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© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
By Kevin Dickinson
Union United, a Coalition of Union Square stakeholders, won a big victory Thursday night as LOCUS Strategy Leaders voted in favor of a Neighborhood Council for Union Square to bargain Community Benefits Agreements with the developers. While the vote was close, strategy leaders overwhelmingly spoke in favor of establishing a neighborhood council for Union Square. Union United is so encouraged that Mayor Curtatone announced publicly that he too is moving towards supporting community participation in bargaining a Union Square Community Benefits Agreement.
— Photos by Kevin Dickinson
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Is this a letter to the editor or a press release from the union united group with no disclaimer? Union united people just don’t get it, this was a meeting where the community tried to work together on creating a council together, it was not about winning, it was about building consensus. There was no consensus and so this was a failure, not a win. These activists view their neighbors as the opposition, it is unacceptable. Community benefits should be for the entire community not just one group.
Union United has always advocated that community benefits ARE for the whole community of Union Square–NOT for themselves alone.
They are only spearheading the effort to make sure that ALL Union Square residents are meaningfully engaged in the redevelopment of the Square, not merely “consulted” by City Hall. And Union United do NOT view their neighbors as their opponents–Union United is made up of local neighbors in the first place.
The LOCUS Process is a bogus setup by City Hall, to sidetrack the authentic citizen engagement in the redevelopment process.