We Have an Affordable Housing Overlay!

Congratulations to City Council and everyone who worked on the Affordable Housing Overlay rules for Somerville. It will now be easier to build 100% below-market-rate homes for our neighbors, which makes it easier for Somerville to be the welcoming, thriving, living-near-transit-loving city it strives to be.

For background on this policy, we recommend

Ward 3 Councilor Ben Ewen-Camen's October editorial

; the details can be found

here

.

Spring Hill Street Design

There are several big deals going on in the city right now. The first starts tonight at 6:30, with a presentation about the Spring Hill sewer separation and streetscape design. This is an enormous project that will update our nearly century-old sewer system in the area and also rebuilding substantial portions of Highland Ave, Summer Street, School Street, and Central Street. What do those streets need? Well, bike lanes, for one thing. And trees. And, most controversially, less parking.

This is an opportunity for Somerville to take a real step away from the car-centric view of the universe and make progress on our climate change goals, but it's going to take concerted effort from neighbors to advocate for some difficult changes, including making the city's current deal of unlimited street parking for $3.33 a month slightly less convenient. That might not sound like a housing issue, but in a city that's about 25% roads and parking lots, cutting back on cars makes a lot more room for homes and people.

Register for the meeting here

.

Charter Review

Even bigger and longer-term than redesigning several major streets is the Charter Review process. The city needs eight people to participate in a yearlong process to review the basic governance structure of the city, including things as fundamental as "how much power does the mayor have?" This is huge.

Learn about how to sign up here

.