A possible loss of open green space is being threatened by MassDOT at 422 Mystic Ave.

By The Times Staff

Frustrated Somerville residents hang signs in protest of Massachusetts Department of Transportation work. The work would take away the only open space below their windows. Signs read: “Leave Our Open Space,” “They Use It, We Lose It,” and even “Somerville Lives Matter.”

The garden area in front of 422 Mystic Avenue (AKA Mystic Towers), which was once filled with 40-year-old trees providing a sight and sound barrier for residents, may be replaced with more hot top, concrete, and buses if the Massachusetts Department of Transportation gets its way.

Mystic Tower residents presently face 13 lanes of Massachusetts traffic outside their windows (8 lanes from Route 93 and 5 more from Mystic Avenue/Route 38). The Mass Department of Transportation, however, feels that 13 lanes is not enough. Despite the interests of the neighborhood and residents, the Department wants to build a 14th lane for buses and a bus stop. The bus lane would be located in the only remaining Open Space the under the residents’ windows.

Lucy Lees, a resident of the building since it was built, comments, “It’s a shame what they (Mass. Dept. of Transportation) are doing. The front of this building never looked so beautiful. And, now they’re [the DOT] taking it all away from us. They came down here one day and cut all the trees down. And, now they’re removing the garden area, the brick wall, the fence – everything – and we [the residents] don’t know what’s going on.”

Many residents are completely unaware of what the Department of Transportation is taking away from them. For many, English is not their first language, and they were not provided with fair or sufficient notice of any chance to voice an opinion, as other residents might have had.

In fact, the management and owners of Mystic Towers were first made aware of the DOT’s damage to the property through a crying message in broken English asking to stop cutting the trees outside the windows. The message said that the trees were the only thing separating the windows from the traffic, the lights, the pollution and the noise from the tenants. Unfortunately, the Mass DOT will not answer calls about the plans nor openly share the plans.

After getting word of the plaintive voice, Attorney Philip Privitera made several efforts on behalf of the resident victims as well as the building to obtain the plans. “It was an issue of fairness,” Privitera said. “How could anyone, let alone a government agency, have the conscience to deprive and take something of such value away from residents – especially immigrant families – without first ensuring they fully understand what they might be losing, and then letting them express an opinion before just ‘railroading it’ into their lives?”

Rumor has it that even the formal entryway to the building, including decorative granite covered pillars and a paved walkway could be next. But neither the residents nor the building have been afforded forthright or reliable information from the DOT on this matter. As such, both have been deprived the ability to pose an opinion or opposition, until it is too late.

Privitera recounts that he has been receiving misdirection for weeks about the plans, including empty promises that DOT employees “would get back to him about them.” He was even provided with wrong/non-functioning numbers, and numbers for DOT personnel who never picked up their phones or never returned calls. Privitera recalls, “I was directed to call a fellow named John Doliere. I called him about five separate times without an answer or a return call. At this point, I’m not sure he really works for the DOT.”

The only respect that the building or the residents received would have to come from the court. Privitera states, “It was only after filing for a preliminary injunction in Middlesex Superior Court that we received a copy of a plan.” From the representations of the DOT workers at the site, the plan did not include demolishing the granite pillars and the residents’ formal front entryway.

MassDOT workers shared plans only after a preliminary injunction was filed by Attorney Phil Privatera.

As a former Commonwealth of Massachusetts employee, Privitera expressed that it was “disheartening that I actually had to go to court to do what the Commonwealth should be actively doing on its own, protecting citizens who can’t protect themselves, and making sure all citizens are respected equally and fairly. That was the bright side of every day for me, when I worked for the Commonwealth.”

The residents and the building are fighting to save as much of their open space as they can. Particularly, they would like to preserve the granite covered pillars and formal paver entryway as they symbolize the respect the residents feel they were deprived in this process, as well as a sense of dignity that every person should enjoy when they enter the formal front entrance of one’s home.

Resident Lucy Lees commented, “After taking all our beauty away, they should at least leave us the pillars and the walkway so we can have some dignity entering our front door. Imagine having a bus stop for a front entrance? Who would want to live like that?”

Privitera believes it is such an injustice that any politician who gets wind of this situation would be doing his/her position and the Commonwealth a disservice by not defending the residents and their open space. Privitera is cautiously optimistic that Somerville and community leaders will step up to protect the quality of life of these Somerville residents.