By Melanie Cordova

After almost two decades of turmoil, the long awaited extension of the Green Line into Somerville and Medford appears to finally be on its way. The project is expected to improve both the city’s economic and environmental conditions. However, some Somerville organizations, such as Somerville Community Corporation, are considering possible dilemmas that the Green Line’s arrival may bring.

‚ÄúUnion Square is the next bubble neighborhood for gentrification,‚Äù SCC’s CEO, Daniel LeBlanc said at Friday’s Somerville News contributors meeting. Established as a consumer advocacy center 40 years ago, SCC has evolved into Somerville’s only community development organization with a large focus on developing affordable housing, he said.

According to Reconnect America, a national non-profit organization that works to integrate transportation systems and the surrounding communities, new rail stops bring very large land use changes in an area. Although this might mean new business for Somerville, SCC’s concern is that the changes might also displace long-term residents.

‚ÄúAt some point, there will be so much development that it will be a runaway train,‚Äù LeBlanc said, ‚Äúif you don’t have plans for affordable housing then, it will be a problem later on.‚Äù

To prevent it from becoming a larger challenge later on, LeBlanc said SCC is considering buying as many properties as they can around the area if they can get the funding for it privately, “so as the market takes off we can maintain affordable housing.”

LeBlanc said he started as a community organizer in Somerville in 1977 with Somerville United Neighborhoods. In those days, he said, Somerville was an affordable community that housed white working class residents almost exclusively. He said the community organizers of the 1970s would not have expected Somerville to become such a desirable, and expensive, place to live.