculators and opportunists of all kinds.

  There will even be scams and lies. Take, for example, the city‚Äôs use of code words in Union Square development.

   The  city is using "the arts" as a code word to speed up effects that gentrification of Union Square will have on the square and our surrounding communities. Arts is a far less objectionable term than gentrification, it’s a word that people can rally around. Who can be against the arts after all?
  Gentrification. Believe it, it‚Äôs coming to every last square in Somerville just like it came to Harlem. When the four Green Line stops come, they will bring with them four new Davis Square‚Äôs.
  But, you say, why is this a bad thing? After all, you say, gentrification leads to a physical revival of a community and fattens the city‚Äôs tax base.
  Well, the Somerville of 20 years from now may have nicely furnished exteriors of homes and you may not see any more vinyl siding in your neighborhood. But when trash collectors come and leave behind as much rubbish in the street as they pick up, your trash will lie there. Yes, it will lie there until the wind picks it up. Why? Because our new neighbors will be too good to pick it up themselves. And nobody will know their neighbors well enough to ask for help.
   The Somerville of the future (Green Line stops and all) is likely to lack the character and camaraderie of the Somerville of the past. It will be a lot of nice people in a lot of nice homes with nothing but nice things to say. There will be no place to play pool or get your shoes shined, it will be just another American city pumped out on the ‚ÄúAssembly‚Äù line of progress.