By William Tauro
Is Mayor Joe Curtatone for the residents and business owners of Somerville or is he working against them? Is he deliberately trying to drive property and business owners to disgust and failure via sabotaging roadways to stall more developments and certain Somerville retailing businesses?
By looking at all his most recent actions over the past few years its very hard to tell what side he’s on.
Just look at Beacon Street where he eliminated the majority of parking spaces where business owners once provided ample parking space for the customers that frequented their stores.
Two years later businesses on that street are starving for customers due to lack of parking spaces.
Then just three years ago he allegedly arranged to eliminate the over one hundred parking spots on McGrath Highway/Medford Street in Somerville converting it only one side parking.
Then again just only two years ago he allegedly tried eliminating the remaining all of the parking spaces on that same road but lost the battle.
Luckily for these residents and business owners this time around the neighborhood and this very paper fought back against the mayor’s parking elimination plans and were victorious over keeping the parking spaces.
If that had gone through it would’ve deprived hundreds of residents and dozens of business owners the right to park in front of their own homes and businesses. Their customers would’ve given up due to the lack of parking and going elsewhere to do there businesses.
Now new theories are surfacing regarding the reasoning why the McGrath Highway overpass exit offramp that leads down to Burger King, Target, Hub Glass, John’s Auto Sales and many more properties has been closed down for over a year now?
What is the reasoning for it? If you ask the mayors office they tell you that the overpass is coming down. But then again when is the overpass coming down in 10 years, 20 years, 25 years? So what was the reasoning/motive that the overpass has been closed down now this early in any phase of demolition?
Some business owners are telling us that their theory is that the mayor is allegedly trying to starve them by depriving them of motorist the use of that vital offramp to conduct business in that area. An offramp that was crucial for the survival of many businesses in that area.
Could it be part of a bigger plot to prolong another stalled development that was underway in that area as well before the mayor allegedly threw a monkeywrench into it?
In other words did the mayor cut off their circulation by closing the offramp? Was it intentional? Is the mayor setting these businesses up for failure? Is it a plot to get them to leave their property via financial stress and have a preferred developer come in and develop the area?
If this theory of ‘Mayor Curtatone’s Somerville’s Bridge-gate’ proves to be true, it will make New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s 2013 ‘Bridge-gate’ stunt look like a drop in the bucket.
Where are all the Alderman during all of this especially the Ward Alderman for that area. Isn’t that why we have Aldermen or should the property and business owners all have to lawyer-up to get this work done and have somebody represent them?
Mr. Mayor, please do the job that you were elected to do. Your hurting people, you’re hurting businesses and you’re hurting Somerville!
Sometimes the phrase ‘Drain the Swamp’ is appropriate!