New plan for Magoun Square, what plan?

By George P. Hassett

    A plan to revitalize Magoun Square, four years in the making, has been scrapped by Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone in favor of an unnamed and unfinished project expected to cost twice as much.
   Neighborhood activist Joseph P. Lynch said the shortcomings in Magoun Square will not be fixed as long as the plans remain vague and incomplete. And the entire city will suffer, he said.
   “A lot of people are concerned with the direction this administration is going in. There is a lack of information coming out into the community. Where were the public meetings? Where was the alderman (Sean T. O’Donovan) in all of this? Who is he working for? The Mayor or the people who elected him into office?” said Lynch.

    O’Donovan did not return a phone call this week.
    Curtatone said there was no need to hold a community meeting.
    “That would have been pre-mature. To put it before the public would not have made sense,” he said. “We cancelled a plan that would have led to minor enhancements. The project did not meet the needs and demands of that neighborhood. No money was lost. We are still committed to revitalizing Magoun Square.”   
      The original plan, slated to cost $540,000, would beautify the square and improve motor vehicle access and traffic patterns, said Lynch.
      Curtatone said he deemed these improvements insufficient and nixed the plan for a more ambitious one featuring road re-engineering, new crosswalks and revised traffic patterns.
     James G. Kostaras, executive director of Strategic Planning and Community Development, said the funding was derived from a combination of state aid from the Massachusetts Highway     Department and federal block grants. He said the funds will still be available for use by the city when it finalizes its new plan for Magoun Square.
    But Lynch and several Magoun Square merchants are angry at the sudden shift in planning for their neighborhood.
    “To take $500,000 and use it for an imaginary, unnamed scheme seems mighty strange to me. I think it is very misguided to ask the neighborhood and a group of merchants who have been waiting almost five years to sit back and watch as we go through this process again,” said Lynch. “I disagree with these grand schemes. Development in this city should not be based on the whims of an administration. The only things I see getting attention and funding are [Curtatone’s] pet projects in Union Square.”
    Larry Siraco, proprietor of Magoun Square’s Siraco Sharpening Service, said the change in plans may be a way to neglect the needs of Magoun Square.
   “Sounds to me like [Curtatone] is going to use this as a way to spend that money elsewhere. Certain parts of Magoun Square are really hurting for some help like this,” said Siraco.
    Curtatone contended the development will be financed by 2006, and it will lead to major improvements for the neighborhood’s traffic patterns and physical appearance.
    But Lynch said the Mayor’s plan is one that no one has seen and thus, can not be counted on to be an improvement over the original.
    “There is no downtown Somerville. Davis Square and Union Square can be successful commercial districts, but they are not downtown Boston. Those two squares alone can not support this city. This city is a chain link of commercial squares that feed into one another. The weaknesses in one affect them all,” he said.
     Curtatone maintained that the current path is the wisest.