Legislative Matters Committee

Good evening, everybody. My name is JT Scott. I'm your Ward 2 Counselor serving as Chair of the Legislative Matters Committee on this Tuesday, September 8th. Here at 6.02 p.m., this is a meeting of the Legislative Matters Committee of the City of Somerville's City Council tonight. Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this committee meeting is being conducted via remote participation and the audio video transcript will be posted to City of Somerville channels shortly after the conclusion of the meeting. We have a fairly long agenda tonight in that we have three public hearings. They're being taken up in the order in which they were submitted First, we will have a public hearing about

Body Worn Cameras, then there will be the Davis Square Neighborhood Council where I anticipate a presentation from the petitioners there followed by public hearing on their acceptance as a neighborhood council and then finally A petition public hearing from 74 registered voters regarding the proposed ethical procurement ordinance. So before we get into all that tonight, let's go ahead and get started with a roll call to establish a quorum We are clerked tonight by the very able City Clerk Henderson. So, Clerk Henderson?

Yes. That's his roll call. Councilor Davis?

Here.

Council Mbah?

Present.

Ewen-Campen? Here. Councilor Strezo? And Chairman Scott? Present. With four members present, we have quorum.

All right. Well, thank you very much. Let's see here. The first item on our agenda tonight is actually the approval of the minutes of the Legislative Matters Committee meeting of June 30th, 2026. Is there any discussion on the approval Alright, seeing none, we'll lay those items on the table for a single vote on approval. And then we will move into our first public hearing. That is item number 2.1. Item 26-1006, 89 registered voters submitting a petition requesting a public hearing regarding police body worn cameras pursuant to section 2-11 of the city charter. So just as a note for everybody in the audience, I see that we've got about 45 people members of public here tonight.

The way this will work is if you would like to speak for this first public hearing, please use your raise hand button here in Zoom. We will see you in the order that your hands are raised and I will go down the list. If it looks like we have a very long list, I may... Periodically read out who's next up in the batting order so that you have an idea of when you're coming up. That said, because we have three public hearings this evening and we really want to hear from Somerville residents. Our goal here is to, we are going to be restricting comment tonight to Somervillle residents So when it's your turn, please we just ask that you give your name and your address or your ward if you're not comfortable giving your specific address in Somerville so that the clerk can take down that information.

So with that said, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. And I see first up tonight is Derek Rice. So Derek Rice? Before you get started, Derek, we do have our clerk will be running a timer to help people stay within reasonable time. Madam Clerk, could you pin your view there so that people can see the timer on your Trying a new timer set up tonight, folks. We can't hear you, Madam Clerk.

Once you let me know to start the timer will start.

Sure, great. Mr. Rice, you are unmuted and ready to go.

Great. Thank you. Point of clarification, I can't see the timer on my Zoom webinar screen But I'm going to be under two minutes so I'm not concerned My name is Derek Rice, I am at 49 Perky Street I was lead organizer for collecting these signatures for this petition, so for this hearing, I appreciate you all holding this public hearing. Again, even though if you had no choice in the matter, I appreciate it nonetheless. I don't expect 89 people to come out for this given... largely decisions having been made at the special meeting in 6th July. I think the only thing that I want to emphasize with my comments tonight is How the events unfolding in Cambridge punctuate some of my concerns about these body-worn cameras. You know, there's officer involved fatal shooting in Cambridge. There's body-won camera footage and yet...

We don't have access to it. I heard counselors speak so strongly about how they thought the light of day was going to heal so many issues of distrust, and yet we don't I know there are legal obstacles. I don't know what they are. I'd like to know what the are. Frustrated as Cambridge City Councillors are frustrated. It's like a truly sad experience to feel like we've invested in these tools with this hope and we are... Not getting what we thought we'd get out of them. I have some hope that in the long run, like in the Long Term for that case it will be helpful but certainly it's painful in the short term to know that this is being held from us so I urge you to please try to take this up.

Talk to your Cambridge counterparts, talk to the legal department, have those conversations in front of us and the public so that we can understand. Thank you so much.

I'm not sure if the Oscar music playing people off is going to be the right call there, Madam Clerk. Could you maybe switch that up to the simple beep? Mr. Rice, before you go, I have two questions for you. First, I'm not sure I got your address at the start of that comment and second, were you able to see the timer once your comment began?

Yes, Chair Scott. 49 Craigie Street is my address and I was able to see the lovely clerk along with a timer alongside her face.

Alright, great. Thank you so much. Alright, coming up next we've got Julie Bernstein, Marissa Derry, Alex Thorne. So up next will be Julie Bernsteen. You should be able to speak now, Ms. Bernstein?

I'm going to try. I'm testifying as a co-chair of Digital Fourth, a local civil liberties organization that advocates for our Fourth Amendment rights. Studies of body worn cameras demonstrate that they do not reduce the use of excessive force by police. In fact This only occurs when the proper policy for use of these cameras has been implemented by the department. Here are some of the policy provisions that we urge the Somerville Police to adopt. The purposes of using the cameras should be expressly limited in the policy. There should be a mandate to collect, analyze and report out data that would reveal if the purposes are being met with consequences to the police budget if that mandate is not followed Data must be reported annually on how many times camera footage was accessed, by whom and for what purposes along with any outcomes from this access. 2. All officers must activate their cameras and interactions with the public and set their buffer to the maximum time of 90 seconds so that communications and actions preceding the encounter are recorded.

Before the officer leaves the precinct, the officer in charge of the body-worn cameras should attest in a log whether the officer's camera is in working order. Officers should not be allowed to claim in any internal affairs proceeding or court proceedings that a camera malfunctioned during an incident unless there is also record of subsequent efforts made to repair the camera. All such records must be retained for at least one year and made available to attorneys working on police misconduct cases and to people bringing complaints of police misconduct. In 2020, the New York Police Department released only two out of 380 videos of serious incidents within 30 days. During 2023 in South Carolina, police killed 19 people but body cam videos were shared in just three cases. There should therefore be an enforceable provision to require by default the release of unedited body-worn camera footage and incidents involving the injury or death of any individual, or in

to the accused, the person injured or killed their surviving family or their attorney within 10 days. The public must be informed about how the department will secure both storage and transmission of footage Before cameras are acquired. We provide additional recommendations in our written testimony and I thank you for considering our testimony

Okay, thank you for wrapping it up there. I didn't hear your address, Ms. Bernstein.

I am not a resident of Somerville but we were told... sent information on this hearing and told that we would be considered as a Somerville resident.

All right, well, appreciate it. Just as a reminder, this is our first hearing. It's about body-worn cameras and for tonight we are trying to limit this to Somerville residents or the future. Up next, thank you for that. Up next we have Marissa Derry, Alex Thorne, Ms. Chidalla, Mr. Duan, Mr Wong. So, Alex Thorn, you are ready

My name is Alexandra Thorne and I live in Ward 5. I'm here to express my frustration that council moved forward with the mayor's proposed body cameras for policy without time for serious review. and to beg the council to slow down and think carefully before allowing the city to in any way expand the new program. In the mayor's celebratory press release, he noted that a survey of Somerville residents a few years back showed that 9 out of 10 Somervillle residents believe that body-worn cameras are effective. This remark ignores whether these residents had good information on how body cameras work or how crucial civilian oversight is for real transparency. A few years back, if you had asked me if I supported body cameras, I would have said yes of course. I hadn't known then that the idea of body cameras for police oversight was a marketing ploy by the police technology company Axon, best known for developing tasers. After initial public disinterest in the product

Axon saw the collective trauma following the murder of Michael Brown as an opportunity for marketing. Body cameras were designed to support policing, not as an oversight tool. They record encounters from a police perspective pointing away from an officer's body and record everything except for the actions of the officer wearing the camera. Police can turn cameras on and off, and can make choices about where the cameras point. Axon's promotional website displays an image of an officer with his hand on a camera directing it to a young person wearing a bicycle helmet, clearly showing that the police are in physical control. This is not what I would have imagined, and I don't think I'm the only one who misunderstood the technology. Although cameras are theoretically helpful for oversight, there's no oversight without a civilian body that can make decisions based on the footage. Civilian oversight should have come first.

All right. Thank you very much, Ms. Thorne. Up next is Marissa Derry.

Hello. Can you hear me now?

We can.

Okay, thank you. Good evening. My name is Marisa Derry and I thank you for... Oh yeah, I have to give you my address, sorry. 22 Highland Road in Sunderland. My name is Marisa Darian. I thank you for letting me speak this evening. My background is different from most of the speakers tonight. I am a certified forensic analyst and have been working in forensics for almost 30 years, and therefore have a different perspective, especially because my case has are not just from Massachusetts, but multiple states in this country. I am also the chair of the Audio Forensic Standards Working Group of the I believe in the use of body cameras, and I agree with Digital Force that proper policy is essential. One thing that I have not seen discussed that is crucial is the use hash values for any footage that is exported to a computer. If any footage is to be released, it should include the hash value. Otherwise, it will be considered not to be authentic. Hash values help identify a file.

If anything is altered, the string of numbers and letters changes completely We are living in a time of distrust with law enforcement and government. Generative AI is progressing faster than we can understand, and we are currently seeing deepfakes make their way into the courts. We need to have policies that not only protect civilians, but law enforcement officers. Using hash values is a good first start. I would like to finish my comments by offering to be available to the policymakers should they have any questions about standards and proper use of evidence. Thank you.

All right, thank you Ms. Derrick Up next, I see Hela Jadalla and followed by Chris Duan and Daniel Wong. So you are up. Mr. Dollar? Alright, we seem to be having a problem with Kala Jadalla. So we will move on to Chris Dwan and we'll come back to Ms. Jal.

Chris, Mr. Dwan Good evening I'm Chris Dwan of 26 Avaloo Street in Ward 2 Welcome back I hope everybody had a restful summer recess We gathered six weeks ago in this very same virtual room Heard public comment on exactly this issue. According to the minutes, 39 of us spoke and according to those same minutes 28 of us 71% were in opposition After hearing that, the council turned around and voted to accept the money to buy the cameras that same night. I don't know why you did that but i do know that i won't waste my breath on those arguments again You also approved two visibly incomplete policy documents that I believe are still before this committee. From my perspective, that was a confusing and unserious move that puts us in a difficult place from both policy and negotiation perspectives. I will say that without robust external oversight, you have effectively created Somerville's very own unaccountable mini flock of more than 130 mobile surveillance cameras.

For each of the past two weeks I have submitted a public records request on Sunday evening asking for all the body camera footage captured in that previous week. Both times the city has responded that there are no responsive records because the cameras have not yet been deployed. I intend to continue this practice and I intend make the results broadly available to the public Some might express concern that there is private sensitive information in that footage. I share that concern. Maybe people don't want hours and hours of footage from more than 130 mobile surveillance cameras placed online for everybody to see. And yeah, also I would like to know that it is not being misused against me in secret I am six months into a project where I am attempting to extract surveillance video of protests from the state police. The State Supervisor of Records has repeatedly admonished them to release their records or give me a reason why they are not, To date, the police have done neither and there seems to be no force in the state that can compel them. We need to think these things out ahead of time. I urge you to move swiftly to establish independent public oversight.

I ask that you not let yourself be pushed into limiting the scope of that oversight under pressure from either the police collective bargaining units or in closed-door sessions like the ones that led to this first round of decisions. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Duan. Let's see, we'll go on to... Daniel Wong, and then we'll I see Lumina Gertfield in line. And then we will go back to Hala Jadallah. So Mr. Wong please as just a reminder, please give us your address and you're free to go.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

This is Daniel Wong, 12 Houghton Street, Number 2, Ward 2. I think everyone on this call shares the feeling that I have is that I want a city where everyone feels safe And unfortunately, we currently or at least majority of the city or some portion of the City believes that police make us safe. and even more unfortunately, the city has given the police extraordinary powers. They can detain people, they can use force. These are powers that no other public employees have When we grant the police this kind of authority, we have a responsibility to provide extraordinary accountability. But we know that cameras alone don't create accountability. Good systems don't rely on trust alone, they rely on checks and balances. If the police alone control the footage, as outlined in the current policies and I believe in the proposed policies

if they control the footage deciding how it's stored deciding how its preserved and released then we're asking the public to just take it on faith that they will not misuse that footage, that they'll not withhold it when we need it This is not how good government works. Checks and balances aren't a sign of disrespect, they're how we make institutions trustworthy That's why I urge you to follow the MA ACLU and the American Bar Association's recommendations to have footage controlled by an independent, non-police entity. If our goal is safety, then accountability isn't separate from safety. It's how we build it. I also urge you to consider how will you measure success of these? You will have an opportunity at each budget season to decide if or not to continue purchasing these. You'll have opportunities in the future to negotiate police contracts I want you to deeply consider how you'd be measuring the success of these cameras and revisiting those when you make those decisions. Thank you.

All right. We've got a different music, all right. Thank you for that Mr. Wong. Lumina Gershfield, you are up next.

Hello?

Hello!

Hi. This is actually my first time making a comment in this forum, so I'm a little... Unversed in how it goes. So I'm glad you can hear me. Not trying to weigh in on this topic, I would like to weigh-in on the ordinance later in the meeting. How do I raise my hand for that?

Sure. Right now we're in the first public hearing, there will be three this evening when we begin that third public hearing. That will be the time to raise your hand and we'll get everybody in for that one.

Do you know what time that will be at? Because I'm just... At Home With My Kids.

As am I. It will happen. We're providing time to hear the public on these other two petitions. No idea when that'll actually happen. But it doesn't look like there's that many people left in this one.

So I just raise my hand when that one starts?

That's correct.

Okay, that's what I'll do. Thank you, JT.

All right, thank you. Uh, all right. Let's, uh... Hello?

I didn't mean to raise my hand for that one. I would like to speak on the ordinance and on the Davis Square Neighborhood Committee when that comes about. Sorry, just do it from your computer.

All right, well then we'll come back to you for those. All right so before we move on All right, thank you. Before we move on For this public hearing, this is Public Hearing 261006 regarding body-worn cameras. I don't see any other hands raised to testify on this public So I will give it one more call for any members of the public that would like to testify to body worn cameras on 261006. All right, not seeing any hands there. I will remind folks that public comment is always welcome you can send

You can send your public comment to publiccomments at somervillema.gov We will keep the record open until Friday, September 11th To receive any written comments and otherwise seeing no one else present tonight then we will close spoken comment for the evening and leave written comment open until Friday, September 11th. With that I believe that brings that public hearing to a close and we'll move on to item 2.2 That's item 26-1165, the Davis Square Neighborhood Council submitting comments regarding formal recognition by this council as a neighborhood council under Chapter 7 Article 9 of the Code of Ordinances. I'll also take up items 3 and 4.

That's item 3 is 26-1218, the Davis Square Neighborhood Council submitting information regarding... Item number 261165, a request for formal recognition as a neighborhood council. That's presentation that representatives of the neighborhood council will be providing this evening prior to the public hearing for context. and item 261262 which is six residents submitting comments regarding Davis Square Neighborhood Council So we have all those items before us tonight as we prepare to begin this public hearing. Before we begin the public hearing, I believe Elaine Olmquist and My apologies.

There was a vice chair who might be available if Ms. Almquist has not arrived at the meeting yet. I would be Vice President Chris Beeland. So, I see Mr. Beeland there and I will pull up the presentation and put that on screen for you, Mr. Beeler.

I think we're going to do a quick recap. We sort of went over our full presentation at the city council meeting last time, but if we're ready to go, I can just give you a summary of what we've been up to and who we are for Context?

Certainly. I wanted to give you the opportunity to provide context for members of the public who might not understand who might not be up to speed but I can also, I can leave the slides or I can move the slides along as you like however you'd like to do it.

I'll just run through a quick verbal recap. Basically, we have 642 members as of July 2026. 567 of those are Somerville residents. We also have business owners, workers, volunteers, people who receive social services for the unhoused in the square and if we've gotten rid of our one of the big changes we've made since the last meeting I think it was we got rid of genuine local interest category of membership because it was too vague But the vast majority of our members are Somerville residents. Our primary responsibility, getting recognition from the City Council will be to negotiate community benefits agreements with pending developments. So the famous Copper Mill project has been cancelled but the 882 Broadway and

which is near Powderhouse and 199 Elm, which is nearby Revival in Davis Square. Those are still active and new projects are starting all the time we monitor The Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and City Council Proceedings. And the news to keep up on what's being developed, we have a lot of committees that are doing more specific things. The Elmway Action Group has some recommendations into mobility division with regard to safety improvements onto Elm Street near Davis Square, and they're continuing to look at streetscape improvements We're making a map of parking for local businesses. We have had a bit of conversation and I think we need to have even more big conversations about zoning, both educating our members and just Sort of coming up with a consensus vision.

If there is one for the future of Davis Square, we've been advertising the Davis Square neighborhood plan process to Our membership and we have representation on the technical advisory committee there. Another thing around the square, we're trying to find solutions to vacant storefronts. Some of those are in developments like Copper Mill and Asana but there's also like vacant buildings like The Little White Church at 45 College Ave. We have a committee for that We have the Greening-Davis Committee has actually been physically putting plants in the ground to improve the square, in front of the library, in from of mics and the slip line there. and a program committee has been especially as the group has been scaling up they've been doing a lot more events just to get together and get to know neighbors there's pizza Ice cream event that supported a new local business. Louise is organizing a neighborhood wide yard sale.

And we've sort of been continuing our democratic process. A lot of people have a lot of ideas about how things should be run, and as we're We moved from an organization of like 12 people at a meeting or thereabouts to hundreds. So we are, you know... Basically hearing everyone's ideas and democratically proceeding how the people want to be represented. We do a lot of outreach. We have our website, we have social media, we put up posters around the square. A lot of people on the outreach committee has been really enthusiastic and just putting a table up in the middle of the square or at Thank you for watching!

The press call us when something big happens in Davis Square now, so it seems like the word has gotten out. So we're trying to be inclusive, accessible, representative and Democratic trying to make Davis Square a better place. So we're here to ask the city to officially recognize us as the body to negotiate community benefits agreements in addition to all of the other general advocacy work that we're doing.

All right. Well, thank you for that recap, Mr. Beeland. So I will go ahead and prepare to open this public hearing just to communicate to folks in the audience who may be curious about this. This is a public hearing that was required by our Neighborhood Council Recognition Ordinance. This is part of the process that every neighborhood council in the city wishes to form for Well, just making a better democratic world but also for recognition for negotiating community benefits agreements with planned developments. amongst other purposes has this multi-stage process where they submit materials regarding the formation. And part of that process is a public hearing so that we can hear from folks who are excited about it

are folks who have had concerns about the formation process to ensure that city councilors are well informed before taking the final vote on recognition of the proposed neighborhood council. So to that end, my goal tonight is to take that public comment And then I anticipate at our next meeting on September 15th, the actual item will be before us for deliberation as a committee and a vote of recommendation. So that'll be on September 15th. So tonight isn't a back and forth time for folks, but for us to hear from you members of the Somerville public. So I also understand you have members who are Cambridge residents or Arlington residents, but again for this evening we're trying to hear from Somerville residents. I'll go ahead and open this public hearing.

So if you'd like to speak on recognition for the Davis Square Neighborhood Council Please, once again go ahead and use that raise hand function. I'll be able to see anybody who's raised their hands in the order in which they have raised them and we'll be able to call on you. We'll ask that you stick to the two minutes, our clerk will be using that timer Once again, if we could get you to provide your address or at the very least your ward if you're not comfortable providing your street address that'll be very helpful for us and clerks. So I will start with, I see Halajandala up first. Let's try this again.

Hi, it's Hala Jamila from Ward 6. I just say this is a great community. I'm a member of this organization I was a member of the Davis Square Task Force back in the day and i hope that you will help us help you to make the process of zoning and other things that need to be done in the davis square area My Jesus, so I hope that on September 15th we vote to make us an official committee. Thank you.

All right. I see up next, I see Emily Balliol. So Ms. Ballio

Okay, am I unmuted? It looks like I am. Hi, I'm Emily Balliol and I'm a Ward 2 resident actually over near Union Square and I want to say that I'm also a co-chair of the Union Square Neighborhood Council. so that you guys know where I'm coming from. I think that the Davis Square Neighborhood Council has done a tremendous amount of work, especially in the past year, past three months even to bring more and more membership in and to solidify and improve their bylaws. And I'm really hoping that the council will seriously consider ordaining them to be a neighborhood council that can negotiate with developers going forward. One thing I will say more as a private citizen is that I found the Union Square Neighborhood Council to be just incredibly helpful when the Summer Nova project was going on. I'm actually a direct abutter, and it was folks on the council

who helped me kind of get up to speed about zoning changes how they were made and how we could you know kind of bring some actual Public influence and consideration to them. So I think all the concerns people have about the neighborhood councils are frankly valid, and I think you'll hear some tonight. But nonetheless, I think this is something that Davis Square could really use at this time, and

and I'm going to give back the rest of my time thank you all right uh thank you Ms. Balliol um i'm putting on another call here because i don't see any further hand raised for comments about the Davis Square Neighborhood Council. All right, now I'm seeing a couple pop up here. Excellent. All I see Meredith Porter, Ed Wall, Chris Duan and Kate Auspitz. So I'm gonna go first with the Meredith Porter

Hi. Meredith Porter, 104 Josephine Ave. I have submitted two sets of detailed comments to you on why I believe that the Davis Square Neighborhood Council should not be recognized by the City Council at this time. I realize that a lot of great work has been done, but I believe there's more that needs to be done. I'll just summarize some of my concerns here, and I'd ask you to please read my detailed summaries, detailed accounts. DSNC currently allows all residents of Cambridge, Arlington and Medford living within a half mile of Davis Square to be voting members. I believe that this is a serious problem and is in violation of the neighborhood council's ordinance and the DSNC should not be recognized until this is corrected. My intent is not to be exclusionary.

Many people living just over the line in Cambridge, for example are more connected to Davis Square than others living farther away in Somerville and it would be great if they could participate but I don't see how they can be voting members of DSNC by virtue of their residence. By comparison, neither Union Square Neighborhood Councilor nor Gilman Square Neighborhood Council extend voting rights on the basis of residents to anyone living outside of Somerville. They encourage non-members to participate fully with the exception of voting. and I ask you to read my detailed comments on why i believe it's a violation of the ordinance. The other reason is that the bylaws are in a state of change with pending amendments affecting important matters such as quorum for meetings and CBA votes threshold for approval of CBAs, and many others. The version of the bylaws that's been submitted doesn't reflect the very latest changes

Under the current bylaws, these matters are to be voted on at the following meeting after they've been introduced. But that hasn't been possible and consideration has often been delayed for many months and I think i'll have to leave it at that because my time has run out but i'd ask you to please read my detailed comments thank you very much all right thank you

Looking next, we have Edward Wall.

Thank you very much. Can you hear me?

We can, sir.

Okay. I'm Edward Wall. I live at 80 Winslow Avenue inside the Davis Square neighborhood boundaries in Ward 6. I am a DSNC voting member and on the DSNB Bylaws Committee and was on the DNC Nominating Committee for the last election and on the Outreach Committee too, very busy. I submitted written comments earlier also that are in the record. I support recognition but not at this time. I echo Merida's comments also I ask that you please delay recommending formal recognition of DNC until we complete work on the following pending before DNC membership. Several bylaw amendments that increase the quorum requirements for general and special Meeting for Council that has grown from 160 to about 680 members since the last election cycle in April of this year. A quorum requirement is an assurance that diverse community interests are represented

The current quorum of 20 is patently inadequate to represent the interest of a DNC voting community of 642 in a neighborhood of about 20,000 people. A healthy quorum level assures meeting critical Meeting critical principles of the ordinance, namely that Neighborhood Council have its membership distributed throughout the neighborhood and that there be a high level of participation from the neighborhood. Another set of proposed bylaw amendments seek a minimum voting member participation requirement and a vote to approve a community benefits agreement. Keep in mind that a CBA is called for only for a project or combination or series of projects that significantly impact the area within the clinical council's boundaries. Not every project is warranted fact, very few meet those criteria. Also certification premature until those matters of bylaws are settled by the DNC membership which has so dramatically changed this year and time is no longer a factor in light of the withdrawal of the Copper Mill project and the initiation of the Davis-Gore neighborhood planning process.

Thank you very much, and please read my earlier written comments also.

All right, thank you for that sir. And that's a good opportunity for me to remind folks that we do accept written comment at publiccomments.somervillema.gov at any point. Up next tonight, I see Mr. Chris Dewan.

Good evening again. Chris Kwan, still living on Ivaloo Street in Ward 2. I want to speak in support of recognizing this neighborhood council, acknowledging what the prior speakers have said about the deficiencies I have lived in Union Square for the entire time that the Union Square Neighborhood Council has been here and it has evolved. It has been a delight to see it evolve, it will never be perfect these structures are Experiments, and I think it is really important that we engage at a neighborhood level in these experiments in democracy. experience taught, I think the neighborhood council a lot about how to define membership. We had people who were physically closer than The Geographic Cashment, who were excluded from voting at first and they adjusted the rules on the fly. And I think it worked out OK. I think All right. Thank you, Mr. Duan.

Up next, I see Kate Auschwitz. And after that, I don't see any further hands raised. So if anybody would like to provide comment on the Davis Square Neighborhood Council recognition public hearing, I say a few more folks getting into line so that's great.

Ms. Auspitz Actually, it's Lee Auspix Kate will be speaking on another topic today Okay I submitted something in writing. I really have to dissent from the previous speaker about The Perfect and the Good. There's just a few housekeeping matters that really need to be settled before we are recognized. I've been living in Davis Square for quite a long time, decades actually. I think this is important enough that we put it on a firm legal footing. Lance Davis submitted a request to the City Councilor to rule on whether

The current provision allowing residents outside Somerville to vote in our elections is kosher. I think it isn't. I think the arguments of Meredith Porter are quite convincing, but one way or the other you need an opinion on this before we go ahead Second is I do believe the boundaries are overextended. They reach way into Cambridge. Avon Hill, Hotsy Totsy highest priciest neighborhood around is part of it all of Porter Square All of Tufts, including the new dorm for juniors and seniors. And the question of fluid bylaws has been... highlighted by the previous speaker, Ed Wall.

Again, it's an important contribution to Somerville and it should be Be firmly rooted in the law before we go ahead.

All right, well thank you Mr. Auspitz. Up next, I see Frank Malsbinden followed by Lumina Gershfield. So Frank Malesbinden, Mr. Malsbanden.

Hello, Frank Miles-Bendon, Ward 6. I am actually a DSNC board member so i just want to share a little bit of my perspective on what it's been like As both a general member and a board member on the DSNC, I understand that the intentions of the ordinance that established neighborhood councils were good ones. The provision that allows neighborhood councils to negotiate CBAs is unique, it's a unique approach, it innovative But I do think, at least in my experience it's been demonstrated that the CBA provision can be a recipe for acrimony at the neighborhood level. The current situation in which we're mired in bylaws is directly attributable to the fact that neighborhood councils are tasked with negotiating CBAs with developers. So, CBA's raise the stake Raise the stakes, create factions. Factions means bylaws are important.

Bylaws being important leads to a situation in which like for us the last three general member meetings and probably the next two are almost totally devoted to issues like quorum and CBA votes So the experience for general members at these meetings is kind of brutal and repellent as MIT engineers are battling with Harvard-trained lawyers. for every last inch of Robert's Rules and Orders. So I don't see a situation or a future in which his situation is resolved in a timely manner unless the ordinance itself is defanged and the governing and politics is put back in the hands of elected officials, it's unfair to put volunteers in the position that we're in right now on this sort of stuff. So that's just my experience in general.

All right. Thank you, Mr. McClendon. I see up next Lumina Gershfield J.T.

Scott, yes I live in Ward 2 on Beacon Street and I am speaking purposely on the Davis Square Union I'm Davis Square neighborhood council. I want to applaud everyone who is on the Davis Square Neighborhood Council because it is a lot of work. And, the fact that Chris Dewan spoke on it and The earlier woman, Emily. I really appreciate those comments. I would like to speak and say that I am concerned about who is included as voting members. I in Union Square felt a little bit disillusioned When there was expansion on voting for the Summer Nova project, which I feel like skewed the results from the people who would be directly affected as abutters to

I think that's something to be considered if People outside of Davis Square who live in other communities are allowed to vote. It needs to be carefully considered, so I'd like to speak in favor of that being considered rather than glossed over.

All right, thank you very much. Let's see. So here we have... I'm just looking. I don't see any new hands here. Oh, I do see another new hand coming up here. Peter Kim Santos. For anybody who feels like they have more to rebut or more to say, once again we will be keeping public comment open on this to receive written comment through Friday September 11th. Please feel free to elaborate, as I know we've already received some extensive written comment. I see Peter Kim Santos with a hand raised here. Mr. Santos. Perfect. Hello? Can you hear me?

Hey, hello City Council. My name is Peter Kim Santos from 64 Endicott Ave. I've been serving as the treasurer of the DSNC for roughly the last year and I'd like to speak in favor of the recognition of the I just briefly want to comment on a few things people have brought up. It is contentious, like the fact that the neighborhood councils are going to be making fairly substantial decisions about what happens in the community means that people have a lot of thoughts on how things should proceed. The way that the bylaws have been written are a series of trade-offs. I don't think anybody who's a member of the DSCNC is happy with them, nor will they ever be happy with But currently we are certainly engaging in different efforts to improve them wherever we can and to try to continue soliciting new opinions as our reach ends up growing. I also want to comment briefly on the idea of who actually is included in the Davis Square Neighborhood Council.

By contrast to the Union Square and the Gilman Square neighborhood councils, Cambridge is just a few hundred feet away from the Davis square T stops. Additionally, our T-stops say Tufts University on the T-stop, which both make me think that we should be able to include those communities as members of the DSNC. We already allow people who do not live in Somerville, such as business owners or workers or volunteers to participate in the DSNC and therefore it doesn't seem contradictory to the city council ordinance to be able to include these communities. I know people have different opinions and it's very important for us to continue to receive that feedback and figure out ways to change who's included but that's at least how our current A set of compromises have been laid down. Thank you guys very much for our consideration and I hope this is an informative hearing.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Kim Santos. I see Alex Dehnert. Mr. Dehnart?

Hi, I'm Alex Thaynert. I live on Summer Street in Ward 5 and I'm a member of the DSMC board and service chair of the Biola's Working Group I'm excited that the SNC is going before the City Council now. I believe the DSNC will continue to evolve and improve, but the major structural details of the bylaws seem stable and we're continuing to improve at running meetings and doing work through our committees. I think we're a stable enough organization now that it makes sense to be recognized. Thank you.

All right, thank you Mr. Daynor I am looking right now. Now I'm seeing some more hands raised, so just as a reminder if you would like to testify regarding the Davis Square Neighborhood Council during our spoken testimony Please just use that little raise hand button in your Zoom. Miss Bissett. Louisa Bisset.

Hello, can you hear me?

We can.

Great. My name is Louisa. I live on Irving Street in Ward 6. I am a Davis Square Neighborhood Council board member and our program committee chair. I'd like to speak in favor of formal recognition. We've spent a lot of time on bylaws and CBA details, and I just wanted to add that beyond that, we are also trying to build a sense of community among our neighbors and get to know each other better. And this has provided a useful outlet in way to bring ourselves together so some of the things The program committee has already accomplished and is working on for the future. Chris alluded to some of this earlier, but thanks to Sako's we had a fun pizza and bowling party earlier this year We've supported small new businesses including the Arts, which is a new ice cream company with a fundraiser.

We joined Union Square for a kickball tournament, which was a lot of fun. And looking to the future we're trying to plan a community-wide yard sale We're potentially cooking a meal for the Homeless Coalition's Project Soup through their community meal program. And we might be joining Tufts Community for their upcoming volunteer day. So this, I just wanted to Highlight the community component that I don't think had been touched on yet. Thank you.

All right. Thank So one more call. If anybody would like to testify on the Davis Square Neighborhood Council recognition, please do raise your hand and as a reminder Once more, you will always receive those comments at publiccommentsatsomervillema.gov We will hold the written comment open through Friday September 11th but seeing no further hands raised for testimony on this public hearing then I will go ahead and close the spoken portion of the public hearing Thank you all for your very thoughtful and considerate comments, staying within the timeline and sharing your perspectives.

So with that said we will go ahead and I will lay We will keep items three and four in committee those are the Presentation and other written comments that have already been received. And then we will move on to item 2.3, which is A petition from 74 registered voters requesting a public hearing regarding the proposed ethical procurement ordinance pursuant to section 2-11 of the city charter. So if you are here this evening to testify on that proposed ordinance, this is your time to raise your hands. Again, we are looking to hear from Somerville residents tonight so please when beginning your comment give us your address or if you're not comfortable providing your full address at least your ward of residence.

Once again request that you Be considerate of the time. We will have our two-minute timer up, and we will be here as long as it takes to hear from everybody who is interested in speaking on this this evening. And just as with the previous ones, we will also be receiving public comments at publiccommentsatsomervillema.gov and we'll be holding the public comment period open until Friday, September 11th for this public hearing as well. So with that I am going to go ahead turn us back to our to our public hearing mode here. I see 27 hands raised so far, So I will say first we have Jodi Nimser-Abrahams, followed by Lumina Gershfield, Hala Jarallah, Erin Axelman, Meredith Elbaum.

Dylan Callahan, Kate Auspitz, Ida Winnick-Likely, Tina Herrera and a host of others. So if you did not hear your name on that short list Please stay in line as they say about voting. So I will go ahead and get things started first with Jodi Nimser-Abrahams Jodi? All right.

Hello, can you hear me?

We can.

Okay great thank you. My name is Jodi Namzer-Abrahams. I'm a resident of Ward 5 and I lived in Somerville for close to 11 years. I have two children at the Winter Hill School and a third in daycare. I'm Jewish, and I am deeply connected to Israel. I have family and close friends in Israel. Sharing these details with you right now, which are core to who I am, I feel exposed and vulnerable. I live very close to the community path and I take nearly daily walks or runs from the Lowell Street Bridge to Davis Square. I drop my kids off at school at the Edgerly Building in East Somerville via the path. I have seen and reported countless instances of hateful graffiti and Stickers in My Journeys. DPW has typically been quite responsive to removing the graffiti, but there are some places where it's still legible even after they've covered it up. This messaging is communicating to me over and over that I cannot show up in Somerville as my whole self.

My heart skips a beat every time I pass new graffiti with my kids in tow hoping they are too oblivious to notice it One particularly awful sticker I found on the Lowell Street Bridge was the Israeli flag with a poop emoji replacing the Star of David. How can I feel at home in a city... where this is tolerated. A second anecdote I'd like to share is about my oldest child. Every year for the winter concert at Winter Hill, the finale is a peace song. A small number of children get the honor of participating and holding up flags for their identity or nationality My child came home from school one day and proudly told me that he was going to hold up the Israeli flag in the school concert. This is coming from a child who was stage fright, who rarely asked to stand out. I was filled with both pride and dread. My child is going to stand up in front of the whole school and identify with Israel? The scenarios of the potential fallout had me worried to the point of practically asking him to recuse himself. We are one of a very limited number of Jewish families at Winter Hill. Despite it being a very lovely community in many, many ways, Winter Hill is not a place where I feel safe to express connection to Israel I see this as a direct result of what is happening in our city more broadly.

The concert went well, and my child did stand up and hold the Israeli flag. I held my breath the entire time wanting to protect my child from whatever might come next. We were fortunate that this time nothing happened however I have no confidence the next time won't be different and especially not if Somerville passes in an ordinance as specifically targeting Israel. Thank you for listening.

All right, next we have Lumina Gershfield followed by Hal Ajdalla and Aaron Axelman.

Okay, hello JT and everybody who is here at this meeting. I'm very grateful for This hearing, this is a very contentious topic. I don't need to let everybody know that there's been a lot of time spent at City Hall discussing Various versions of this ordinance and how it affects our community and why or why not to support it. And I have really appreciated the democratic debate And I appreciate that Jews have many different opinions about this ethical ordinance and that there are Jews who have in fact It's hard for me to share vulnerably about how I feel about this because

I feel like my opinion as a woman who lives in Union Square Ward 2 with two children is Sometimes disregarded for whatever reason, maybe the word hoity-toity as was used in a previous comment could be used I guess because I don't know why, actually, because my family is not hoity-toity. But what I want to say is that I sometimes feel silenced at the City Council when I want Please do not pass an ordinance that is negative towards Israel because it hurts my family.

All right, thank you Ms. Garfield. Up next Jody what? Sorry, you've already spoken I'll go ahead and Let's see here. Hala Jadalla and followed by Erin Axelman, Meredith Elbaum, Dylan Callahan, Kate Auspitz. HALA you are up.

Hi my name is Hala and I live in Ward 6, a lifelong resident of Somerville. Being an Arab American most of my life in Somervile I've been harassed as the only Muslim in the Cutler School Within the last six months, my brother's house in Termasaya was set on fire by settlers. This town gets harassed by settlers monthly with nothing being done about it. Why do groups working to help Palestine Even if they win, also have setbacks. This meeting tonight is a setback. Now since the last city council meeting, I am afraid that because I love my culture, I may be harassed. We need to end this back and forth for the Palestinians.

Get past or even thought of people having to fight for it. When people of Somerville come out in high numbers to vote for this question, please, this committee and the city council can stop wasting all of our time and make the decision to move the ordinance forward as the people of Somerville have asked for. I really thank you so much, I hope you do this because... In the six years I've lived here, this is the first time in my entire life I feel comfortable living in this city. Thank you.

Moving on, we have Aaron Axelman.

Yes. My name is Aaron Axleman. I'm a Jewish Somerville resident. I live in Ward 6 in Davis Square I'm the co-director of the documentary Israelism, which debuted as the number one documentary on Apple TV. I've led the UF digital release and social media campaign for No Other Land Boycotting and divesting in this moment is a moral imperative. For the last three years, Israel's committed a livestream genocide. This genocide has gone on at that same time as accelerating ethnic cleansing occurs in the West Bank daily. As Israel drives Palestinians from their homes and concentrates them in walled off cities. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are controlled by Israel from the moment they're born until the day they die, but are placed in a legal category that denies them all the basic civil rights Israeli Jews are given. This is as clear an example of legal apartheid as there is. Many pro-Israel people will say that divesting from Israel makes Jewish people feel less safe, or that it's targeting Jewish people. As a Jewish person myself, Israel does not represent me in any way.

And if you need to support an apartheid state that's openly committing genocide to feel safe, there is something deeply wrong with you. A few days ago, the Defense Minister of Israel posted an AI video of a conveyor belt pulling Palestinians into a concentration camp to systematically starve them to death. America and the rest of the world now knows Israel's committed genocide. Polling shows 75% of American college students believe so, two-thirds of Democrats. The Washington Post shows 61% of all American Jews think Israel has committed war crimes, 40% of them consider these war crimes genocide. For young Jews, 50% believe Israel has committed genocide. When pro-Israel advocates say that criticizing Israel attacks Jewish people they are factually and dramatically incorrect. History, our children and grandchildren will judge us for what we do in this moment as a Jewish person myself It is beyond dystopian that within a single century, my people have faced genocide and now many of my own people have committed one. Please divest and free Palestine.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Axelman. Next, we have Meredith Elbaum, followed by Dylan Callahan, Kate Auspitz, Ida Winnick-Likely, Tina Herrera, Su Lin Chin. and approximately 35 others so if you do wish to speak tonight please go ahead use that raised hand we'll make sure that you stay in line and we'll get to everybody in the order those hands are raised If you are unable to stay on tonight to provide your spoken comment, just as a reminder, we are accepting written comment at publiccomments.somervillema.gov and will be keeping the comment period open until Friday September 11th Moving on, Meredith Elbaum. You're up.

Hi, can you hear me?

We can.

Great, thanks. Hi, Meredith Elbaum. I live in Ward 3 and I've lived in Somerville for most of the past 25 years. I do not want to be here tonight. I'd much rather be talking to you about adopting an existing building performance standard or... I'm here because of my children and what they've experienced since October 7th, 2023. Since then, my child has been told independently not by one but by two classmates at the Argenziano school that they cannot be friends with my child because he is Jewish. This city is one of the most progressive cities in the world. I send my kids to Somerville Public Schools because of the beauty and diversity, and my child has been told more than once that he can't be friends because he's Jewish?

My same child was telling a group of kids about going to an event commemorating the victims of October 7th slaughter and the children responded not with inquiry or concern but by shouting Israel or Palestine and all the kids yelled Palestine. Where is the inclusivity? Where is compassion? Where's the conversation? My family now hesitates before going to a cultural event at school, wearing clothes that have Hebrew on it outside of the house. My high schooler is struggling with how openly Jewish he can be at school. It is clear to me that this ordinance is tearing the city apart and creating a divisive environment where Jewish children don't feel welcomed. We have a lot of other work to do, like seeking living building certification for the new school, like the Building Performance Standard. I really urge you to reject this ordinance. Thank you.

All right, thank you Ms. Elbaum. Up next is Dylan Callahan.

Hey, good evening. My name is Dylan. I live at 12 Pembroke Court. I'm speaking in support of the Ethical Procurement Ordinance. People other than me have spoken more eloquently about why it's important that we pass this so tonight I just want to address A couple of weeks ago, I watched a video of a child in Gaza tearfully destroying all of his handmade kites because the IDF had threatened to kill or evacuate anyone found to be flying them in Gaza. Now I think he was right to be afraid. Over 20,000 other children have been killed in Gaza by the IDF since October 7th and many more have been crippled or maimed. It was last year That tough student, Ramesa Osterk, had her visa canceled in secret and was subsequently snatched off our streets and held in ICE detention for 45 days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had personally canceled Ramesas' visa Are we here in Somerville, under the threat of death like the Gazan child?

No, I don't think so. Are we under the threat of deportation or detention like Rumesa? Most of us here are not, or at least not yet. So that leaves the threat legal action. I am not a lawyer But I do know that in America, anyone can sue anyone for any reason. So I admit that passing this ordinance could very well lead to a lawsuit What I would ask of all of us is to have a little bravery We are very lucky that we don't need to be as brave as the children of Gaza or even as brave Ramesa. But I think we should be brave enough not to surrender in advance to intimidation Please don't let our city be bullied or threatened out of making the right choice Please pass the ethical procurement ordinance. Thank you.

All right, thank you Mr. Callahan. Up next we have... Kate Auspitz, followed by Ida Winnick-Likely, Tina Herrera, Suelyn Chinn, Edward Childs, Adam Peace, Alexander Mills and Titham Callister. and then Alan Jalen. So let's go next to Kate Auspitz.

Yes, yes, yes.

My name is Kate Auspich and my husband and I live in Ward 6. We have lived in Somerville for more than 60 years and I have been privileged to serve the city as Chief of the Election Commission and as Personnel Director. Both our grandsons were Bar Mitzvah at Temple B'nai Brith. I thank you for the opportunity to speak in opposition to this very disturbing proposal. Committing Somerville to boycott and divestment in Israel will not bring peace to the Middle East.

It is one of the foolish, performative gestures that have lately too much characterized American politics both left and right. Its language is profoundly unjust and offensive. As a historian, not only a Jew I object to the use of the word genocide. We all feel compassion for the suffering in Gaza. It began with the murderous attack on Israel of October 7th. The worst attack on Jews since the Second World War. It is preposterous to equate anything Any Israeli government has ever done with the crimes of Nazi Germany.

This false moral equivalence is wrong. It amounts in effect, if not to Holocaust denial, certainly the Holocaust trivialization. Thus, it dishonors the memory of the millions who died to end Axis tyranny. no democratically elected body in the civilized world should support this ordinance thank you.

Thank you Ms. Auspitz uh moving on we have Ida Winnick-Likely.

Good evening, can you hear me all right? We can. Terrific. Good evening, distinguished councillors. My name is Ida Winnick-Likely and I've been a resident of Somerville since 2022 and the Boston metro area since 2012. When I began studying at Brandeis University and currently living on Webster Street in Ward 1. I am Jewish, and it is my Jewish faith that moves me to make comment on the ethical procurement ordinance. Last November, I and 11,598 other Somerville residents voted yes to divesting our city from American and European companies like HP that materially support the apartheid regime in Israel, a regime that has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians. A vast majority of them civilians since October 7th, 2023. In Judaism we are taught that every life is sacred and as precious as an entire world.

And because of this it is one of our first and most crucial responsibilities to others to protect their lives and dignity I am constantly reminded of how much i have not met this responsibility to my counterparts in Palestine through videos on social media documenting the deprivation and death in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the testimony of Palestinian friends and loved ones and so bring statistics documenting the number of Palestinians starved, maimed and killed by the Israeli army from reputable organizations like the UNRWA. It is for this reason that I want to ensure that my state and local taxes do not benefit the multinational corporations that make their money through the immiseration and death of Palestinians. This ordinance is not anti-Semitic. It is pro human. What is anti-semitic, however, is to assume Jews like me must support An apartheid Jewish supremacist state like Israel that is committing genocide and must value that state more than our local community.

I implore you all to make the correct decision and vote yes on implementing the will of Somerville voters decided just shy of a year ago. I also urge you to amend the ordinance to name and shape and shame the complicit companies the city intends to boycott. Thank you, and Bezrat Hashem, may this be just one of many steps towards a free Palestine.

All right, thank you. Up next we have Tina Herrera.

Hi, can you hear me okay?

We can.

All right, my name is Tina Herrera. I live in Ward 7. I am a grad student at Tufts and I spent the past few weeks volunteering in the Misafir Yatta region of the Occupied West Bank. Crazy it is calling a divestment ordinance disturbing given the fact that within my first 24 hours of being in Masafriyata, I had the green laser from an IDF machine gun pointed on my body twice all because I was standing alongside Palestinians. In each of the villages I stayed in, I witnessed settler colonists armed with automated rifles bringing their sheep to eat Palestinian olive trees, destroying Palestinian farmland and livelihood. all with complete backing from the Israeli military and police. Settlers stormed the village of Umm al-Khair, and destroyed the community's fence just hours after I arrived. They repeatedly pushed women and children to the ground, kicked people including me, and terrorized children at summer camp.

Every settler attack I witnessed ended with the Israeli military and police doing one or more of the following declaring the site a closed military zone, banning Palestinians from entering their own spaces including playgrounds and bathrooms. Threatening internationals and Palestinians with arrest for bothering the settlers Blindfolding and kidnapping Palestinian men for no reason Taking our passports and providing the settlers with our passport information or absolutely nothing. If you want to take anything away from this testimony, let it be that the settler movement is not fringe. They are working in collaboration with the police and military on a daily basis to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land. And they are bankrolled by the US taxpayer. The communities of Masafaryata are asking us to stand with them in their fight to remain on their land. We cannot do this without boycotting and divesting from Israel. Free Palestine!

All right. Thank you. Up next, we have Ida Winnick-Likely followed by... Sulin Chen, Edward Childs, Adam Peace, Alex Mills, Tiffin McAllister, Alan Jalen, Lucy Tumavikas, Sam Garahan and about 35 more after that as well so Up next, oh sorry we already had Ida Winnick lower hand, Su Lin Chen.

Hi, everyone. My name is Suelyn Chen. I'm a Ward 3 resident. I am a human rights commissioner and I'm raising a Jewish family here in Somerville. I'm also on the board of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, and what I'm about to say is shaped by my meditation practice and my understanding of the teachings of the Buddha. The idea that what's happening in Palestine over there doesn't affect us over here in Somerville is an illusion. We are not separate The idea that we can do nothing about it and that it's not our responsibility is a delusion. It's an avoidant excuse that's only meant to allow us to retreat into comfort, As Americans, we're highly conditioned to avoid looking at other people's suffering. To shrug and say, oh there's nothing we can do. This is how we give up our own agency. This how oppressive systems stay in place. This is why you and I are complicit.

Because in reality, every single one of us is interconnected and we all have the power to do something. The question should not be oh if i do this thing will the suffering stop? The question should be if many other people also did what I'm doing, how could the world change? Moving towards love and collective liberation will require collective effort. We must each do our part. And for all of you who champion nonviolent resistance, divestment from a handful of mega corporations is one of the most non-violent tactics one could employ to stop all the injustices happening in Palestine. And I'll close with this. Even if you disagree with everything I've just said, we do have a democratic process and we've entrusted you all to represent us. The people of Somerville have voted to divest. Not only is it the least we can do, it is your democratic responsibility to follow through on it. Thank you.

Up next we have Edward Childs.

Hello, can you hear me? We can, Mr. Childs. Okay, thank you. I'm Ed Childs, I live in Somerville, I've lived here for 70-something years, I'm in Ward 2. I would like to talk especially about what the assistant just talked about is that This is a traumatic experience on especially our youth, all of us but especially our Youth. I've talked to a number of high school students and young people in the city of Somerville. And they're being traumatized, what they see on TV. They've even had a demonstration and they went to the Somervilles school committee and were shut down. and they felt really their dignity was taken away. They see that not only is this a distant war, but this is a war being financed

by our tax funds, our tax fundings that are supposed to be going into their education, their housing, their healthcare. They also see the trauma that's being done to the Palestinians, being done on the streets here by ICE. And they don't see a difference because there's really no difference. This money for the war that should be coming here to our community has corporations that are profiting off of this genocide. And what we're saying, these corporations... Because you tell us, well... Oh, this is a federal thing. We have nothing to do with it. Well, we do have a lot to do it because it's our children. It's our community and our money that's going We want in our schools, our healthcare and our housing. And to feed our people through SNAP and whatever else we can get. And that's our money so it is affecting us.

And those profiteers offer this war are coming to our city and we're giving them contracts. Why are we doing that? That's insane. So, we're saying let's boycott these corporations put them on notice stop profiting off of genocide and we want corporations who Our, at least don't profit off of genocide. And so we have voted Twice. We have voted for the question three and the other vote was just last week. We voted for three candidates in Somerville that all had Palestine on their campaign literature. We had two state reps, big one and the other one was Erica who ran for State Senator all on Palestine

Yes. I appreciate it, but We're trying to respect folks' time.

Okay, well that was my last statement. Thank you so much.

All right, thank you. If you do have further comments please do send those along to publiccomments at somervillema.gov Very much appreciate it. Next we have Adam Peace, Alex Mills, Tiffin McAllister, Alan Jalen, Lucy Tumavikas, Sam Guerin, Meredith Porter and about still 35 more after that. So, Adam Pease please.

Hi, good evening. My name is Adam Pease. I'm a resident of Ward 2 in Somerville. I hope tonight to just highlight the ways in which passing the proposed boycott and divestment ordinance meets our moral obligations and democratic values here in Somerville. Last year, over 300 community members collected over 10,000 signatures from Somervill residents to put the Palestine solidarity question on the November ballot as a non-binding public policy advisory question. And later in November, over 11,000 Somerville residents voted in favor of the question which called on Somervill elected leaders to end city business and divestments and companies profiting off of Israel's crimes against Palestinians. When the ballot question passed, these 11,000 neighbors in Somerville who echoed this call to our city leaders to change our investments and purchasing to stop support for companies that are actively engaged in the oppression of Palestinian people

There is rarely an opportunity to hear so clearly how our city should move forward on a public policy decision, but we have one here that was known as Question 3 and what is now known as the proposed Ethical Procurement Ordinance. With the proposed ordinance, Somerville has the opportunity and the duty to put these sentiments of solidarity with Palestinians expressed through the ballot question results into public policy. Instead of spending more money on companies who have been known to kill Cage, and Surveil Palestinians as we've heard just again tonight. We have the opportunity to move this money city's money into alternative investments and contracts Coming up with a legal and practical way to implement this ordinance is not the easy thing to do, but it is the right thing to

It is what over 11,000 voters in Somerville have explicitly advised our city councilors to do and all city leaders To make our city one that to the best extent it can make our city one that lives out its values in both our words and our deeds to the greatest extent possible, to diminish our cities' contributions to companies continuing the forced Thank you. Up next we have Alex Mills

Hi there, my name is Alex Mills. I live in Ward 7. The City Council has a simple decision. Will it fulfill the will of the people of Somerville or not? 59% of Somerville voters approved divestment from genocide Against 41% voting no, a nearly 20-point margin that almost any elected official would envy. The mandate is incredibly clear and it is up to the council to implement it as law. Furthermore, I've seen some comments from detractors both during the lead up to the referendum and during the recent legislative process saying that one town can't change Israel's behavior. To that I say, even if you believe that our money will not have an impact and in addition to the purely moral argument that any involvement in genocide should be opposed as much as we can Divestment has to start somewhere. Other jurisdictions, other electorates, other politicians will see what's possible and follow our lead. We can be at the head of a sea change against mass murder in Somerville.

I think that's the right place for our city to be, because if it can't start here then where? Thank you very much.

All right thank you Mr Mills. Next up is Tiffin McAllister Mr. McAllister Hi, am I audible?

Yeah, you are Amazing My name is Tiffin McAllester I'm co-chair of Somerville DSA and a proud member of Somerville for Palestine I live on Irving Street off Davis. When my grandfather James Fieldman's family fled Germany for America, they did so because they believed in a world where they wouldn't be persecuted for who they are. They believed in a world where they wouldn't be round up for what they believed or who they prayed to. He became a philosophy professor, he spent his life asking what it means to be free Decades later, Ramesa Ostrich was abducted off our streets. Her crime? Writing an anti-Zionist op-ed. The Trump administration and Israel have cooperated to target student protesters, particularly those who are here on student visas. They correctly deduced that peace-loving protesters anywhere are a threat to fascists everywhere. Our neighbor is merely one casualty of Zionism's war against our liberties. Divesting from Israel means divesting from a genocide, absolutely.

It also means divesting from a state who would gladly abduct our neighbor for daring to call it a genocide. Although I live in Davis now, I was actually born and raised in New Orleans. When I was 10, Hurricane Katrina demolished my home. My friends and families were woken up in the middle of the night and armed agents forced them into the Superdome which became a de facto detention center I'll never forget watching the evening news, praying that some leader out there remembered us. I'll ever forget promising to myself that I'd never let something like this happen to anybody else. Decades later, Rumesa Ostrich was abducted off our streets and forced into a South Louisiana ICE detention center. Divesting from Israel means divesting from forces which put my neighbors today in detention centers like they did to my neighbors of yesterday. This ordinance is not divisive. What's divisive is abducting our neighbors. What is divisive, is financing Palestine's destruction.

To the contrary, this ordinance is an opportunity for unity. Divestment is an oppurtunity to answer my grandfather's question Freedom means solidarity. It means standing with our Palestinian brothers and sisters. Free Palestine

All right. Thank you, Mr. McAllister. Next we have Alan Jalen and Mr. Jalen I do also see your name about 20 20 entries down on this list as well so if you have somebody else who is logged in on your reservation link just let me know so I can be sure to allow them to talk later.

Yeah, that must be my unknown twin. No, I don't know who that is. It's possible that it's Pat. She's going to speak at some point. Okay. You guys can hear me though? We can answer. So, my name is Alan Jay and I live on Dane Street. My family came to the United States as refugees in 1948 We were evicted from our first apartment when the landlord discovered that we were Jews. So I know anti-Semitism is real, but that doesn't justify slaughtering tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs. And most American Jews apparently agree with that, as Aaron Axelman pointed out. There's a Washington Post poll that says that 60% of American Jews say Israel is committing war crimes. and 40% call it genocide.

So there's a very good chance that most Somerville Jews voted for the ballot question, even though the opposition often claims to speak for the Jewish community. I know that this ordinance makes some Jews uncomfortable. I have friends, good friends who feel that way and I'm very sorry they do. During the Vietnam War, there were military families who felt angry and uncomfortable as the opposition grew Some students on campus felt ostracized and in fact were ostracised. That was bad, but it wasn't a reason for the rest of us to stop trying to end the horrors of that war. At least 17 other municipalities and one county have passed boycott or divest policies. I've made a spreadsheet about them, which I will share. They are all part of the growing movement to stop Israel's war on Palestinians.

We are the only community that has passed a boycott and divest ballot question so far, but Providence, Rhode Island has a question on their November ballot, and people there cite Somerville as their model. There have been multiple articles about our ballot question in the Israeli press. This is not just a symbolic act. We can make a real contribution to saving lives. Please pass this ordinance.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Jalen. Up next is Lucy Tumavikas. Lucy?

Sorry, can you hear me now?

I can.

Okay, fantastic. Good evening, my name is Lucy Tumavikas and I'm a member of the leadership of Somerville for Palestine. And I was a part of organizing question three. I'm also a resident of ward two. I have so much to say about the decades of organizing that led up to this ordinance, the tremendous community-led effort that was Question 3. and the unthinkable traumas that our cities continued complicity in Israel's genocide, apartheid and occupation have done to the people of Palestine and the Palestinians in our community. However, I want to speak tonight about the legal challenges that opponents of this ordinance have promised to bring. Not the intricacies of why it is or isn't legal because you've heard enough about that from people who are more knowledgeable than me Tonight, I want to submit to you that to a large extent it does not matter whether this ordinance is legal. As a law student, I've spent a lot of time and money learning the very simple lesson that the law is built to change.

And in fact, when it becomes clear that the law as it stands is fundamentally at odds with the values and rights that it's meant to protect, it must change. If it's the case that the law as it stands requires the people of Somerville to use our hard-earned taxpayer dollars to bankroll companies complicit in genocide, the law must change. If the law as it stands requires you to ignore the will of the majority of your constituents, over 11,000 Somerville residents, the law must change. If the law requires that you water down the demands of Question 3 so that the ordinance does not meaningfully touch on complicity with apartheid and genocide, the law must change. But the beautiful thing is that the law can be changed and remade. And you are lawmakers. Every important political movement has been accompanied by a court fight, Thank goodness that the leaders of those movements didn't flinch at the lawsuits threatened against them. We owe our rights and our freedoms to their steadfastness. You've done your due diligence in being thoughtful about the legal implications of this ordinance and consulting the legal department.

However, your focus in writing and passing this ordinance should not be on whether it's perfectly clear that the law as it stands endorses this ordinance Your focus should be on whether our community values, moral commitments and responsibility to uphold the democratic will of the people demand that we pass this ordinance. And if necessary change the law in doing so. We only stand to create a more just law, a stronger Somerville and a freer world. Thank you and Free Palestine!

Meredith Porter, Will Capriola, Amina Awad, Sam Gechter, David Lichter, Derek Rice, Chaim Feldman, Margie Polster, David Chanoff and looks like about 30 more besides. So if you haven't heard your name on that list, please continue to stay in line. We will stay here tonight to hear everybody who wants to speak on this item. Sam Guerin, you're up.

Can you all hear me okay? Yes. Hi, good evening. My name is Sam Guerin. I'm a Ward 2 resident and I've been lucky enough to live in Somerville on and off for the last 13 years. During this time, I have always felt welcomed and embraced as a Jewish member of our community. I am fortunate to enjoy this sense of belonging and wish the same experience of safety and inclusion for all people. Tragically, citizens of Gaza and southern Lebanon do not enjoy this luxury of safety that should be a right. The routine violence of Israeli military attacks and settler intrusion deny these communities the comfort and security that I enjoy. My Palestinian neighbors have shared with me that even here, they face the dual struggles of anti-Palestinian racism and the profound devastation of witnessing the aforementioned brutality of occupation Apartheid and Genocide in Palestine.

A 2024 national survey of Palestinians in the US found that over half of respondents experienced anti-Palestinian racism, either virtually or face to face. We have the opportunity to harness local power in the service of challenging these daily injustices, and doing so enhances the safety of all communities while aligning municipal expenditures with local values. The Ethical Procurement Ordinance is rooted in fair critique of a national government, not antisemitism. Passing this ordinance is an opportunity to both demonstrate solidarity with our Palestinian community members and challenge the unjust actions of a foreign government that does not represent me as a Jewish person. Thank you for your consideration and free Palestine.

All right, thank you. Next Meredith Porter.

This is actually Aliza Arts, Meredith Porter's wife using his computer. My name is Aliza Arzt. I live at 104 Josephine Avenue. I've been here in Somerville since 1978. I am a member of Chavarat Shalom, a lay-led egalitarian community in a Jewish community in West Somerville. I love the country that I live in, yet I abhor the government and its policies. Consequently, I have to not support companies in this country that collude with ICE that oppose DEI and that mistreat its workers. So I don't shop anymore at Amazon, Whole Foods, Home Depot, Target, and Lowe's. By the same token, I have to also not support

companies that are a government in another country that I love, that authorizes unnecessary brutality in Gaza and that supports the domestic terrorism of Jewish settlers in the West Bank. So obviously I do support this resolution. If this had been a resolution calling on A boycott of all Jewish businesses. That would be anti-Semitic and I would be violently opposed if it had been an ordinance calling on Boycott of all Israeli business. I would feel that this would be something that would hurt the Jewish and Christian and Muslims workers in Israel, and I would oppose that. This is something very different. It is targeting Particular businesses that are aiding the specific unfortunate and violent and wrong actions.

I will say in my last 15 seconds that somebody did mention there's a lot of work to do in Somerville. A lot of that work is to educate people that supporting this amendment and treating Jewish people in the city as As pariahs, because they support Israel and one can abhor and support at the same time. That's what we need to teach that shouldn't happen in our city. Thank you

All right, thank you. Up next, Will Capriola.

Hi everyone, my name's Will and I am in Ward 5 so I won't be the first to say that if You, like myself have at any point in your life asked yourself what you would've done if you were alive during historical periods of the most sickening crimes against humanity that you don't need to wonder right? That we know The answer is what we're doing right now during Israel's genocide in Gaza. So I'm speaking in support of this ordinance as long as corporations are content to fill their pockets off Apartheid, Genocide and Occupation of the Palestinian People We have a moral obligation to say that they shall have no business anywhere else in the world How could anyone in this room justify doing business, for example with a corporation like Honeywell which manufactures the precision sensors that guide Israeli bombs into Palestinian schools, homes, places of worship, tent camps and hospitals? We're here answering the call of the international Palestinian-led BDS movement that reminds us there's no moral justification for continuing to do business with these bad actors. We are part of the planetary majority

We're sick and tired of waiting on incremental progress while we watch a livestream genocide and see our community's resources sapped away by the war machine. I support this ordinance because it gives us a chance to do what is just, It tells Somerville's Palestinian community that the city sees and respects their leadership. It establishes Somervill as a beacon of hope that dozens of cities around the country are already looking to emulate, we're not going to be alone in this. It helps us imagine a Somerville where the taxes of hardworking people go to projects aligned with our values here, not enriching genocide profiteers. And most importantly, it supports Palestinians materially. It tangibly combats Israel's war crimes. When future generations ask what Massachusetts did during this horrific time, maybe they'll see Somerville not as another instance of shameful complicity through silence or symbolism but as a courageous community striving to act in solidarity with the people of Palestine. That is the Somerville I want us to be, the Somerville I want to live in.

So please do not delay our community's march toward justice any longer. Free Palestine! Thank you.

All right, thank you. Up next is Amina Awad followed by Sam Gechter, David Lichter, Derek Rice, Chaim Feldman, Margie Polster, David Chanofs, Samantha Joses, Jonathan Dobev and it looks like about another 25 besides so if you would like to get in line please use that raise hand button uh and if you cannot stay to provide spoken comment tonight as always please submit that public comments at somervillema.gov Will Cappioli, you are up.

I had just spoken. I believe it's Amina who is up next.

My bad. I've got a lot to manage. Amina Hawai, please.

Hi, can you hear me?

We can.

Okay. Hi my name is Amina Awad I'm a member of Somerville for Palestine and a resident of Ward 6 I'm a Palestinian resident of Somerville who is exhausted of having to come and argue again and again that our lives, our family's lives are being impacted on the daily by this genocide. Only people who think the number of murdered Palestinians being in the hundreds of thousands is morally acceptable can argue that this is a contentious issue. As a Palestinian, I'm frustrated that we're ignoring the 11,600 Somervillians who voted yes to divest in November of last year. that we're back here almost a year later talking about this when we need to ask ourselves why our safety in Somerville is considered more important than the ethnic cleansing, genocide and massacre of a whole population. When we are witnessing multiple generations of Palestinian families being eradicated at once. We are seeing the expansion of Israel's settler colonial project, one which is deeply rooted in the systemic destruction of all structures that sustain life.

were watching Israel use bullets intended to maim Palestinian children, plant bombs in children's toys and strip Palestinian children of their childhood intentionally. Palestinians in Somerville have had to witness the systemic eradication of our families and also experience the immense dehumanization on a local national level. We need to be courageous as a city And as human beings, we need to join with the international community and answer the call of BDS. We need to be less cowardly and stand up for our Palestinians here and abroad. Free Palestine!

All right, thank you. Up next, Sam Gector.

Thank you. My name is Sam Gecter. I live in Ward 3. I'm here to tell you what anti-Zionism does to Somerville. To the people supporting this ordinance, I am not a neighbor. I am a Zionist. They have taken a word that means the right for Jews to have self determination in our homeland and turned it into a slur. A word that marks us as fair game. Anti-Zionism is a hate cult that targets Jews for violence, exclusion, intimidation and elimination. It asserts itself as the authority on which Jews are legitimate Would you let any other group do that to any other minority? You have heard from Jews tonight who have chosen to carry the token banner for this hate movement. There have always been Jews who thought the path to acceptance was to disavow whatever antisemites couldn't stand about them. Today, the price of acceptance is foregoing our connection to our homeland. But those Jews are never really accepted for who they are.

They are accepted for what they do for the movement and rejected the moment they don't go far enough Google Scott Weiner, google Brad Lander That is the fate of anyone who supports anti-Zionists but not quite enough Many electeds and candidates have told us privately that you go along with us because you want the anti-Zionists to go away, but it will never be enough. This is an illiberal movement of bullying and intimidation. It makes my friends afraid to speak in this meeting for fear of having to give their name. One of the anti-Zionist leaders literally spat on a member of my community in city council chambers when a vote didn't go their way. You counselors have to choose what kind of city and country you want to live in. Are you willing to let bullying and intimidation replace the rule of law? Are you willing to capitulate to a group that is part of a coalition calling for the downfall of Western civilization? Anti-Zionism is the Salem witch trial of our time.

You can continue to call for proxy trials of Jewish identity, or you can say enough. Somerville is better than this. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Next up we have David Lifter

Good evening. David Lichter, Ward 3. I'm here to oppose this hateful ordinance. On October 7th we watched Hamas murder, kidnap and rape innocent Israelis. Somerville's devastated Jewish community didn't receive empathy or support Instead, we have been experiencing an anti-Israel hate movement. Criticism of any government is legitimate but since 10 7 the city councilors supporting the ceasefire resolution Question three, and now this BDS ordinance crossed that line of legitimacy making Israel a political and supposed moral litmus test. and in turn have made life here more isolated, unwelcoming and dangerous for Jewish and Israeli families. We see the consequences in our community and tragically in our schools. At the Healy School a student had their locker tampered with and a Palestinian flag placed on it after the family moved here from Israel following 10-7.

They felt targeted and moved out of Somerville shortly after. At Somerville High School, at least four swastikas have appeared during Holocaust-related events. A student was called a dirty Jew and was afraid to return. and anti-Israel protests daily force Jewish students through a coercive gauntlet just to enter their school. There were Hamas t-shirts at the Kennedy, online bullying of children at the West, Nazi salutes, anti-Semitic books in class. These are not abstract geopolitical disagreements. These This is about the community we are creating. When we tolerate scapegoat and prejudice against one minority, we weaken the guardrails that protect every minority. Our elected leaders have a profound responsibility to protect the safety of all residents, not just those who agree with them. Counselors supporting this ordinance are ignoring our pleas pouring gasoline on these fires and stoking blame and fear.

It isn't progressive, isn't diversity and inclusion, and isn't acceptable. We expect better, we deserve better, and we demand better from our neighbors and elected officials. Please reject this ordinance. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Up next, Derek Rice.

Yes.

Can you hear me? We can. Okay, thank you. My name is Derek Rice. Use he him pronouns and live at 49 Craigie Street. I am offering public comment to offer my support for this ordinance and to thank the councillors who have done the hard and thought work of finding a path forward for Somerville to implement its values as policy. Somervill has a long tradition of seeking ways to live our values, whether that's Stretch code ordinances or neighborhood councils. I'm really eager to see how we find a way forward to implement the will of the people here with this ordinance and specifically naming Israel as You know, a global military power which is portraying injustices. My heart goes out to those community members who feel targeted, feel attacked by the criticisms

of Israel, and I believe their stories. And I believe your experiences. And yet I can't imagine how we could not speak as Americans As members of a government that is hugely funding the behaviors of the state of Israel against, again, a global military power about their actions. So, thank you for the work that you do. Thank you for continuing and I hope you'll continue and we can move on with the healing. Thank You!

Thank you. Up next, we have Haim Feldman, Margie Polster, David Chanoff, Samantha Joseph, Jonathan Dovev, Annika Schafer, Alan Jalen again. Presumably Pat, Dan Ingle, Michael Sano, Emily Ball. So and about another 25 besides, so please do stay in line. We do intend to get to everyone tonight. Up next, Chaim Feldman

Can you hear me?

We can.

I'm Chaim Feldman, 74 years old, 34 years in Ward 3 and I get that some of our neighbors wanted this hearing because they feel unsafe Do you feel safe with the militaristic course our country's been on since my childhood? I don't. Our government is not merely complicit with Israel's crimes, we are direct sponsors enablers and protectors of those atrocities equally culpable for them A lot of U.S. companies make a lot of money off such crimes, profiting from equipment built for racist war and repression both abroad and at home and all that production and staffing for surveillance and violence that we pay for is our only truly bipartisan federal jobs program. So why the hell should we feel safe? This ordinance sets a minimal standard that suggests a different way. Here's some of what makes me feel unsafe as a Jew.

When first the UK and then the USA close their doors to Jewish refugees but pry open a door in Palestine that doesn't belong to them, to funnel Jews there as proxy forces for their imperial agendas in a seductive trap that continues to weaponize Israeli Jews as what Theodor Herzl called a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism. That scares me. You've heard a lot of claims tonight about how rejection of Israeli violence constitutes antisemitism. I want you to ask yourself, when does so-called support for Israel become antisemitism? For nearly 60 years, our government has been arming Israel to the teeth to fight against regional forces that oppose U.S. domination and to use Palestine as a testing ground for surveillance-tacked militarized policing and asymmetric war strategies

A place once widely celebrated, rightly or wrongly as a brave socialist experiment is now allied with global fascist movements an international pariah and deservedly so. Every hint of a common future was systematically undermined. Every Israeli escalation shielded. With your support, Somerville can raise a banner as it has before to help guide our country to chart a different course one that could make life a whole lot safer for Palestinians and for Jews everywhere. Thank you.

Thank You. Up next we have Margie Polster Margie, you appear to be unmuted on our end. Give you a moment perhaps there's a problem with your microphone. All right, Margie. We're going to give you a minute to work on that microphone. I'll move on to David Chanoff, Samantha Joseph and then I'll return to you. Hopefully you can get your microphone working. Let's go ahead and move on to David Chanoff.

Minister Chanoff? Yes, can you hear me now?

We can.

Oh, good. So of course I've listened to all the very passionate arguments here and agree with some of them myself But I'm also wondering about the astonishment that Other places in the world have experienced the kinds of terror and the kinds catastrophes that Apparently, don't move anybody. In Sudan, there's been up to 400,000 Black Sudanese who have been killed. There is constant warfare, constant destruction of Ukrainian individuals.

The Rohingya have had a million and half people who have fled in China Over a million Uyghurs have been detained and have been treated cruelly But there's no recognition of this. Why isn't Somerville online to do something about that? So people have to think about why it is that the Jewish state is being singled out for this. And as a Jewish American, I can tell you that I feel this is extremely alienating. And that all of the arguments about whether Israel is doing good things or less good things are absolutely authentic.

but they don't belong in the city of Somerville which is not a state entity, does not have foreign relations and shouldn't. and all these arguments should begin with the Understanding that Israel is facing three genocidal organizations whose mission is to destroy them, Hamas, Hezbollah. and Tehran. So if we want to discuss these things, we should but not in the form of a city that needs to have harmony and I can tell you that I feel alienated by this proposal and many of my friends do too.

It is unnecessary. There are other fora. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Chanoff.

Hi, can you hear me?

Ah, we have Margie Polster. I am so glad your microphone is working now. Please. Thank you.

My name is Margie Polster. I live in Ward 5 and I'm opposing the proposed ordinance The genocide accusation at the core of the ordinance is false I know that many people here don't share my opinion, but unlike them, I'm not seeking to have my opinion codified into law. To treat a widely contested opinion as fact and to make it central to a law lends that opinion illegitimate authority and credibility. Anti-Israel and anti Jewish vitriol are already on the rise in Somerville, including in our public schools.

For me and many other Jews with our millennia-long history of being blamed, murdered, and exiled for the world's ills this feels darkly threatening. in a way that I can hardly believe is happening in the 21st century. Nothing further is needed to understand what is wrong and dangerous about turning this libel into law, thank you

Right? Thank you, Ms. Polster. Up next we have Samantha Joseph, Jonathan Dovev, Annick Schaefer, Alan Jalen, Daniel Engel, Michael Saino, Caitlin Pfeiffer, Lewis Morales Jr., Judy Bonetta Neufeld, and it appears about another 25 or so after that. So if you would like to get in line please do use that raise hand we will get to everybody in the order their hands were raised and up next, Samantha Joseph please.

Hi can you hear me? We can. Okay thank you. My name is Samantha Joseph, and I'm here both as a Somerville Ward 5 resident for 16 years and as the regional director for ADL New England, the leading anti-hate organization in the world. After October 7th, antisemitism surged across New England Here in Somerville, a Jewish family's home was egged. A Jewish candidate signs were defaced and a parent walked into an elementary school playground with a sweatshirt that said death to the IDF, a direct threat of violence to members of our community. After I spoke at the March City Council meeting last year, I exited to an angry mob and was threatened by name. Alarming police who insisted on escorting me to my car. Why should anyone leaving our city hall need a police escort? In November, standing outside a polling location to talk about the BDS ordinance someone looked at me and said Zionists need to go home

Because in America last year three Jewish people were killed by perpetrators who had similar beliefs, I was too afraid to ask this question so I will ask it here instead. Where do you think my home is? If it is not in Somerville where I have lived for 16 years, where would you like me to go? ADL and the Brandeis Center have formally warned this council. The proposed BDS ordinance is unconstitutional, exceeds the city's authority to regulate foreign affairs and our own law department here in Somerville has previously concluded that it is likely unenforceable. If enacted, it will expose taxpayers to costly litigation and further isolate Jewish residents. And I want to close with an important reminder. Last year, Question 3 received just 22% of registered voter support. While it did pass, only 22% voted for it. That is not a mandate! That is not a mandate.

Most Somerville residents do not want this to divide our city and demonize their Jewish neighbors. I am asking you to focus on what Somervill actually needs, safe schools, housing, and a community where everyone belongs. Thank you.

Thank you, up next we have Annika Schafer.

Chair? Hello Mr.

Chair Yes

Yeah, thanks. I'm getting a text from our resident Sarah Bloom that she has not been recognized but she was one of the first hands up at the very beginning of this.

Certainly Sarah Bloom is approximately 20 people down in the list, but I do see her there. Sarah Bloom I'll give a long list here. We have Anika Schaffer up next.

Oh no, I hear you and I hear what you're saying but what I'm trying to say is she said that she was in one of the first and for some reason she's at the bottom or something 20 long when she was one of the first um to raise her hand I I'm

Sorry to hear that, Councilor Strezo. The Zoom software puts the hands in order that they're raised. But I assure you we are going to hear everyone out tonight Annika Schaefer, are you with us?

Yes I'm here. Welcome. Thank you so much um good evening I live in Ward 6. I'm a Jewish Somerville resident, a leader in Somervill for Palestine and a member of Somervil for Palestine's Jewish Caucus. My paternal great-grandparents fled death camps in Poland. I've seen the trauma passed down through the generations. I heard stories of atrocities and genocide, both from my own family and others. And for the past few years, I've been watching in horror as the most traumatic atrocities from my family's history are being reenacted supposedly in the name of Jewish people. I, along with many Somerville Jewish voters have been watching Israeli soldiers speaking the language in which we pray terrorize Palestinian men women and children bulldoze their homes bomb schools and hospitals with children and patients inside I'm sure you have seen videos and news stories of starving Palestinians being murdered by Israeli soldiers for nothing but seeking food at sanctioned distribution sites.

And unlike some of the other atrocities mentioned tonight, our tax dollars are directly involved and complicit. Here in Somerville, your constituents have all been watching in horror. So many Jews, including the Somervill for Palestine Jewish Caucus, have turned out in incredible ways to support this ordinance and The preceding ballot question. An op-ed was published during the election signed by 90 Somerville Jewish residents in unequivocal support of boycotting companies composite in Israel's apartheid, genocide and illegal occupation of Palestine. This group included Holocaust survivors, rabbis, members of various Jewish congregations. It's insulting and dangerous to imply that so many Jews would be spending so much of our limited time and resources on something that would be harmful to our own community and more importantly it's just a distraction from the real issue of a real genocide and real Palestinians who have been dying, who have starved by Israel and by Israel's apartheid occupation and genocide.

um we care about the moral character of our city and we care that our tax dollars are funding death destruction and starvation overseas all right thank you

Up next, we have somebody logged in as Alan Jalen.

That is me. I don't know why I'm logged in that way.

Well, welcome Senator Jalen

Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm Pat Gell and I live on Dane Street. Many people are feeling powerless and unheard. Many people. Every day we can, unless we turn away, see images of leveled cities bulldozed schools and orchards Families who've lost their loved ones, their homes, their property and their livelihood. We know our tax dollars pay for that. We want to use any tool we can to stop that death and destruction. Somerville citizens are asking you to amplify their voices by passing this ordinance. Some people say, what good will it do? Somervville's share of purchases and investment isn't enough to change company policies. But like other actions it gives encouragement to other people, other cities and the effect spreads. Other cities and towns are passing or considering similar actions. These actions, along with demonstrations, letters and phone calls add up.

Our entire federal delegation voted to cut off military informal foreign aid to Israel Both our senators voted to stop sales of certain weapons to Israel. Many actions, of many kinds here and abroad may have helped give courage to the retired Israeli generals and other officials who are criticizing what they call ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. There's an old song that says, one voice can't shout for all to hear. Two voices can't shot for all the here but if two and 250 make a million we'll see that day come round Please continue to support your residents who are asking you to amplify their voices by passing this ordinance. Thank you.

Up next, we have Daniel Ingle, Michael Sainow, Caitlin Pfeiffer, Lewis Morales Jr., Judy Neufeld, Susan McLucas, Richard Maidman, Ann Kavarczyk. Daniel Vernick, Alana Bloomfield and many more besides we have 28 people whose hands are still raised if you'd like to raise your hand to get on the bottom of that list please feel free and know that we will stay here until everyone gets heard And if you cannot stay to have your spoken comment heard, please send email to publiccomments at somervillema.gov and we will receive that and be keeping those comments open until Friday September 11th Up next, Daniel Ingle, please.

Good evening. Can you hear me okay? Great. My name is Daniel Engel and I live in Ward 3. I'm a Jewish-Israeli American resident of Somerville, of mixed Arab-Jewish and European descent. I urge you to reject the ethical procurement ordinance that is creating an ever-growing burden on this city's time and resources. I have quite literally been kicked for my views on last November's Question 3, While standing outside of the Kennedy School holding a sign against the ballot measure, someone walked past me, kicked me and yelled go away you fucking Zio. This is the environment that this bill is encouraging. If you want to talk about the cost of Somerville, look at the thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours spent cleaning up anti-Semitic graffiti. Look at the hours of city council meetings consumed by this issue instead of housing starts, bike lanes or the Winter Hill School. and look at the 10 residents I know who were shut out of those meetings when attending for unrelated issues.

And if you want to talk about the temperature in this city, look at how Jewish residents are changing their daily lives. My family and I speak Hebrew fluently and are trying to teach our children Hebrew. My mother refuses to speak Hebrew in public in Somerville because she is afraid of how people will react. I speak Hebrew to her, she responds to me in English. That is the temperature! Jews in Somerville are changing how they live because they don't feel safe I'm an advocate for gun restrictions, yet I recently applied for a license to carry a firearm because I felt that I needed the ability to protect my family. I asked Captain Sheehan of SPD whether he was seeing an increase in Jewish residents applying for licenses to carry. He said yes That should concern every one of us. When the city turns this conflict into official city policy, it doesn't lower the temperature It tells people that their anger toward one side of this conflict has the city's institutional blessing The most important thing I want you to hear is this This proposed ordinance is stoking the flames of hatred against Jews in Somerville.

I should not worry about whether my mother can safely speak Hebrew on a sidewalk in Somerville, I should question whether I need a firearm to protect my family and no Jewish resident of this city should feel that way. Reject this ordinance, stop adding fuel to an already dangerous environment and start repairing the harm that this debate has already brought to our city.

All right thank you up next Michael Saino Michael, say now. You are enabled?

I'm going to encourage you to mute your computer.

All right. Let's try that again, Mr. Saino.

Can you hear me now?

We're getting a great deal of feedback so perhaps muting your computer is going to be helpful. That feedback is really something. Can I please ask you to either turn down your computer's volume or mute your computer when you're speaking so that we are going to be able to hear you?

Hello?

All right, well that's not working too well. I encourage you to again if you can't lower your computer's volume Happy to come back to you a little bit later and give you a moment to try to work on those technical issues, Mr. Saino. We'll leave you at the top of the stack and check in with you shortly. But for now, I'll move on to Caitlin Pfeiffer.

Hi, my name is Caitlin Pfeiffer. I'm award three president in Somerville and I'm here today asking for you to advance the ethical procurement ordinance and answer the call of the people of Somervill who overwhelmingly voted to divest our city tax dollars from companies complicit in Israel's genocide, apartheid and illegal occupation of Palestine. We have spent the last three years laying witness to an accelerated genocide Funded by our government and our tax dollars. Almost 100,000 Palestinians have been killed during this time. Whole families completely wiped out as schools and hospitals are purposefully targeted. And now we are seeing the escalating settler violence in the West Bank as homes and places of worship are being burned and Palestinians beating in the streets. We're also witnessing the advancement and continuation of violence in Lebanon And after witnessing the continued genocide and violence, some rebel voters decided to speak up and make their voices heard. I spent a lot of time canvassing last summer for this ballot question because it felt like a very small thing I could do after years of feeling so helpless. Watching the continued suffering of Palestinians.

Watching as my friends' families have been forced out of their homes and had family members murdered by weapons directly funded by our own tax dollars. On election day, Somerville voters decided to be courageous. They had the moral clarity to speak up against their complicity in a genocide. I was standing outside of St. Catharines on Election Day and spoke to many young voters who were only showing up to vote for this ballot question They didn't know anything else on the ballot. Typical young voters, you know, but knew they had to show up for Palestine and this was reflected in the turnout numbers for an off election year where we saw a significant increase in voters who turned out because Somerville voters overwhelmingly turned out to support Palestine. Somervill made history last November And now voters are relying on you to pass an ordinance that ends our community's complacency and answers the call of the people who have the moral clarity to make their voices heard. Let Somerville be a city that stands clearly against injustice and stands up for the Palestinian people. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go on to Lewis Morales, Jr., and then I'll back to Mr. Saino and see if we can fix those technical issues. So, Mr. Morales?

Yes, my name is Luis Morales. I'm in Ward 4 Just wanted to first of all Honestly, I think that us talking and us in line really makes no difference. I think the difference is made by the people we have elected. We need to stop wasting our time. Thank you for joining us. On the immigration communities of our underserved people with local issues. And also, I also think that it's getting crazy in the city of Somerville. I was born and raised here, and this is not the Somervillle that I was raised in, honestly. I have an Israel flag at my property. They've pulled it, they've thrown it in the dirt.

So I'm telling everybody out there, next person that I see take off my flag on my property, you will receive my Second Amendment right. because you shouldn't be coming into my property to do that and it's not okay. It's not the way people act and I think if we really want to be effective with change The true change starts with us and that's how it is. The other thing too, I know time has taken, if you really want to change lives we gotta go somewhere else and talk about these issues but here in Summer World there are more pressing issues Right now, it's Israel. What's next? Venezuela? Right now the United States has opened trade talks with Venezuela. What is the next company? Are we going to ban Venezuelan companies as well? That's how it starts and I think its stupidity what we're doing and I oppose this. I'm teaching my kids and my future generations that they gotta think of themselves, and they're even scared to talk about what they believe in, you know why? Because we've made this place a terror so...

As a Latino and a person who is a voice in the community, we support Israel. Viva Israel!

Let's see. Let's go back to Mr. Sano. Mr.Sano, let's give that another shot.

Okay can you hear me now?

Oh wonderful. Congratulations.

Okay sorry um I know what the problem was okay I'm ready when you're ready. My name's Michael Sano, I will be 81 at the end of the week. I'm a resident of Ward 7 and I'm speaking against the ordinance. My daughter and her family has lived here for 22 years I moved here because I perceived the community to be welcoming. I've always considered myself to be bicultural, American and Jewish with Israel as an important part of my Jewish identity. I have dedicated my personal and academic life to fighting bigotry and hatred of all forms. I've never experienced antisemitism in this country as I have in Somerville. My grandfathers grew up in the 1890s in New York State, children of refugees from European antisemitism. In their early years, they were frequent victims of violence by anti-Semitic thugs. And then there is today

Several months ago I was walking on Holland Street and a young man with many buttons on his shirt was walking by, and I noticed one said Free Palestine. I expressed my support for Israel's right to exist and for the safety and security of its people. He started yelling at me and I moved away quickly across the street while traffic was oncoming. He screamed, get the police and arrest this man! He attacked me! I'm going to get the Police! I moved as quickly as I could away from him as he continued to scream. As I ran, a van drove by and a man opened his window and screamed out, find out where that man lives and get him! I fear that I can't even walk on a street near my house with any dignity and with any expression of my Jewish identity without fearing for my life and potential serious attacks.

I believe this is the result of all the anti-Israel rhetoric in this area. I ask, is this what we want in Somerville? I'm not sure how much longer I can chant living here. I respectfully ask the committee not to move the ordinance forward. Thank you.

All right, thank you sir. Glad we were able to hear it. Moving on, we have Judy Neufeld.

Thank you Mr. Chair can you hear me okay?

We can.

Wonderful. I know the hour is late. Thank you so much, counselors, former colleagues. My name is Judy Pinnenfeldt. I live now in Ward 6, longtime Somerville resident, mom, former Ward 7 City Councilor, former council president and the daughter of two immigrant parents. I want to start with sharing something personal, something I didn't share with many people when I was an elected official. Because for me this isn't an abstract policy debate During my limited time on the council, I experienced antisemitism in ways I never expected and my family experienced it alongside me. I was targeted by people pushing for this ordinance and experienced hate and threats in person, online, and over the phone. I was verbally attacked in Davis Square while walking home from daycare with my son in his baby carrier because of my vote on the ceasefire resolution. Much more recently, my husband had antisemitic slurs yelled at him while dropping our toddler off at daycare.

Think about what that does to a family's sense of belonging These are things I didn't share with people when I decided to resign from the city council, but it absolutely went into my decision to leave. As many of you know, I'm Mexican-American. I grew up in LA a city shaped by immigrants but my mother personally experienced intense discrimination because of her thick accent and chose not to raise her kids Fluent in Spanish. Imagine the irony that I now decades later Worry about whether my own child could safely and openly share his faith, his culture with his friends in a city that says and states in an ordinance that we welcome everyone. That's why this ordinance that singles out Israel matters. It comes at a time when our neighbors, our Jewish residents are already feeling isolated and unwelcome And as a former counselor, I have another concern.

When I ran for office the first time and ran for re-election, I knocked on thousands of doors and the issues I heard about. And again, we're housing rats, the pit in Teal Square food insecurity and safer streets. Those are the issues facing our neighbors and spending hours and hours of local government time energy and resources on a divisive ordinance does a disservice to those very residents who elected us and elected you to address those problems. I want something, I want a different city in Somerville where my son and his friends can grow up openly Jewish, share his culture with his friends, and know he belongs here. Please reject this ordinance and help build a Somerville where every family feels safe, welcome, and at home. Thank you.

Up next, we have Susan McLucas.

Hi, I'm Susan McLucas. I live in Davis Square. So many Somervillians are deeply troubled by the terrible violations of human rights that Palestinians face on a daily basis from Israeli soldiers and settlers. This is why they went to the trouble to get the signatures needed to put the question on the ballot about divesting from companies who profit from the violence of Israel against Palestinians. Since this resolution passed, it is your job to put it into practice. We do not want to be complicit in the systematic killing of Palestinians to make room for a greater Israel. Palestinians have a right to live without being starved, attacked and driven from their homes

Families shouldn't have to decide if they sleep in one room so they'll all go together, if a bomb hits, or to sleep in separate rooms so they will have a better chance of some part of the family surviving. Please pass a strong ethical procurement ordinance.

All right. Thank you, Ms. McLucas. Next we have Richard Mayman followed by Anne Kavlerczyk, Daniel Vernick Alana Bloomfield, Libby Mahaffey, Meneze Khan, Brian Sokol, Daniel Wong, Khazriel Linzer, Luke Bergamini, Courtney Pollack, Sarah Bloom, Camille Locanduala, Michael Rocco and about a dozen more after that as well. So we will be here until we can get to everybody. Up next is Richard Maidman

Good evening. My name is Richard Maidman. I live in Ward 7. I have lived in Somerville for 12 years, and over the last two years, I have watched the hostility toward Jews like me grow in ways I'd never expected here. Let me tell you what that has looked like for my family. In January 2024, at the meeting on the ceasefire resolution, the draft that was introduced condemned anti-Palestinian rhetoric and attacks but said nothing about anti-Israeli rhetoric and It failed to condemn Hamas for the October 7 massacre. I attended the meeting to ask that these important changes be made, When I sat down in my seat, the person next to me called me a baby killer. I had never seen or spoken to this person in my life. In March 2025, Somerville for Palestine asked this council to fast track its BDS ballot measure My wife and I brought our children to City Hall that night.

We wanted them to see the civic process, and be included as members of our community. After the meeting, a mob of mass people who had filled the hallway screamed at us and our kids as we walked out. Our children sobbed on the street behind City Hall for minutes. They are scarred by that night. They ask us to be careful when we come to City Hall. They never want to come back themselves That same year while Somerville for Palestine was promoting its ballot measure, my home was vandalized. Someone stuck a militant anti-Israel sticker on it. We have a sign at our house that says Boston stands against antisemitism. That was the response. Last fall, I stood on a public street handing out flyers against the ballot measure. A person lunged at me, tried to rip the flyers out of my hand and screamed at me. This ordinance is illegal. It is discriminatory, but that is not the worst of it. The worst of this is what it endorses.

When you put this ordinance forward, you tell every masked person who screamed at my kids that their tactics work. You tell them the council is on their side. You are condoning mob behavior against your own neighbors I respectfully ask you to abandon this ordinance All right, thank you

and Kavlerchik. You are up next.

Hi, my name is Anne and I live in Ward 3. I am the daughter of Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union and for that reason I grew up with a visceral understanding of what antisemitism has meant for my family and the cruelty of what happens when the international community turns its back on genocide. I enthusiastically support the ordinance. To boycott, divest and sanction the State of Israel as it conducts not just indiscriminate bombing of the region but a systematic campaign of occupation, ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people is the floor. Israel's economy is held up by American support. Divesting that support is the bare minimum of what we must do. I would also like to address two other points. 1. The assertion that a call to boycott, divest and sanction the Israeli state as it conducts war crimes is an anti-Semitic is a dishonest smear on what is a just movement

and I condemn how that assertion is used to target our Arab, Middle Eastern and Muslim residents in particular including in this meeting. Two, some people have said that this issue is quote unquote divisive I moved to Somerville just a few months ago and so i'm a very new resident but i moved from a deep red midwestern state for almost seven years i lived in an estate that was open carry and for that reason I'm horrified to hear other speakers in this very meeting brazenly threaten our neighbors in the city with gun violence. I was so drawn to living here because of Somerville's history of progressivism, of taking bold stands and leading the way For that reason, I have indeed found it to be a wonderful place to live. I implore the City Council to move forward with this ordinance supporting the democratic will of Somerville residents who voted by a large margin for this ordinance. Thank you

All right, thank you. Next we have Daniel Vernick.

Hi there! My name is Daniel and I live near Ball Square in Ward 6 I am Jewish and the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor and Jewish refugee, and I strongly support boycotting and divesting from the Israeli government that is breaking international law. Aboff, Ackman. Minority who are trying to overturn what the people of Somerville voted for do not represent Somervill Jews. I am a proud Jew and proud to support Palestinian rights. I want to also be very clear that opposing genocide and supporting free Palestine has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. Adding an amendment to the resolution that calls out a list of complicit companies by name.

Thank you

Thank you. And Danny, I apologize. I just read your name off the screen there. So I apologize for the name mix-up.

No worries. Both are great. Thank you

Next up, we have Alana Bloomfield, Libby Mahaffey, Menaze Khan, Brian Sokol, Daniel Wong. Casario-Linser, Luke Bergamini, Courtney Pollock and many more besides. I still see 22 people in line to speak tonight so if you are wondering where you are on that list You didn't hear your name there. I promise we will keep going until we get to you. Alana Bloomfield, you are up now.

Are you able to hear me?

We can.

Okay, my name is Ilana Bloomfield and I've lived in Somerville for 12 years. My daughter plays soccer on the field behind City Hall in the high school. I was just there, just got home when she heard this hearing was scheduled at the same time as her practice. She asked to stay home one of her precious soccer practices because she was afraid of encountering the protesters you'd seen the previous time. She agreed to go to practice only after we assured her that this meeting was gonna be virtual and that she wouldn't end up encountering a huge mob, The last time that I brought my children to City Hall, Somerville for Palestine was pushing its boycott, divest and sanction ballot measure. I had brought my kids to be part of our democracy, to be a part of this moment when we would be able to stand with our friends in our community and to be strong and engaged, to show our values that we were living But when we left after the initial discussion, protesters flanked the exit.

Many of them were masked. They were screaming chants. They waving posters. pushing towards us in ways that felt the walls were really closing in. They were jeering at us. My children were frightened and very uncharacteristically began to cry. The police ultimately had to escort us out to the street from the second floor down the stairs through a hidden door on the back of the city hall. Many of those protesters held signs about Gazan children. And yet the frightened children directly in front of them, and we're talking like elementary age, they did not register as worthy of any care or compassion. Is it ethical to frighten children until they no longer want to participate in public life? I'm so struck hearing people's comments today and the people who are here supporting this ordinance

By the abstraction that this is, by the projection of all our existential angst and I realize we have lost sight of our community. I had another incident where my daughter, she represented a historic figure in Israel. And only that night I got texts saying from other parents that one of the mothers had shared identifying information online saying that she could see in my daughter only quote unquote death and destruction, a phrase I've heard actually from many other people tonight. I think it's a shared phrase. She said that I was beaming with nationalistic pride, unquote. And another parent responded, thanks for your bravery in engaging with that student on any level. A third grader, is it brave to publicly shame a child? we should be deeply suspicious of any movement that divides the world so confidently into good and bad ethical and unethical such that any ordinance and ordinary boundaries of decency begin to disappear.

There is a profound irony in calling this ordinance ethical, thank you.

Thank you. Next up we have Libby Mahaffey

Hello, can you hear me? We can. Wonderful. Good evening, Libby Mahaffey, Ward 4. I've lived in Somerville since 2009 and my kids go to Somervill Public Schools. I support the procurement ordinance because I voted for question three, trusting that the city councilors would in good faith moved to make it binding. Thank you to those of you who have moved forward with this. This feels for me pretty clear. If I care about an issue, but I take no action on it, it looks exactly the same from the outside as if I did not care. This is the same for Somerville. If no action is taken on the procurement ordinance, it is essentially as if we're saying we do not care about how our money is spent or what it supports. And that is just not true. It is over 11,500 votes not true Here's something else.

This is not about individuals, this is about companies for profit corporations aren't actually people no matter what the Supreme Court says and that's why I support the ethical procurement with the amendment of naming companies complicit in apartheid and genocide. As an individual, I can only do so much like not buying from a company myself but the impact of that is much smaller than when we do something collectively. Nothing will change unless we take action starting at the most accessible level of government we have, which is our city government again this is not personal it is about business for-profit companies take action based on their bottom lines if we want them to stop enabling genocide then this is how we work collectively to make that happen I urge you to move forward with the Ethical Procurement Ordinance with an amendment to name complicit companies. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I'm going to ask for a quick recess. It's 836. Do you want to have the speaker go? And then I'm

Sure, it's probably a good idea. Two and a half hours in? That's right. All right. Well then let's go ahead with Manizet Khan and then we can take short recess. Just want to reassure everybody here that We will be returning and we will stay to make sure everybody's voice gets heard tonight. You can unmute. You are open on our end, Menaze, but it does not appear you're able to unmute yourself right now. So let's go ahead then. This is just as good a time as any. Hopefully you can get your technical issues resolved.

Madam Clerk, would you be so kind as to put something on the screen indicating that we are going to stand at recess? It's 838 right now. Let's go with just a short five-minute recess to give everybody a moment to stretch their legs and believe themselves, and we will return at 843. This committee now stands at recess.

Thank you.

All right.

It is 843, so I'm going to kindly ask my colleagues to return the cameras. And then just to ensure that we have a quorum, I'm going to ask the clerk to call a roll as we return from recess to establish that co-op. Madam Clerk?

This is Roll Call. Councilor Davis.

Here.

Councilor Mbah? Present. Thank you, Councilor Ewen-Campen?

Here.

Strezo, and Chair Scott. The five members present we have quorum.

All right thank you for that and uh thank you Councilor Strezo for the suggestion I made it most of the way through a two liter Diet Coke so that was appreciated We will continue the spoken testimony portion of this public hearing. Just as a reminder for folks at home, this is public hearing listed on the agenda is item 2.3 that's 26-1185 public hearing regarding the proposed ethical procurement ordinance So with that, we will return to the order. There are still 18 people with hands raised tonight and we will get All of you, if you would like to join the order and raise your hand, there's a little raise hand icon at the bottom of Zoom there. And go on the list in the order that button is clicked. And now we will go to Manaseh Khan Manazeh, you are unmuted from our end. Are you there? Oh, now you're muted.

Are able to unmute yourself?

Oh, this isn't Monizé. This is Molly Frost Wiley.

Oh, well, you're here as MonizÉ. Do you want me? You're all good. Just must have gotten your link from somebody else. Please just give us your name.

Sure, sure. I'm Molly Frost Wiley. I live on Concord Ave in Somerville. I am a resident of Ward 2.

Please.

Okay, I am here today as a resident of Ward 2, as a member of Somerville for and as a Jewish member of this community, and one of the more than 11,000 people who voted last November in support of this ethical ordinance. More than 11,000 despite what people have said within this community and during a typical election in this city is a clear mandate. No elected official in recent history has won by that large a margin, including our current mayor. The voters spoke and I believe that our council has a responsibility and a legal obligation to follow through. No one is claiming that this ordinance will end the genocide in Gaza, but that is not a reason to do nothing. Our local government controls local contracts, investments and taxpayer dollars.

to make sure that our money is not supporting companies complicit in genocide, apartheid or the illegal occupation of Palestine. This is about local impact. We may not be able to change everything happening thousands of miles away, but we can decide what our tax dollars participate in here at home. BDS matters to me because my Jewish values call for me to oppose injustice and dehumanization Thank you for watching. Supporting Palestinian human rights does not threaten Jewish safety. We will hear that this ordinance raises the temperature or divides our community. But showing up to a city council meeting to complain that people are raising the temperature while simultaneously announcing that you were buying a gun or making statements that reasonably can be understood as threatening is wildly contradictory.

If we are genuinely concerned about lowering the temperature, then that standard has to apply to everyone. We have to stop wasting our time debating clear and evident violence being funded by our government and start moving forward with this ordinance. if there are legitimate legal concerns and administrative concerns address them make the changes that are necessary but do not use fear or bureaucracy to ignore the will of the voters stop using tax dollars to support companies complicit in systemic harm And as to those who have called me a token Jew, I am not a token. I'm a Jewish person speaking from my own conscience. We are not a monolith and I will not be silent because my position makes someone else uncomfortable. I know where I stand when this history looks back at this moment on the side of justice, human dignity and freedom. Thank you and free Palestine!

Up next, we have Brian Sokol. Brian Socol. Brian? Hi. Yep, there you go.

Hi, my name is Brian Sokol and I lived in Ward 2 for 19 years. Full disclosure, I am a member of the Human Rights Commission although I'm not speaking in that capacity right now. My family and I have experienced anti-Semitism in Somerville, including a note on my property saying hail Hitler. My middle school son was shouted at because he wears a yarmulke as if a 10 year old could stop the violence in Israel. My daughter was exposed to multiple squasticas at Somerville High. But I'm here to talk about what I think is the best policy for Somervill given our limited resources and limitless needs. I believe that the amount of resources to implement this ordinance legally and fairly is immense. First, we need Somerville staff qualified to interpret international law. If outsourced such expertise costs at least a thousand dollars an hour probably more There is a reason why the U.S. has a State Department and does not expect every city to do this.

Next, we would have to review all the vendors in the city and their current clients and then determine if the work constitutes material support for any country's ethical violations. It would take at least a full-time employee to do this in an environment where we've recently cut staff. We do have an example of a recent vendor review. Last year, a contractor completed a review of disparities in the city's procurement process. That effort took five years and at a cost of $250,000. In fact, it found massive disparities. While 26% of available local contractors are minority and women owned they received less than 3% of the contracts What kind of supposedly courageous ethical procurement ordinance looks at crime 7,000 miles away but turns a blind eye to our own racist and sexist procurement practices affecting business owners in and around our own city? But I have not yet mentioned actual cost variations and switching costs. How much would it cost to switch from HP in our schools to another vendor?

Such variances between bids are often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I do not want to pay hundreds of thousands dollars to switch away from HP to another tech giant. The BDS movement currently targets HP, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon. Even the most avid proponents of this bill are not boycotting all these companies. But BDS is okay with Apple, which has its own ethical issues regarding its factories in China and child labor mining cobalt in the DRC. That aside, Apple student laptops are about $400 more expensive than HPs multiplied by 5,000 students that's two million dollars. Ethically I would rather put that kind of money toward housing our homeless raising seniors out of poverty closing the health disparities across neighborhoods and providing supports for our immigrant neighbors Many people voted for ballot three to question three to make a statement knowing it was non-binding. They assumed the city council would make rational choices. The city made its statement, let's move on to taking care of the city's business. Thank you.

and I invite folks to please be mindful. I know it's been a long night, but we're just trying to make time to get everybody heard. So if you do have comments longer than two minutes, please do send those to publiccomments at somervillema.gov and do your best to respect the two minute time. Next up is Daniel Wong Followed by Kazira Linzer, Courtney Pollock, Sarah Bloom, Michael Rocco, Seth Strumwasser, Emma Libwald, Jonathan Dovett. Daniel Wong, you are up.

Can you hear me?

We can.

Dana Wong, 12 Houghton Street No. 2, Ward 2 I am deeply saddened to hear that some of my Jewish neighbors and their children have experienced harassment And I'm really sad to hear neighbors say tonight that they have felt afraid to speak. Everyone in Somerville should feel safe expressing their views, that's one thing I love about Somervill. I love that we can hold these public comments to make sure everyone is heard. I'm also very angry that a speaker implied they would use gun against neighbor because again, everyone deserves safety. Jewish people deserve safety. The people murdered and taken hostage on October 7th deserved it, and Palestinians deserve it too. Tonight I want to focus on their safety Not because the safety of anyone else matters less, but because Palestinians are being killed, displaced and deprived of the basic necessities of life. They deserve food, medicine, shelter. They deserve to raise their children. They deserved to simply live.

Somerville cannot change US policy Foreign policy on our own. But we are responsible for the limited power we do have and for the money we do spend We can refuse to be complicit, we can boycott and divest from companies that aid the war in Gaza City Council, please adopt the amendment proposed by Somerville for Palestine and pass an ethical procurement ordinance that reflects Somervill's commitment to safety and dignity for everyone.

All right, thank you. Next up is Kasriel Linzer.

Hello, can you hear me? We can. Excellent. Hello, I'm Kasria Linzer. I am a resident of Somerville in Ward 3. I've been living here Off and on between here in Cambridge for a little over nine years at this point. And I am a mental health clinician at an adult day treatment program. This is... Relevant to me for many different reasons, but I would say first and foremost that I am both pro the existence of the State of Israel, but also pro the support and needs and freedoms of both Palestinians, Gazans, Israelis, and Jews. and I feel that this ordinance in the way that it is currently written doesn't actually properly service anyone.

I believe that from what i've seen and from what other members of this community have voiced in what i think has been largely unaddressed in other people's comments that have not personally suffered from this, that there has been a massive rise in anti-Semitic behavior that I have both Personally encountered and that probably more than half of my friends that I've spoken to have also experienced. including having a pro-Hamas, not pro-Palestine, specifically pro-Khamas rally taking place about a block away from my apartment resulting in me needing to get a security device not a gun or any other weapon when I am walking around and i think this ordinance just serves to

Further advance this belief in the harm that Jews and Israelis as a people and as a culture Aboff, and I urge that if we are going to keep moving forward with this ordinance, Specifically name out Israel as it is only one of many other countries that are engaged in actions that other people in this meeting are accusing it of. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Up next is Courtney Pollock.

Hi, I'm Courtney Pollack and I live in Ward 2. I'm a Jewish Somervillian who's lived here for 16 years. And I'm saddened to hear the many residents who've spoken about experiencing discrimination, Feelings of discomfort about bullying from children in schools, about experiencing violence firsthand in the West Bank. The ethical procurement ordinance did not cause these issues and abandoning the ordinance will not solve these issues. These issues are because antisemitism and anti-Arab discrimination are intertwined. They rise together when there is violence in Israel-Palestine, and they fall together too. These are real and important issues, and the city clearly needs to address them more effectively. But

The ethical procurement ordinance is to guide ethical procurement and investment decisions in the City of Somerville for city business, and I urge the City Council to pass this ordinance. The ordinance reaffirms that we're a welcoming city for everyone, that all people are fully welcome without exception. And I strongly agree with the ordinance that city funds shouldn't go to companies that directly profit from oppression and violence or systemic violations of international humanitarian law. Anywhere in the world, not just one in one country or from one country. So the ordinance as written and my understanding of it as written reflects a nuanced policy that has both restrictions and exceptions. Somerville has had an ethical procurement policy before, and we should have one again. And I urge the City Council to pass it. Thank you.

All right. Thank Next up, we have another 15 people including Sarah Bloom, Michael Rocco, Seth Strumwasser, Emma Leibwald, Jonathan Dovett, Michael Saino. Michael Sano I believe you already spoke so Unless that is somebody else who has logged in on your computer, we can check in with you when we get there. Laura Curiel, Christopher Spicer, Michael Switkus and more besides. So up next is Sarah Bloom.

Sarah Bloom Jewish, Israeli, French I arrived in Somerville in September 2022, a year before October 7th. Since October 9th 2023, I have faced constant local aggression Adding to my personal trauma as a survivor of a 2015 Hamas terror attack in Jerusalem. At school, parents began imposing their political opinions daily when decency and solidarity with the victims should have been the rule. Two years later, this turned into hateful messaging promoting terrorism on school grounds. Imagine a parent wearing KKK hoodies or promoting Al-Qaeda at school. I emailed all levels of the school system. An inquiry took place but concluded the system wouldn't effectively prevent these actions.

After six months I took things into my own hands and spoke to the parent. Dialogue worked, so far. Other Jewish parents shared that they were too scared to speak up and were relieved I did. Please consider the courage this required. All this happened while walking past torn posters of hostages seeing anti-Israel graffiti and stickers everywhere in Somerville. At my local coffee shop, a sign explained why management supported Palestinians and I asked why they couldn't add N free the hostages on the sign. They couldn't, they said. I asked but to no avail. Shouldn't American liberals fight for the human rights of both civilian populations? Jews like me in this neighborhood feel the same exclusion felt by generations of Jews before them.

This ordinance reminds me of the Kauf nicht bei Juden, or Juden Boycott, Don't Buy from Jews policy in 1933 Nazi Germany. It will have zero impact on Israel and no benefit for Palestinians. It would only target some of those Jews and Israelis. Please focus on the real issues of all your residents. You must repair the social fabric torn by this poisonous hatred by giving up on this despicable ordinance. Thank you.

Next up we have Michael Rocco.

Who is Michael Rocca?

On the list here, I've just clicked to ask you to unmute. Sorry, I just saw the button.

There you go. My name is Michael. I live in Ward 5. I'm very happy to join many others in voicing support for the ordinance. This democratic process has been amazing to be a part of I was most proud of casting a vote in support of it after a long period of discussion and debate A lot of my decision to vote in support of the ordinance after hearing from neighbors, in fact a lot of you know the conversations we've had tonight. I was inspired that the majority of Somerville residents not only agreed with me, but more people voted for it than any individual in local government. It's been difficult to hear today over the last... A couple hours about bullying in schools. My own experience with bullying was actually one reason why I chose to vote in favor of the ordinance

People are bringing up difficult, heinous examples of antisemitism and also bringing up points about whether the city should also direct investment away from companies tied to other locations or wars. I think these are interesting issues and great points, and I encourage the City Council to pass the ordinance so that our faith in our democratic institutions is maintained and we can continue fighting for a better Somerville. Unfortunately, bullying and antisemitism isn't a Somerville problem. It's a problem around the country Once the ordinance is passed, I'd highly recommend everyone who spoke out today, and I'd be happy to join you if I hear about it, to join the political process to speak out against issues of bullying or anti-Semitism that you brought up.

As it relates to this, I'd also like to call on City Council to attach a list of complicit companies to the ordinance so that's just more specific. I am calling on you to improve the ethical procurement ordinance because symbolism isn't enough. We need to take a stand against this issue like we voted for. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Next up we have Seth Strommasser. Seth, you are up.

Hello, thank you. My name is Seth Stromwasser I live on Preston Road in Ward 2 and I'm a Jewish resident of Somerville Members of my family were killed in the Holocaust, and it is in their memory that I encourage the City Council to pass the ethical procurement ordinance. Several of the speakers tonight have argued that this ordinance makes Jews less safe, but in fact the opposite is true. Supporting Israel a country that is committing horrific war crimes in the name of Judaism only drives further animosity towards Jews and encourages antisemitism. This will continue until people across the world, and particularly in the United States, decide to stand up against Israel's genocide and cut off financial support for their military. Boycotting companies that support Israel directly is an important first step in that direction, and it follows in the footsteps of past Somervillians who refused to do business with South Africa during apartheid.

It may be difficult to believe that we, just a city of 80,000 people can make a dent in the billions of dollars that support Israel's genocide But we have the opportunity to make an outsized impact by being one of the first cities in the country to commit to boycotting companies that support Israel. If this ordinance lacked power to affect the situation in Palestine, Zionists would not be spending huge sums of money to defeat ballot questions and candidates that speak out against Israel. I encourage the council to follow the mandate of Somerville voters and pass this ordinance. Free Palestine!

All right. Thank you, Mr. Strumwasser. Next up we have Emily Ball. Emma, there you go. We can see you unmuted. Emma, you are unmuted on our side. Perhaps you're having a microphone issue.

Hello?

Yes, hello.

Great. Okay, my name is Emma Lebwal. I live in Ward 3. I'm here tonight because I am tired of being told directly or indirectly that the fear Jewish families are feeling in this city is not real. When the nonbinding BDS ballot question appeared last November, what disturbed me most was not just the politics of it. It was that Somerville put into an official government document language that I believe is deeply false and deeply harmful. Language that turned a hateful accusation into something with the city's stamp on it. And now seeing that same accusation moved from a ballot question towards a city ordinance is honestly chilling because these are not just words on paper, They are looks of disgust on the street. They are reasons Jewish institutions need hundreds of thousands dollars worth of security. They're the feeling that if we are visibly ourselves, we are taking a risk. My mother-in-law felt that before I did.

She did not feel comfortable speaking Hebrew with my children in the public of on the streets and in the playgrounds in Somerville, and only in Somerville Think about what that means. My children are being taught without anyone saying it outright that part of who they are is safer kept quiet. That breaks my heart. I am raising Jewish children in this city and I do not want them to grow up believing that friendship, belonging or safety depend on hiding who they are. I do not want them to learn that when a lie about Jews becomes politically useful respectable people will repeat it, institutions will validate it and their neighbors will call it justice. or Moral Clarity. You may not intend this ordinance to target Jews, but when you single out the world only Jewish state and Jewish residents tell you that it is making an already hostile environment Feel more isolating and more unsafe, you have a responsibility to listen. Please reject this ordinance. Do not take something false and harmful and give it the dignity of city policy.

Do not make Jewish families in Somerville feel even more alone than many of us already do. Thank you for your time.

Jonathan Doveb, you are unmuted.

Mr Chair can you hear me?

We can.

Thank you my name is okay my name I am speaking against this ordinance. I came to the United States 46 years ago in 1980, and for the past four years Somerville has been my home But for the first time since arriving in this country and now as a 76 year old retiree, I no longer feel safe living here. Unfortunately, I don't think my wife does either. Recently I recorded a video testimonial supporting of a local candidate. I spoke strictly about their qualifications, saying nothing about being Jewish, nothing about Israel and nothing about my affiliations. Yeah, afterwards that candidate was harassed by Somerville for Palestine simply for associating with me.

And I was accused of belonging to an organization that supports killing babies. It would appear I'm being flagged by Somerville for Palestine. What I say and who I associate with is being tracked It is deeply unsettling. I don't know where this might lead, and that's why I do not feel safe. And some context here. Like many people, my family came from Eastern Europe Those that got out. But in 1936, my grandfather founded a food kitchen in London's East End alongside a gentleman called Barnett Janner A prominent British Jew and also a Member of Parliament. He happened to be on Hitler's kill list, had England fallen he would have been murdered. Decades later

Thousands of miles away, I never imagined I'd worry about being targeted solely for my Jewish identity and for my ties to Israel. This ordinance singles out Jews and anyone tied to Israel, enhance those who target us. The city's backing to harass and bully us. That may not be the intent but that's what's happening gentlemen ladies. Intimidation is real and I'm starting to question why I should stay here. And just a small little story, I was walking in Davis Square with my wife and the guy came up looking at me rather... I was kind of intimidated. I thought what's going on here? I checked, was my Star of David showing? Was I exposing myself as a Jew? And he said, I liked your hat. I had a Red Sox hat and I smiled at him and said so do I but that's the fear that's been introduced because of this

So I ask the committee to reject this ordinance for the people of Somerville so we can live together. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Gilbert. All right. Let's see here. Next up we have Michael Saino Followed by Laura Curiel, Christopher Spicer, Michael Switkis, Camille Locanduala, Evan Fontana and about another dozen. Mr Senau

Okay, I don't know why my name's on again. You know, I spoke a little while ago. S-A-N-O-W Yeah, okay.

Well, if you're all set, that's... I just wanted to check to see if somebody else was... No, thank you very much. All right. Thank you. Laura Curiel, you are up next.

Can you hear me?

We can.

My name is Laura Cariel. I live at 31 Dartmouth Street. I'm in support of the ordinance. I was privileged to speak with many Somerville residents and visitors to Somervill last year, as I helped collect signatures and reach out to voters for question three ahead of last fall's election. I have to admit, I was nervous about the response I would get approaching random passersby to discuss the issue of Israel-Palestine In my experience, it has been so ingrained in our society to never talk about U.S. support for Israel while they perform atrocities with our weapons and monetary support Legacy Media refuses to report what is happening on the ground, not just since October 7th, only capturing a glimpse here and there of Israel quote unquote mowing the grass over decades. I quickly learned as I talked to people on the street and at their doors that overwhelmingly Somervillians, voters and non-voters alike were strongly in support of our city's policing business

with companies complicit in Israel's genocide, apartheid and illegal occupation of Palestine. And they wanted to do something, anything. Many visitors to our city said things like I wish I lived here. Thank you for doing this. Our national leaders in both parties have failed us, our Palestinian and Lebanese neighbors and Palestinians and Lebaneses people today being killed with our tax dollars. Let us in Somerville send a message to those in Washington and to other municipalities by implementing this ordinance to show once again, Somervill leads the way. We should not be afraid of a fight. There will always be those unwilling to disrupt the status quo or worse yet support it, no matter how horrifying it is. Somerville must end our complicity in Israel's war crimes. Our children are watching.

All right, thank you very much. We have 10 more people in line and we will keep working our way through it. Next up is Christopher Spicer.

Good evening. My name is Christopher Spicer-Henkel, 13 Truel Street, Ward 5, resident of Somerville, member of the Somervillian Human Rights Commission. The data the commission has received from the city shows that out of 83 complaints filed through the Racial and Social Justice Department Nearly half or 40 were filed in relation to Jews, Muslims, Israel, or Palestine. Of those, exactly half were reported as either anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, or anti-israeli. The other half were Islamophobic Anti-Arab or Anti-Palestinian These complaints include graffiti, vandalism, verbal assault and social media posts among others. While not everyone will agree that each of these complaints constitute hate They were sufficiently hurtful to someone in the community to warrant a public complaint. In my role as commissioner, I attended the evening of the passage of the resolution and surveyed the temperature of civil discourse

speaking with groups and sets who in fact reported they felt safe. I am speaking tonight as an individual in favor of implementing the ordinance following a turn canvassing for the ballot petition The Ethical Procurement and Investment Policy This policy shall include consideration of the findings, determinations, listings or formal conclusions of international legal or human rights bodies including the International Court of Justice. I sent the decision finding crimes of genocide into this City Council on the day of its publication. Other bodies include the International Criminal Court, United Nations Office or of the High Commissioner of Human Rights Commission of Inquiry established by the United Nations Human Rights Council and United Nation Human Rights Resolutions 31, 36 and 5325. Addressing those in the audience whose job their concern is with

To protect our residents, I would say the former Attorney General Ramsey Clark said that the instrument of international human law is ourselves. I'll submit my further testimony to the body elsewhere. Please pass the ordinance.

Thank you very much, Mr. Spicer-Henkel and it's a good opportunity for me to remember to remind everybody once again that all expanded comments or further comments are welcome at publiccomments at somervillemaid.gov and we'll be holding the window of public comment open until Friday September 11th for those comments. Next up, we have Michael Switkis

Good evening, my name is Michael Switkis and I live in Ward 6. As you've heard tonight proponents of this proposal think it would send a message that it could be the very beginning of maybe eventually making a change in one conflict thousands of miles away a conflict where both sides governments are behaving badly As you've heard tonight, this proposal and the debates surrounding it are causing harm to your neighbors right now, right here in Somerville. Sending a message that their safety here and now doesn't matter. If another minority group came to you with their lived experience and told you over and over that a proposal before this council were causing that group the kind of harm you've heard about tonight, would you continue to pursue it? No. You would condemn it, and rightly so. As you've heard tonight, some Jewish supporters of this proposal haven't experienced antisemitism here in Somerville. And I'm so glad and I hope it continues that way for them.

It should be the same for all Jews and all others here in Somerville, but unfortunately as you've heard tonight it isn't. As you've heard from many tonight, this proposal and the debate surrounding it have stoked hate directed at Jews and Israelis who have made Somerville our home and those who are just visiting. As observant Jews, our connection to the land of Israel is central to who we are. We pray facing Jerusalem. We prayed to God who builds Jerusalem. And we pray that God will assemble us together from the four corners of the earth in our land of After eating a meal, we thank God for the desirable good and spacious land. We conclude our Passover Seder, the meal celebrating our people's freedom with next year in Jerusalem, and so many more. The land of Israel is central to who we are as Jews and that connection is unbreakable. My wife and I have lived in Somerville since 1999, and Somervile has also been central to our lives. Our children were born and raised here

And this proposal and the debate surrounding it have caused us for the first time to seriously question whether that connection is unbreakable, and whether we're still welcome in a city we've called home for over 25 years. Please stop this impractical and discriminatory proposal which is causing harm here and now in Somerville. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Next up we have Camil Locanduala All right, you are permitted to speak now. Camille Locandola should see an unmute button on your screen. Well, I see you have put your hand down and that's fine. That's fine too. We can return to you later if you change your mind and would like to speak, just please hit that raise hand icon again and we will come back to you. Meanwhile, we will move on to Franny Alani followed by Luke Bergamini, Willie Burnley, Larum Biton, Jessica VanMeer, Evan Fontana and Jojo Covillo.

Frannie and Lonnie, you're up.

Can you hear me?

We can.

Great. My name is Frannie, and I am a Jewish resident of Ward 4 in Somerville and member of Somervill for Palestine's Jewish Caucus. And here expressing my support for the ethical procurement ordinance As the state of Israel continues to enact a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and enforce illegal occupation and apartheid in all of Palestine, it is more critical than ever that we speak out and act especially given that the US government is funding these atrocities. as many have shared in this meeting and previous ones about the ordinance i believe that boycotting divesting from companies complicit in genocide apartheid and illegal occupation are critical steps of Material Solidarity, and part of our responsibility as individuals fighting for a more just world. I'm also speaking as an early childhood educator who believes deeply in ensuring the dignity rights and protection of children and their families There is a long history, starting before the genocide began of Israeli army-led demolitions on schools, homes and entire villages in Gaza and the West Bank.

As of July 6th this year, 84 Palestinian schools faced Israeli demolition or stop work orders. These demolitions are conducted by the Israeli army using U.S.-made construction vehicles from companies such as Caterpillar, one of the companies named in the American Friends Service BDS Shortlist. According to AFSC, caterpillar machinery has also been used by CBP and ICE in building detention centers. I want a future where Somerville doesn't contract with companies like Caterpillar that pervasively violate Palestinian rights and destroy lives This belief is in alignment with my Jewish values, including those of Tikkun Olam or repairing the world and Huach Nefesh treating human life as sacred. Now is the time to enact these values through the Ethical Procurement Ordinance. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Next up I do see Camille, you've raised your hand again so I'm going to give you another shot here. Hello is this working now?

It is! Okay, perfect. Thank you for your patience. I'm Kamil living in Ward 7. I am neither Jewish nor Arab but it's so important to me that Somerville is a place working to divest from apartheid and genocide of the Palestinian people People of conscience around the world are calling to an end to what's happening in Gaza and the West Bank, and we can't pretend this is not happening. This ordinance is an organized response to how we respond to Somerville starting at the grassroots, starting at voting and now we are trusting you at the City Council to bring this forward. Multiple international organizations have recognized this genocide. Women and children have been recklessly or purposely targeted Recently, Israel has even admitted its soldiers had shot at a five-year-old Hindu Rajab. You can even watch the voice of Hindu Rajob to understand just a taste of what Palestinians are going through every day. This ordinance did not create unsafety for individuals.

This ordinance is for corporations and our Somerville funds have no place in accrual operations such as this, beyond this The people have voted last year clearly in favor of this. There's no moral question on this, it's only a matter of how I'm asking for clarity as we move forward A clear list of parameters so that companies such as CAT, Honeywell and HP which Somerville pays for in services to the city and also support this genocide and apartheid from happening be listed so that we can move forward in a clear way, that we go beyond symbolism and into action to send a message to the world and make a difference for justice for humans all around the world. Thank you.

All right, thank you. I see next Willie Burnley. Oh, Willie Burns?

Hello, hello!

Welcome, Mr. Burnley.

Hello, this is Willie Burnley Jr. in Ward 5, formerly all ward wide on the Somerville City Council. And I'm here today to speak in favor of this ordinance, just as the vast majority of the folks who've called on tonight have. And I really hope that unlike with the body worn camera issue Chris Dwan highlighted earlier where 71% of public comment speakers were opposed to the action taken by the council. I really hope this time the council listens to the democratic will Because this issue is all about the democratic will of our community. I mean, we've had this conversation. We've had the debate. Somerville wants to ensure that our money is not going to genocide. It's that simple. This is about ethical procurement.

If we believe we have the power to direct our government, to put our money where our values are there is no more fundamental Economic rights that you can have in a democratic society than that when it comes to our community's funds And a lot of folks tonight have talked about children and what this issue means for them, the fear that it puts in them. and it's very challenging for me as someone who's been to Palestine and has seen Palestinian children terrorized by the Israeli government And tonight I think of Hinrajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was murdered along with six family members in a stalled out vehicle that was bombed and killed and shot. by the IDF in Israel.

And Rajab was scared and that was our tax dollars that put her in fear All right, thank you.

Next up, Franny Alani. I'm sorry if I've already called on you once but just checking in Franny I guess I already had. See the name going down, I apologize. Let's see here. Next up is Leran Biton.

Councilors, when the so-called anti-Israel ethical procurement ordinance was introduced by this council on June 11th, 2026 I spoke publicly in my personal capacity as is this comment About how my family felt angry, scared and afraid in this climate of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hate. Jewish and non-Jewish people alike have confided in me privately that they are afraid to speak out similarly. They were afraid because of how they would be attacked by the anti Israel hate movement. After the anti-Israel ordinance was sent to legislative matters, there was a recess during which many protesters who had convened to support and oppose it had filed out into the streets. I stayed in the chambers. As the council president was preparing to gavel the meeting back into session, I was approached by an anti-Israel protester who is not a Somerville resident. He approached me and I attempted to make a small talk with him.

In response to my testimony where I shared how my family feels in the face of this rising hate movement against Israel and our community, he told me that I was not a victim. That's it. Simply that I am not a I took his words to mean that he heard what I said, how I feel in the face of the intimidation he and his comrades are levying against me and other Israeli Americans. And chose to tell me that my feelings have no merit that I am beneath his concern. I am not a victim. He told me I should be ashamed of myself. I told him that he's right, I'm not a victims. I asked if he was a victim He repeated that I am not a victim and you know what? He's right. In the end, I choose not to be a victim. I speak out against injustice when I see it. I put myself in harm's way when I The world has fewer victims and not more.

In the end, I know that the falsehoods spread by him mean nothing but they are added burden to my life that I accept But I repeat what I told you on June 11th, that your actions on the City Council are continuing to spread this hate through our community. There will always be people like him who wish to spread hate and libel Whether you enable them in your official role as city officials is your ethical standard to bear. Please reject the Ethical Procurement Ordinance. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Next up we have Jessica Van Meer followed by Evan Fontana and JoJo. Miss Van Meer? You should see an unmute button on your screen there. Give you another moment. All right. Maybe you stepped away. We'll move on to Ewen Fontana and return to you shortly. Ewen, Fontana, you should be able to unmute.

Hello? Can you hear me?

Sorry, we're moving on to Mr. Fontana but we'll come right back to you this time here.

Good evening Evan Fontana Ward 1 I'm concerned I'm concerned this council has been captured by a small hostile faction, one that's exposing the city to legal risk and deepening division. First in February I emailed the finance committee a list of 221 companies this illegal and discriminatory ordinance would touch. Critical infrastructure, business services, vendors this city depends on, retirement accounts of government workers I never received a reply. Then in June, Councilor Scott, Mbah and Ewen-Campen declined to commission an impact study. I've spent my career in budget management including with the federal government. I'll say it plainly You are stewards of this budget. Refusing due diligence on something with this many touch points in the city is amateurish. But the carelessness isn't only with money, it's also with words. On January 31st, Councilor Ewen Campen wrote on Facebook

They pulled 100% of the scientific funding to Harvard over bullshit nonsense accusations of antisemitism, despite being informed that the Harvard Antisemitism Task Force's own conclusion stated It is clear, even based solely on Harvard's own admissions, that Harvard had been plagued by anti-Semitism in recent years. He issued no correction nor acknowledgement. Furthermore, he, Councilor Aboff and others have gone on repeating claims of genocide in Gaza when no court has ruled that one has occurred. That is the message this city has been broadcasting for over two years. Here's where it lands. In October, in the last stretch of the campaign, I asked my barber what he thought of question three. He cut my hair for a year. I liked him. He said Jews own everything. Jews are responsible for all of the problems, not Zionists, Jews. He didn't get that from a book We got it from the rhetoric around the city and the videos in his feed.

I've heard it before, from students in Boston at a party in Muscat Oman, in meetings in Ramallah with officials of the Palestinian Authority. Now speaking of taxes I don't want my taxes going to teaching Palestinian childrens to kill Jews. Again, not Zionists and the continuing hundreds of millions of US dollars for the pay-for-slate policies a policy over 90% of Palestinian support including the same PA leadership I had met with. Where are all the, I'm a Jew pro-Palestinian people saying this is wrong? You must reject this ordinance. Their ignorance will cost taxpayers dearly and keep promoting the messages Jews and Israelis aren't welcome here. It's already cost me a barber. Oh, and free Palestine from extremists. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Fontana. Returning to Ms. Van Meer, are you there?

Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me?

Wonderful. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Jessica Van Mare Sheher. I am a resident of Somerville living between Porter and Davis Square in Ward 6th And I'm speaking as a concerned citizen because I do not want my taxpayer dollars or my government to be supporting a genocide in Gaza. We've heard many people speak today saying that this has not... Thank you for joining us. Aboff, Images on our social media feeds of what is going on in Gaza. It doesn't take a genocide scholar to see what is happening and just the other day I saw a video

from the Israeli minister, Itamar Ben-Gavir of an AI generated animation demonstrating Palestinians being... I don't know how much clearer it can get than that. Thank you so much for joining us. For the state of Israel's actions. We've heard people testify today, outraged that people are... are criticizing Israel, but not the genocide in Sudan or that the atrocities of many other countries. But the massive difference in those cases is that the United States

Government is not funding those genocides. The government is not doing business with Sudanese companies that fund that genocide. Here we have the power to do something by withdrawing our economic support funds Unlike in those other cases, and that is the morally correct thing to do. I too am deeply concerned about the rise of antisemitism that I have seen Since the escalation of this genocide and since October 7th. And the way to end that increase in antisemitism is to end this genocide as soon as possible. And the way that we can do that is by leveraging material and economic support because it has become clear that Israel is not listening to moral appeals to stop these attacks. Thank you for joining us.

to the children who are suffering in Palestine and withdraw our tax support for that atrocity. Thank you.

Looking at the list of attendees, I'd like to thank everybody who's still here three and a half hours into this public hearing. There is only one more hand raised at the moment So if you would like to speak and I'm not already spoken, feel free to use that raise hand function. Otherwise our last spoken testimony tonight is from Jojo. There you go.

Hello can you hear me? we can okay great Hello, my name is Giorgio Cavio. I live at 154 Cedar Street Ward 5. I'm a Somerville Human Rights Commissioner, therapist, social worker and a daughter of Mexican immigrants. And I support the proposed ethical procurement ordinance My partner is Palestinian. Her family was displaced from Jerusalem in 1948 by Israeli militia and have lived in exile since, prohibited to return by the State of Israel Other families she has were displaced to Gaza, where some were killed during this genocide and others are still surviving. The rest of our family lives in the West Bank where they live in an illegal occupation among Israeli settlers who are burning Palestinian homes down and attacking Palestinians. The violence and murders never end. And the last day, an eight-year-old Palestinian girl, Wafa Akilah, and her father were killed by an Israeli airstrike on their car in western Gaza City on her first day of school. As a Mexican, I stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

I see my people being snatched from the streets, detained and held captive and treated like animals in the U.S. by ICE just like Palestinians are by the State of Israel and the IDF We must stand against both of these forms of inhumanity. Last fall, 11,599 residents voted yes on ballot question three receiving more than our current elected mayor. Somerville residents have spoken and believe how we use our tax dollars on genocide and apartheid is a Somervill issue, and we will no longer be complicit. Somerville boycotted and divested from apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s, and we can do the same again. Thank you for your time and free Palestine.

All right, thank you Jojo. And that brings us to the end of folks who have their hands raised. if anybody else would like to speak this evening please do hit that raise hand button and as one final reminder while we will be closing the spoken portion of this public hearing this evening shortly We will keep the record open for written comments through Friday, September 11th at publiccomments.somervillema.gov I see a new hand here from Amanda Bell. You should have an unmute button on your screen.

Hi, can you hear me?

We can.

Awesome, thank you. Sorry, I just got back home. So yeah, hi, I'm Amanda Bell. I live in Ward 7 in Somerville in Teal Square And regarding the BDS ordinance, I would strongly encourage the committee to pass the ordinance and include a list of complicit companies. including those complicit in Israel's crimes. That really makes it clear which companies should and should not be recipients of Somerville's tax dollars in accordance with the ordinance to ensure we are supporting companies aligned with their moral values. I recently moved to Somerville after having been a resident... and various cities in the Boston metro area for the past seven years have been keeping up with what's been going on here. I was really excited to move to Somerville where so many residents voted in favor of divesting from companies, complicit in Israel's apartheid and Genocide of Palestinians. So it would be really amazing to see that put into practice. I don't want my tax dollars funding a genocide, funding companies that harm our Palestinian neighbors.

We have an opportunity to take action against these large corporations which is a really hard thing to do in today's society and we are so, so close. And I think if there's anywhere a BDS ordinance that includes a list of complicit companies can get past, it's here. Otherwise, I mean, I wouldn't have considered moving here. Thanks for your time.

All right. Thank you, Ms. Bell. Once again, that would be the last hand raised. So I'll give another last call for anybody else who hasn't spoken tonight would like to do so. Otherwise, very much appreciate everybody's attendance and thoughtful commentary. Seeing no further hands raised then we will go ahead and close the spoken testimony segment of this public hearing and keep the record open until Yes, until Friday September 11th. I believe that brings us to the end of our agenda this evening. I just want to check in with our Diligent and excellent clerk, Ms. Henderson.

Does every item besides the committee minutes have a disposition at this point?

No they don't.

What do we still need to put at disposition?

I believe you're keeping three and four in committee. Is that correct?

That's correct.

And then 2.3... 2.1 and 2.2 need a disposition.

Well, I suppose they will all need to be kept a committee since we're keeping the record open on those. And then they can be marked or completed once the Once the final testimonies have been collected from that, although I do believe 2.2 will require a vote as part of the neighborhood council ordinance again, I anticipate that being before us on September 15th So let's keep all those items in committee for now, which would bring us to a final motion to adjourn and to approve the minutes with a single roll call vote. So I will make that motion as the chair. Is there any discussion on that motion from my colleagues? All right, seeing no discussion from my colleagues on that. I do just want to extend my thanks once again to all of my colleagues for their attentiveness and presence tonight, to all the members of the public who took time in their evening to come be heard

This is what democracy looks like. Thank you everybody and let's go ahead and call the roll on that motion.

Okay this is roll call to approve the minutes and to adjourn. Councilor Davis?

Yes.

Umba, Councilor Ewen-Campen, Councilors Strezo and Chair Scott. Five in favor that motion passes and we are adjourned.

Thank you everybody. See you in a couple days.