Thoughts on Mayoral Discussion?
brendan.ritter
The discussion was recorded and is available here.
The DSNC got at least one shout out when discussing the lack of public indoor spaces. t=37:20
rona twofisch.com
I hesitate to start talking about candidates here.
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Christopher Beland
many of them were city-wide. (I expect DSNC members will vote for
different candidates for different reasons.) I was thinking it might be
valuable to host a Davis-specific forum for the mayoral and at-large
city council candidates. Especially with people living in the public
parks at the moment and various vacant properties, it seems like there
are some issues specific to this part of town that could use raising,
if only to make sure that whoever wins is thinking about them and
publicly committed to dealing with them.
-B.
Denise Provost
-B.
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Christopher Beland
On Wed, 2025-07-30 at 20:19 +0000, 'Denise Provost' via Davis Square Neighborhood Council wrote:
Good questions to ask at any forum.
East Somerville has the same stuff going on.
Unhoused people living in public spaces and vacant storefronts are
not just confined to Davis Square.
These may be good questions, but problematic behavior in public parks was not asked about at the Union Square forum, and vacant buildings were mentioned by the candidates but not articulated as a focus of concern from residents. I suspect that's partly because residents there are not going through the same sort of public park crisis that Davis residents are.
Denise later wrote to me that there were many unhoused people in East Somerville, "many living in parks". This got me wondering about the facts on the ground there, so this afternoon and evening I took a bike tour of almost all the parks east of Central Ave and some around the other half of the city. I saw very different conditions (mostly much more positive than Statue Park), even in parks that are pretty close to each other.
One thing I realized is that I don't actually go to the parks in East Somerville regularly, and that people who live and work and play there have on-the-ground knowledge that makes them best positioned to bring effective complaints to elected officials and candidates. If I don't see a problem personally or hear about it in the news or from someone personally affected by it, I won't know to complain about it in the first place, it's probably not a priority for me, and I certainly won't know there's a disconnect between a nice-sounding answer and reality on the ground. The majority of the people of Union Square seem to be somewhat disconnected from Davis, in the same way I'm somewhat disconnected from East Somerville.
I think the people of East Somerville would benefit from their own forum to ask specific questions about the specific problems in their neighborhood. Some of the issues are the same and there are common solutions in zoning and social services and whatnot, but in different neighborhoods there are somewhat different people, hotspots, politics, causes, available solutions, and outcomes from attempted fixes.
Anyway, here are the results of my tour, which is of course only one snapshot in time.
Major problems:
- Statue Park and Seven Hills Park, Davis - about 10 members of the rough crowd in Statue Park when I left. When I came back, there were 4-6 people smoking up in Seven Hills Park on the ramp with belongings piled around them, and abandoned personal belongings still occupying some benches in Statue Park. Apparently there was a major clean-up early in the day; the multi-day tarp encampment I wrote to the mayor about on Tuesday was gone. Davis Square is convenient to the Red Line, Somerville Homeless Coalition overnight shelter and daytime engagement center, Behavioral Health Network services, a liquor store, a vape shop, a cannabis dispensary, and a convenience store.
- Chuckie Harris Park, Cross Street, East Somerville - maybe 10-12 people in the park, half of them looking a little rough, one with a cart of belongings, 2-3 looked like they were engaged in active drug dealing. (I saw something being put into another person's pocket, and they interacted with other people who came and went quickly.) I called the SPD. They didn't pick up. I left a voicemail and wandered off. This park is directly behind 165 Broadway, where there are Somerville Homeless Coalition food services, the Cross Street Elderly Center, and The Center for Teen Empowerment. It's not near the subway, though there are buses on Broadway, a liquor store, and down the street convenience stores and a vape shop.
(Note that physical proximity does not prove causation, and I didn't check to see if similar services are unavailable near other parks.)
Left me with questions:
- Symphony Park - there were some abandoned shoes and cosmetics on the back of a bench which looks like a good place for sleeping. The benches are shaped like musical notes, and have a wide metal grill sweeping out the back, which would be a good place to put down some cardboard or a blanket and sleep - it's off the ground and only at a slight angle. But when I was there it was empty of people other than a kid biking through, so it was a pleasant visit.
- Prospect Hill Park - one older dude had a couple of plastic shopping bags crammed full of items. Unclear if these were his worldly possessions or if he was merely out for a stroll or shopping trip prepared with a face mask and ear plugs and whatnot. I wouldn't have noticed him if I hadn't been looking suspiciously at every single person in the park, and it was a pleasant visit. Mostly there were dogs and lawn sitters and people enjoying the amazing view, including some international tourists.
No problems witnessed (generally clean, some empty of people, some with dog walkers, some with large numbers of people playing sports or swimming or relaxing on gorgeous green fields in spectacular summer weather):
- Hodgkins-Curtin - just down the street from Davis
- Powderhouse
- Trum Field - convenient to the Green Line
- ESCA - just down the street from Chuckie Harris Park
- Foss Park
- Draw 7 (mostly closed, only part of walkway open)
- Assembly Square to Blessing of the Bay
- Walnut Street
- Glen
- Nunziato
- Osgood
- Lincoln
- Perry
- Conway
Overall it was a lovely day to be out and about in Somerville, excepting the two parks with illegal activity, two major potholes, one unpaved road, two cars blocking bike lanes, and one blocked bike rack. Two of those involved people screaming the f-word; I'll leave you to guess which.
-B.