Union Square concerns

Concerned over the pace of the Union Square redevelopment process, organizations, residents and local businesses have been organizing: circulating talking points, a petition and lists of priorities.

Meetings related to the Union Square redevelopment have been public, and many documents – including the Union Square Development Plan and the Somervision plan, both finalized in 2012 – are available online. But many individuals, groups and associations have expressed concern at the manner and pace of decision-making.

At an April 9 meeting of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) – the committee that is recommending the master developer for the billion-dollar development of the Square – a group of associations spearheaded by the Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) presented the 20 members with a document called “Link Somerville Equity Standards.”

More on this story at www.scatvsomerville.org/SNN.

Undocumented students in limbo

Every year, 65,000 undocumented youth graduate from U.S. high schools. With 66 percent of its student body “minority,” many of them immigrants, each class at Somerville High School likely has a dozen, or even several dozen, undocumented youth.

Because immigration reform and the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act are both stalled in Washington, these young people are stuck in limbo.

“I was a soccer captain in my senior year,” an 18-year-old told Somerville Neighborhood News. (His name is withheld to protect him and his family.) “I currently have a 3.5 GPA. The schools that are recruiting me are Merrimack, UMass Lowell, UMass Amherst.”

More on this story at www.scatvsomerville.org/SNN.