Position: Transparency, Connections, and Empowering Neighborhoods

THE NEED:

Many people in Somerville feel a sense of worry (ranging from dismay to a sense of doom) about challenges at all levels, from neighborhood to the world. We need to tackle the toughest issues by working together. Moving forward requires us to understand one another’s needs, AND have the tools to make change. Here are the challenges in this area, as I’ve seen them:

Feeling of powerlessness in neighborhoods (and beyond): While door knocking, I covered all of Wards 1, 4, and 7, and much of Wards 2, 3, 5, and 6. Throughout the community, people feel a sense of dismay, loss, or powerlessness about issues they or their neighborhoods face. The worries include a sense of diminished community connections (see less stability below), uncertainty over a neighboring development, frustration with a stalled developments (like “the hole” in Teele Square, Star Market in Winter Hill, or Cobble Hill on Broadway) to fears that they or a much-loved neighbor will need to move. So often, people share concerns, but feel isolated and don’t know how to connect with neighbors or know who may share their concerns. They may not know what tools they can use to impact neighborhood issues. Or, even if they do, most people don’t have the many hours it can take each week to read through zoning law or attend public meetings.

Transparency and accountability for powerful boards: Residents have expressed frustration with the decision made by the Planning Board in the Federal Reality inclusionary housing waiver case. One point of frustration is the lack of tracking of concerns from residents for that and other cases or proposals (such as feedback given to US2 in their recent Coordinated Site Plan public workshop). Insufficient transparency creates distrust and makes it harder for the public to evaluate whether or not the decisions that get made are fair and not biased by influence of some type. And a lack of trust makes moving forward with all major policies and projects even harder.

Less stability in neighborhoods: Many households I have talked to – most especially seniors – feel sad because they believe neighborhood ties are declining. While the percentage of households who rent has remained relatively stable over the past five decades, in the past Somerville had many resident landlords who shared their building with other family members or close friends. They were, in essence, benevolent landlords who rented to people with kids, disabilities, or quirks, and they didn’t raise the rent much or at all each year. That meant more blocks had family ties, kids, and long-time residents. Housing stability helps people put down roots. As I was door knocking in West Somerville, I saw one triple decker that had three generations of family members listed as living in the three floors. However, when I stopped, a young man was out front. He said, “My family just bought this triple decker as an income property. We live in Lexington.” As I moved down the block, I saw him showing one of the units to two young people in their 20s who’d most likely be tenants for a year or two. Given housing prices, those young people are very unlikely to be able to put down roots and thus develop those long-term ties. The percentage of young adults ages 18 to 34 is growing and has reached almost half our population, while the percentage of children is falling. The young adults don’t get the chance to stay and turn into middle-aged adults and then seniors. This dynamic changes the feel of each block.

Isolation and issues that disproportionately affect sub-groups: As I’ve been door knocking, I hear a sense that there’s a social or cultural gap between different groups within the city. The most poignant case of this is with the opioid epidemic. At least 40 people died in 2015 and 2016 of overdoses in Somerville, and more died of related causes that weren’t classified as overdoses. This epidemic, however, has disproportionately affected the long-time Somerville families. Thus, for that sub-group in Somerville, people are experiencing a death of someone they know either directly or indirectly every other week. The rest of the community may not be plugged in to how catastrophic the impact is. As we think about OneSomerville, we need to work harder at understanding all of the points of suffering and loss in Somerville and everyone’s needs.

Need for more information about trade-offs: An area of particular interest to me is helping the community understand budgeting and the decisions our elected officials need to make when spending limited resources or deciding to create a new tax or fee. Decisions are often made in isolation, so that residents can’t easily determine how spending in one location affects spending or a tax/fee in another.

Under-represented households: Many people in Somerville don’t vote in municipal elections, either because they can’t legally or because they are not as engaged in local issues. This means that their voices are not well represented in local decision making, which is a missed opportunity.

Challenges in using tools that do exist: There are some tools available that a neighborhood can use to advocate on issues, but sometimes we may not know what they are or how to use them. The City shares a lot of data (https://data.somervillema.gov/) and laws permit residents to have certain powers, such as to request a public hearing or request datasets. But some of this work is so specialized it seems to require the help of an architect, lawyer, or software engineer.

POLICY GOALS:

Connecting people: At the heart of organizing is relationships, I think, and I will work to help people connect to their neighbors or others who share their concerns about issues. Here are some of my ideas

• Block party challenge: I hope to host a block party challenge next summer. I’ll get the word out as to how easy it is to get a permit for a block party and encourage every block to do it. We will keep track of how many block parties each part of the city hosts and give out an award for the most.
• Know-your-neighbor challenges: I hope to issue a know-your-neighbor challenge. Using social media and other resources, I’ll ask residents to carry out a series of challenges each week or month, such as: find out your neighbor’s names, favorite food, life story; collect any trash on your block; introduce yourself to a new resident; set up a neighborhood mailing list, etc.
• OneSomerville and Empathy Building: We can build on the idea of OneSomerville by working as a community to understand each person’s story and needs. We can carry out empathy building efforts, such as a Somerville Stories effort (a similar project got done about a decade ago with some success). Or, we can encourage everyone to help in some way – such as one hour of time volunteer/week, or $100/month of donating per month. I believe that we should focus on both the challenges faced by immigrant and low-income families, and by families struggling with the opioid epidemic, so as to acknowledge that people are different but have in common a need for support.

Building and changing systems: In addition to the people side of the equation, we need to pay attention to systems that help give people and neighborhoods a voice. Here are some things I’d like to do:

• Revamp boards: I believe that we need to revamp the City’s powerful boards, including their scope, appointment process, and methods of soliciting public comment. If elected, I will work with the administration and colleagues to launch a process to review the boards. In the meantime, however, the Board of Alderman approves candidates for Boards, and I will use that authority to work with colleagues to vet candidates in a transparent and rigorous process. Zoning needs to be amended to ensure that City staff are responsible for recording residents' comments and developers' responses, and for ensuring that developers take those concerns seriously.
• Toolkits for change: In order to take advantage of the tools that do exist so that residents can understand how to use them, I will work with residents and groups to create a toolkit that covers topics like open meeting law, public records requests, the roles and powers of public bodies like School Councils, ballot questions, and other laws designed to empower residents. We can learn together and then test out what these tool enable neighbors to accomplish.
• Support for neighborhood and issue groups: There are some neighborhood and issue groups running and working in Somerville, and they take different forms. Some are very structured and have goals and annual reports, while others are more loosely knit. We will inventory all of the best practices, as well as all of the groups that are open to having more members. I will work with residents to create a centralized list where the groups are described. We can organize trainings and discussions so that groups can share best practices. We can do “hackathons” or, what should perhaps be called, analysis-a-thons of the public data and collect our own new data, such as traffic (or rat!) counts. We cans share metrics for each neighborhood or each issue on one master report cards that gets posted on websites or even on billboards! We can help raise money for funding for groups to advocate, such as immigrant parents or families affected by the opioid epidemic.
• People’s budget: I helped create the City’s first performance and program-based budget. The City has a great deal of budget information, while the District has much less. I would like to work with residents and groups to analyze budget data and ask for more information on the District side so that we can better understand the very important decisions about where we make investments. I hope to analyze financial information by whichever topics interest people, such as spending by neighborhood or by issue. Consider me YOUR budget analyst.

CONNECTIONS TO OTHER ISSUES:

Housing and Affordability: As we think about housing policy, I believe we need to work for ownership and other means of permanent housing. We need to create space for people of different ages and incomes, who can help create cohesive block. Longer-term roots help people get involved and form ties that help them organize. Go to HOUING AND AFFORDABILTY (Coming soon) for more idea.

Community safety net: I believe that community institutions are critically needed to enable people of different backgrounds to be together to form relationships, which I think are at the root of community problem solving. Well-funded and inclusive spaces like recreation or a YMCA, school, or churches are shared community assets that undergird relationships across difference. COMMUNITY INSTIUTIONS, SAFETY NET, AND CONNECTIONS (Coming soon) for more ideas.

Open space: As with indoor civic spaces, thoughtfully designed open spaces are where we can meet to exchange ideas and form friendships. See OPEN SPACE (Coming soon) for more thoughts.

Introduction to Position Statements

On this site, I will be sharing my position statements on a some of the issues that I plan to work on if I am elected. Please share your comments in the comment section, or by emailing me at contact@stephanieforsomerville.com or calling me at 617-512-4847. All of these topics are complicated and require a community process, so they are in draft form -- I want to hear from you!

BACKGROUND ON POSITIONS: I have spent the last 13 years working for the City and Schools to build decision making, customer service, and safety nets systems for Somerville children and adults. Prior to that, I did similar work in Philadelphia, Georgia, and Boston. The experiences taught me a great deal about local government and how it operates. More recently, I have been door knocking since February and have had a chance to reach almost 6,000 households. I have spoken with more than 2,500 people and have listened to their concerns. The needs and policy recommendations discussed here reflect a combination of the two decades of work in local government and stories I've heard in the last seven months.

OVERALL THEMES AND APPROACHES: Across all of the focus areas below, here are some general approaches I will take in trying to understand and address each challenge:
Looking for systems connections: The most exciting part about working at the local level is that we have both a challenge and opportunity to work across systems to find solutions. An education challenge may relate to an open space challenge, or a jobs creation challenge may relate to transit. For each topic considered, I mention how other systems relate to the one being discussed.

• Testing solutions: Almost everyone is troubled by the scope of problems our government faces at all levels. These positions focus on what’s possible to address at the local level. I believe that Somerville can be a laboratory to test approaches that will help address the problems of the region, state, and nation.
• Practicing empathy in policy making: For each initiative, we should work for broad-based support among residents. We can use the best available technical tools to find ways that a policy can help the most people or require the smallest sacrifice – those are the win-wins. When there is no opportunity for both sides to be happy, we will need to split the difference and compromise. We will need to find every opportunity to hold onto our community connections – to listen and hear one another’s stories. Then, when we make a sacrifice or a compromise, we will be doing it to help another resident, because our neighbors’ voices and lives matter.
• Taking money out of the equation: I support Somerville being a business-friendly city adn want to make sure those businesses benefit residents by creating jobs and tax revenue. However, harnessing the private sector requires constant vigilance because sometimes the incentive of a for-profit business differ from those of the community. Also, there is some business activity that has less benefit to the community and, instead, takes value out. I think this particularly the case with non-resident investors/developers who purchase smaller buildings and hold them as investment properties.  A more serious effort to weigh the costs and benefits of development needs to replace the current environment in which development is allowed to proceed, unless significant nonconformities with zoning requirements or other adverse consequences are identified. Because I believe that we need to be clear-eyed about each policy that relates to development and business – both supportive sometimes and challenging others – I have committed to forgo taking contributions from real estate developers and investors, including our larger realtors. We want our policies to reflect our goals and community values so that the future Somerville aligns with our aspirations.
• Connecting evidence: I believe that human stories help us understand what’s going on, and then data analysis confirms or sometime refines that understanding. We need both to make the best decisions. 
• Getting things done: My focus is on results, and for each of the topic below I will work out with residents and other policy-makers and community leaders to set goals and metrics for success. We will track progress on each of these and advertise where we are succeeding and where we are falling short. If elected, I will work on the Board of Alderman position as my primary job so as to get as much done as possible.

Please read and weigh in on the forthcoming position statements! I'm learning as I go and I want to hear from you and incorporate your thoughts, critiques, and ideas.

Text of SCATV Candidate Profile

Below is the text of my SCATV Candidate Profile, which can be watched here: https://archive.org/details/Candidate_Profile_-_Stephanie_Hirsch

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Thank you to Somerville Media Center (also known as SCATV) for giving all of us candidates an opportunity to introduce ourselves. I’m really happy to be here. I think places like SCATV are so important to our community. They are a place where people meet and work together – like a community living room or a community workshop. People working together on projects here is one way they create community. But also, the shows get broadcast out to all of you. I remember hearing from sleepless new moms – they said they watched SCATV in the middle of the night while rocking their baby, and watching made them feel less alone. And I know some of you are homebound. SCATV connects people across Somerville, wherever you may be watching from and whatever your situation may be.

With my 10 minutes of fame, I’d love to tell you a bit about my background and what I hope to do if I get elected. I’ll do all the talking today. But when I meet you in person, I want to hear YOU talk and to hear YOUR ideas.

First about my background which I what made me who I am today. I grew up in north central Wisconsin. It’s a community that’s just about the same size as Somerville, but it’s the biggest city for miles around. All around it are farms and forest.

Eau Claire Wisconsin was a great place to grow up. It had a strong middle class. We all lived together on the same block, we played together in the street – kick the can, ditch, capture the flag - until our parents called us in. We all went to the same public schools. People looked out for each other and they looked out for the community. They invested in the schools, in our community organizations, like the YMCA or Little League. My parents were teachers, and there were people who made more money – the lawyers, doctors, orthodontists. But those were the people who donated to make a new wing of the library or the children’s museum. A lot of them probably voted republican, while others voted democrat – but that didn’t matter. We all agreed that each person in our community matters.

I’ve been door knocking since April and I have reached 3,000 doors so far. The life-long residents describe growing up Somerville of the 50s, 60s, and 70s just like the way I remember growing up in Eau Claire. When I was door knocking in the States/Aves, I met different members of families like the Cassessos, Lapianas, Deangelis, and Cantalupes. They loved their years growing up. Everyone was like family, and each kid belonged to everyone, just like in my hometown.

I took this value with me – that we are all responsible for every person in our community and that we all need to take care of our community organizations. 

After college, I worked in two places where people really struggled, where there were not enough community resources to go around. First, I taught in an elementary school in North Philadelphia. By the school, one of every three houses looked bombed out. The sidewalk was littered with brightly colored crack vials. Then I worked in rural Georgia. Georgia had its own problems. In both places, the systems of education, health care, governance, and public safety did not work well. There was not a strong, core middle class. There were very few jobs. And, as a result, a lot of people’s lives did not work out well. Many girls got pregnant before age 20 and many boys had a criminal arrest. Systems had failed them and, as a result, they had so much trouble becoming successful providers and community contributors.

I saw how these failure of government affected people, and it broke my heart. I decided to spend my life trying to make government work better so people can have good lives. I studied statistics and business to try to figure out how to improve our local government. Using those skills, I went on to work for NYC, the Boston Police Department, and then for Somerville. In Somerville, I started programs like SomerStat, 311, ResiStat, and helped the schools achieve big gain.

We did a lot, but I want to do a lot more. If I get elected, I’m going to keep trying to improve how well government runs so that the lives of OUR city’s residents are happy and healthy. I want NO ONE to fall through the cracks in my community on my watch.

I’ve had a chance to listen to community hopes and the points of pain in Somerville all this spring and summer. I’ve reached 3,000 households so far and I’ve heard so many different worries. I’ve thought about those conversations a lot, and here’s what I plan to work on if I get elected:

Affordability: Affordability tops most people’s lists of worries. This means something different to different people. Someone may live on only $40,000 a year, so have trouble paying for water or tax bills, even as their property is worth almost $1 million. Young people may have two degrees and high earning potential, but they still struggle with student loan debt and can’t figure out any way to get into the market. Low-income renters face the most struggles. Here are three groups I hope to give special thought.

•     First, I’m worried about families with children. Children are almost twice as likely as other residents to be living in poverty. Families generally make less money, have more expenses, have unique housing needs, have more dependence on municipal/district services, and face much more housing discrimination. Many families will need to move. I think we should create and preserve housing with families in mind.
  
• Next, I believe we need to focus on housing for seniors that allows them to stay in their own neighborhood.
   
• Finally, I think we need to have a special focus on middle income households. They less support, but do need some subsidy and technical assistance. Middle income families – including municipal employees -- are a key part of creating a strong community.
  

So, what are the tools? There are no easy answers, no silver bullet. I think we have to use all of the tools, and find a balance among them. The step we have to take include:

• Holding developers to do as much as they can to build affordable and family-friendly housing, including the smaller investor/developer currently not affected by law like inclusionary housing;
   
• Moving ahead with zoning and projects even though they remain a work in progress;
   
• Give owners easy access to a tax deferral program that allows them to forgo paying any taxes until they sell their property;
   
• Pass a transfer fee that’s thoughtfully designed that creates funding for subsidies;
   
• Create a right-of-first-refusal program that makes it easier for owner-occupant to compete with developers for the purchase of a home;
   
• Add units, both through accessory units and through taller building in transformative districts. Whenever possible, we should do this without adding cars; and
   
• Control budget expenses which may mean discipline in the funding of new initiatives, including capital projects that we desperately need.
  

We have to take all of these approaches. We will look for the win-wins. But when there is no opportunity for both sides to be happy, we will need to split the difference, to compromise.

Quality of life: In East Somerville, almost every household talked about rats. Many people throughout the city have also talked about cut-through traffic and feeling of being unsafe on and around streets. While these are also tough issue to fix, I promise to redouble efforts to find solutions. As we think about the big picture, we will need to continue to focus on the little things – the day-to-day issues that weigh on our peace of mind.

Community institutions: As I mentioned, I believe that having strong, integrated, accessible community institutions help people be happy and form friendships. I will work hard to add funding for recreation and support for community-based providers to do more out-of-school programming and activities for people of all ages. I’d like the city’s public buildings to be open from 6 AM until 10 PM, I’d like new community space in each of our squares. And, we need to make progress on improving/expanding our athletic field space.

Community: Community institutions help us meet together and form friendships. And I want to continue that focus in all I do. I believe the more we know and are about one another’s needs, the better able we will be to make hard decisions. I will work to form neighborhood groups, helping them set up ways to communicate and annual events, goal and metrics of neighborhood goals. And a special note, in door knocking, I have often heard division that are rooted in people’s own, unique struggles. Some people do not feel heard. As one of the most poignant examples, Somerville has experienced at least 40 deaths to opioid overdoses in 2015 and 2016, and those deaths were concentrated in a smaller demographic group within Somerville. It feels like we should be shouting these statistics from every the rooftop. When think about the concept of OneSomerville, I believe we need to have the most inclusive definition, looking at the pain and experience of EVERYONE so as to increase our understanding of one another.

Transparency: I will work to make the decisions of our local government as transparent as possible. On the School side, I believe we need more information shared about district budgeting and decision making. On the City side, I will dig into publicly available data on any issue residents care about. We can use data to set goals and metrics, and regularly report on them. One of my heroes, Maura Healey, promise to serve as the “People’s Lawyer”. And I promise to be the “People’s Bean counter.” Maybe you didn’t even know you wanted your own bean counter, but I plan to prove that it’s a powerful tool for change.

Other goals I have include using my political capital to help settle open contracts and support the work of environmental groups like Mothers out Front and Somerville Climate Action.

You may be thinking this all sounds hard, and I agree. Should we do it? I think – yes. Almost no place has figured out how to stay connected, integrated, and well run. Let’s us do that – even if it means sacrifice and compromise, hustling and bootstrapping our way to groundbreaking policies. Let’s us be the proving ground and the antidote to a country that’s being pulled apart by income inequality and division.

So, that’s a little about me, my background, and what I care about. But I am learning as I go – I’m learning from YOU. I have another 6,000 doors to knock, and I hope to meet you on your front step. When we meet, please tell me your hopes and worries, and we will figure out what to do about them together.

Thank again to SCATV for this opportunity.

Planning for the Needs of Children and Families

I love the end (and start!) of the school year, but the hardest part is knowing that as the school-year wraps up, for some, it’s a time of transition and uncertainty. It's the end of stable routines. The hardest part is seeing a pile of record transfer request forms in the school office, knowing many families are moving, mainly because they could not find an affordable place to live in Somerville. Somerville’s loss is the gain of Everett, Revere, Lynn, Saugus, and places farther north or west. I hope our kids thrive in those districts. We will miss you and all you have to contribute.

Kids in Somerville are almost twice as likely to be living in poverty than the rest of the population. Families at many income levels face more hurdles than others to find a place to live – they have less income, they have more expenses (like childcare), they experience more housing discrimination, and they need more space. If families have kids enrolled in the public schools, they are deeply invested in the municipal boundaries. Moving even just block into a new city means a moving to new school district and thus a complete change in their kids’ worlds. (See above for a table that shows the decline in the numbers of children, even just between 2000 and 2010).

We have a lot of work to do on affordability. As we do, we need to pay special attention to how systems and policies impact children, who are both a particularly vulnerable and, in my opinion, a particularly wonderful part of our community. Pictured here are my daughter, Nancy, and some of her awesome classmates who won the City’s Fair Housing Contest this spring. Kids have seen friends move each month and year, and it's hard to say goodbye. They understand what's at stake.

I think we have to take a lot of steps, and all of them will require both the best technical tools and lots of community discussion. First and foremost, however, I think we have to talk to families to understand their hopes and challenges.

Here’s where I think we should focus, based on my experiences with children and families in Somerville and elsewhere:

• Traditional neighborhoods: I believe we need to invest in programs like the 100 homes effort that takes properties off the speculative market. I think most families would like to live in one of Somerville’s traditional homes that often will have its own entrance, often a shared backyard, and proximity to stores, schools, bus/T lines, and other kids.
• New housing: When we hope to have families live in new housing, I would like to see the housing and neighborhoods be designed with families in mind, such as building units with a view of shared outdoor space or walking distance to a school.
• Ownership: I believe we should focus on ownership opportunities. Anyone who wishes to own should ideally have a path to ownership.
• All income levels: I believe we need to create programs that support families at all different income levels, from the lowest income earners to those for who need less subsidy.
• Other affordability factors: I would like to see the City and District greatly increase its investment in out-of-school time programming and in health and human services. I would like to see public buildings open all the time for community use and a subsidy for transportation. We should be thinking of how systems work together to make life with kids (especially in a small space with limited resources or adult time) easy and happy vs. hard and stressful.

What are the tools we can use to achieve these goals? Many issues need to be resolved at the State level, including ways to pressure communities less dense than Somerville to build more housing. We need to change the state’s (and nation’s) education funding and accountability systems that currently systematically penalize communities for welcoming families – especially lower income families.

Locally, I think we need to bring every tool to bear, even though most steps will be difficult. Those include:

• Building incentives for family-friendly housing into the new citywide zoning;
• Making sure developers to do as much as possible to build affordable and family-friendly housing;
• Moving ahead with zoning and projects, especially those that increase commercial development, even though we have incomplete information or they are still a work in progress;
• Tapping into the extraordinary appreciation of home values by giving all homeowners access to tax deferral programs and by implementing a thoughtfully considered transfer fee;
• Creating a right-of-first refusal program to enable long-time tenants to purchase equity in their homes with funding from an affordable housing trust;
• Building higher density in transformative districts, even though neighborhoods will struggle with growing pains;
• Controlling budget expenses to stall tax increases, which will mean some austerity in the funding of initiatives;
• Finding a way to and go slow on some big capital projects that, unfortunately, we desperately need; and
• Finding ways to create and enforce a “car-free” property status and then allowing for higher density (such as development of accessory units) or more open space without increased cars.

On top of all that, we need to keep trying to build community so that we understand one another’s needs and keep paying attention to the day-to-day quality of life issues, like rats and cut-through traffic, that impact people’s sense of safety and peace of mind. Plus, we need to continue working to increase transparency, reform our powerful boards like the SRA, and pay attention to campaign finance, all of which will (I hope!) increase trust in the process. Whew… that’s a lot to worry about.

Those are my thoughts, but I am still learning and I learn more each day as I talk to people while door knocking… and we all will have to. There aren’t many examples in the US of communities that have figured this out. Let me know what you think!

Some Data on Somerville

In our recent Housing Design workshop, we discussed data on Somerville as a way to understand the struggles we face. Here are the data points for reference.

DEMOGRAPHICS

• 69.4% of units are renter occupied (Source: Assessing)
• 57.3% of adults have a bachelor’s degree (Source: Census)
• 44% of the population is aged 20 to 34 and 52% is aged 20 to 39. These percentages are among the highest in the country and the second highest in MA. (Source: Census)
• 4.8% of the population is under age 5 and 5.8% is aged 5 to 14. The percentage of children is the second lowest in MA among larger communities. (Source: Census)
• Children are more likely to be low-income than the general population Children are almost twice as likely to be living in poverty than people 18 or over.  In the schools, 48% of students speak another language at home, 39% are economically disadvantaged, and 66.9% qualified for free and reduced lunch in 2013-2014. (Source: DESE, Census).
• Here is how the population change between 2000 and 2010 – the population of children and older people fell, and the population of 25-34 and 55-64 rose. (Source: Census, 12/15 Housing Needs Assessment)
  

  

  
  
• The population is 70% non-Hispanic white, 10% Hispanic or Latino (of any race), 9% Black or African American, and 11.8% Asian. (Source: Census)
• Younger residents are more likely to be highly educated: (Source: Census)
• Age 25-34: 78.4% have BAs
• Age 35-44: 62.7% have BAs
• Age 45-64: 33.6% have BAs
• Age 65+: 20.8% have BAs
• Somerville differs from the national pattern of owners having a higher education (Source: Census)
• 54% of owner-occupied unit owners have bachelor’s degree in Somerville (vs. 36% nationwide)
• 60% of renter-occupied unit tenants have bachelor’s degree in Somerville (vs. 25% nationwide)
• Looking at Assessing data linked to City Census data, we see home ownership by age (Note – just general trend, it underestimates ownership)
• Age 60+: Approx. 61% are owners
• Age 34 or under: Approx. 7% are owners

HOUSING:

Below are two tables that show the gap between housing and current residents’ ability to pay:

• As of December 5, 2014 there were 3,258 affordable housing units in Somerville which accounted for almost 10% of the City’s housing. Affordability can be up to 110% AMA, or $108K for a four-person household. 285 affordable units are at risk of losing their affordability according (Source: 12/15 Housing Needs Assessment).
• Between 2012 and 2016, single family home prices increased by $145,900, or 30.5%. Condominium sale prices have increased even faster over the same period, by 35.7% or $150,000

OTHER DATA ON RESIDENTS:

• There were 40 fatal Opioid overdoses in 2015 and 2016. Almost all (91%) were non-Hispanic people, and 72% were men. The median reported fatal overdose age was 37, vs. 31 for non-fatal overdoses (Source: City SPD)
• Average student loan debt of recent graduates in 2015 was $30,100 (CNN)
• Younger voters are much less likely to vote in the municipal elections (see right, source: City Census data).

CITY FINANCES: Somerville has the second lowest revenue per capita among larger communities in MA. (MA DOR DLS)

Somerville Family Design Workshop — Building an affordable, supportive, and fun place to grow up

“It’s hard to be a grown-up” an eight-year-old concluded at this weekend’s first Somerville Family Design Workshop, held at the Armory on Sunday afternoon. She had just completed an exercise in which she had to try to pay bills on an annual income of $36,000. As she found out, it was tough.

More than 130 kids and grownups tackled challenges at this past weekend’s first Somerville Family Design Workshop. They designed neighborhoods, studied parks and open spaces, and solved hypothetical (though all-too-real) community dilemmas.

A group of parent volunteers organized the event with me to help identify priorities for children and families. We will be replicating the event for other groups —  like seniors and young adults.

At the event, kids and adults visited different stations. At each table, they had to problem solve and share their opinions about life in Somerville. Here’s what we learned:

At the AweSomerville Game station, game inventor Kelsey Kent and Melora Rush helped kids tackle a city challenge. “Emergency!” kids learned. “Somerville’s water supply has been contaminated! How do you get the word out? What’s the next step?”

Kids had lots of clarifying questions and ideas. “Is it so contaminated that they’ll have to go to the hospital?” “Can we call every home on time?” "How about have the mail carrier knock on doors throughout the day?” “Can we install filters for everyone?” “How much will it cost to clean the water?” As they solved problems, Somerville’s happiness score rose. Kelsey's take away from listening to kids think through the issues: “Kids are amazing. They are natural-born community enthusiasts and creative problem solvers.” One of the kid’s take-aways: “We can solve problems and even make more money for the city!”

Nearby at the Favorite Spaces station, Courtney Cooke guided kids and adults on an exercise

developed by Somerville mom and park designer, Eden Dutcher Martin. Participants marked up a big map of the City’s open spaces, pointed out places they love, their own homes, and their routes to open spaces.

Here’s what they said they loved: shady spaces, with places to sit and access to port-a-potties. They like playgrounds that are close to other destinations — like the library, the pool, and a store to buy snacks or cool drinks. They love it when programs, like festivals, Art in the Garden, or the Open Air Circus use public open spaces. Kids love “water play” and “fun structures.” They love to be able to walk or bike to their favorite parks.

And some ideas for improvements: “More and better athletic fields!” “Continued progress towards an extended community path,” and “Can we use the Veterans Memorial cemetery more?”

At the Balancing a Household Budget station, kids had a challenge. They learned that 37 percent of Somerville families with kids make less than $50,000 per year as a household. Almost 2,000 families make less than $24,000 per year. At the table, participants figured out how to live on $36,000/year, or $3,000/month. Using pennies as their funds, they had to pay: $2,100 (or 21 pennies)/month for rent, $1,000 for childcare, and $800/month for food, $600/month for transportation, and $300/month for recreation, vacations, and other expenses. They quickly learned that, though $3,000 seems like a lot, it doesn’t cover basic expenses. Try the tool yourself here: https://jcalz.github.io/family-budget/

Participants grappled with a few options to cut costs or earn more — and each option came with its own challenges. In addition to the conclusion that being an adult is hard, other thoughts included the following: “Life in Somerville is expensive,” “It must be very, very difficult to raise a family in Somerville,” “I need my extended family to help with my kids,” and “It’s not possible to afford to live here.”

What can we do? The most popular idea — shared more than 15 times — was to help families with childcare. Other ideas included building more high-density, affordable, and family-sized housing. Also, people suggested providing free wi-fi, creating more employment opportunity, building a bigger commercial tax base to help pay for programs, and creating “bigger, open indoor public spaces for multi-aged recreation.”

At the Immigrant Family’s Journey station, participants had a chance to role-play (in a very simplified way) the difficult decisions someone makes before they leave their home country. After people tried it, they shared their reflections: “It is very hard for immigrants to come to the U.S.,” “Immigration is very stressful.” As one immigrant mom said, “It’s a very hard decision, torn between two lands, and can be very dangerous for some.”

At the Recreation table, Dave Ahouse and Rob Odilon asked people a few questions and they had LOTS of ideas. People said, we need better facilities, including more/better athletic fields (turf and/or grass), a large indoor city pool, a teen recreation center, and easy ways for the public to get to the facilities.

We need more activities for ‘tweens and teens, including options other than sports.

Participants said they’d like more both indoor and outdoor theater events, and theater camp for all ages year round. Could we have a Somerville talent show, or a theater festival similar to Honk/Porch Fest?” people asked. Also, “What spaces can theater groups use?”

In terms of public spaces, many people asked for port-a-potties in parks, “so we can stay all afternoon!” Residents asked if the Kennedy Pool can be open longer, and also if it could have an “open community park and playground?” Other wishes included the community path extension, more dog parks, more movable red chairs, a new playground for the Brown school, and help for restaurants to have outdoor seating.

People threw out more ideas, including requests for more mixed-age activities, more non-sports

activities, a free shuttle from Davis to Assembly, more inclusive programming, and depaving of yards. Facilitator Rob Odilon said one of his favorite ideas he heard was to have a citywide cookout — each block should pull out their grills on one day in the summer and share burgers with neighbors.
At our housing table, Tim and Shu Talun helped kids and adults look through magazines to find features of homes and neighborhoods they liked best. Taking a look at the collage, it’s clear kids like interesting designs with unique spaces, easy access to outdoor space, play elements, and natural elements, like trees turned into benches. Based on the pictures of animals cut out and glued, it’s evident they also love furry creatures. Parents asked about ease of access to shared outdoor space, and wondered “Why don’t kids go out to parks any more by themselves? Meanwhile Jason Behrens helped kids use many different materials to build neighborhoods free form.

Finally, at our community sustainability table, Jennifer Dorsen led a discussion of how to invest in our community’s environmental health. Composting was a popular suggestion here.

Stay tuned for a design workshop coming to you soon!

—photos by Jeanine Farley