I grew up in Somerville, when I was young I remember the parades, Americas city, seeing” JAWS” at The Somerville Theater then going to Mikes for a slice and an orange Fanta soda, even the big puddles we would call our own pool at the North Street Projects was a good time for us. Summer in the City concerts and watching Somerville Dance Party was a thing for me as it was a time to see your friends and family.

As a teenager we would go to “Good Times” and play the arcades. As I got older I became more involved in my city , working in the city and eventually owning my own business,ended up doing volunteer work as well for over 20 years for my beloved city, I have learned so much and have meet so many good people living in our beautiful city.

Somerville has been through so many changes and as residents we have been told no worries change is good and I believed it.The high-rise towers, the bio engendering labs, the loss of neighborhoods, affordable housing gone, our elderly with no where to go our veterans with less and lees services and not appreciated for their sacrifices.

We have rolled with the punches and as human beings just accepted this change with “ehh what can you do”. We as a community go no longer endure the stress of not being able to afford food, gas, rent etc. the pressure to survive is really taking a toll mental and physically for our community.

Our city services are stretched to the limits and is about to burst.

Emergency Services: Our Emergency Responders are stretched to the maximum; Somerville Fire Department medical calls have increased over 50 percent with an ambulance service that can’t sustain the increase in calls with ambulance wait times sometimes with a 20 to 45-minute eta for an ambulance.

Our Police Department is ridiculously under staffed and constantly taking calls for disturbances, fights, breaking and entering, shooting calls. At what point does our officers say enough is enough and leave Somerville for other cities that support our officers, this is happening in cities all around Massachusetts with cities that do not support their officers.

Crime is way up in Somerville and everyone should be paying attention. It’s common that people do not pay attention until something bad happens to them, do let that happen to you. Let’s do our best to support our First Responders and revamp our system so that citizens have a sense of safety and community.

Public Works has been understaffed and many services eliminated, if you take a look you will see over grown trees everywhere, that’s because employees for tree services have quit and moved on for hire paying jobs. Our roads remain under construction and many projects left unfinished. I read and hear from my neighbors the schools are falling apart with no up keep.

As a friend, neighbor, taxpayer I have to ask when is the Mayor, city aldermen, city officials finally going to look out for its residents and fix the problems that keep growing and growing that is sincerely hurting our city. When will our politicians and city officials going to accept accountability and address the problems in our city, when will they stop with the monstrous building projects that is ruining our community and the possibility of having more green space, more parks and services for our kids.

We need to decide what our cities priorities are and rebuild our community, and in my opinion, we need new leadership in City Hall. I truly believe Mr. Tauro has it in his heart and is determined to make Somerville a safer, have a reliable government, and listen to his constituent’s needs. Mr. Tauro comes from a very diversified family, he understands the communities needs and coming from me a person that represents the LGBTQ+ community he cares about all walks of life.

Our political views, our differences set aside we need to come together as a community, we need to rebuild our city for our community and not big business or high-rise towers, we need green space for our families, we need more local business and support them as well. Take a look around your city and see what’s happening, take notice and act.

Every Vote Will Matter
VOTE FOR MR. WILLIAM TAURO

Sincerely,
Rodrigo Squiera
Resident Ward 3