Geothermal Energy, Free Public Housing Wi-Fi, Massive Sewer Overhaul, and Surpassing Affordable Housing Production Goals on Agenda
SOMERVILLE– Mayor Katjana Ballantyne delivered herState of the City Midterm address Monday night, highlighting the city’s accomplishments in 2024 and outlining an ambitious agenda for the year ahead.
Citing upcoming initiatives including a project to explore bringing clean geothermal energy to Somerville, major sewer system overhauls, free Wi-Fi access for public housing, completion of the city’s first new fire station in a century – and facilitating the construction of nearly 700 affordable units currently in the pipeline – the Mayor kept the focus on her administration’s “guiding force,” which is “progress for all.”
The Mayor emphasized the importance of addressing the economic and social challenges facing the city, including the rising cost of housing, ADA accessibility needs, and the potential impact of national political trends on immigrant, LGBTQIA+, and other vulnerable or targeted communities.
Addressing what she called “the elephant outside the room” in a reference to leadership changes in Washington, she urged the community to join with the administration in standing up to “hatred and division, be it racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, transphobia, ablism, misogyny, anti-Arab sentiment, sexism, or similar attempts at othering.”
“We are resilient, creative, and determined. Somerville welcomes all,” she said.
City Council President Judy Pineda Neufeld and School Committee Chairwoman Ilana Krepchin also delivered Midterm remarks to the community. Video of all three speeches can be viewed on the City YouTube and Cable Channels via youtube.com/SomervilleCityTV andsomervillema.gov/CityTV.
Key progress and initiatives outlined in Mayor Ballantyne’s address include:
- Expanding affordable housing: We are “evolving housing stability supports from a small group of band-aid solutions to a robust ecosystem of initiatives,” said Mayor Ballantyne.
- Recent initiatives cited include: The administration distributed over $9.5 million in flexible rental assistance, created theMunicipal Voucher Program, introduced aGuaranteed Basic Income pilot, and established and used the Early Action Acquisition Fund to purchase units on the private market and keep them affordable. Somerville also led successful pushes for state legislation passed to seal no-fault eviction records and increase state funding for renter legal assistance.
- Coming progress cited include: In 2025, the administration will launch the Older Adults Bridge Program to help prevent low-income seniors from experiencing homelessness, continue to facilitate the production of 684 units in the City’s affordable housing pipeline, stay on track to surpass the SomerVision 2030 goal to create over 1,200 affordable housing units, and begin preliminary steps to pursue the recently completed Brickbottom and Assembly Square Neighborhood Plans, which over time could add an additional 1,200 units.
- Addressing climate change: “Our goal is to do our part and more – going beyond our borders to fight global warming,” said Mayor Ballantyne.
- Recent initiatives include: In 2022, the Ballanytne administration raised the City’s climate goals to now aim to be Carbon Net Negative by 2050, meaning the goal is to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than the City produces. In 2024, to solidify plans to reach this target, the administration made ambitious updates to its Climate Forward plan.
- Coming progress: 2025 will bring a range of initiatives including a new project exploring the potential for neighborhood-based networked geothermal systems and release of the City’s report on strategies for moving multifamily buildings off natural gas and onto cleaner electric energy.
- Improving public safety: Newly appointed Police Chief Shumeane Benford and the Mayor share the approach that effective public safety is “focused on building trust, fostering collaboration, and preventing issues before they arise,” said the Mayor.
- Recent initiatives include: Intensive, multi-year community-based work to develop multiple public safety related plans was completed in late 2024. The City’s first new fire station in more than a century is under construction and expected to open its doors in Assembly Square in spring 2025.
- Coming progress: In early 2025, the city will release and begin to implement recommendations from the Public Safety for All Task Force, the Civilian Oversight Committee, and the Anti-Violence Working Group.
- Investing in our people, building equity and inclusion: “From our oldest residents to our youngest, Somerville supports every generation,” said Mayor Ballantyne.
- Recent initiatives include: As other communities make cuts, the Ballantyne administration has centered schools as a top priority, adding school staff and increasing school budgets by 27% over three years, while also expanding afterschool programming and whole student supports. Communitywide, 2024 also saw advances for ADA accessibility including installing dozens of accessible pedestrian crosswalk buttons and expanded workforce development including paraprofessional training.
- Coming progress: The City’s Economic Development Division and Somerville Housing Authority secured a grant to launch free Wi-Fi for public housing tenants this coming year. The Administration will launch a citywide public interpretation line, will pilot a school-year expansion of the Mayor’s Summer Jobs Program, and will continue to expand job training for all ages, including launching “Let’s Get Workin’: a partnership between DPW and the High School’s Center for Career and Technical Education to offer paid, hands-on job training in professions like HVAC, plumbing, and carpentry.
- Delivering strong fiscal management: “We can’t control national economic forces, but we can protect our community by managing our local resources wisely,” said Mayor Ballantyne.
- Recent initiatives include: For the second consecutive year, in 2024, Somerville earned a Triple-A bond rating – a first for the City – from Standard and Poors, which saves taxpayers money.
- Coming progress: The Mayor noted, “Somerville is facing the same uncertain economic outlook facing the state and our nation. And as we navigate this down cycle, next year’s budget will again be tighter. But our teams are hard at work finding operational efficiencies, and we are positioning Somerville to outperform the market.”
- Investing in workforce, taking on wage bias: “On my watch, Somerville will not stand for inequal pay for equal work,” said Mayor Ballantyne.
- Recent initiatives: Mayor Ballantyne has been squarely focused on investing in city workers and has made it a central tenet of these efforts to eliminate long-standing wage bias – including gender bias. Four union contracts completed to date delivered wage and benefit increases and the E911 contract broke new ground by correcting for long-standing gender bias.
- Coming progress: Ratification of a landmark new contract with the City’s largest bargaining unit, SMEU Unit B (until recently SMEA) is expected this week. The contract “takes on more than inflation. We sent an arrow right at the heart of long-standing bias,” said Mayor Ballantyne. “If it is ratified as it stands, it will be a step towards equity that is decades overdue.”
- Investing in local infrastructure: “We are not just imagining an equitable future – we are literally building it,” said Mayor Ballantyne citing work on roads, schools, parks, mobility and the “massive overhaul of sewer systems.”
- Recent initiatives: 2024 progress included advancement of the $243 million Somerville Avenue sewer overhaul, the Spring Hill Sewer Separation Project, and the massive Poplar Street Pump Station. The City opened or expanded four public green spaces and broke ground on the Dilboy Athletic Auxiliary Fields and a new pocket park at 217 Somerville Avenue. Streetscape projects completed include Eastern Pearl Street, Powder House Boulevard, Holland Street, and more – all designed to improve traffic flow, pedestrian safety, and sustainability.
- Coming progress: In December, Somerville was one of only four school projects to advance to the feasibility phase in the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s state funding program – a significant step toward advancing the Winter Hill School project, which could possibly include the Brown School.
- Addressing Homelessness: The Mayor made clear her administration is committed to “addressing the root causes of homelessness with compassion while ensuring that public spaces remain safe and accessible for everyone. Public safety and human dignity are not oppositional forces. We can uphold both,” she said.
- Recent initiatives: Core actions include increased outreach and support services, compassionate policing, and the Warming Center established by the Ballantyne administration in winter 22/24, which has evolved from a few days of emergency response to a center now open nightly during the five coldest months, serving meals, and connecting residents to services, including housing.
- Coming progress: The City remains in active coordination with local partner Somerville Homeless Coalition and the Somerville Police Department on multiple initiatives including a new program to reduce senior homelessness launching in 2025: the Older Adults Bridge Program.
- Inclusive, responsive governance: “From the moment I took office, I made it my mission to ensure that decision-making reflects the voices of our community,” said Mayor Ballantyne.
- Recent initiatives: With an emphasis on reaching voices not always heard, the Administration brought numerous plans to completion in 2024, including among others: transformative, community-driven plans for the Brickbottom and Assembly Square neighborhoods; the Cultural Capacity and Armory Master Plans to keep and expand the arts in Somerville; Anti-Displacement plans for Residential, Small Business, and Arts and Culture; and the Public Safety for All, Civilian Oversight, and Anti-Violence plans.
- Coming progress: Plan releases and related community events are underway and will continue in early 2025. A Public Safety for All (PSFA) Project Manager will be hired in early 2025 to ensure the advancement of steps to realize the PSFA plan as well as Civilian Oversight and Anti-Violence.
- Environmental stewardship: “By blending private development, environmental innovation, and community-driven planning, Somerville is building a sustainable future for all,” said Mayor Ballantyne.
- Recent initiatives: In 2024, the Ballantyne administration launched the City’s first-ever Pollinator Action Plan to protect our native pollinators. The City also carried out leading-edge work to expand open space as less public cost through POPs, which are public spaces created through private development, including opening the Boynton Yards POPs park.
- Coming progress: DPW just launched a new ice melting approach that came right out of the grocery aisle: beet extract, which requires less salt on roads, has fewer impacts on cars, plants, and trees, and lowers winter maintenance costs. “We’re not just fighting snow – we are fighting for our environment, one winter storm at a time,” said Mayor Ballantyne.