Nearing the end of a term that’s seen Somerville libraries in turmoil over dangerous teen behavior, violent threats over public events and staff unrest over human resources conflicts, candidates for mayor convened at the East Somerville Community School on Sept. 5 for a mayoral forum focused on schools and libraries.
The three candidates for mayor – incumbent Katjana Ballantyne and councilors at -large Willie Burnley Jr. and Jake Wilson – will be on the ballot of Tuesday’s preliminary election. The top two candidates will advance to the November general.
The forum was hosted by the Friends of the Somerville Public Library, the Somerville Public Library Foundation and the Somerville Council of PTAs. Friends board member Cole Rosengren moderated the forum, a recording of which is available on YouTube.
Not all headlines from the past term became questions for the candidates, who were asked to share their plans for the defunct Winter Hill Community Innovation School for safety concerns. The city plans to rebuild the Winter Hill school and is considering options for the Benjamin G. Brown School, which is 125 years old. The project has been funded by almost half by the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
The city will need to decide whether to rebuild the Winter Hill school at the same size or with additional space for the Brown students. It also needs to pick a location: The Winter Hill School’s current site at Sycamore Street and one at Trum Field were included as options in a city survey.
Burnley and Wilson are “leaning toward” rebuilding at the school’s current site on Sycamore Street, they said.
Burnley wants a structure with expanded capacity, though he didn’t say that space would be used specifically for Brown students. He wants to retain space in the building in case of another emergency: “We have very old buildings in Somerville, and I am not convinced that what happened at the Winter Hill won’t happen again,” he said.
Wilson said Somerville lags behind other towns awarded state funds such as Manchester Essex, Needham and South Hadley, a point he also made at a mayoral forum held Sept. 2 by Somerville Stands Together.
According to Manchester Essex and South Hadley’s project pages and the state’s most up-to-date project listing, updated June 25, all three communities are midfeasibility study. Somerville’s project page, last updated July 31, says the city hasn’t begun its study; Ballantyne said on Sept. 5 that it has.
Burnley noted that he has yard signs with the slogan “less studies, more action”; Ballantyne said that a feasibility study is required by the MSBA.
When Ballantyne began her comments on the potential rebuild by calling it “an exciting opportunity,” one audience member laughed aloud. It was the only audience interjection of the night.
Libraries and teen spaces
Somerville’s libraries need to be restored, the candidates agreed. While the West branch was recently renovated, the Central and East sites would benefit from work, Rosengren said.
A Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program could help pay for renovations, Rosengren said. The next round opens in 2028.
Burnley said he would apply for funding, and that the Central branch would be his first priority for renovation. Wilson also committed to signing a letter of intent needed to begin an application. He said that the City Council had pushed Ballantyne to sign a letter for the program’s most recent round of funding.
“We are looking into that,” Ballantyne said.
In response to a later question, Ballantyne said she wants to use the city’s grants staff, though she didn’t commit to applying to the construction program specifically. The library’s nonprofits – the Somerville Public Library Foundation and the Friends of the Somerville Public Library – could craft a fundraising campaign, she said.
Candidates were also asked how they would approach teen spaces, including whether they’d like them to be distinct from libraries.
Burnley said that he would like a separate space. Teens need “to move freely and express themselves,” he said, and a library environment isn’t always conducive. Commercial space included in new developments could be used for permanent teen centers, he said. Though he didn’t specify the development, Burnley said Davis Square could be an option (developer Copper Mill has proposed a 25-story residential building with ground-floor retail space, while the Planning Board also recently approved a Chester Street redevelopment with ground-floor retail).
Teens in the city have expressed a desire for centers they could reach with a 15-minute walk, Ballantyne said. The city set up three temporary teen sites – in the Central library, Edgerly and in Powderhouse Park – in 2022. Wilson said that the Edgerly teen center was “great,” but it was displaced when Winter Hill students moved in after the school’s 2023 closing.
Budgeting
Candidates were asked about their approach to the public schools budget in the 2027 fiscal year.
Burnley, referring to a question to candidates at a previous forum about committing to a 10 percent increase, said he was “the only candidate on this stage who said yes.”
“I’m not going to make a promise I can’t keep given all the uncertainty out there,” Wilson said, calling doing so “irresponsible.”
In response, Burnley reiterated his commitment. “When I say I commit to something, I commit to it. So, I want you to know that if you elect me, I will give that 10 percent increase, because we will prioritize it in the budget,” he said.
Each year the mayor drafts the budget with input from the city’s departments and the City Council. The council holds public hearings and gives the final vote on budgets. Somerville also uses participatory budgeting, which allows residents to vote on projects to be funded by the city up to a grouped total of $1 million.
This post was updated Sept. 13, 2025, to reflect that candidate Willy Burnley Jr. raised the topic of increasing the schools budget 10 percent in reference to a previous mayoral forum; he was not asked about committing to an increase at this Sept. 5 forum.
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