These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City of Somerville website.
Issues of drug use, unhoused
City Council, 7 p.m. Thursday. Councillors return from summer with a focus on overlapping concerns around unhoused people and public drug use with calls for talks on services and trash and needle pickups in Davis Square, Seven Hills Park and on the Community Path, including installing secure needle disposal boxes. An update on efforts to open an overdose prevention center, “including a timeline for implementation” is asked, despite a lack of announced state protections against federal opposition. This is also when the council hears about the mayor’s choice for police chief, Shumeane Benford, and has business in support of teens (seeking an update from staff on a permanent location and regular hours for a teen center) and seniors, with a request that the city hire a liaison to “amplify their voices in city decision-making.” There’s also a $99,887 state grant “for digital navigation services to Somerville Housing Authority residents.” The council meets at 93 Highland Ave., Winter Hill, Somerville. Watchable online.
Registration for primary elections
Somerville Elections Department, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Are you registered to vote for the Sept. 3 primary election? This is the last date to do it. In-person registration goes until 5 p.m. and online registration is available until midnight. Early voting begins the same day at Somerville City Hall and runs through Aug. 30.
Somernova zoning recommendation
Urban Design Commission, 6 p.m. Monday. A special meeting looks at a recommendation letter for proposed zoning at Somernova, a business and tech campus in Ward 2 between Union and Porter squares that is looking at a proposed multibillion-dollar, 1.6 million-square-foot expansion. Owner Rafi Properties wants to add an overlay zoning district allowing more kinds of tenants than are permitted by the land’s current fabrication-district zoning – a category put in place just five years ago. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Organizing in Davis Square
Davis Square Neighborhood Council, 6 to 8 p.m. Monday. The group focuses on bylaws and a mission statement on the way to becoming a more formal organization but may continue discussions from the previous monthly meeting: community path wayfinding, unhoused people, business development and empty storefronts and zoning for housing. The group meets at Somerville Public Library West Branch, 40 College Ave., near Davis Square.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.