Davis Square Getting a Voice
Community organizing sprang up, spontaneously, last summer in the Davis Square neighborhood of Somerville. It began because of divisive discussions about unhoused people who were living in Seven Hills Park. It moved to constructive efforts to improve Davis Square more generally.
Non-profit formation:
In the next two weeks, there will be a hyper-local election. If you live or work in the Davis Square area, you are eligible to vote.
Ballots can be cast at the Somerville Library West Branch on Saturday, August 16th (9 AM-1PM), Saturday, August 23rd(9 AM-1PM), and Monday, August 25th (9AM-6 PM). They will be tallied on the evening of August 25th.
Eligible voters include those who work, receive services, operate a business, regularly volunteer at an organization/agency, or own real estate within the Davis Square business district and those who reside within a half mile of the boundary of the Davis Square business district. A map of the district is available here.
Important information such as polling site hours, candidate backgrounds, etc. will be available at the following link: https://sites.google.com/view/DavisSquareNC.
The Candidates:
There are nine board positions; four of them are officers.
Here is my ideal Board:
President: Elaine F. Almquist
VP: Jason Zube
Secretary/Clerk: Zev Pogrebin
Treasurer: Peter (PJ) Kim-Santos
Why did I choose these officers? They are the people who have been doing the work to get the organization to this point.
Other board members:
Abbe Cohen Dvornik – active in school and parenting groups, active in cultural performance groups. Homeowner.
Carmen Phillips – working in a business that was displaced and relocated elsewhere in the Davis Square area.
Mary Ellen Myhr – longtime local resident. She has been active since early in the formation of the Davis Square Neighborhood Council.
Michelle Clarke – owner of a business that was displaced and relocated elsewhere in the Davis Square area.
Why do I choose these general board members? Because they represent other constituencies affected by changes in Davis Square.
The Issues:
There are two major development projects that have been pending for years in this Square. Businesses moved because they were informed their buildings would be torn down and rebuilt. Then, the projects stalled. This has left empty storefronts.
Over the past year, priorities have been set. A Neighborhood Council has the authority to participate in discussions with these developers. Concessions to our City, called Community Benefit Agreements, will be part of these discussions.
- Improving the Davis Square Plaza – Davis Square Plaza is the concrete walkway between the building that has Starbucks in it and the building that houses Chipotle. Those buildings were going to be a lab. Several businesses moved out (including a family medicine practice, a shoe repair, and a resale shop). The lab never happened.
- Elm St. Development – On Elm Street – from the Burren to Dragon Pizza — is another set of buildings where businesses left to accommodate development that hasn’t happened.
- Zoning for more housing – There is a proposal for hundreds of housing units to be built above retail businesses on the block between the Burren and Dragon Pizza. This is a hot-button issue in the Davis Square.
- Community Path wayfinding & art – seek ways to make the Community Path more usable and pleasant.
- Pedestrian safety – There has been one fatality and multiple near-misses in Davis Square, where roadways are not suited for pedestrians to cross safely. The community has been waiting for the development (and the Community benefits agreements that go with them) to fund safer, more pleasant streets.
- Community-building – the community has found a way to create productive discussion about local issues.
Ballots can be cast at the Somerville Library West Branch on August 16th (9 AM-1PM), 23rd (9 AM-1PM), and 25th (9AM-6 PM). They will be tallied on the evening of August 25th.
Eligible voters include those who work, receive services, operate a business, regularly volunteer at an organization/agency, or own real estate within the Davis Square business district and those who reside within a half mile of the boundary of the Davis Square business district. A map of the district is available here: https://map.davissquarenc.org/
Important information such as polling site hours, candidate backgrounds, etc. will be available at the following link: https://sites.google.com/view/DavisSquareNC.