The All America City designation by the National
Civic League was created 60 years ago. Each year for the past several
years, two dozen or so communities from across the country have been
selected as finalists based on the hundreds of award applications
received each year by the NCL.

The City of Somerville was a
finalist in this competition last year, but fell just short – coming in
11th place – the top 10 communities are awarded the designation of All
America City each year. The last time Somerville was awarded this
designation (1972), the Mayor was S. Lester Ralph.

This year's
finalists typically created job opportunities through various methods,
revitalized their business and residential districts, reduced crime,
created more cooperative working environments between public and
private entities – overall, they have displayed innovation through
engagement, collaboration and cooperative endeavors .

According
to the National Civic League, each applicant and subsequent finalist
completed a detailed award application documenting three community
projects that address local challenges such as job creation/economic
development, environmental sustainability, neighborhood revitalization
and disaster recovery. One of the key factors in Somerville being
chosen as a finalist this year was the city administration's adoption
of "SomerStat," a statistically driven process in which the public can
engage city officials and staff about problems, needs and efficiency.
This process was originated and developed in Baltimore, where it was
wildly successful in saving municipal costs there in a very short
period of time, which increased response time of city departments to
resident needs. The twist on Somerville's version of this process, is
that "human interaction" is still a vital part, even though the process
is predominately data-driven.

This year's contingent from
Somerville included elected officials, city employees, business owners
and residents. The overall theme Somerville chose was "Improved
Communication." The skit presentation chosen for the head-to-head
competition was how the development of the Green Line Extension will
affect the sustainability of Somerville for the foreseeable future. The
group traveled to Tampa on Wednesday morning and will be arriving back
in Somerville on Saturday afternoon.