Reality Bites for the week of Oct. 4

Don‚Äôt like what‚Äôs going on in this city?  Go fluff yourself
   

I spend a lot more time than most people in a lot of different cities and towns in the Commonwealth as a result of my main source of income ‚Äì as a real estate appraiser.  I can tell you from personal experience that every one of them has their own little idiosyncrasies, putting it mildly.  Some are family and group event driven, some are industry driven, some are college driven and then the rest seem to be politically driven.

   Somerville has always been known for its politics ‚Äì and not in a good way.  You would think that with the advent of the so-called ‚ÄúProgressives‚Äù in local and regional office and the overall change in demographic composition (like how I put that?) over the last twenty years, that we would have been able to shake the bad reputation as a city of dirty politics.
   It might not be ‚Äúdirty‚Äù anymore, but man it ain‚Äôt clean sometimes.
   Outsiders don‚Äôt get to see any of the good things that go on here ‚Äì instead, they laugh at us over Assembly Square, the silly Clerk of Courts signage debacle, the missing desk, the missing money from Traffic and Parking and a whole lot more.  It‚Äôs not fair.
   Somerville needs a lot of things ‚Äì long term/long range planning for community development, a new police station, properly funded police and fire departments and a list of other things I don‚Äôt want to bother harping on.  What this City needs right now is a good PR person.  I‚Äôm not talking about a mouthpiece for the Administration ‚Äì Tom Champion does a fine job in his role ‚Äì I‚Äôm talking about creating a better public image.
   I‚Äôm talking about making decisions that visually improve our appearance to people looking to live here, who have to drive through here, who do business here.
   If we are going to take a long time to debate the illegal immigrant day laborers ‚Äì I might not agree with it ‚Äì but okay, how about we at least get them away from the busiest intersection in the entire State?  That might be a good start.
   No offense to Mayor Joe, but when there‚Äôs a couple dozen trees felled by high winds (as there were in about 10 other communities), could we not go on regional television and ask the Governor, who hates our guts by the way, to declare Somerville a Disaster Area?  Staying away from that kind of laughable recognition might be another good way to improve our image.
   I say ‚ÄúLess is More‚Äù a lot these days and I am beginning to think it would be a great application to what we as a community have been involved with recently.  It wouldn‚Äôt take much to move the large crowd of people out of plain view in the morning, would it?  How about we watch what we say in the regional press and on television?
   There is a great domino effect to be realized when we create a feel-good atmosphere on a community level.  Publicly supporting and pushing programs like the Arts Council, Som/Dog, Books for Hope ‚Äì even the Bicycle Committee ‚Äì these are things that won‚Äôt cost a lot of money to put out there, but are worth the investment of time and energy.
   I am ribbed a lot by my family and friends because I don‚Äôt personally get out to public events and stay way under the radar in my office in Ball Square.  I use the excuse that I work a lot, which I do, but at the end of the day it‚Äôs just an excuse.  What‚Äôs your excuse?
   I‚Äôm sorry I missed the best local event this year ‚Äì What the Fluff? ‚Äì but I did manage to pry myself away from work for a very brief period of time at the Paws for Parks event held by Som/Dog the other day and although I left just before it started, I felt good about being there, supporting the event (through my wife mostly) and I was seen in public.
   Oh the horror.  I think we as a community should really get behind the more public events that shape how people view us from the outside ‚Äì it will get us to feel better about ourselves, keep us from saying too much and maybe, just maybe, change the way people look at Somerville.  I have a dream.