By Joseph A. Curtatone

(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)

Taking a closer look at notable city data—and interesting numbers. 

$500,000 in minibonds available for residents to purchase: Many people are familiar with U.S. government savings bonds as a way to invest while also supporting civic goals. But less than 1 percent of U.S. households have direct access to municipal bonds, which allow you to do the same thing at the local level. To help pull back this process from Wall St. to Main St. (as my colleagues in Cambridge so aptly put it when they put their minibonds on sale), Somerville residents will soon have a chance to invest directly in the future of our community by purchasing minibonds.

Here’s how it works: Similar to traditional municipal bonds, minibond investors loan money to a city or public agency for a period of time (in this case 5 years), receive tax-exempt interest on the investment, and get their loan paid back when the bond matures. Meanwhile, the minibond funding supports important capital projects. In Somerville, that includes the Lincoln Park renovation, West Branch Library design, street and sidewalk improvements, building upgrades (such as energy efficiency and accessibility), and more.

The City regularly bonds to finance public projects, and usually those municipal bonds are sold by brokerages to distant investors in units of $5,000 or more. But by partnering with broker-dealer Neighborly Securities, Somerville minibonds will be offered directly to Somerville residents in $1,000 denominations, making them more accessible (unfortunately smaller denominations were not an option, but this is a start).

Somerville minibonds will be available from May 18 to May 25 on a first-come, first-served basis. To learn more, check out the FAQs at www.somervillema.gov/minibonds, visit the helpful website set up by Neighborly at www.neighborly.com/somerville (see their Learning Center), or attend one of the upcoming informational sessions (details are in the FAQs).

Repainting of 987 pavement markings completed in 2017: Installing and maintaining pavement markings is a cross-departmental effort in the City of Somerville. While the Transportation and Infrastructure Department works to decide where new pavement markings should be and installs them, the Traffic and Parking Department completes a field survey to identify markings in need of repainting, evaluates and incorporates your feedback that comes into 311, and cross references the Engineering Department’s Street Repaving Plan to avoid putting fresh markings on roadways that are scheduled for repavement.

Last year, Traffic and Parking repainted 987 markings with 545 of them being bike markings and 380 of them being crosswalks. This year the work continues with maintenance planned for 31 crosswalks, bike sharrows on 23 roads, and more.

As the weather warms up and we begin to see more people out biking and walking, it’s important to remember that pavement markings aren’t maintained to simply look more appealing. They are a critical component of roadway safety, so study up on the markings and remember to share the road.

32 second improvement in average fire department emergency response time over past three months: Recently, the Somerville Fire Department implemented new strategies like utilizing a different unique bell tone for each crew and examining and shifting fire response districts to improve emergency response times. And preliminary data suggests those tactics are working. The average emergency call response time decreased from 3:42 in January to the 3:10 in March. The data is especially promising when considering the adverse weather we faced throughout the month of March, which resulted in an increase in fire emergency calls and more difficult driving conditions.

$1,200,402 in CPA funds designated for allocation by the Affordable Housing Trust: It’s no secret that affordability is one of our greatest challenges here in Somerville and addressing it a top priority. Programs like the Community Preservation Act (CPA) help us make real progress on this effort.

The Somerville Community Preservation Committee, which oversees the allocation of CPA funds, has designated more than $1.2 million in Fiscal Year 18 funds for affordable housing projects. These funds will be allocated by the Somerville Affordable Housing Trust to directly address housing need in Somerville.

Applications are now available, and the Somerville Affordable Housing Trust is accepting proposals in two categories: rental assistance programs or development projects creating affordable housing units. More information, including application deadlines, is available at www.somervillema.gov/AHTF by clicking on “funding opportunities.”

Data-based decision making is at the core of how the City of Somerville develops policy and sets priorities. Every day we check the latest 311 stats, and throughout the week we meet for in-depth review of departmental data and city trends. The monthly Data Download column shares some of the data we’ve been reviewing recently, as well as interesting updates. To see more Somerville Data, visit the online Somerville Data Farm at www.somervillema.gov/datafarm.