by Neil W. McCabe

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, in a formal address Jan. 3 to the city’s aldermen, other elected officials and citizens, reviewed his year as Somerville’s magistrate in City Hall’s Aldermanic Chambers

          “The people of this city wanted a government that was more accountable, more service-oriented and more efficient—and we are delivering,” said the mayor in his State of the City Address, which was the centerpiece of the organization meetings of the Board of Aldermen and the School Committee. 

Both panels elected new officers.  Bruce Desmond, an alderman-at-large, is the new president of the Board of Alderman with Ward 2 Alderman MaryAnn M. Heuston.  Both votes were 10-0, with Ward 5 Alderman Sean T. O’Donovan absent.

Charlene F. Harris was elected the new chairman of the school board and Maureen Bastardi will be the new vice-chairman.

          Diverting from his prepared text, when the mayor introduced his family, he let slip that his wife Nancy is expecting a playmate for their son Cosmo.  “She is expecting in April,” said Lucy A. Warsh, the mayor’s press secretary.

          Before he began his remarks, Curtatone made a special welcome to former mayor, Eugene C. Brune, the current Middlesex County Register of Deeds.

          As a member of the Somerville High School band, the mayor said he had played at four of Brune’s swearing-in ceremonies, so it was only fair that Brune show up with an instrument to one of Curtatone’s ceremonies.

          “I think it was an uplifting speech,” said Brune.  “The mayor has a great agenda ahead of him and he is going in the right direction.”

          The ceremony, which was in effect a dual meeting of both the Board of Alderman and the School Committee, was called to order by Ward 4 Alderman Walter F. Pero at 6:10 p.m.

          After the posting of colors by an honor guard from VFW Post 19 and a prayer from City Clerk John Long, Pero directed a select delegation of aldermen to escort Curtatone into the Aldermanic Chambers.

          As the delegation delivered the mayor to his seat at Pero’s left on the rostrum there were handshakes, smiles and kisses on the cheek.

          Using every minute available to them, the mayor’s staff continued to deliver revised drafts of his speech as he waited for his turn to speak. At 6:18 p.m., Michael Buckley, an administrative assistant to the mayor, brought Curtatone a black leather portfolio with his speech text. Then at 6:26 p.m., Mark Horan, the mayor’s communications director, brought the mayor a revised and final version of his speech.

          The mayor was introduced for his remarks at 6:55 p.m., after speeches by Bastardi, Harris, Heuston and Desmond.

          Curtatone said he wanted to acknowledge the city employees and DPW workers.  “We owe a debt of gratitude to all city workers, whose efforts to keep the city working day-in and day-out are often not fully appreciated.”

          “In terms of constituent services, the mayor has done a good job,” said Alderman-at-large William A. White, Jr.

          “If you look at things such as the Broadway improvements and the parks, certainly the streets are cleaner,” he said.

          For his first six months in office, he was administering the organization and budget of the previous administration, White said.

It only fair that Curtatone be judged on the second half of the year, when the mayor’s own budget and reorganization took effect, he said.

White said the mayor has done a good job streamlining the city bureaucracy and he said he is impressed by the mayor’s new SomerStat staff. 

The next year’s budget will be another tough one for the mayor to tackle because the city will not have property sales to prop up the balance sheet as it has in other years, he said.

This is made worse by the fact that there will be no significant revenues from commercial development in the next two years, he said.

          DPW Commissioner Stanley Koty said the mayor’s impact is more general, making it hard to pick out one signal achievement.  “I think the mayor’s strong vision and leadership has reached all levels of Somerville city government, as well as into all of the city’s neighborhoods.”

          “His energy and enthusiasm has given the city as a whole the foresight to move in the right direction,” he said.

          The mayor said the city he took over last January was in bad shape. The city faced a fiscal perfect storm and a feeling of malaise.

“Fiscal turmoil was number one on our minds.  But, stagnation—a sense that the city was stuck in neutral or, worse slipping backward—was a close second,” he said.

“To suggest that we’ve solved all these problems—particularly facing our young people would be a foolish boast.  But, here’s the difference between last and this year: we did not allow tough problems to be swept under the rug.  We took action,” he said.

“I’ve really been impressed with the mayor so far,” said Rebekah L. Gewirtz, the co-leader of the Progressive Democrats of Somerville. 

Gewirtz said she thought Curtatone was courageous in his support of same-sex marriage.

As a leading supporter of State Rep. Carl M. Sciortino Jr., D-Somerville against the former rep, Vincent P. Ciampa, Gewirtz said she was not upset when the mayor supported Ciampa in the Sept. 14 Democratic Primary.  “It was expected.”

But, she was very pleased when the mayor came to the Sciortino victory party to congratulate him and then supported him in the general election when Ciampa ran a sticker campaign, she said.

In the next year, Gewirtz hopes the mayor will pursue smart growth policies, especially at the Assembly Square Mall and concentrate on the city’s poor air quality, she said.

“Being the mayor of a very densely populated city is not easy, but I hope in the next year, he does the right things,” she said.

State Rep. Timothy J. Toomey Jr., D-Somerville, said the mayor gave a great speech.  “He has an excellent vision for the city.”

“It was a vigorous speech,” said State Rep. Patricia D. Jehlen, D-Somerville.  There were many worthy points in the address, she said.

When the mayor discussed commercial development, he said, “We’re moving on several fronts at once, trying to harness our many advantages.

“We’ve hung a sign over Somerville that says, “We’re open for business,” he said.

Stephen Mackey, the president of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce, said Curtatone has brought tremendous energy and direction to the city.

“He has made economic development a priority, not just Assembly Square, but in the rest of the city, including the Inner Belt, Union Square and East Broadway,” he said.

After the mayor’s address, but before the meeting was adjourned, Alderman White called for a moment of silence for the victims of the Dec. 26 death wave that raced across the Indian Ocean.  White is the chairman of a Jan. 14 fundraiser for the victims, which will be sponsored by The Somerville News at Union Square’s Toast Lounge.

After the meeting was officially closed, everyone was invited to a reception, which capped the evening.  Sciortino, whose first day in office is today, said after the speech, “Tonight, is a night to be proud of Somerville and our elected officials.”