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© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)
By Jack Connolly
Jackconnolly422@gmail.com
For well over a year, Davis Sq merchants, employees, area residents, and passersby on the way to the T station have constantly alerted the city with 311 calls, emails to elected officials, and in person meetings with city staffers, to the myriad number of ongoing problems in the Davis Sq area. What’s happening, one might inquire?
How about addicts routinely injecting themselves midday in the Davis Sq. Plaza, unhoused people camping out on Meacham St. next to Bright Horizon Day Care, some unhoused people living under a tarp on the Path, while other individuals squabble and scream at all hours over drug deals gone bad and who knows what else? How about CVS locking up personal care item shelves due to wholesale daily brazen shoplifting, or how about the overflowing trash barrels in the plaza, and how about the wholesale littering of the Davis Sq. Plaza by the day trippers’ sitting and lounging on the subway light shaft opposite 7-Eleven?
It finally took two violent stabbings within 5 days of each other right in the middle of Davis Sq. to get the city ‘s attention, especially since local TV and radio stations have reported the violence.
Join the dozens of concerned Davis Square residents, business owners, employees and patrons of Davis Square businesses who already plan on attending the Wednesday night October 9 meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Baptist Church at 31 College Avenue.
The mayor, police, chief, and other city officials will be there to engage the Davis Sq. Community.
Let’s hope they abandon the routine Ward community meetings agenda where there is a long speech by the mayor, and then introduction of department heads with a few questions; The Davis sq. Community deserves to hear early in the meeting what the city is planning to do about the Davis Sq. problems, and take all the questions and concerns from the attendees without a long delay.
The mayor and her city team should be prepared to inform the public of what the plan is to make Davis Square safer for all; The last time I checked, isn’t the primary responsibility of the government to provide for public safety?
Plan on going to tell the city folks you concern, your complaints, and what you feel day to day, as you go about your business in and around Davis Sq.
Plan on asking why the only time you seem to see public safety officials in Davis Sq. is when there is an overdose, and Narcan must be administered, as was the case last Friday in the middle of the afternoon.
Plan on asking why there are so many empty store fronts in Davis Square?
Plan on asking why the two development projects in Davis Sq. by Scape and Asana are on hold?
Before everybody leaves the meeting, someone better plan on asking, who is going to oversee and be responsible for making Davis Square safe again?
(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).
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I’d prefer to remain anonymous with this, but as a young commuter who frequents the square to go to College, it’s an understatement as to how concerning the state of Davis is. Last Friday, I was harassed and threatened violence by a group of junkies, being essentially forced to give them $40 lest I ended up getting stabbed.
Things need to change, and I appreciate you bringing attention to it.
Is it any coincidence that soon after this was published the meeting has been rescheduled to October 21?
I’ve been waiting for the usual clown car of naysayers to pull up and refute what Jack has stated here. So far though… nothing?
And Jack – the article just published by the Times states that there will be a “20-minute Q & A session”. 20 minutes! In other words, business as usual for Davis Sq business owners and constituents. Assuming this “meeting” actually happens at all.
Wow, Jack, you sound an awful lot like a Republican. Maybe it’s time for you to make the switch to the good side.
I’d like to correct some things from Johnny Dee’s comment:
The Davis Square public safety meeting was *not* rescheduled to October 21. The *Ward 6 community meeting* was rescheduled for October 21. The original October 9 time slot was repurposed to focus exclusively on Davis Square public safety issues.
The 20-minute Q&A mentioned in the article is for the end of the Ward 6 meeting, which covers many topics. There’s no reason to be cynical about this meeting not happening; the Ward 7 one has already happened as have a bunch of other ward meetings and city-wide in Portuguese. I actually went to the Ward 7 meeting, and they also took a question or two after each presentation. People had questions on a lot of topics, but half the audience was concerned about public safety in parks, so that’s probably why they’ve made a whole meeting dedicated to nothing but that.
“Business as usual” in Somerville from what I see is a city government that’s remarkably accessible and goes out of its way to engage with residents. At the end of the Ward 7 meeting, the mayor and the police reps promised to stay until every single constituent had a chance to personally ask any remaining questions. They had already been there for about 3 hours, with the opportunity to mingle at the beginning of the meeting as well. If you want to speak to one of your elected municipal officials about this or any other issue and haven’t, I don’t think the problem is at their end.
Wow, Christine. Maybe it’s time for you to snap out of it.
Why do you have to be a “Republican” to be concerned with drug addicts openly shooting up in a public area, along with harassing and ultimately stabbing someone. I am a life long resident and true blue democrat and I agree totally with Mr. Connolly’s’ concerns and the city’s total lack of concern about the residents of Somerville. Davis Square has become a cesspool and that is very disheartening.
As I have attended some of these community meetings to discuss my concerns and I found them to be nothing more than lip service to appease residents and as usual nothing changes, so the problem is not at “their” end, it’s on the Mayor’s office.