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By Jack Connolly
Jackconnolly422@gmail.com

Nearly 100 concerned residents survived a two-hour City of Somerville multi-department infomercial last Thursday night at the Community Baptist Church.

Mayor Ballantyne was joined by nearly a dozen city officials and staffers, including Chief of the Fire Dept., a captain and a detective from the Police Department, the City Elections Commissioner, the Transportation and Infrastructure Director, and other city department members. A good guess would conclude there had to be close to a quarter of $1 million in Somerville city salaries in the meeting. Ward 6 City Councilor Lance Davis was on hand, and City Councilor At-Large Jake Wilson also joined after a City Hall committee meeting.

In her nearly 20 minutes of remarks, Mayor Ballantyne inquired how many attending have lived in Somerville for two years, five or less, 10 to 15 years, more, 15 to 20 years, and finally how many lifers? A handful of us raised our hands to polite applause.

The mayor also asked how many people used a bicycle, how many people had an electric car, and how many people used public transportation, all to a show of various hands after each request.

What the mayor did not ask was how many Davis Square area residents and small businesses were happy with the deteriorating condition of Davis Square?

Mayor Ballantyne also did not ask what people think of all the parking spaces that had been removed from College Avenue and Holland Street in the last few months for the installation of bus and/or bike lanes.

The mayor also didn’t ask how the small businesses on those streets were doing without nearby parking, many spaces that had existed for over seventy years. The mayor did not ask what the Ward 6 residents thought about the lack of community policing in the greater Davis Square area.

Captain Jim Donovan from the Somerville Police Department offered later in the meeting that the lack of community policing was “due to budget cuts.” Captain Donovan also offered that citywide crime (homicide, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny, and arson) has increased 10% over one year, and 11% over two years.

In Ward 6, those same crime incidents increased by 5%.

Mayor Ballantyne and her city team stuck to the same script as has been used in previous ward community meetings, including handing out printed images of slides shown during the meeting (difficult to read due to the small type).

City Engineer Postlewaite advised the crowd that the city passed on a previous plan to improve and repair Davis Square “because of the high contract bid prices received.” Does anyone think it is going to be any cheaper now?

Senior Planner Victor Nascimento promised that in January 2023 the previous Davis Square Neighborhood Plan focus has been narrowed to include only the core area of Davis Sq., now known as the Davis Square Commercial Area Plan. Not a lot of info detailing the two major Davis Square commercial projects (Asana and Scape), already approved by the city, for additional stories of office/lab space on Day and Elm Streets was revealed at the meeting. The one sure thing revealed was that all merchants but the Burren (247 Elm St.) would be displaced during the construction: How likely is it that we will see other Elm St. shops like McKinnon’s, Sligo Pub, Dragon Pizza, and others, will return to the renovated building?

We may not know about that, but one thing should be certain: A lot more meetings should be occurring in the weeks and months ahead with the future of Davis Sq. at stake.

Mayor Ballantyne’s predecessor mayor had an annual city budget of approximately $100 million dollars. Mayor Ballantyne has a current annual budget of approximately $300 million dollars, and more staff than any previous administration.

Isn’t it time Davis Square becomes a major economic redevelopment priority for this mayor and City Council? According to Acting Office of Special Planning and Community Development Acting Director Tom Galligani at a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting, “There are over 60 staffers in that OSPCD Dept.”

Might be a good time for the city to dedicate more than a few of those staffers to renovate and improve the current sad shape of Davis Square. Davis Square deserves at least that much.

Jack Connolly is a native Somervillian, a Davis Sq. resident and insurance agent: He is also a former Somerville Ward Six and At Large Alderman (known now as City Councilor).