Davis Square Spaghetti Dinner (talk w/ your neighbors)

[Zev Pogrebin]

Hello all,

The Somerville Foundation, in an effort led by Greg Nadeau, has offered to work with people active in the Davis Square Neighborhood Council, Davis Square Village, and Davis Square Merchants Association to convene people in small groups over a simple meal (spaghetti) to discuss elements of a New Plan for Davis. If you would like to participate and/or host, please complete this brief survey. Survey results will be used to ensure each spaghetti dinner brings together people starting with different perspectives. In March, participants will be invited to a larger group event at the Somerville Theater. The goal is to encourage compromise and generate input to a land use plan that the City would use to update the 2019 Davis Square Neighborhood Plan. The recent 40B filing by Copper Mill increases the importance of this type of dialogue. Email, Facebook, and Reddit tend to reinforce polarization and echo chambers; we hope that this type of dialogue will be productive in finding common ground and coming together as a community.

I'm sending this out in my personal capacity. I've gotten involved in this effort and hope to host one of the dinners myself. I have found that this type of discussion leaves me with a clearer understanding and respect for people's viewpoints who are opposed to mine.

Best,

Zev

[David Booth]

Nice idea! But one question: The sign-up form says "small (>10)
groups". A group of >10 people would feel to me like a large group.
Did you mean to write "<10"? Or was the ">10" referring to the total
number of groups that you expect?

If you could please update the wording on that sign-up form it would be
helpful.

Thanks!
David Booth

On 1/12/26 13:00, Zev Pogrebin wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> The Somerville Foundation, in an effort led by Greg Nadeau, has offered
> to work with people active in the Davis Square Neighborhood Council,
> Davis Square Village, and Davis Square Merchants Association to convene
> people in small groups over a simple meal (spaghetti) to discuss
> elements of aNew Plan for Davis

> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GJSCYm_ZYPNSLNkdrLeFx7WV8I0B2ASjCAFsJqLRYUQ/edit?tab=t.0>. If you would like to participate and/or host, please complete this briefsurvey <https://forms.gle/DBdbo1EyfWLZsoYa6>. Survey results will be used to ensure each spaghetti dinner brings together people starting with different perspectives. In March, participants will be invited to a larger group event at the Somerville Theater. The goal is to encourage compromise and generate input to a land use plan that the City would use to update the2019 Davis Square Neighborhood Plan <https://drive.google.com/open?id=10k7kLv9L1OJHYy3wRVwNt6ZnZt7w6GDV>. The recent 40B filing by Copper Mill increases the importance of this type of dialogue. Email, Facebook, and Reddit tend to reinforce polarization and echo chambers; we hope that this type of dialogue will be productive in finding common ground and coming together as a community.

>
> I'm sending this out in my personal capacity. I've gotten involved in
> this effort and hope to host one of the dinners myself. I have found
> that this type of discussion leaves me with a clearer understanding and
> respect for people's viewpoints who are opposed to mine.
>
> Best,
> Zev
>

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[gregn...@gmail.com]

Neighbors,

 

This is an invitation to engage in civic discourse in a constructive, inclusive, collaborative way to positively impact Davis Square. 

 

People on this email list all make solid points.  However, with respect, I don’t think anyone believes we are moving closer to a common community response.  That seems to be the nature of email, social, Reddit communications.  All encourage polarizing expression more than moving towards alignment.  Without alignment on a community response, we will remain divided and the most likely outcome is continued empty, stalled development on both sides of Elm St.

 

The alternative, I believe, is sitting down with neighbors who have different views, breaking bread, talking, and, most importantly, listening.   We have done two such “spaghetti dinners” and all folks cc:ed who have participated I believe would attest that the experience was positive and had them begin to think differently.

 

We have created a survey for people open to participating in such an event.  It currently has 5 people against the tower, 8 in favor, and 5 in between.  Once we have a solid number registered, we will match people with events to ensure each event is balanced.

 

After a few weeks and a (hopefully) a few dozen of these small group discussions, we will host a hybrid event at the Somerville Theater for all who have participated in such a discussion.  That night, local restaurants will make available tables for additional balanced discussions for those who did not get a chance to participate before.  There will be Zoom options for those who cannot participate in person.  The idea here is that all should practice listening to others with different views as a pre-condition of good faith participation in the broader conversation.

 

The goal is to identify a high level neighborhood land use plan for Davis Sq that most participants can live with.  Height and other variables of Copper Mill will be considered in the broader context of Davis Sq. 

 

If you would like to participate in this process, complete this brief survey.  James will then connect you with an event.

 

g.

 

 

Greg Nadeau

Somerville

781-370-1017

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[Edward Woll]

Less than 10 in a group would be more manageable.

> Davis Square Neighborhood Council · https://DavisSquareNC.org · https://linktr.ee/DavisSquareNC

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[gregn...@gmail.com]

David called me and I fixed the form. <10

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/davissquarenc/0AD25A5B-33BA-413D-B0E9-B31EDAD6F86E%40woll.us.

[Alyssa W]

I really like the idea of small form community discussion like this - I've learned so much from hearing differing perspectives at DSNC meetings.

If there's anyone who would like to attend one but can't handle gluten I'm happy to host a gluten free spaghetti dinner (our kitchen has been gluten free for years, so it'd be fully celiac safe). 

Best,

Alyssa

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