Joseph A. Curtatone took the oath of office as Mayor of Somerville for the fifth time on Monday night. – Photo by Donald Norton

By Andrew Firestone

In his fifth inauguration, Mayor Joseph Curtatone gave his “State of the City” address, with a feel both optimistic but acknowledging of the challenges ahead. Above all, said Curtatone, was the need to understand Somerville’s place as a highly desirable urban community, and the need to move forward.

Among other milestones, Curtatone said that the city should feel gratitude to the Board of Aldermen who have acted as “steadfast guardians of our fiduciary future.” The BOA voted in May to approve a $25.7 million bond for Assembly Square.

“Here in Somerville, we stand ready to make such an investment precisely because we have worked together to forge a consensus on our shared values and priorities, and because we understand that the private sector simply cannot put a project like this together on its own.”

“Assembly Square’s most valuable and defining feature is that it will be a Somerville neighborhood,” he said, adding that it “will succeed not because it is a clone of other smart-growth projects around the country, but because it will become another one of the dynamic, engaging, diverse and magnificent neighborhoods that are the strength and pride of our special city.”

Curtatone noted that recent and ongoing fiscal responsibility saw the ratings agency raise their rating of Somerville from ‘A+’ to ‘AA-‘ in 2011.

While the enhancement may have been because of sound proactive votes, “[S & P] are also recognizing us for the things we haven’t done. “We haven’t over-leveraged our resources with ill-considered borrowing, and we haven’t squandered our financial reserves to pay for current operating expenses, nor will we.”

Curtatone also addressed the recent controversy the erupted due to the application by a local parents group for a new charter school. He reiterated his devotion to the education of Somerville’s youth in the public school system, where he has four of his own children. “Our children are our future skilled workers, our future leaders and managers, our future customers and our future neighbors,” he said.

“Their success touches every aspect of our lives, from economic growth to property values to residential quality of life.”

He also voiced his support for the school system itself. “Our teachers, our School Committee, our Superintendent and his administrative team can take pride in our rising MCAS scores, in Standard and Poor’s rating of Somerville as a top-performing urban school district, and in the improved English skills of our ELL students, whose performance is significantly better than the state average,” he said, referencing recent studies which revealed Somerville’s ELL population, and their progress in terms of state tests for their subgroup.

“But we can do much, much more.”

“And one of the best ways to accelerate our school’s performance is for all of us – schools, city government, parents, business leadership, residents of all backgrounds – to form a united front in tackling the challenges our children face,” he said, noting that the emergence of the parents group Progress Together for Somerville had seemingly come to pick up that slack in the school’s moment of need.

“Although this group was developed in part to oppose the current charter proposal, I know that many of the Progress Together parents are prepared to roll up their sleeves and use their energy and expertise to help the Schools make more exponential leaps in achievement,” he said, pointing to the work of community leaders “like Ruth Ronen, Meghan Bouchard, and Michael Chiu have shown us the energy and passion that exists in the city.”

“We need to tap into their energy and creativity in order to move beyond the steady, incremental success of the past decade, and to embark upon a far more ambitious and aggressive education agenda.”

So my message to every resident and business owner, every advocate and community leader is a simple one: if you don’t think you have a direct personal stake in the quality of our schools and the life outcomes of our young people, then think again.”

We are all accountable on this issue.”

“And, above all, let us continue to work together, in mutual recognition and support, to build a prosperous, healthy and sustainable future based on shared values.”