Dear Billy T and Somerville/Medford News Weekly Speakup Line,
This is my neighborhood in the city of Somerville that I live in. Just look at the growth and trash on the sidewalks of my neighborhood streets. As you can see it just didn’t happen yesterday overnight, but rather it’s been there for months and months.
When I walk my dog, I have to dodge these disgusting sidewalks and walk along the street risking getting hit by speeding trucks and automobiles just so my dog doesn’t pick up a syringe or cut his paws on broken glass.
Trash, broken glass, used hypodermic needles and even dirty diapers are discarded everywhere alongside of large pieces of wood and other kind of debris that you can see in the photos. Some of these ignorant people toss their trash alongside and just leave it there for someone else to pick it up, not right. But there’s no excuse for the city to just ignore it and leave it there for months and months at a time.
The mayor is more concerned about shoot up clinics and pot shops instead of the homeowners who have lived here all our lives who pay his salary.
Sarah Myles
That’s tough – innerbelt just isn’t the tidy, litter free, well kept industrial wasteland it used to be in the 80’s, it seems.
In any case, keeping trash and weeds off sidewalks is the responsibility of properly owners, not the city. Maybe file a complaint with the city against your landlord there at Uhaul?
Its a city sidewalk!
So overgrown you can’t even see the traffic lights or signs until the last minute. Also, I’m sure there is a law out there about all these obstructions being put in the roads “ON PURPOSE”. The poles, the locals only horse signs, the cones etc. They are all obstructing our view and pathway. We can’t even have a face mask or tree freshner on our rear view mirror legally so explain how legal are those obstructions!!
As we speak there are new trees being planted on my street (which already have numerous trees). Seems the mayor has a new Urban Forestry & Landscape Division. When I asked why they were taking care of the current trees and maintenance, the response was, the city has limited maintenance staff, I also got an explanation as to why more trees were being planted one of which was ” Trees create a distraction by slow down traffic because they provide something for drivers to look at”. Seriously? Drivers need another distraction?
So if you need to contact anyone about why the trees and street of Somerville are overgrown and not taken care of … contact:
Vanessa Boukili, PhD, MCA, MQTW, ISA TRAQ
Senior Urban Forestry & Landscape Planner
Conservation Agent
Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development
City of Somerville
93 Highland Ave
617-625-6600 X 2516