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The old MBTA power switching station at the corner of Avon and School AND the adjacent gas station at the corner of School and Summer have been purchased by a luxury condo developer. According to the city planning dept. we can expect at least nine units on the gas station site, plus at least two more units on the MBTA site. If the new zoning passes, the gas station site would permit 27 units! It’s astonishing how fast the situation is spinning out of control, thanks to the corrosive influence of unbridled greed. Somerville Ave is already a sea of green particle board. In a few years from now the old Somerville will be unrecognizable, its history and culture utterly erased, and much of its current population displaced.

It’s disgraceful, reprehensible and profoundly unjust and I said so at the most recent Union Square greenwash-fest. Russell Preston’s response: “This is a democracy and you have the right to say that.” You betcha!

— Chris Korda
Somerville Development Watch