Reducing the length of commercial vacancies is but one of the goals of the city’s Anti-Displacement Small Business Committee.

By Jeffrey Shwom

It has been almost 18 months since the City of Somerville originally began seeking community members to join one of three Displacement Committees as part of the Anti-Displacement Task Force. While information concerning residential displacement, including rent stabilization listening sessions and consideration of a State Legislature petition, has been shared and efforts have been tracked more formally on the Task Forces website, information concerning the Small Business/Enterprise Displacement Committee’s specific recommendations have yet to be updated publicly since May.

In April 2023, the city, in response to pressing matters like historic high rents, displacement and affordability issues, convened a year-long Anti-Displacement Task Force to “research and recommend policies to prevent residential displacement (and) to advocate for a wider range of the Somerville community, including small business displacement and cultural displacement.” The goal of this task force was to “develop programming and policy recommendations that aim to equitably reduce the rate of displacement of people who live in, have businesses in, or make up the cultural fabric of the city.”

The Residential Displacement Committee has been in wide view and efforts at the local level have transitioned to focus on a 2023 Rent Stabilization Home Rule Petition titled “Authorizing the City of Somerville to Regulate Rent in Residential Dwelling Units,” that was sent to State Legislators in late 2023/early 2024. The Small Business/Enterprise Committee has had less updates shared publicly to date.

This Committee includes dedicated community stakeholders like Committee Co-Chair and All She Wrote Books owner Christina Pascucci-Ciampa, La Brasa owner Daniel Bojorquez, El Potro Mexican Grill owner Joe Carreiro, Senior Economic Development Planner Ted Fields, and Union Square Main Street Executive Director Jessica Eshleman.

At least two Items have been considered as part of this committee’s feedback to and coordination with Economic Development: publishing a multilingual Commercial Tenant Toolkit, to increase knowledge about small business leasing commercial property, and a possible amendment to Somerville’s Vacant Storefront Ordinance.

Luis Quizhpe, Strategic Planning and Equity Manager, told The Times that the city has engaged with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) to create the Toolkit and that an “Amendment of Vacant Storefront Ordinance,” similar to Arlington and Lowell ordinances, could help reduce the length of commercial vacancies by revising Somerville’s current ordinance with stronger penalties to property owners with unused storefronts.

When asked about timing for finalizing these two recommendations, along with others, Quizphe said that they are still in the drafting phase. “A full document won’t likely be released until January 2025,” 20 months after the initial formation of the committee. When asked why there has been a delay, Quizhpe indicated, “committees needed additional time to finalize recommendation drafting (and due to) staffing capacity” within Economic Development. The presentation of recommendations was originally scheduled for May 2024.

Quizhpe indicated that a public release of all of the Task Force’s recommendations is waiting to be approved by the mayor, with hopes for a large November 2024 public meeting featuring “the screening of our displacement stories short film project, a presentation of our findings and recommendations, and a roundtable discussion with committee members.” A summary of findings with visual images is also hoped to be presented at this meeting as well. 

According to the city’s request for community members to serve back in April 2023, all committees would meet monthly and the whole Task Force would meet four times between May 2023 and May 2024. However, public videos do not continue past the February 15, 2024 meeting, where findings of students from the Harvard Kennedy School, John F. Kennedy School of Government’s strategic study called “Mitigating Small Business Displacement in Somerville, MA” was presented.

On May 7, 2024, when updates were requested by Councilors Pineda Neufeld, Councilor Scott and Councilor Wilson, the city’s Director of Economic Development, Rachel Nadkarni, acknowledged to the City Council “how little protection there is for commercial tenants, partly because of a lack of understanding of how to work with leases.” Senior Planner Ted Fields updated the City Council that the Small Business Committee was continuing its work at that time.

The third committee under the Anti-Displacement Task Force was concerned with Cultural Displacement, like artists and musicians.