Here's a link to a map that shows 99 foreclosed properties in our city. Are we surprised that they are concentrated in the east and northeast? Here's a link to a somewhat shorter list without a map.Read More.>>

Drop off from 9 to noon, 1:00 to 5:00 - see list of items neededRead More.>>

Forum on Gentrification and Displacement! Thursday, May 14th, 6 PM Elizabeth Peabody House 277 Broadway (at Broadway & Grant Street) Somerville, MA 02145

Gentrification and Displacement: What do they mean?  What

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Thanks to Jessica, a senior in the Tufts class entitled "Experimenting with Philanthropy," CAAS will receive $1,800 to hire youth interpreters to help the residents of Clarendon Hill build a stronger tenants’ association.Read More.>>

Walk to raise funds for emergency assistance to individuals and families teetering on the brink of homelessness.Read More.>>

Rock out and chow down to keep our neighbors off the streets!Read More.>>

I'm inviting you to please either become involved, or send a pledge to me, to support the 6th annual Walk to Save Our Homes.  This is an effort to raise money that will be used to keep Somerville families and individuals from homelessness.  This 5K walk is on Sunday April 26, registration at 1:30 in front of the Somerville High School Atrium, with the walk itself starting at 2:00. You can support this effort in any one of four ways.… Read More.>>

On March 3rd, the Somerville Board of Aldermen will hold its hearing on the proposed Condo Conversion Ordinance. If you are a Somerville homeowner, you know that the Libertarian, Cambridge-based Small Property Owners Association (SPOA) -- which mailed letters to every Somerville homeowner -- is seeking to derail that legislation by disseminating inflammatory and baseless claims about how passage will result in plummeting property values and escalating property taxes.Read More.>>

What is going on with our economy? How is the economic crisis affecting local issues? What can we do? This Sunday, February 22 at 7pm, come to the Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) in the heart of Union Square (in the old police building above Precinct 116) to participate in a discussion about the… Read More.>>

What is going on with our economy? How is the economic crisis affecting local issues? What can we do? This Sunday, February 22 at 7pm, come to the Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) in the heart of Union Square (in the old police building above Precinct 116) to participate in a discussion about the economic crisis and how it is affecting affordable housing.… Read More.>>

Please join the Affordable Housing Organizing Committee (AHOC) and Save Our Somerville (SOS) on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. for the hearing of the Union Square Zoning Ordinance at City Hall. We are very concerned that the proposed Union Square zoning does little to protect affordability in the area.Read More.>>

One week ago, Somerville went overwhelmingly for Obama-Biden. To keep the promises made by the Obama campaign, the Obama Administration will need all the help it can get. We in Somerville should do our part to help--and to keep the politicians honest. Here is a very partial and incomplete list of campaign promises that I think Obama should keep:Read More.>>

I just got a robo-call from the "Small Property Owners Association" telling me that I should email my alderman and demand that all condo conversion controls be eliminated. It also urged me to attend the BOA meeting on November 18. We've had some discussion on this site about gentrification. Well, I can't think of a better way to promote gentrification than to wipe out large numbers of rental units via condo conversion.Read More.>>

As cold autumn weather approaches, Davis Square's Amethyst Center announced today that it is hosting a “Get Healthy for the Holidays” open house offering refreshments and holistic health treatments. The short treatments—available in exchange for a suggested $10 donation to the Somerville Homeless Coalition—include: acupuncture; shiatsu; massage; craniosacral therapy; naturopathy consultations; reiki and other energy balancing sessions. Participants are also encouraged to bring gently-used or new blankets to donate to the Coalition.Read More.>>

The Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) is seeking an Executive Director to start January 1, 2009. Please refer to our website for more information: www.caasomerville.org.Read More.>>

When Jack Hamilton began serving as the Executive Director of CAAS (the Community Action Agency of Somerville), Ronald Reagan was President, postage stamps cost 20 cents, IBM had just introduced the first personal computer running on MS-DOS, and PacMan-mania was sweeping the country. After more than a quarter-century of service to Somerville’s low-income residents, Hamilton has announced he will retire as the head of Somerville’s anti-poverty agency at the end of 2008.Read More.>>

Note: We’re planning to run a range of views on the rezoning of Union Square. This one is from Matt McLaughlin, president of Save Our Somerville. The Green Line is coming through, which is a great step forward for Somerville. I look forward to jumping on the Green Line and going into Boston. But where am I going to live? ...…Read More.>>

Sustainable Somerville -- a nascent network of community organizations working to make/keep Somerville a great place to live, work, and play -- is sponsoring a Sustainability Scavenger Hunt at ArtBeat (Saturday, July 19th in Davis Square), to show how the common thread of sustainability connects the work of the

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The National Council on Disability (NCD) is gathering public input for a study of emerging issues and trends affecting the lives of people with disabilities. Information gathered will be used in the development of NCD's next annual progress report to the President and Congress, "National Disability Policy: A Progress Report," which is required by Section 401(b) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.Read More.>>

Please join us for this important AHOC meeting as we discuss our leadership, prepare for the Union Square meeting Zoning on June 24th, plan for a busy summer in the green line corridor and get updates on the Condo ordinance!Read More.>>

Do you want to help set the direction for Somerville’s anti-poverty agency? The Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) is seeking candidates—and voters—for its Board elections, coming up the week of May 19th at two locations in Somerville.

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Come one, Come all. On April 27 afternoon (1:30pm registration), the 5th Annual Walk to Prevent Homelessness in Somerville will again take off from the Somerville High School.…Read More.>>

Thalia Tringo is looking for items for a silent auction at the Somerville Homeless Coalition fundraiser on April 26, 2008. Each auction item will have a value of $250 or higher, but some of them will be combined packages (e.g, a night-out-on-the-town item consisting of a gift certificate for $100 to a Boston restaurant and…Read More.>>

I’m frequently seeing the word “gentrification” employed to describe the demographic change taking place in Somerville since the late 1990s. We’re certainly seeing changes, but I question how much of it is gentrification.

When the term came into general use it described a revival of old and run-down neighborhoods by well-to-do…

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Many residents are eligible for a property tax break. Are you? Find out.…Read More.>>

Gentrification—when wealthy people push less wealthy people out of a neighborhood. It’s about to get worse when the Green Line arrives. Here’s a provocative film about it.…Read More.>>