By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Assembly Station is open. It’s a short four-word sentence, but the story that led to this accomplishment is a novella. And like any great story, there’s a lesson to take away. Assembly shows how we can build a sustainable economy for our city and the entire Commonwealth by investing in transportation and the infrastructure our economy needs to thrive in the 21st century. It also shows that by staying committed—from the grassroots to the governor’s office—that we can achieve a grand shared vision of remaking a forgotten and underutilized corner of our city into an economic hub and thriving neighborhood.

It took a lot of people, organizations and institutions to make Assembly Station happen. And, it wasn’t always a sure thing. The Great Recession hit just as plans for Assembly Square were coming along, and funding for the station was delayed. How did it survive? By the city, the Commonwealth and Federal Realty all having skin in the game. That meant investing in a down economy. It meant developing a new private-public model to get things done. It meant believing in ourselves by investing in ourselves. It meant staying true to the community’s vision and to who we are as a city.

We are not a sprawling suburb, nor should we strive to be that. We’re a densely populated city in a metro region that has some of the most diverse talent, creativity and innovation of any region in the world. That’s why the historic return to the urban core continues—and why there’s such pressure in the regional housing market. People seek the vibrancy and connectivity of city neighborhoods where they can walk, bike and take public transit to work, services, shopping and more. That’s what residents want, and that’s what 21st century industries want, too. The innovation economy is fueled by that interconnectedness.

Public transportation is the backbone of all of this. If we’re going to not only survive but thrive in the coming century, making our city and the state sustainable both economically and environmentally, we need to invest in public transportation. That’s how we’re going to build our local economy and expand our tax base, fairly sharing the cost of the city services that we all rely on.

Assembly Square illustrates how this can happen. A new neighborhood anchored by a new T station has arisen from what was once a monument to post-industrial urban blight. The first phase of building at Assembly has already created 700 permanent jobs, and the state’s largest employer, Partners HealthCare, is consolidating more than 4,700 jobs right next to Assembly Station. An estimated 2,100 of the region’s needed new housing units will be built at Assembly, including more than 260 permanently affordable units, and roughly 5,000 solo car trips per day are expected to disappear from our roads as drivers instead take the Orange Line via Assembly Station.

We made this happen by investing $130 million in city, state and federal funds, most of it into new roadways. That public investment in turn leveraged $1.5 billion of just initial private investment that is expected, over the next 10 years, to create 20,000 new jobs and add hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the Massachusetts economy—and generate significant revenue for Somerville.

At full build-out, Assembly Row will yield $18 million a year in local tax revenue. An additional $18 million a year will be a huge boost to our schools, public safety and city services, while allowing us to reduce the tax burden on our residents and our locally owned, independent businesses. Assembly shows how we can create real, sustainable tax relief while continuing our award-winning services—and it’s the T station that anchors this progress.

Strategically located transit in areas ready for smart-growth can and will lay the foundation for the long-term economic growth both in Somerville and statewide.  It’s why the community’s plan in SomerVision focuses on smart-growth around future Green Line station areas like Union Square and Boynton Yards, and bringing back neighborhoods like Brickbottom and Inner Belt that were, like Assembly, left behind.

This is how Somerville will thrive. Our shared vision of tens of thousands of new jobs, thousands of new homes, green space and real, sustainable tax relief is all possible because we’re willing to invest in public transportation. Assembly Square shows us how to make our vision a reality.