The current home to the Somerville Media Center and the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers in Union Square. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Fernando Cervantes Jr.

In operation since 1983, the Somerville Media Center (SMC) has been providing public access to media to Somerville residents for the last 40 years. Since the beginning, the station has been operating out of the old fire station at Union Square.

Originally called SCAT or Somerville Community Access Television, the station proudly boasts its show Dead Air Live, the longest-running community access television show in the United States.

But with the redevelopment of Union Square, and after Mayor Katjana Ballantyne informed both the Somerville Media Center and the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers to move out of the building by the end of January, it was subsequently moved to the end of April, the station’s future seems in doubt.

This came ahead last week’s meeting of the Somerville City Council, where members called for Mayor Ballantyne to reverse her decision regarding the building at Union Square and help the organization find a new permanent home.

In a fiery meeting last Thursday, City Council members expressed their immense disapproval of the plans currently in place.

Councilor Matt McLaughlin from Ward 1 talked about what the Somerville Media Center meant to him and his past experiences there.

“I was fortunate to have someone, to have an organization to intervene and give me something positive. So that’s why it’s something that’s very important to me. To keep the Somerville Media Center in Somerville and to find an actual home for them,” said McLaughlin.

Councilor JT Scott from Ward 2 further expressed his disapproval of the current state of the building and the long-running maintenance problems the building has seen, from leaky roofs to other major problems.

“The neglect of public realm and public goods is to the point where the only option is to privatize them. To have them so neglected that even residents or the non-profits within them beg to have them privatized just to see them maintained,” said Scott.

Councilor Scott also highlighted the conditions that the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers endure in their space within the building.

“I saw where these people at this incredibly vital non-profit serving the immigrant community here in Somerville, Portuguese, Brazilian, they’re working in conditions that can generally be described as squalid,” said Scott.

Councilor McLaughlin also described the current relationship between the city and the SMC as an “absentee landlord/tenant” relationship. Moreover, he also went on to talk about the plans to place a new non-profit called “FabLab” in the same space.

“This is displacement, this is gentrification. You have a sexy, affluent, new non-profit. Let’s move out the old non-profit and make room for the new. It’s just unacceptable to me,” said McLaughlin.

Moreover, Councilor McLaughlin also talked about what could happen if the Somerville Media Center is evicted without a permanent home.

“I will be damned if we replace the Media Center with the FabLab and just go on about our day. We only have one thing in our wheelhouse, which is, eventually they’ll be asking us for some kind of approval for the FabLab and I’m not supporting anything,” said McLaughlin.

In an email from the Executive Director of the Somerville Media Center, Kat Powers, she expressed her gratitude for the support the City Council and members of the community have expressed for them.

“We’re grateful for the support the Council has shown us, particularly our former students, Matt McLaughlin and Jesse Clingan,” Powers said. “We just want to make sure we’re around for the next 40 years to help give opportunities to Somerville kids who will someday become our leaders, maybe even become our city councilors.”