City Finances

Committee on Legislative Matters

Tues. Feb. 9 7:00 PM

Aldermen’s Chamber
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

Agenda (PDF)

This is a special meeting of Committee on Legislative Matters, meeting as a whole. The Committee does the final review of ordinances…

Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee Planning Meeting

Tues., Feb. 16, 6:30 PM

Upper Hall
Greek Orthodox Church
29 Central St.
Somerville MA (map)

This is the rescheduling of the Feb. 9 Phase 3 planning meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee. At this meeting, the group will begin specifying…

As the City prepares to sell the closed Powder House School building to private developers, the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD) just posted an Aug 24, 2009 real estate analysis report (pdf) to its website .…

Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee Visioning Meeting

Tues., Jan. 26, 6:30 PM

Upper Hall
Greek Orthodox Church
29 Central St.
Somerville MA (map)

This is the last Visioning meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee. At this meeting, the group will finish the vision statement.

The goal of…

This is the second Visioning meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee. At this meeting, the group will review the citizen inputs from the earlier SomerVision meetings and pull them together into the beginning of a vision statement.

BOA Committee on Finance

Wed. Jan. 13, 7:00 PM

2nd Floor Comm. Room
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

This is the first 2010 meeting of the Finance Committee.

Finance Committee meetings are always important, because this is where decisions are made about city…

Ward 1 ResiStat Meeting

Mon. Dec. 7, 7:30 PM

Cafeteria
Capuano Early Childhood Center
150 Glen St.
Somerville MA (map)

This meeting, sponsored by Mayor Curtatone and Ward 1 Alderman Roche, deals with statistical data and issues relating to Ward 1. Similar meetings are held in all other…

Ward 4 ResiStat Meeting

Tues. Dec. 8, 7:00 PM

Cafeterium
Arthur D. Healey School
5 Meacham St.
Somerville MA (map)

This meeting, sponsored by Mayor Curtatone and Ward 4 Alderman Pero, deals with statistical data and issues relating to Ward 4. Similar meetings are held in all other…

BOA Committee on Finance

Wed. Dec. 9, 7:00 PM

2nd Floor Comm. Room
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

Agenda (PDF)

This is a special meeting of the Somerville Aldermen’s Committee on Finance to discuss retiree health coverage under Medicare and…

Ward 7 ResiStat Meeting

Thurs. Dec. 10, 5:30 PM

Tufts Admin. Building (TAB)
167 Holland St.
Somerville MA (map)

This meeting, sponsored by Mayor Curtatone and Ward 7 Alderman Trane, deals with statistical data and issues relating to Ward 7. Similar meetings are held in all other wards…

BOA Committee on Finance

Tues. Dec. 1, 6:00 PM

2nd Floor Comm. Room
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

Agenda (PDF)

This is a special meeting of the Somerville Aldermen’s Committee on Finance to discuss retiree health coverage under Medicare and…

Ward 5 ResiStat Meeting

Tues. Dec. 1, 7:00 PM

Cafeterium
John F. Kennedy School
5 Cherry St.
Somerville MA (map)

This meeting, sponsored by Mayor Curtatone and Ward 5 Alderman O’Donovan, deals with statistical data and issues relating to Ward 5. Similar meetings are held in all other…

Ward 2 ResiStat Meeting

Mon. Nov. 30, 7:30 PM

Argenziano School
290 Washington Street
Somerville MA (map)

This meeting, sponsored by Mayor Curtatone and Ward 2 Alderman Heuston, deals with statistical data and issues relating to Ward 2. Similar meetings are held in all other wards of the…

Pittsburgh floats a sales tax on college tuition!

Comprehensive Plan Visioning Meeting

Tues. Nov. 17, 6:30 PM

Argenziano School
290 Washington Street
Somerville MA (map)

This is the November meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee. The Visioning Discussion begins with this meeting and will continue with four public input meetings in December. The Steering Committee…

Somerville Voices will sponsor a public forum on Sunday, Nov 15th, 7-9:30 pm about our city’s changing parking regulations and how they will affect residents, visitors, businesses, and the city budget. …

BOA Committee on Finance

Mon. Nov. 9, 6:00 PM

2nd Floor Comm. Room
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

Agenda (PDF)

This is a rescheduling of the Nov. 4 meeting of the Finance Committee, which was cancelled on November 2. It is…

BOA Committee on Housing and Community Development

Thurs. Nov. 5, 7:00 PM

2nd Floor Conference Room
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

This is meeting of the Aldermanic Committee on Housing and Community Development is important because the Committee will discuss the proposed MBTA maintenance…

BOA Committee on Finance

Wed. Nov. 4, 6:00 PM

2nd Floor Comm. Room
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

This is the regular meeting of the Finance Committee. It is important because it addresses the final requirements of the iCubed program just approved by the…

Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee Meeting

Tues. Oct. 27, 6:30 PM

Community Room
Visiting Nurses Association
259 Lowell St.
Somerville MA (map)

This is the second October meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee. The subcommittees will meet and the committee as a whole will review the Land Use…

BOA Finance Committee Meeting and Hearing

Wed. Oct. 14 6:30 PM

Aldermanic Chamber
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

This is a continuation of the Sep. 16 public hearing on the iCubed funding proposal before the Board of Aldermen, which would provide $50 million in…

Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee Meeting

Tues. Oct. 13, 6:30 PM

Community Room
Visiting Nurses Association
259 Lowell St.
Somerville MA (map)

This is the first October meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee. The subcommittees will meet and the committee as a whole will review the Housing Trends…

BOA Committee on Finance Meetings

• Tues. Sep. 22, 6:00 PM
• Wed. Sep. 23, 6:00 PM

2nd Floor Comm. Room
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

• Tues. Agenda (MS DOC)
• Wed. Agenda (MS DOC)

These are back-to-back…

BOA Finance Committee Meeting and Hearing

Wed. Sep. 16 6:00 PM

Aldermanic Chamber
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

Agenda (MS Word)

This important meeting of the Somerville Aldermen’s Committee on Finance will include a Public Hearing on the State I-Cube program…

Almost half of the Aug 27th BOA mtg agenda (pdf) basically consists of 311 service requests like orders to fix potholes and sidewalks. The other half contains some interesting items including these highlights (emphasis added by me):

Note that Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane was the only member to not have sponsored any items. The Aldermen each earn a salary of $24,521.03 in FY2010.…

On Aug 27th, the Board of Aldermen raised taxes on meals by 0.75% and on hotels by 2% effective Oct 1st, according to Danielle Dreilinger’s report today on Boston.com. These taxes will generate an estimated $620,715 in revenue. One wonders why this item did not appear on the meeting agenda (pdf) and also how the extra money will be spent?…

Traffic Board Meeting and Hearing

Thurs. Aug. 13, 6 PM

Aldermanic Chamber
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

Agenda (PDF)

This is a special meeting of the Traffic Board. It includes a public hearing on petitions challenging the decision to extend parking…

This public hearing will be convened by the Traffic Board in the Aldemanic Chamber at City Hall. I initially noticed this in Deb Filcman’s Aug 7 SJ blog post.  For background about the parking changes, visit the SPARC blog , check out the just-posted video of the 7/27 interview on SCAT’s Progressive Voices of SPARC-co-founder Courtney Koslow,  or see the recent articles on Somerville Voices/Journal/News.…

Special Meeting, Somerville Board of Aldermen

Tues. Aug. 4 6:30 PM

Aldermanic Chamber
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville MA (map)

This special meeting of the Board of Aldermen is being held to discuss economic proposals for the Assembly Square development project, and other financial issues…

Somerville Housing and Land Use Joint Committee Meeting

Wed. July 29, 7 PM

Aldermanic Chamber
Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Ave.
Somerville  MA (map)

Agenda (MS DOC)

This is a joint meeting of the Housing and Community Development and Land Use Committees. On the…

This important press conference will be held Monday morning at Assembly Square with Governor Patrick, Senator Kerry and Congressman Capuano. The event will focus on I-Cubed funding, GDI funding and stimulus funding for the Assembly on the Mystic project. Issues of interest: * Assembly Square long term vision * Assembly Square Orange Line T-Stop funding

Assembly Square Public Advisory Committee Meeting

Mon. July 20, 6:00 PM

Federal Realty Investment Trust
5 Middlesex Ave. Suite 401
Somerville MA (map)

This important event is sponsored by Federal Realty, the chief developer of the new Assembly Square mixed use development. Matters of interest:

• Urban design and

I have a new idea as to how Somerville can raise revenue: ticket jaywalkers.  I drive through Davis Square daily to drop my son off at daycare and DAILY come across pedestrians who think it is OK to cross the street wherever they want.  …

This Somerville ARRA Funding Watch is gleaned from the Massachusetts Area Planning Council’s Municipal Resource Guide on the Federal Economic Stimulus,

Pending all final approvals, Somerville is in line…

In spite of the overwhelming cupidity of the Board of Aldermen, one or more may ask why or how the Mayor connects “access” to higher tickets across the board? … The obvious conclusion is that he cares nothing about access, and everything about money. While that may be good for his budget, it is at real cost to citizens and businesses, and, ultimately, to the management system that justifies – or rationalizes – that cost.

Come out to the next Progressive Democrats of Somerville Meeting!
When: Tuesday, June 23rd, 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Where: VNA, 259 Lowell Street, Community Room

The message below was sent by Richard Saunders, Director of Music for the Somerville Public Schools. He is rightfully outraged by a bill currently being considered by the House of Representatives, (Bill H111)which would require school music department to sterilize instruments. Here’s a Globe article about it. …

I thought Somerville Voices readers might be interested in my recent newsletter about the state budget.  If you’d like to receive future newsletters, you can sign up at www.patjehlen.org

From the SPS homepage, entitled “A message from Tony Pierantozzi, Superintendent of Schools”
… The extent of the impact of the current financial crisis on fiscal year 2010 remains unclear. We do know that the impact of the revenue decrease at the State level will require creative solutions and difficulty in maintaining our…

You are invited to attend a public budget hearing on Wednesday, June 3rd at 7:00 PM in the Somerville High School Library (81 Highland Avenue) to discuss the proposed FY10 budget for the Somerville Public Schools.

Information about the budget development process is on the Public Schools website. Please visit www.somerville.k12.ma.us. Click…

As announced in the Somerville Journal : What should happen with the former Powder House Community School?

According to the Somerville Journal:
Somerville Democrats will meet Tuesday, May 19, at 6:30 p.m. in the community room at the Visiting Nurses Association at 259 Lowell St.

Mayor Joe Curtatone will speak on “The Economic Challenges Facing Somerville.”
Note : this location is wheelchair accessible …

The City of Somerville, as an Entitlement Community, receives millions of Federal dollars from HUD each year from the Community Development Block Grant, Emergency Shelter Grant, and HOME programs.  These monies must be spent on activities that primarily benefit low and moderate income Somerville residents in three areas:  

Provide decent affordable housing…

The following was posted by Ward 5 School Committee member Mark Niedergang to the list of the Progressive Democrats of Somerville (PDS) on Apr 24th.

How do you think Somerville should respond to the budget cuts?

-Barry

————————————–

Dear friends at PDS,

The Board of Aldermen and School Committee together…

from Mark Niedergang

Dear friends,

The Board of Aldermen and School Committee together will be holding a public forum on the FY 2010 budget this Tuesday, April 28th, at 7 PM in the Aldermen’s Chambers in City Hall.

This is an opportunity to get an update from the Mayor and the Superintendent…