The View From Prospect Hill for the week of April 19

The neo-socialists of Somerville are going too far. It is impossible to enter into any type of money-making enterprise within this city’s limits without running into paralyzing roadblocks of permits and fees.
Last month the Board of Aldermen approved a home rule petition that would double the amount contractor’s must pay to the city for police details during construction. This week, a proposal is before aldermen to increase the fees and paper work a homeowner must trudge through before they can convert their property into condominiums.

    Somerville is a community of dense neighborhoods, with too little commercial space to support its people. If a homeowner decides to leave the rental market and sell a piece of the property he or she owns, why should the city be so disagreeable as to throw fee after fee and permit after permit at its entrepreneurial resident? If the resident converts the property into condominiums, the tax assessment goes up, the city receives more revenue and there is more money for city services.
    Our elected officials and the Somerville Community Corporation already do a lot to increase affordable housing, protecting tenant rights and encouraging home ownership in the city. They should be commended for their work. But they shouldn‚Äôt interfere with the rights of homeowners and their property. And they should not turn Somerville into some bearded socialist town, where a profit can never be made.