by Alexander G. Baron

Board of Alderman President Bruce N. Desmond spoke at the March 4 contrubutors meeting of the Somerville News.
News photo by Neil W. McCabe

Bruce M. Desmond, alderman at-large and president of the Somerville board of aldermen, will support incumbent John M. “Jack” Connolly against Rebekah Gewirtz, challenger for the Ward 6 alderman seat.
“I am going to back Jack,” said Desmond during a question and answer session with the Somerville News staff.

The alderman characterized contemporary city politics as a new era of unity.

“In a city that, politically, can be so contentious, there really is a sense of cooperation now,” he said.

For example, the school superintendent-elect, Tony Pierantozzi, was elected unanimously by the school committee, on which Desmond also sits, because of a strong agreement among committee members on who the committee was looking for.

It is this same collective consciousness of the need for cooperation, according to Desmond, that prompted him to support Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone’s new zoning making Assembly Square conducive to small business development. He has also opened his mind, he said, to the mayor’s call to make the Chief of Police a politically appointed position rather than drawing from the Civil Service.

Desmond described the difference between Somerville politics of today and that of ten years ago. He has served on the board of alderman or on the school committee throughout, and he said there used to be a very tough political environment characterized by distrust between committee members, who would often split firmly into two camps on a given issue.

Desmond said he inadvertently started off on the wrong foot by often taking lead, independently, on policy and activities in ward 5, adjacent to his home ward 3, and where he still retains many supporters from previous residence within the ward. He said his behavior was perceived as infringing on the turf of ward 5 alderman Sean T. O’Donovan, until ward 7 alderman James F. Halloran, Jr. pulled Desmond aside and encouraged him to work more closely with O’Donovan.

According to Desmond, all of the city’s aldermen now know each other well and the separation between camps has, to a large extent, dissolved.

“A lot of people have put their personal aspirations in the right spot, and the betterment of the city up front, where it should be,” he said.

The alderman went on to discuss other current issues, including plans to fix the State-owned Lowell Street Bridge, between Broadway and Highland Avenue.

Desmond was not able to attend the March 1st meeting with Ste officials regarding the bridge on, but he said alderman O’Donovan had expressed frustration at the officials’ apparent inability or unwillingness to answer key questions about the project’s progress.

“I think the State is dragging their feet on it,” said Desmond who added that he did not believe the meeting was a success.

The bridge runs alongside a lot previously owned by the Maxpak company, which manufactured potato chip packaging, then by a Saudi-financed Islamic charter school, and which has recently been purchased by K.S.S. Realty Partners, Inc, which plans to build a residential development.
The development company initially proposed a structure of over 300 units, which Desmond said was out of the question.

“I told them to bring it down to 200 units,” he said.

The size of the development could influence the Lowell Street Bridge construction project, in particular by prompting the state to build a ramp that serves residents of the new units. Desmond said that K.S.S. is now proposing to split the development into two structures, one that would face Lowell Street and whose residents would utilize the bridge, and another that would face the opposite direction.

Desmond also said he is working on a project to build a new ice skating rink in Somerville. The Veterans Memorial Rink, said the alderman, has fallen into disrepair.

“We’ve been holding it together with band-aids over the past few years,” he said.

Desmond recently approached Tufts University President Lawrence S. Bacow about providing seed money for the rink, which would belong to Tufts as well as community members.

“He is seriously considering it,” said Desmond.

The proposed rink would be run by a board of trustees including members from Tufts, which has wanted a new rink for some time, as well as city and state government. Proceeds would go directly back into the rink.