Call for community benefits agreement to protect Union Square Community
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By Union United

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

Residents, workers and small business owners joined with State Reps. Denise Provost and Mike Connolly and Union United on Thursday, April 20, to call for Union Square developer US2 to affirm their commitment to negotiate a binding agreement with the community to address displacement concerns, including affordable housing, local jobs, workers’ rights, small businesses, open space and other priorities.

“We need to figure out how to make sure that the people who are here can stay here,” Provost said to the crowd of 30 who rallied outside the offices of US2 in Union Square. “We have an opportunity now to make sure that we have a strong community benefits agreement that really fights displacement; that doesn’t just give lip service to fighting displacement; that provides for affordability; that provides for wages that people can live on.”

US2’s 2.3 million-square-foot development will have a tremendous effect on low- and moderate-income community members, and the community has called for developers to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement to address those issues.

“We’ve seen this kind of development in Boston, we’ve seen it in Cambridge, and the outcome all too often is that long-time residents, particularly renters, get pushed out of the community. The role of government is to ask how we can support the people who are living here right now,” said Connolly. “My question to US2 is: what are you afraid of?”

The event sent a clear message to US2 to meet with the community and show that they are planning to negotiate in good faith, as they said they would do in their covenant with Mayor Joseph Curtatone.

“I care what happens in Union Square like we all do, but sometimes we don’t feel like we have a voice,” said longtime resident Ann Camara, of Union United. “We care that there’s affordable housing for everyone, that our residents and unions fill the jobs. Come to Union Square and tell the developer, US2, we want a CBA in good faith.”

The coalition has a short window of time in which to bring the developer to the table. The Somerville Redevelopment Authority is preparing to sell the redevelopment parcels to US2 as soon as Thursday, April 27, and the Board of Aldermen is considering an ordinance that would divert control of community benefits funds to a city-appointed committee. Coalition members have sent postcards and made phone calls to Richard Stein and Jim Loewenberg, the developer’s Chicago-based bosses, but have not received any response. With the voice of elected officials and community leaders behind them, Union United hopes to implement a new way of doing development, one in which affected community members have a seat at the table to negotiate for the benefits that are most needed.