By John Kudlicka

The president of the Board of Aldermen spoke at the Feb. 22 contributors’ meeting of The Somerville News, held at Davis Square’s Mr. Crepe shop.

“Everybody told me that you can’t take things personally when you get into politics, but the second I stop taking things personally, I’m not going to be the alderman anymore,” said Ward 7 Alderman Robert C. Trane.

Trane’s said that development is one of the key issues he is dealing with now. He spoke about both commercial development issues and civic infrastructure problems and solutions.

Regarding the dilapidated public safety building Trane said he “would not want to work there,” but stopped short of suggesting that the building should be immediately evacuated.

“I think it’s an embarrassment more than an emergency. It affects morale. If it isn’t causing sickness, just the idea that it is will psychologically affect people,” he said.

The idea of bringing a jail into Somerville would not be worth the free police station that would come with it, he said.  ‚ÄúWe‚Äôll get a police station, but we‚Äôre going to have to live with a jail for 100 years? I don‚Äôt think so,‚Äù he said.  Trane also said public safety offices in Somerville need to be consolidated into one building.

As Union Square is redeveloped, he said, more options will be open, and with so many different offices in different buildings all over the city, it would be advantageous to move them all into one building.

‚ÄúIt would be much more convenient for the constituents if we could put most of these offices in one building.   Plus we are spending so much money on heat and electricity in all these different buildings, it just makes sense to consolidate into one main office building.‚Äù

He is open to the possibility of a public-private partnership, he said.  Trane said that commercial space is another hot issue.  ‚ÄúThe problem is, we have a really small commercial space. One of the ways to deal with that is to build higher, and to do that we would have to change the zoning a bit,‚Äù he said.

“It’s going to be a huge issue. I think you have to build higher, we have a heavy population and there is limited space available. I’m not talking huge towers, I’m talking six- to eight- stories.”

Trane said he supports the idea of building a hotel in Davis Square.  He also spoke about budgetary concerns. He said that health care for municipal employees and the cities energy bill are both are soaring and that since Former Governor Romney ‚Äúwas cooking the books,‚Äù the cities local aid is likely to be level funded this year.  ‚ÄúI walked into the perfect storm,‚Äù he said, ‚Äúwe got croaked.‚Äù

But the city has been forced to make tough decisions before.  When local aid was under funded the first year after Romney took office it was particularly hard when jobs had to be cut, he said.

“It’s not just a job; it’s not just a line in the budget. I know these guys,” he said

Trane said that the alternative energy is another one of his major concerns with the city. He said he is currently looking at many different types of energy sources, particularly wind turbines. When he visi-ted Hull he found their wind turbine impressive.  ‚ÄúI fish underneath the turbine there and the sound is barely noticeable. The high school out there is powered entirely by a windmill, and they ended up selling the surplus of power back to the grid,‚Äù he said

Somerville would be ideal for wind power, he said. “Along route 93, there is a strip covered in trash not used, it would be ideal for a wind turbine.”

‚ÄúWe get all that pollution out there, we should probably get something out of it,‚Äù he said.  Trane said that there are many options for energy, and he is looking at them carefully.

He was elected president of the board in January, and said that it can be hard because now all eyes are on him. “I’m one month into the job, and I’m getting ready to walk the plank,” he said, laughing.