Ward 3 Alderman Bob McWatters has big plans for improving the quality of life for his constituents as he begins his tenure on the Board of Alderman.

By Max Sullivan

Newly elected Ward 3 Alderman Bob McWatters said he sees property tax as an issue for Somerville residents. Though he said it’s difficult to lower taxes while maintaining quality government services, he hopes he can help Somerville bring in more commercial property owners, removing some of the property tax burden from the residents’ shoulders.

McWatters said he is aware Somerville has become an increasingly desirable place to live in the Boston area. According to Trulia.com, the average price per square foot in Somerville has increased by 16 percent from this same time last year.

What concerns McWatters is that working class and lower class people who grew up in Somerville are being forced to move out as it becomes more and more expensive to live here.

The solution, he said, can be found in the example set by neighboring Cambridge, which he pointed out is made up of roughly 75 percent commercially owned property. Somerville is only made up of about 15 percent commercial property, he said. Cambridge’s commercial property owners, the city’s majority, take much of the tax burden off of the town’s residents.

“We don’t have that luxury,” McWatters said, referring to the amount of businesses in Somerville.

McWatters admitted that Somerville is “nowhere near” where Cambridge is when it comes to how much business it is home to, calling Somerville “the poorer sister,” but the new alderman expects the coming Union Square T stop and the recent growth of Assembly Square to bring in businesses from outside the city.

McWatters, who has been working in public service for 30 years, including his current work as a probation officer, also hopes to encourage the police to become more proactive in working with the community.

Two issues have surfaced recently that McWatters said he believes are indirectly correlated: home break-ins and substance abuse. McWatters is aware of these through his work as a probation officer. He said many of the drug addicts and alcoholics living in Somerville sometimes resort to breaking into homes and robbing to support their habit.

“People who are suffering from some of these addictions… to support their habits, they’re breaking into homes,” he said. “That is something I want to sit down with the police department.”

In order to address these issues, including getting local drug users off of their addictions, he hopes to put more police officers on bicycles, allowing for a more personal connection with residents. McWatters acknowledged that this form of policing is currently being implemented, but he hopes the police force can become even more proactive than they currently are through this method.

“I’m also a big proponent of community policing, which I think is really important not only for the entire city but in particular Ward 3,” he said. “The residents would feel more comfortable with an officer on a bike, you know, being in the neighborhood. When an officer is driving around in his police car, yes, he can get out and walk for a while, but if you have an officer on a bike he gets to know the youth, he gets to know the residents, people in the ward and develops more of a relationship, more of an interpersonal relationship with these people.”

McWatters initially had no particular aspirations for the position of alderman, but when his predecessor, Tom Taylor, announced he would not be running for re-election, McWatters decided to run. He said he’s aware that he’s filling big shoes. Taylor served for 26 years.

McWatters appreciated Taylor’s hands-on approach to the position, as well as his ability to maintain his authenticity, never being one to give in easily to City Hall’s will.

“He made a lot of tough decisions that weren’t necessarily in the flow,” McWatters said, “but he had the ward’s interest at heart, and I think sometimes the administrations, the mayors who were in power, often shook their heads, but they knew that he was representing the people who lived in Ward 3, not City Hall.”

McWatters hopes to act in a similar way while in office.

“It’s not going to be an easy task because I’m taking over for an alderman who was in the position 26 years. If I can do half as good of a job as he did, I’ll be successful.”

(Part 1 of a series of interviews with the new aldermen sworn in this month. Look for more interviews in the upcoming issues of The Somerville Times.)