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By Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone

Taking a closer look at notable city data—and interesting numbers. 

Highest summer Parks and Recreation program participation in 5 years: Summer recreation programs are important community assets that benefit our youth in a number of ways. They keep participant’s minds and bodies active during those out-of-school months, allow them to explore new interests, give them the opportunity to socialize with friends, and can even build self-confidence.

In Somerville, we have top-notch summer (and year-round) recreation programming, like the new Sprout Sports or the expanded Police Academy, STEM, Tennis, Canoeing, and Girls Challenger Soccer programs, just to name a few. And this year we saw participation in summer recreation reach a five-year high with 2,119 participants joining in on the fun.

To learn more about Somerville Parks and Recreation facilities and programming, visit www.somervillerec.com.

Nearly 33,000 pounds of recycled textiles collected: I’ve written here before about the astonishing 14.3 million tons of clothing that ends up in landfills across the country each year. In late July, Somerville began offering a program to residents to help us all do our part to change this. In August, the first full month of the City’s Curbside Textile Recycling program, 32,822 pounds of textiles were collected from Somerville curbs. That means nearly 33,000 pounds of textiles (or more than 16 tons) were diverted from landfills or from contaminating single stream recycling. Thank you for making the effort to recycle your old clothes, shoes, and more, everyone.

The Curbside Textile Recycling program will continue to run on regularly scheduled trash and recycling pickup days. For more information on the program and what it accepts for recycling, visit www.somervillema.gov/textilerecycling. To request more bags, learn more about what items can be recycled or what happens to the textiles once they are picked up, visit www.simplerecycling.com.

16,442 early voters: During the City’s first ever early voting period in 2016, more than 16,000 Somervillians – approximately 32 percent of all voters that year – made their way to City Hall to cast their vote in the presidential election. Early voting is back this year for the second time, and I want to challenge you to help us surpass that number. Vote early at City Hall from October 22 to November 2 (hours vary by day). As additional reminders, the deadline to register to vote, whether you vote early or on the November 6^th Election Day is Wednesday, October 17.

To learn more about this year’s election, including early voting hours and ballot information, visit www.somervillema.gov/elections.

Openings available on 8 essential City Boards and Commissions: While Boards and Commissions may seem like secret clubs that meet in dusty, old halls to discuss arcane rules, they actually are just groups of advocates, motivated residents, and business leaders who put in a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make important decisions and give useful advice to City officials and staff on a variety of topics.

Currently, there are openings on eight essential City Boards and Commissions: Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, Somerville Historic Preservation Commission, Design Review Committee, Somerville Redevelopment Authority, Condo Review Board, Fair Housing Commission, and the Somerville Affordable Housing Trust.

If you have been looking for ways to get more involved in your community and have skills and interests that you believe will benefit the groups, I encourage you to apply. Applications for each of the vacancies are due Monday, October 18. Visit www.somervillema.gov/commissionopenings for more information on each opening and instructions for how to apply.

Data-based decision making is at the core of how the City of Somerville develops policy and sets priorities. Every day we check the latest 311 stats, and throughout the week we meet for in-depth review of departmental data and city trends. The Data Download column shares some of the data we’ve been reviewing recently, as well as interesting updates. To see more Somerville Data, visit the online Somerville Data Farm at www.somervillema.gov/datafarm.