Finance Committee

Chair Wheeler you can start to read the instructions.

Zoom interpretation. Interpretation on a computer for this meeting. Click on the globe symbol in the bottom right corner of your screen. Select the option for the language you speak, including English. Interpretation on a smartphone. Click on the three dots in the bottom right corner of your screen. Select the option with the globe symbol. Select your language. Press done in the top right corner.

If you want to access the interpretation channels, please follow the following instructions. If you are in front of a computer, Look for the globe on the bottom of your screen where it says Interpretation and select Spanish. Now, if you are on a phone or tablet, Ahorita les explico cuando cambie la pantalla Next please Look for the three dots where it is in the right corner below your screen. Select the option with the globe symbol and then your language, which in this case would be Spanish. y finalmente hagan clic donde dice finalizado arriba en la esquina derecha de su pantalla. Con esto accederán al canal.

Good evening everyone. Boa tarde a todos. Agora vou passar as instruções para quem deseja escutar a interpretação simultânea em português. Go ahead. Se você estiver usando um computador, clique no símbolo de um globo no canto inferior direito da sua tela que diz Interpretação ou Interpretation. Depois selecione a opção para o idioma que você fala, neste caso português. Se você estiver usando um smartphone ou um tablet, clique nos três pontinhos no canto inferior direito da sua tela, daí selecione a opção com o símbolo de um globo Hey, good evening everyone.

I'm Ben Wheeler. I use he, him pronouns. I'm a counselor at large and the finance committee chair. It is 6.09 PM and I'd like to call to order the Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 meeting of the Finance Committee of the Somerville City Council. This meeting of the City Council Committee will be conducted via remote participation following Chapter 2 of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Acts of 2025. We will post an audio-video recording and a comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. We are joined by Clerk Delaney Fisher-Casiol. Clerk, could you please call the roll to establish quorum?

Yep, this is roll call. Councilor Link?

Here.

Councilor Stratton? Present. Councilor Hardt? Here. Councilor Scott? Present. Chair Wheeler?

Here.

All right, with that, we do have all members present, so we have quorum.

Okay, we have just a single agenda item tonight, which we will now take up. Item one. Conveying that, pursuant to Section 6.2 of the City Charter, this City Council will hold a public hearing on the community's fiscal year 2027 budget priorities in the Committee on Finance on February 10, 2026. Okay, everyone, welcome to this second annual Community Budget Hearing. The Community Budget Hearing is an opportunity for everyone who calls Somerville home to speak to your elected officials about how you want us to spend the money that we collect from the public. You will see members of the City Council's Finance Committee here But the entire city council is able to attend and listen. I see that we also have other officials and city staff in attendance as well, including our mayor, Jake Wilson. This is a year

When the federal government is giving cities less money than they used to, and also when our income from businesses in Somerville is slowing down. So the current expectation is that this year our city budget needs to go down by almost $5 million. So we have limited money this year for new projects and new uses, and much of our focus is going to be on holding on to the levels of spending that we've had in the past year. To everyone who's planning to speak today, we are still excited to hear your ideas and proposals for new spending and new ideas. But we're also excited to hear what matters most to you that Somerville is already spending money on. Where should we make sure we continue our spending as we make difficult budget decisions this year? Because there are so many people who are planning to speak today, we are limiting speakers to just two minutes of speaking time.

I have a few requests for everyone who will speak. First of all, please keep your comments focused on the purpose of this meeting, how the city should spend the public's money. Second, please show respect and patience with everybody else who's speaking. Tell us your perspective rather than criticizing anyone else who has spoken. Third, please speak loudly, clearly, and slowly so that our language interpreters can make sure everyone understands what you're saying. The council members role in this meeting is to listen and understand, not to indicate approval or disapproval. My role will be to participate to ensure that everyone gets the chance to be heard and to make sure the meeting is run legally and fairly. One more small note. I have a family member who works part-time for the city in the Department of Racial and Social Justice as part of their youth league.

This presents a possible conflict of interest In accordance with Massachusetts state law, I have filed a public disclosure statement about this. and I'm required to recuse myself from participating in a discussion about budget items for the overall Department of Racial, Social and Social Justice or the Youth League in particular. If you're planning to discuss those budget items, I request that you wait and give your comments at the end of the meeting so I can leave the meeting and come back when those comments are done. Thank you. In terms of instructions to sign up to speak, is that something where people need only raise their hands using the Zoom functionality?

When you begin to speak,

Please give your first and last name and your address in Somerville. And then use the rest of the time to tell us your priorities. And with that, I think we're ready to begin. First up is, thank you. First up is Crystal Huff.

Okay, my name is Crystal Huff. My pronouns are they them and I live in Ward 5. My top level priorities for focus in the budget are accessibility in our streets, affordability in our Housing, food in our community fridges and food pantries, immigrant protections in our networks, formal and informal, more mobility options, including budget toward public transit, Less policing, more social investment, more help for the most vulnerable, without more means testing, love over fear, as Rachel Mello says. And I apologize to the interpreters, and I will email this to the clerks. But I am going to sing for a moment. We are the very model of a great municipality, communicating our priorities in the plurality. We must push back on federal issues of immorality.

I think this will require us to invest in our plurality. When trying to address the needs of our own weird locality, we have a very high interest in zero street mortality. We want to make sure folks have food and housing in totality. and access to our public life is not a triviality. Valuing community is what we must hold very dear. Our neighbors must have access to our financial resources here. When immigrants require our help, we must react not out of fear. We have a lot of aid to give. I think that that is very clear. Sorry, but I do think it's clear. I hope you have enjoyed this tune I offer whimsicality I thought it useful to provide relief from news brutality At very least, I think we can avoid city banality.

But please also do hear my messages on shared morality. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next we have Ellie Botchen.

Hi, my name is Ellie Botchan. I live on J Street, West Somerville.

Hello, can I get your exact address, please?

28 J.

Thank you. 28 Jakes. J. J. Jakes. Thank you.

you're welcome I've been living in this City for over 20 years love it and I actually think the prior person the song was wonderful and everything about it was great and I totally support it. I'm asking if we could Dedicate some time, effort, and financial abilities towards a dog park in West Somerville. We have one in East Somerville. I don't want to get in the car to drive over to East Somerville in order to Walk the Dog. So asking for something in West Somerville. Thank you.

Next, we have Jen Harrington.

Hi there. Jen Harrington, she, her. I live in Ward 3. Thank you.

Address, please, Jen.

For 66 Highland Ave. Thank you for inviting community input on priorities for the next city budget. I'd like to offer five recommendations. First, support an independent artist collective or guild that is funded by the city but operates autonomously. Somerville is fortunate to have the Somerville Arts Council whose staff do incredible work for creatives and residents. This request recognizes that there are challenges municipalities cannot directly address where independent collectives can play a critical role. The City would support a collective's work while artists take the lead in addressing evolving ethical issues such as fair labor, access, and accountability. Second, respond to ongoing art space emergencies including Joy Street Studios, The Burn, Washington Street Studios, Art Farm, and the Brick Bottom area. I urge the city to continue to support the Somerville Arts Council so we can support the creative economy and clearly articulate a strategy to preserve these spaces.

Third, leverage local talent. Somerville is full of bright, engaged residents. Create short-term, project-based opportunities so that the city can benefit from new thinking and specialized expertise. Somerville staff are awesome. Let's build enough even stronger partnerships between residents and staff. Fourth, make better use of city-owned assets, particularly Somerville High School, which could host a wide range of cultural and community program for all ages year round and finally invest in city council capacity a structured paid internship or fellowship program could As a starting point, this program could examine how development discussions can become more transparent, constructive, and resident-centered. Thank you for your time and consideration, and thank you to everyone who is sharing such great ideas. Keep singing.

Thank you. All right, next we're going to have Annette McKee.

Hi, my name is Annette McKee. I live at 12 Adams Street. And I would urge the city to reinvest in founders, Rink as they have in the past so that the city can access this terrific community resource and have opportunities for all kinds of ice recreation, figure skating, learn to skate for children through adults as well as hockey opportunities. So I strongly urge the city to get that back up and running so that the Community can have access to this fantastic resource. Thank you.

Thank you. Next we're going to have Derek DuPont.

Hi, City Council. My name is Derek Dupont. I live at 12 Crikey Street in Ward 3. So for the FOI 27 budget, I'd like to see the city prioritize funding for immigrant services and an alternative emergency response program. I do volunteer work teaching English to immigrants and This past year, as you can imagine, has been pretty dark. So beyond our normal grammar and speech practice, our classroom hosts know your rights trainings. And we've had to consider previously unthinkable things like how we need to react to an ice raid. All over the country we're seeing the federal government commit violence against both immigrants and citizens. I mean, just today ICE was in East Somerville. Local and state police at best can play a neutral role in our protection against ICE and at worst they can aid and assist.

Here in Somerville, our police department could be filled with the best intentions of people, but with the powers they are given and the abuses we have seen elsewhere, residents have a pretty good reason to hesitate calling them for help. So for several years now, counselors have asked to fund an alternative emergency response program, which means an unarmed non-police team that can help residents while reducing the risk of trauma and harm. The last mayoral administration never answered this funding call, nor did they look at how department restructuring that was recommended by the 2023 staffing study might be able to free up some resources. So let's create a city budget this year that will help our most vulnerable. Let's prioritize funding for legal services that can help immigrants that are targeted by the federal government. and an emergency service that people can feel safe and comfortable using. Thank you.

Thank you. Next we're going to have Susan Hegel.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Susan Hagel. I'm a housing attorney at Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services, and I'm also the supervising attorney for that office. So I wanted to speak on behalf of Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services. to urge continued support of two programs in particular that are operated out of the Office of Housing Stability. One is the municipal voucher program and this was an innovative program set up by the Office of Housing Stability where they pay a rental subsidy For immigrants that are not eligible for federal housing programs due to their immigration status. So you have a lot of people with temporary TPS status in Somerville, and this has been a real problem. Lifesaver to keep people housed affordably in Somerville. So I hope that that continues.

I did want to say I also work in Cambridge and Cambridge is now modeling something after Somerville. So hopefully you can also use this to encourage other cities and towns to do something similar. The other program is that the city has allocated large funds that are used for homeless prevention. So they pay rental arrears. They will pay prospective rent for a short time, moving costs if you're moving into affordable housing. And this is a very flexible system. Some of money that sort of plugs in the gaps where state and federal funds are not available. It's very quick. and just to give you a couple examples of where it's really been a lifesaver for our clients that we've had elder and disabled people in Somerville that have a hoarding issue and we've been able to use the funds collectively with others to

to clean up the apartments to get the services and to keep them housed. We've also There are a number of people in inclusionary zoning units that lose their job and can't afford the rent. And the rent doesn't go down because you lost your job. So we've been able to keep people housed by having their rental arrears paid and also prospectively so that they were able to, you know, stay in Somerville in affordable housing and to make choices. Oh, our own guy? So I just want to make sure that those two funds in particular continue. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry about that.

Oh, and Susan, I'm sorry, we need your address as well.

Well, it's not in Somerville, but it's 60 Gore Street. and East Cambridge.

Thank you. Okay, next I'm seeing Matty W. Hi there.

Hi, my name is Madeline Werner. I use she, her pronouns. I'm also, I live at 10 Wallace Street, but I wanted to disclose I'm also a city employee for... HHS and I wanted to make the priority also you might want to start the timer but I won't go over I wanted to put out priorities that are going to be high impact and really increase Residence Satisfaction and I'm proposing some low-cost options which are really looking at Street Safety, continuing to widen curbs, continuing to put in bike lanes. I also really support the idea that was put forth earlier about putting a dog park in West Somerville.

I'm very sorry if you can hear my cat in the background. Continuing to invest in arts here in Somerville. continuing to add new events that showcase all of our artists and supporting the arts at the Armory residencies is incredibly important but the most important thing I believe is that We really need to approve the B3 visa for, or visa is probably the wrong word, but the Cobble Hill project. which will be in Davis Square. I feel like more than anything affordable housing is where we need to go and if there is ways to spend on this administratively to set us up for the future I very strongly support that. Thanks so much for your time.

Thank you. Next I'm seeing Emily Bileal. and my apologies if I'm mispronouncing your name, Emily.

Hi, not at all. I'm Emily Balliol, see her. I live in Ward 2 on Tower Court.

Address, exact address, please.

Oh, full address?

Yes, please.

And Power Court in Somerville. Thank you. Okay. Anyway, this is great. And all the priorities we've heard about so far are very important accessibility and mobility. Support Services for our most vulnerable residents. I'm hoping to also advocate for the city to fund again next year a small grant to the community fridges. They were able to distribute $56,000 Bounds of Food for a $7,000 investment and would love to see that happen again in the next fiscal year. Thank you all so much.

Thank you. Next, I'm seeing Chris Dwan and just reminding all people giving testimony to give their first and last name and their address.

Hello, I am Chris Duan at 26 Ivaloo Street in Ward 2. This will be my ninth year watching the city budget process, and for people who haven't watched it before, Here's how it goes. The mayor proposes something that is frustratingly incremental change The council debates more or less fractiously, and then it passes basically unchanged. That's what we're about to watch. Given how chummy city council meetings have been this year, I think it's going to be a pretty low stress year, and maybe that's a good idea. We collectively need to de-escalate every conflict that is not with the enemy. Adopt my mantra. No optional fights. Moving on to budget things. The Council has already approved two staff moves into the Office of Executive Administration. While I support both of those individuals and both of those roles, they are directionally opposed to what I think we need, which is more frontline delivery with a preference for union jobs.

The Council has also already approved acceptance of a grant for I think the fifth consecutive year that will fund police overtime to educate cyclists. Overtime is a wasteful way to provide services. It's a 50% premium and it exhausts the staff. If we really need more armed personnel on the street to deal with the bicycle menace, let's have that debate on the merits. Let's hire up. I don't think that's what anybody is proposing, but doing it on overtime is a cost ineffective approach. Speaking of which, while we're on that, traffic details do not require a firearm. We should focus on civilian flaggers. I urge the city on every front to focus on results over image. I completely support composting. I do it myself. And I think we could have an effective citywide composting program today by putting compost bins in parks and public spaces and offering backyard composters on request rather than continuing to try to subsidize curbside it's not working we should do things that are effective

We have many obvious frictions in how we deliver services, not to keep picking on the police, but they have a whole separate website, webmaster, and public records officer. There are other examples. I just picked that one. Time is short. Keep it focused on direct impact. giving people money to do what they need, frontline staff, union jobs. Thank you, and I will close there.

Thank you. Next, I see Courtney Pollack.

Hi, thank you. My name is Courtney Pollack. I live at 14 Linden Street. Please prioritize funds to protect Somerville's immigrant communities and all of Somerville from unlawful and unconstitutional federal actions. Please prioritize a budget that's resilient to the loss of federal funds to protect social programs for when the federal government tries to withhold or cancel funding. Please also don't take any funds like urban area security initiative grants or other funds that would require any cooperation with DHS. I also ask that The City, please prioritize funding to promote accountability for federal unlawful actions. Things like accountability commissions, A repository of evidence for violations of unlawful or unconstitutional behavior.

Regular FOIA quests. requests to document DHS activity in Somerville and if possible making that publicly available through a city dashboard. Finally, please prioritize services and supports that will mitigate harm from the federal government, like strong financial support for the Somerville Office of Immigrant Affairs. training to enforce the Fourth Amendment, Know Your Rights trainings, rapid response efforts, the Immigrant Legal Services Stabilization Fund, and Housing Stability Funds for people who no longer feel safe going outside of their house. Budget priorities like this that protect Somerville's immigrant community and all of us from Unlawful Federal Actions are a wise investment that will support our social fabric and our local economy and create a more prosperous Somerville for all of us.

Thank you. Next, I'm seeing Richard Maidman.

Yes, hello. Hi, Richard Maidman, 18 Starling Street, Somerville, Ward 7.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Thanks. I'm asking the City Council to budget for a number of pressing issues that affect public safety, community well-being, and inclusion in our city. First, I ask the Council to fund and implement the recommendations of the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism. Antisemitism is a serious and ongoing problem in Somerville. Swastikas are drawn at the high school nearly every year. and Anti-Jewish Graffiti appears repeatedly around the city. Homes of Jewish residents have been vandalized. These are not abstract or isolated incidents and they make Jewish residents feel unwelcome and unsafe in the community. Somerville should be a city where every resident knows they belong and addressing antisemitism requires sustained attention and resources. Next, I urge the city to expand public access to community recreation facilities that already exist. So this should not take much additional funding.

So this includes increasing public hours at facilities like the skating rink, installing and using lighting on outdoor basketball courts and opening school gyms for indoor basketball and games during the winter months. These will strengthen our sense of community in Somerville and provide additional recreational options for our kids and residents. Next, we need to commit additional resources to basic infrastructure like roads and improving pedestrian safety. Crosswalk coverage is particularly inadequate. For example, there's a third mile stretch of of North Street without a single crosswalk which is really close to West Somerville neighborhood school and it makes it difficult and unsafe for kids to walk to school. I also heard from another resident about building a dog park I think that's a great idea. It's a big need.

And having heard about the low amount of money we have, I think we should not do anything. Thank you. Thank you. Next, I'm seeing Bruce Kaplan.

Okay, hi. Hello there. Can you hear me? Yes. Who's Kaplan? 154 Summer Street, number 2, Ward 3. I've been a Somerville resident for the past... 13 years. And yeah, when I'm not being a Somerville resident in my day job, I'm actually a transportation planner focusing on roadway safety. And just there are some items I've noticed which are Really concerning. Some major safety, potential safety hazards, especially as I work on things like Vision Zero. At the intersections of motorized and non-motorized travel, There are many unsignalized and unlit pedestrian crossings near to some of the Green Line stations as well as at the interface of the community path and intersection. and Roadways. These are heavily used pedestrian facilities.

As I said, these are mostly unsignalized and they are poorly lit. The prime example may be near the Gilman Square Station on School Street, which is made even more dangerous due to the roadway topography. and that you have to go uphill so to speak. I would encourage the city council to study this further and to make this a priority. There's many different sorts of techniques to do this, but again, getting these well lit and Signalized. Again, there is technology out there. I could say like, you know, the Hawk Beacon, you know, this is like a button activated traffic control device that you can have protected crossings when you need it otherwise. The vehicular traffic continues to flow. And the research has shown that these sort of beacons dramatically decrease crashes and injuries. And I can, of course, talk about numbers and whatever things like that in terms of costs but for me again the concern is as a citizen kind of looking every time I get off the green line

at the community path near Gilman that is unlit and unsignalized and cars kind of going up and thankfully as of now I haven't seen any accidents but... I hate to say, you know, looking at statistics, it's just a matter of time and that's just not the only place. So thank you for your consideration, City Council. That's kind of my soapbox and bailiwick for the time being. Thank you guys.

Thank you. Next, I'm seeing Joshua Gensler Steinberg.

Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Awesome. I'm going to try to get away from a screaming baby, but thank you all for the work that you do. The things that I want to focus on right now are about parking. I'm sorry, Joshua, will you state your address, please? My address is 8 Conwell Street, Ward 5.

Thank you. Please continue.

What I would like the City Council to focus on are parking and how to integrate more parking options and easing the flow of traffic for vehicles while maintaining bike safety and pedestrian safety. Some of the things that I'm thinking about are adding crosswalks and thinking sort of more expansively about how to Think about other streets that we can encourage cars and bikes and pedestrians to use so that not everything is crowded onto the same narrow streets. Snow removal is something that we're watching DPW do a fantastic job of. They need more support. They need more help. They need more appreciation. And I wonder if there are other options for how to help them with that and other and other public works. Childcare before school, after school is really, really important for parents as I'm in the middle of bedtime here.

and I think we need less uncertainty about having pre-K options and before school and after school care. I would love curbside compost. I would love all sorts of other things that can really help accessibility, thinking about bus lines, thinking about ways that people can get around the city and make it safer for everyone. I would love to implement the Committee for Antisemitism's recommendations and I do not support the recent ballot measure which would have us boycotting businesses and and finances that deal with Israel. We need to support and appreciate the identities and work of everyone in Somerville. And that is something that is just paramount to bringing everyone together to share

in the work of peace and coexistence and understanding as well as to build bridges. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Daniel Engel Daniel Engel In the English channel, we are hearing the Spanish interpretation. Can you hear me now? Yes, please proceed and let's see if the audio is sorted out.

Hi, my name is Daniel Engel. I live at 39 Crocker Street in Ward 3, I believe. I have five sort of general categories of recommendations. One, the first one is to provide funding to implement the recommendations of the Mass Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism. Swastikas have no place in Somerville city halls or schools anywhere in this great city. I personally have only seen one, thankfully, but I know a lot of people who have seen many. I'd love to see more infrastructure funded. That includes paving roads to make cycling safer, create less waste through car damage and bicycle damage. Tires are a big cause of that. and make it easier to walk across streets safely our general infrastructure I'm just looking at Highland Ave as an example is not in good shape I walk my daughter to school and I can't take a stroller through there in the snow right now Rodent reduction, our favorite topic.

I'd love to see more smart boxes placed throughout the city. And I'd love to see composting through the city. We currently pay for a service, which I'm happy to do, but I think that helping to reduce the rodent population through composting would be a great help. Funding for police and fire recruitment to reduce police and fire overtime. I realize this is not a popular topic for our police and firemen who make a lot of money this way. I'm sorry. However, we... We should be encouraging police and fire recruitment. And lastly, I want to encourage funding for childcare. Child, teen, and after-school activities. This includes the libraries. This includes any activities in schools. This includes lighting in parks. This includes, for that matter, maintaining parks. The Kennedy School could use another big one.

Thank you very, very much. Thank you.

Next, we have Laurie Goldman. Laurie, are you there? If we're not hearing from you, Laurie, maybe we'll move on to someone else and try coming back to you. What's that?

It may be an interpretation channel.

Oh, thanks. It could be that Laurie's in an interpretation channel.

Pardon us, everyone.

We're just trying to check if there's an update.

Go on to the breakout. Did you say keep going? Let's not have time.

Telling her to keep going? Oh, yes, please continue. We're hoping to hear from Laurie, who I believe is in another interpretation channel. If you can hear me, Laurie, please tell us your priorities.

Hi there. I'm going to pop into the Spanish channel. Are the interpreters able to speak for Sylvia? Yes, committee clerk, I can hear you. Are you interpreting back out for someone else? You do have your hand raised as someone who would like to provide comment. Is that your intention at the moment or in general you cannot hear in the Spanish channel?

Okay, all right, we'll move on to the next and we'll circle back to Lori.

The Spanish Channel. Slight technical issue with the interpretation channels.

We're going to move on and come back to Lori. I appreciate everyone's patience. Okay, our next person on the list is Alan Anassia. Oh, I figured he was City Staff. No one else has signed up. Okay, thank you. That may be the last... of our people who are signed up to speak. Do we want to... Oh, more people are starting to raise their hands. Okay, thank you. Yes, anybody else who's interested in speaking, please go ahead and raise your hand. So I'm seeing a few more people. The next person is Emma Lebois.

I am... My name is Emma Lebwell. I live at 39 Crocker Street on Road 3. I wanted... To point out that we should be, we've spent a lot on bike lanes, which is really great. They have not always made our roads safer and I think we've made a lot of mistakes with those. And I'm hoping that we are not spending an overt amount of money on producing those and we should be smarter about how we implement those. I'm in full support, but I... I don't like what's happened so far. I also think we need to make sure we're supporting our police force. They are doing a great job in

Our show of making sure that we have like a family voice with the family connection with the police with activities that have been fostered by the city and we should support and continue those. We also need more indoor spaces for our children. This winter has been very cold and very hard and we need to make sure that we have sufficient spaces for our children to run around and get the exercise that they need. There's been increased hours in some of the pools and that is really great and we should find ways to continue and support that. We also need to increase our funding for schools. Our MCAS scores this year were not great and we need to find ways to make our schools the best in the region. I also think that we need to be funding a committee to implement the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism. The Massachusetts Way. We've seen a tremendous amount of anti-Semitism specifically in Somerville, specifically in our schools.

It is not a comfortable place and we need to lead in that way and I strongly believe that. We've seen a lot of water and sewer rate increases going to homeowners. They're more than double what they've been in the past With no warning, this is to handle degrading infrastructure. We need to be planning better in our city to be covering these costs. We can't be pushing them onto our infrastructure. Homeowners and our renters and such. Just like this, it's really unacceptable and we should be planning better for infrastructure needs. They're coming down the line. year after year we should not be pushing these things off we need to expand access to after-school care and pre-k and And we filed a lawsuit against the federal government.

We should not be spending our limited resources on... Frivolous lawsuits. They're not necessarily frivolous, but we should not be. We have morals, but we don't need to go to court. and we should do what we can to not get sued either by the federal government or by other parties. Legal costs are high and we need to avoid them. and we should also be partnering with our neighboring cities to support our immigrants and unhoused. It's very important to have warning centers and to have rental infrastructure. We have had tenants who've utilized the Somerville Intermediate funds. But all of that responsibility should not fall to Somerville. It needs to be also covered. It needs to also fall to our neighboring cities. We can't hold the burden ourselves, especially when we have budget constraints.

Thank you. Thank you. I believe your time is up. And I apologize, Emma, you were having a bit of a connection. Also, I believe, did we not get Emma's address at the beginning? Okay, thank you. Thank you so much for those comments and apologize. So the full audio of your testimony. We had a Wi-Fi hiccup while you were speaking. We got nearly everything you said.

I will be happy to provide my comments in email as well.

Thank you. And I got confirmation the full audio is going to be available, so I'll make sure that I review that. Thank you. The next person on our list is Bonte Gannetti.

Hi, my name is Bonte Gannetti. I live at 20 Calvin Street. And I'm also active in Cambridge with the Cambridge Housing Justice Coalition. I want to speak in support of keeping rental assistance on the budget. It's been hugely important to keeping our lower income and mixed status families housed and I think that is you know that's what makes Somerville special and I think Somerville has done a great job providing these resources and in a year when there's going to be less resources I think prioritizing that is paramount two other things I'd like to call out as well one as a cyclist there's a The railroad crossing near Park Street could use a little bit of work. I could have died there a couple times. I'm still here.

that's good but just wanted to mention that and I also want to remind people that you know like we had A majority of people come out and vote in Somerville in support of the ballot initiative. to limit funding to companies complicit in the genocide happening in Palestine. I wanted to just hope that the city is able to follow through on the democratic will the people with regards to that. Thank you.

Thank you. The next person we'll hear from is Janice Hagerman.

Hi, yes, can you hear me? Yes. Thanks. My name is Janice Hagerman. I live at the 346 Union Apartments. I'm a new resident of Somerville and so I'm mostly just here to listen. So thank you everyone for your comments. I just wanted to say that I had kind of a hard time figuring out how to sign up for comments I don't necessarily have pressing comments but I do just want to say that online it is not clear how to get on the list of registered commenters and it's obviously great that there's plenty of extra time for comments now but just so y'all know um that that was kind of confusing um And I just want to echo the previous person's sentiment about respecting the democratic will of the people and the ballot initiative for our Divestment from Israel.

And as a newer resident of Somerville, I do think that the city's doing a great job so far and I really appreciate all the work that the councilors are putting into you know our community and uh with that being said I also um I want to reiterate support for our ongoing lawsuit at the federal level with the lawyers for civil rights associated with retaining or not... Complying with federal mandates for participating in mass deportation. So, but I really appreciate the diversity of comments at this meeting. And I think that this has been a well-run comment session. So thank you for having me. 3-4-6, Somerville Ave.

Thank you. Next we have Daniel McLaughlin.

Alright, good evening everybody. My name is Daniel McLaughlin. Unfortunately, I live at 27 Silk Street in Arlington, formerly of Somerville. I just would like to begin by saying first I fully support Susan Hagel's comments earlier. when it comes time to a flexible rental assistance fund. Really just want to emphasize the importance of that, the importance of long-term Solutions for Affordable Housing in Somerville, the continued investment, especially if any free cash is available. I know times are going to be tough this year. Completely understand that. But that free cash goes a long way. into early action. Really think about early action acquisition funds and the affordable housing trust fund. That way we can get properties off the market and start to make them into permanent affordable housing. And then just the last piece for housing wise is, you know, the city has some really big investments into pieces of the puzzle for the affordable housing crisis that we're in.

Housing search through CAS and our HAP program. Other legal services through Castles of DeNovo, tenant organizing. I'm just really thinking about prioritizing these. Also, just something near and dear to my heart is just considering youth summer jobs programs. As our teens, we always talk about caring about our diversity, caring about our young people, caring about our working class, and that lives within our young people in Somerville High. I'm really just thinking about jobs programs, programs like BAM, programs like Teen Empowerment and the continued thought process of a future youth center for people. That's all I have. I'm sure I could think of a million other things, but I know money's short and housing and youth stuff is my top priority. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we'll have David Lichter

Yes, hi, David Wichter, 9 Belmont Place, Ward 3. Can you hear me?

Yes.

Thank you. I've been a Somerville resident for over 20 years as a scientist, homeowner, and a father. And it's deeply important to me that Somerville's budget be focused on our core municipal services, our schools, and our infrastructure. As well as making the city more accessible and affordable and a pleasant place to live for people of all ethnicities. I think the key improvements that can be made to our infrastructure have already been mentioned. These are our roads. I mean after this After these snowstorms, my daily commute around the Kennedy School, Summer Street, Somerville Avenue, I fill my tires all the time. It's wreaked havoc on a lot of cars. Thank you so much for joining us.

Who is authorized to replace old water meters and that I'd be refunded for what was the overpayment. This is likely over $1,000. I'm employed, I can cover this, but I imagine it might be burdensome for many other cities. Finally, I want to remind people the severe damage that's been done to our Jewish community here by the Question 3 ballot resolution passed in November. It is illegal. and discriminatory because it discriminates against people based on their ethnicity. Medford's mayor refused to support a similar initiative there, recognizing the illegality, and now the city is being sued for it. Yet here in progressive Somerville many people don't care that illegal and discriminatory measures are regressive. They don't demonstrate the values that we hold dear. They're problematic, biased, and harmful. And anyone who doesn't believe me should come walk with me

See the swastikas, see Hanukkah celebrations being protested, see the hateful messages that are being displayed on clothing at my daughter's school. I'm sick and tired of it and I don't want one cent of our city's money spent on any policy that discriminates against people based on their identity. That is not who we are and I urgently ask the council to please implement the recommendations of the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism. This is crucial. Thanks for listening to my concerns. I appreciate your service to the city. Please keep us focused on schools, public safety, infrastructure, and community well-being. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we have Sandra Suarez.

Buenas noches. Mi nombre es Sandra Suarez. Vivo en la 62 de la Highland. Y quiero hablar en nombre de toda la comunidad hispana. Bueno y todos los residentes de aquí de Somerville. de todos los países que hacen parte de esta ciudad. Quiero pedirle a ustedes que puedan apoyarnos. No puedo hablar portugués, disculpa. So you don't regret it. So, I want to ask for your support to be able to help in the families' expenses, in the homes, in the programs that help families. Economically,

Because I live day by day seeing my neighbors, seeing friends, seeing people close by who are very afraid of immigration. There is a father who is nice, but the mother is not. They are in this fear, they are spending their little money that they earn in lawyers, others are getting ready, but then it is not possible to pay the rent. So, others have children who are sick too, so having this type of spending, others are not wanting to go out to work out of fear, so the money is being short for these families. I want to ask you to invest in the programs that help families that don't have the conditions to pay rent, to also have a low-cost housing.

Thank you very much.

The hand that I'm seeing now is Lori Goldman, who we went to before. Lori, we would love to hear from you now.

Can you hear me? Yes. I have two devices on right now. Can you still hear me?

Yes.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Wonderful. Okay. My name is Lori Goldman. I live at 35 Oak Street in Ward 2. I've been a Somerville resident for 20 years. I am on the faculty of the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. And I'd like to urge the committee and the city council to consider the importance of prioritizing stable and affordable housing in the FY27 budget, and to do so for three reasons. One is that we know that housing is critical. It is not only the biggest part of a household's budget, It's also key to individual family and community well-being. We know that then if we support housing, we are also making all of our other social service and assistance programs

as more viable and we are also equipping residents to be part of the fight for state funds and for leveraging what we can from our private sector funders. The second reason is that we know how to do it well in Somerville. So I would urge us to continue to fund some of the wonderful programs OHS the Office of Housing Stability has innovated we want to continue the flexible rental assistance programs that prioritize households that do not have access to other emergency housing in our state or in our federal government. We want to continue funding legal services that help tenants who are fighting against much well Represented Landlords. And we want to expand on what we've already proven to be effective innovative programs such as our municipal voucher program,

and our guaranteed basic income experiment that we've done this year. We also want to expand what we've done with the warming center and introduce a cooling center for our unhoused residents who are exposed to even more vulnerability in the extreme weather conditions we've been having lately and we're also poised to do more in Somerville we've got innovative ideas around early intervention to prevent evictions even before they are getting close to eviction filings.

And we need to adequately- I'm sorry to interrupt you, Maureen. You are at times.

Okay, so just final thing, third reason is now more than ever we need the city to make up for what the federal and the state cannot do. And the reason for that and around housing is that we are able to with these innovative programs leverage philanthropic and private sector funding thank you thank you

Is there anybody else who is interested in speaking?

Mr. Chair, if anybody would like to speak, please use the raise hand function on your Zoom. That's what we're looking at to make sure you get in. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Scott.

Okay, I see Alexandra Arba.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes.

All right, my name is Alexandra Barbat. I live at 33 Josephine Ave. I'm one of the co-chairs of the Somerville Commission for Women, although I'm speaking for myself and not on behalf of the commission at this time. And I would like to echo all of the comments that I've heard about how essential funding for affordable housing is in Somerville. Funding for affordable housing is... has the potential to change lives. Specifically, when we talk about women's ability to live and work in Somerville and people's ability to raise families in the community, housing. Inaccessibility plays a huge barrier to that. So I would like to support the municipal voucher program. and some of the other kind of solutions that we've heard tonight.

And that's it.

Thank you. I see Susan Miller.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

I'm Susan Gazal Queiroz Miller. I live on 31 Walnut Street, Ward 3, Eden Square. I was born in Brazil. I've been living in Somerville for the last 16 years. Here is where I call home, home for me, my partner, my 80-year-old mom, and my 18-year-old son, who was raised on these strong Somerville public schools. Wonderful Bilingual English-Spanish Unidos Program The main reason Rafiq is a first-year finance major in economics in college is because he is a Somerville Public School graduate. Public schools, daycare, after-school programs, please continue to fund them as priority. Shout out to the formidable teachers and coaches.

I also encourage you not to increase the budget for public safety, for police overtime, new cruisers, as we have come to understand with the Trump administration that putting more policing officers on the streets make people more vulnerable and less safe. I encourage you to increase the budget and scope of our SOIA. Somerville Office for Immigrant Affairs which supports um City built by immigrants who are in need of legal services, food assistance, and rental assistance, among many other needs. Talking about rental assistance, last but not least, I'm also a volunteer with CAS, Community Action Agency of Somerville.

Please make the flexible rental assistance of $2 million from federal funding a priority. This federal money has been split between CAS and Somerville Homeless Coalition and only last year, for instance, saved 170 families of suffering eviction. 170 families were prevented to be kicked out of Somerville because of our wonderful rental assistance money.

Please continue to grow our movement.

are keeping low-income immigrant families together, one rent at a time, a roof over our heads, and a future of solidarity in front of us. Thank you.

Thank you. I see Jonathan Goveb.

Hi, my name is Jonathan Dovev. I live at 12 Harvest Street in Somerville. Thank you for your time. I support all the activities which bring people together. We have Music Fest, we have other activities. We don't have a large budget but we should focus on those and not spend our time and our money on supporting groups which are hostile. To residents, Jews, Israelis in Somerville, I would like the Council to support the recommendations of the Massachusetts Commission Combating Anti-Semitism. and I would also like to see a little bit more support for seniors at the traffic lights. There needs to be on the crosswalks lights. Many times when I'm driving my car, people are wearing black Clothing. I can't see them. I'm a danger to myself. I'm a danger to them.

So there's some simple things which the council can do. You can't do everything. Most importantly, protect our bond rating. It's triple A. If that is compromised because some of the activities which the council are considering, then we will not be able to do as much because we're paying more for money for housing. So choose wisely and that's my recommendation. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

If there's anybody else who's interested in speaking, please use the raise hand feature of the Zoom button. We'd love to hear from anybody else who hasn't spoken or hasn't had the opportunity to speak yet. I'm just confirming there's nobody in person, right? Okay, if there's no one else who's using the raise hand feature and indicating a desire to speak, then we will draw the public hearing to a close. Thanks. At the beginning, I said that if anyone had comments that would touch on the budget for the Department of Racial and Social Justice, or the Youth League in particular, to hold your comments for the end.

Is there anyone who would like to make comments now?

And Mr. Chair, while we wait. Are you going to hold the period for public comment open for written comment to come in after this hearing for a week to allow for folks to email?

Comments are always available to public comments at somervillema.gov. and they will always be received to the council.

Thank you. Our clerk, Madeline LeTellier, just said, and I assume that was audible, that the public comments at somervillema.gov address is always open and available. For this particular budget hearing, we did set a deadline of noon today for those to be included in this batch, but all comments to that address will be read. Okay. Okay. Thank you everyone for your participation, for your patience with technical issues, and you're listening to each other as well. I appreciate that. With all members of the public finished with their testimony, we are at the end of tonight's agenda. Do I hear a motion to mark this item work completed?

Motion to mark this item work completed.

Thank you. Streza moves to mark the site of work completed. Do I hear a second? Second. Don't need it.

Oh, you're right. Don't need it.

I'm still learning. Okay. Could the clerk please read the agenda, item number to be marked, word completed, and then call to roll. I'm marking this item, word completed.

You don't need a roll. You don't need a roll.

You don't need a roll. Call for word completed. Do I hear a motion to adjourn?

Motion to adjourn. On the motion? On the motion. Thank you. On the motion, I just wanted to extend my thanks not only to members of Parliament, but also to staff who were working on our technical issues here and the interpreters who were present to make sure everyone could be heard and everyone was understood. And I also want to extend my congratulations to you on your very first public hearing, Councilor Wheeler. Well done, Chair.

Thank you. I echo those thanks and appreciate them and appreciate the participation of everyone who helped make this hearing possible. and as well as the many members of the city staff who attended and listened. I think that's something that really should be noted. There's many people who gave up time to hear what the public had to say tonight. Okay, could the clerk please, seeing nothing further on the item, on the motion to adjourn. We do not need a roll call, okay. then I declare this meeting adjourned roll the credits thanks everyone have a great night