Union Sq Detour/Traffic Deaths/Condo Conversion/Zoning & the SRA
City Counselor Ben Ewen-Campen writes
As of last Tuesday, February 19, the Union Square traffic detour is now in effect for the next six months. This detour is a critical part of an enormous, 3.5-year infrastructure project to repair and replace the 100-year old sewer system that carries about 60% of our city’s sewage. (The full background on this project, as well as detailed detour maps, is available here.) This infrastructure work is incredibly important, but the negative effects of large-scale construction are very real. As your City Councilor, my top priority right now is to work with our City’s Engineering and Construction Liaison team to address the negative effects of this traffic detour, and to make sure that the City is doing everything possible to ensure public safety.
Most notably, there has been a dramatic increase in the traffic on Warren Ave., Columbus Ave., and surrounding areas, including large trucks that simply don’t fit on these narrow streets (see picture below.) There have already been number of accidents and traffic jams over the past week, though thankfully no injuries have been reported to this point. I have been out knocking doors and talking with neighbors about the responses that have already been planned, and it is very clear to me that we need to be doing more. I am anticipating that Monday morning will be particularly challenging, given that many families will be returning to work after a week of school vacation.
I have already requested a number of specific changes to be made, based on neighborhood feedback and on my own observations, and I’m happy to discuss these in detail with anyone who is interested. Of course, we all hope that these issues will begin to calm down once drivers become more familiar with the detour, but we can’t just wait for that to happen. If you have questions or concerns about the detour, please contact me at any time (cell: 617–702–2613, email: BenForWard3@gmail.com). In addition, I ask that you please copy the Somerville Construction Liasion (email: Construction@SomervilleMA.gov, phone: 617–666–3311 ext. 5419), who are directly responsible for overseeing this project, and who are keeping a log of all the concerns that arise. I also encourage you to join the Construction team’s dedicated Email newsletter on this project, which will send out updates and information directly from the Engineering department.
I also want to make sure that you are all aware of the two additional major road closures coming to Somerville due to Green Line Extension construction: the Broadway Bridge in Ball Square will be closed for a year beginning on March 22, and the Washington St. Bridge Underpass (on the route out to Sullivan) will be closed beginning in April, for nine months. There will be a Community Meeting at the East Somerville on Wednesday, March 13, at 6:30pm to provide more details. Needless to say, all of the major construction taking place in Somerville presents many serious safety issues, and is an enormous inconvenience, and I am incredibly thankful to all of you for your feedback and your patience thus far. We are all in this together, but it certainly isn’t easy.
Additional news and updates:
Tragedy strikes Somerville. Like all of you, I was heartbroken and devastated by the death of Allison Donovan, who was struck by a pickup truck while walking in a crosswalk in front of the West Somerville Neighborhood School on Friday, February 8th. Just a few days later, Paula Sharaga, a child’s librarian known to many in Somerville, was killed by a truck while cycling in Boston. These losses have been incredibly painful for many in our community, and as an elected official here it has been difficult to find the right words to convey my sorrow, and to express my commitment to working towards safer streets. Ward 7 City Councilor Ballantyne and Mayor Curtatone will be hosting a Community Meeting on Tuesday, March 5, 6:30p, at the West Somerville Neighborhood School, to hear from residents and to update the neighborhood on these issues. We will also be holding a Public Hearing before the City Council on April 3rd regarding a petition signed by several hundred residents calling for specific street safety measures to be taken — I hope you can join us at one or both of these meetings.
Last week, the City Council’s Traffic and Parking committee held our first meeting since these tragedies, and we had an extensive conversation about the overwhelming need to invest more in pedestrian safety in Somerville. You can watch that meeting here, and you can also see a number of resolutions and funding requests that the City Council co-sponsored here. These are very difficult and complex issues to address effectively, and it was a very emotional meeting, especially because we have known for years that Powderhouse Blvd is particularly dangerous — and that there are similarly dangerous areas across the city that desperately need safety improvements. Somerville has made real progress over the past few years, and has begun to invest in the staff and infrastructure we need to improve upon decades of unsafe car-centric street design, but these past few weeks have made it painfully clear just how much more work is needed.
Condo Conversion Ordinance update. On January 31, we held a Public Hearing regarding the proposed improvements to our Condo Conversion Ordinance. This was a very productive hearing, and I have received valuable feedback, questions, and input from a wide variety of constituents — and I welcome more. I have been working with my colleagues and city staff to address the points that were raised by public comment, and I am confident we will have an improved Ordinance to deliberate in the coming weeks. I also highly recommend reading through this presentation from the Somerville Office of Housing Stability, which lays out the scope of the issue, and why a revised ordinance is so important.
Regulating short-term rentals (e.g. AirBNB.) We have continued to make progress towards a policy for regulating short-term rentals (e.g. AirBNB), now that the State has passed their regulations (this piece gives a helpful “explainer” on the state-level regulations.) The current proposal is the result of several city-wide meetings conducted last summer by Somerville Planning Department, followed by deliberation by the Council. This proposal would allow residents to rent out bedrooms within their home as a short-term rental, but would not allow anyone to rent an entire home for more than 90 days each year. In other words, residents could AirBNB their home while they are away for a few weeks, but those who own an additional unit cannot operate that unit as a full-time AirBNB. The goal of this policy is to allow homeowners to generate additional income and/or share their home with short-term renters, while protecting our city’s stock of existing rental units. I encourage you to read this recent analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, which provides an in-depth analysis of the costs and benefits of various short-term rental policies, and has influenced my opinions on this issue.
The Zoning Overhaul continues. I will write much more in an upcoming newsletter about the work that I’ve been doing with my colleagues, as well as many constituents and advocates, to prepare amendments for the next (and hopefully final!) round of changes to the Somerville Zoning Overhaul. But for now, suffice it to say that I have benefitted enormously from the thoughtful input I’ve received from all of you on this complicated and important issue, and I believe we are making real progress.
Lastly, I’m proud to say that I was appointed to serve as the first-ever Council representative on the Somerville Redevelopment Authority (SRA). The SRA is a powerful appointed board which makes many consequential decisions around eminent domain and other major development issues, in areas like Union Square, Assembly Row, Cobble Hill, and others. I believe the public deserves far more transparency and accountability from the SRA, and I have already formally requested that all of our future meetings be video-recorded and posted online — currently, the minutes are simply recorded in writing and very few residents are aware of these important meetings. You can view our meeting schedule, agendas, and minutes here. I am honored to be given this important responsibility, and I very much look forward to getting to work.
As always, thank you for reading, and for being involved in our community. You can always follow along with the City Council’s meeting schedule here, and please reach out anytime.
Sincerely,
Ben Ewen-Campen, Ward 3 City Councilor.
