Comments on: Hotel Davis Square: What’s in it for us?

By: eila

eila — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:03:57 +0000

Thanks, Ron, for clearing up my mistake! I don’t know why I was envisioning “Summer Street” while reading “Beacon Street,” but that’s what I did.
And thanks Barry and Suzanne, for being curious about the Mayor’s Request along with me… Has this Technical Advisory Committee already been appointed by the Mayor? Have they already been meeting? If they are reviewing requests for qualifications, what has qualified them to review these?! (How) are they being compensated?

By: Suzanne Bremer

Suzanne Bremer — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:27:47 +0000

Regarding the request for members of the Hotel Davis Square Technical Advisory Committee having Special Municipal Employee status – perhaps the question to ask is do they recieve a stipend?

By: Barry Rafkind

Barry Rafkind — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:11:21 +0000

If that’s true, then why would the mayor need to make a special request for it? And why does that designation matter?

By: Ron Newman

Ron Newman — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:08:30 +0000

i think all unpaid members of committees (like me on the Somerville Bicycle Committee) are considered ‘special municipal employees’.

By: Barry Rafkind

Barry Rafkind — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 03:56:15 +0000

What’s the significance of Eila’s point #2?

By: Ron Newman

Ron Newman — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:31:12 +0000

369-371 Beacon Street is not in Davis Square and is unrelated to Mayor Curtatone’s hotel proposals. This is the site of an abandoned gas station at the corner of Beacon and Oxford streets.

By: eila

eila — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:49:45 +0000

Movement around Davis Square Hotel idea have been proceeding without much public attention. Here are 3 items between October 30, 2008 and January 22, 2009:

1. Plans were submitted on 10/30/08 for a “Beacon Street Hotel” to presumably replace current structures in Davis Square, at 369-371 Beacon Street. These plans can be viewed online at : http://www.somervillema.gov/cos_content/documents/BeaconSt369-371Plans.pdf

2. At a 12/11/08 BOA meeting:
“41. Mayor’s Request Requesting approval under G.L.c.268A to classify as Special Municipal Employees all members of the Technical
Advisory Committee created to review requests for
qualifications and requests for proposals for the Davis Sq.
Hotel and parking garage property disposition.

3. The Beacon Street Hotel plans were reviewed on January 22, 2009 by the city’s Design Review Team. Those recommendations are at: http://www.somervillema.gov/cos_content/documents/CWDRC_Recommendations_Mintues_01.22.09.pdf

By: Suzanne Bremer

Suzanne Bremer — Sat, 17 May 2008 11:16:07 +0000

There are two threads that tie together the seemingly random questions that I posed in the original post. First thread - during the mayoral race last November, the issues that people talked about most frequently were, in descending order, affordable house, economic opportunity and open space. This is what a lot of people want. Second thread - City Hall has limited resources. The planning division of the department of Strategic Planning and Community Development has 26 employees, and the projects listed on the division’s web pages suggest that their plate is rather full. The Green Line extension, development of Assembly Square, Union Square and Lower McGrath/Inner Belt, the transportation matrix, an Open Space and Recreation plan, the Community Path, Maxpax planning, and a Ward 2 Planning Initiative - how do they prioritize their work? Does the hotel in Davis Square come before or after the Community Path? Or the Green Line extension, or Inner Belt, or the Open Space plan? In a February 2007 study (pdf), the Pinnacle Advisory Group estimated that a hotel in Davis Square would generate between $590,900 and $694,500 in property and hotel room taxes annually. This is about what the city pays each year in rent. They also estimated that the hotel of the type and size that would do best in Davis Square (a nationally branded, limited services hotel with 80 to 125 rooms) would generate 23 to 35 jobs. Again, in terms of priorities, how does a project that creates 35 jobs stack up against the Green Line extension, Maxpax, and so on? Drilling further down, how many of those 35 jobs will pay salaries that allow one to live in Somerville? With that, we have circled back to affordable housing.

By: armando

armando — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:49:12 +0000

I agree with Chris. The questions seem to be all over the place. The arguments are not cohesive. I’m not sure I understand that benefits of the hotel either, but the arguments brought up don’t seem to be relevant.

Brabus: I think I agree with your point, even though the way you worded it gives the wrong impression. In any case, I really don’t understand the whole affordable housing thing. I understand why people want it, but I have a few issues.

(1) Affordable for who? I can afford the house prices in Davis Square as they are, but maybe not if they go up more. If you somehow offer homes that are half the price, there are still people who cannot afford those prices. So who are we catering to? Is this a mission with no real, tangible goal??

(2) I have yet to hear a plan that makes economic sense. Affordable housing simply raises the prices of the “non-affordable homes”, because it reduces the number of homes on the open market. Rent control was removed because it was a bad idea, so why can’t people see that affordable housing is just like rent control for home owners?

I have other arguments against affordable housing, but those are my main ones.

By: Brabus

Brabus — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:12:47 +0000

Instead of moving towards affordable housing in Davis Square, why not move towards more expensive housing? This would bring in higher property taxes which would benifit the city and be more beneficial to the whole community?