Open Space, Environment and Energy Committee

Good evening. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Committee on Open Space, Environment, and Energy. We're meeting today. It's Wednesday, December 3rd at 6 p.m. on the dot. Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting... of the City Council Committee will be conducted via remote participation. We will also post an audio recording, audio video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access channel. Individuals with disability who need auxiliary aids and Services for Effective Communication, written materials in alternative format or reasonable modification in policy and procedures in order to access

The programs and activities of the City of Somerville or to attend meetings should contact Andrea Pomero in advance at 617-625-6600 extension 2059. And so we will start by, you know, with a roll call for to establish a quorum. It's a clerk.

This is roll call. Councilor Clingan.

Present.

Sorry. Councilor Wilson. No. Present. Councilor Burnley. Present. Councilor Sait. Mbah.

Present.

Mr. Chair, four members are present, one is absent. We have a quorum.

Thank you. I think the record should reflect that Councilor Clingan is You know, stepping in, you know, being appointed by Councilor Davis, who could not be here. And, you know, Councilor Sait also has a prior commitment. So I think we will also begin by the first item on the agenda is to approve the minutes of the last committee meeting.

On approval of the minutes, Councilor Clingan.

Yes.

Councilor Wilson. Yes. Councilor Burnley. Aye. Councilor Sait. Councilor Baha. Yes. Mr. Chair, four members have voted to approve the minutes. One is absent. The minutes are approved.

Thank you, Clerk Fossilisi. I also see one of our newest... is in attendance. Hi, Councilor Hardt. We see you. So we will begin by moving things around. We are also assisted this evening by, you know, members from the administration. We have legislative liaison Radassi. So thank you, Yasmin, for helping us as well. So we will take item, a few item out of order. We'll take agenda item number five. I think. Mr.

Chair, if I may, Director Nadkarni is having some technical difficulties logging on. So maybe we could table the out-of-order ones just until she's able to join the meeting.

Absolutely.

My apologies.

No, no worries. So should we take Dr. Olivera's?

I think Director Oliveira is also having some technical difficulties, so maybe we could... Do one that isn't directed towards public space and urban forestry. Apologies.

I think We can just, you know, like, since we already had two items that you wanted us to take out of order, we can just, you know, revert to the regular, you know, items on the agenda and then whenever...

Oh, and Mr. Chair, I just see Director Nadkarni has just joined the meeting.

Oh, beautiful. So welcome, Dr. Nadkarni. So the item in question is You know, item number five, you know, I submitted an item that the Director of Economic Development A report to this council on the impact of Greentown Labs including job creation, local economic activity, community engagement initiatives, climate and sustainability contributions, and equity and inclusion outcomes. And just to put some context here, you know, or to introduce this item as the maker of the motion.

For 15 years, Greentown Labs in Somerville has carried out operations of shared facility location with mentoring, business support, and financial backing of incubator stage small enterprises in the clean energy sector. The City of Somerville has tried to encourage these activities and has expected to share in the benefits of their future growth. We have anticipated that Greentown and its fellow organization of Summer Nova and the Engine at MIT will provide the following. Opportunities for local entrepreneurs and graduates to launch new companies and prove their ideas. Growing numbers of jobs for professionals and technical support workers. Attraction of more young and talented people into the city and the region.

Attraction of venture capital, grants, and other funding, a large amount of which clean energy companies will in turn spent on wages and local services. Finally, having a hub of innovative activity in the sector in Somerville will help to inspire and educate our public and especially our school children about clean energy. These expected economic development benefits have been in substantiating reasons given by city leadership for a variety of regulatory actions, zoning changes and approvals, grants and financial support. and Tax Exemption, which the City and the Commonwealth have provided for Greentown over the years. Up to the end of 2024, It appeared that the expected growth and progress of clean energy technologies is well underway.

But in 2025, changes in federal policies and funding for research may be disruptive. Thank you for watching. My hope is that this committee can look closely at the results of our cooperation during the past 10 years and consider what changes in the city's plans or strategies of clean energy may be best helped to keep Greentown and the sector active and prospering in the city. I'm hoping that tonight's discussion can frame the question and suggest a methodology by which Greentown and the city agencies can report and define what changes may be needed. So it's just like, you know, I'm sure Director Nakene and I have actually had this conversation.

It's not new. I'm just trying to bring it home and put it on record, you know, in a... So you probably know also, actually, like I mentioned, you know, to Director Nakani, I also, you know, I'm fortunate to actually know the CEO of Greentown Lab, which I consider also a friend. So this is just... in that big picture of how do we build a better relationship and figure out the gaps and opportunities. So take it away, Director Nakani.

Hi everyone, good evening. Clark, is it best if I share slides? I know I sent it right at the end of the day. I can share screen though if that's the easiest way.

If you can, that'd be great.

You got it.

Yeah, amazing. I did not, I promise you, I did not see the slide.

Sorry, it was right at the end of the day.

I don't know where you sent it.

But to the clerk, is it possible to have screen sharing ability?

Rachel, you're all gonna do it, right?

Yeah.

Is that an alarm at my house or somebody else's?

Might be at yours. It's not going here.

Might be at mine. Okay. I'm going to make you a co-host. It should take care of it.

Thank you. That looking? All right. Excellent. Okay. So with this question in mind, I've spoken with the folks over at Greentown a couple of times in the last few days. and put together just a little bit of a snapshot of where we've been in the history and where we are today in our relationship and our engagement with them and their impacts that we're seeing in the city. So first, just a couple of background pieces. Greentown Labs continues to be the largest cleantech incubator in North America. Very proud of that fact. and we really see them as a technical assistance provider in the same way that we do our main streets organizations.

They are currently serving over 140 companies at their some of our location. Green Town Labs operates several labs within the facility, an electronics lab, a wet lab, dry labs. all kinds of important shared equipment that really makes it possible for these small startups to prototype their products and test things out. Beyond the access to the equipment, they run tons of collaboration events and they provide business development support at different stages in the early startup phases for these companies. It is a very busy place. What they are reporting right now is that there are approximately at least 200 people there every single day. Acting, you know, operating within the central southern rural area.

And their average right now is 10,000 plus visitors every year. Almost all of the events that they run are free and open to the public. So they are welcoming in the broader cleantech ecosystem. Anything from building decarbonization, industrial process efficiencies, Water supply, resiliency, they are bringing folks in in a variety of targeted conversations. and uh as the city we are always welcome to participate as well their only ticketed event right now is the showcase um which they do every November they do always invite um City Staff, and a cohort of Somerville High School students to participate in that event as well. Little on the history of this, they were founded in 2011. And it was founded as a collaborative of different startups who wanted to share space. They relocated to Boston in 2012.

moved to Somerville in their current home 2013, so they've been there now a good long time. The main expansion to the building that we all kind of recognize as the heart of Greentown was in 2017. and then their expansion to Houston happened in 2020. They are a partner there with Rice University and really embedded in with Rice down in Houston. On the organizational front, I think this is also an important part of the story of Greentown. Again, they were founded as a collaborative of startups who wanted to share space and get cheap rent together. that really turned and they recognized this sort of special sauce of that as more folks wanted to participate in the early days and sort of transformed into the incubator that we know today in that 2012 to 2013 phase. When... As they've grown in Somerville, they did two major steps on the organizational front. In 2017, they became a B Corp, that's a public benefit corporation.

And then in 2023, right at the peak of COVID, they transitioned to being a nonprofit corporation. Thank you for watching. And so their staff is really technical support staff that are helping boost this industry and support the companies that are housed there. How have we engaged with them over these years? We were actually a big part, the city itself was a big part of recruiting them to Somerville back in 2013. It was an active recruitment. There was support that we gave at that moment. And then over the years that they've been here, we've been a financial supporter when they've had key growth moments where they've needed access to capital to be able to leverage grants and other things to keep things growing.

Thank you for joining us. to focus on manufacturing. And then the Urban Lab Initiative, which was really a city-focused program, and that was to work with Greentown companies and others to bring their innovation to city streets. The one that I personally got to touch was SUFA. SUFA brought signs and benches with plugs around in city infrastructure. Somerville as a sandbox. And that program ran 2019 through 2021. Big picture again, Greentown is really all about the startups that are there. Overall, they've had 575 companies that they've incubated between the two locations. Most of those are Somerville.

There are currently 200 member companies, again 140 of the 200 are at the Somerville site. They have an extremely strong survival rate. um if you think about we always talk about this like can you make it to year one can you make it to year two or year five They have an 89% survival rate by their own tracking. And that's really impressive to get those companies through to the point where they're operating independently and out in the world. By their measure in 2022, Greentown companies had had a $9.8 billion economic impact in the world. They had raised $8.2 billion in investment capital. There were 560 patents that had come out of Greentown. and over 13,000 jobs that were created. So this is all coming from their impact reports, especially now that they're a nonprofit, those impact reports are really important to them, but they've been producing those as well. So there's one impact report that covers There are 2011 through 2019 years.

Again, at the B Corp, they had impact reports from there out basically every year since and now as a nonprofit as well. Technical assistance is where we see them as a strong partner. Again, one of the things that they are really doing well to support the industry's growth here locally is hosting events. So they host over 300 events annually. Career fairs with over 500 employee attendees in the last few years. They are boosting jobs for all their member companies and nonprofits that are located at Somerville. So they're posting. and amplifying those jobs on their website on a regular basis, over a thousand jobs amplified and counting. One of the questions in the item was about their commitments to and what we were seeing in terms of diversity and equity and inclusion. Two things we wanted to highlight. One is the Excel program. That is a specific program.

Accelerator focused on startups that are led by BIPOC individuals. That is a partnership with an organization called Browning the Green Space. Again, that's really trying to find diverse startups entrepreneurs across the world they actually bring them to Greentown those entrepreneurs in the excel program are not necessarily located here in Somerville they can be globally located but they are brought to Somerville and I think sometimes to Houston as well for cohort events. It's a cohort program, mentorship program, and we've been seeing a lot of strength in Excel members. then locating at Greentown as they grow and staying engaged with the organization. So that is in its third cohort this year for the Excel program, and it's been a really exciting set of folks to see present. They often are presenting at the showcase and in other pitch events, talking about what their products are and the importance of the program.

Another metric that we have been able to track, we, as part of our latest financial event with them, have a technical assistance loan. That's active right now with them. And as part of that, Greentown did have to do some reporting for Microsoft. Enterprises that were participating in the program and receiving their technical assistance support. So there are 28 companies that were reporting under that, and we asked some questions about their demographics. So from that set of 28 that we do have demographic information on, 14% have company founders that are Somerville residents, 50% have diversity, and 372 employees across that set of 28. It is a big group of folks so we don't have full data and again on everything that's been going on in terms of all the different companies that have been there and have grown out of there but we do know a good amount.

and as we think about the economic impacts I think one thing that really the word that stands out is sticky um which is a nice technical term in our sphere. But what it means is that there's an attachment to the place. Greentown itself, Somerville and Massachusetts are sticky when it comes to climate tech industry. A lot of that comes with our state's support for climate tech growth. Even in phases where there isn't federal support, we have a lot of local support here in Massachusetts. for the Climate Tech Industry. That's part of the MassLEADS Act currently, but this is data from the pre-COVID years. So in the pre-COVID years, 89% of startups at Greentown had received some sort of support from the Mass Clean Energy Center. 71% had employees that were from our local university pool 66% of companies grew within Greater Boston during that eight-year period

that's stickiness that is companies that are staying and growing because this is where the talent is this is where the supports are A couple other things related to the stickiness. We know that many of our companies, even the most successful ones, will retain a membership at Greentown and even a desk or two so that they can stay engaged with us. the community and all the community programming that Greentown puts on. So again that's pulling that ecosystem together. Greentown really is A hub for this industry because of those programs and the network of partners who are coming together there. Another one that adds to the stickiness is a Greentown member that I wanted to highlight. That's Forge Impact. Forge Impact is a really interesting little nonprofit. Their basic operations is actually at Greentown Labs, but they do now have a Western Mass location as well. And their role

Thank you so much for joining us. that thing at the next scale. How are you going to do that? How are you going to find the suppliers that you need or the locations that can do the manufacturing for you? And so their role is to really help make those connections to Springfield, to Connecticut, to Rhode Island, to Vermont, wherever the thing might be. So if you need timber, they're probably connecting you with Maine or Vermont. If you need access to precision manufacturing, it's probably something in Western Mass. And so again, they're really trying to help localize the growth of these companies so that they are able to stay in Massachusetts as they scale up.

Thank you so much for joining us. They are producing iron-air grid-scale batteries, really making a dent in energy reliability for clean energy. And they started with five people at Greentown Labs. They have grown a ton. They still have 350 people now located at their Somerville base of operations over on Interbelt Road. So they've expanded substantially. What you see in these pictures here on the left, the first one, that's their very first little battery when there were five people trying to put something together. In the middle, you see Mayor Ballantyne with Ted Wiley on the left.

Tammy, whose last name is escaping me at the moment, and the last person is also, her name has run out of my head, but this was a tour of their facility when they were still primarily based at the Summer Nova campus. And then what you see on the bottom, this is their large plant. They are producing their batteries now at scale in West Virginia. They need to be where the iron is. So their production facility is now in West Virginia, but their base of operations for... All their research continues to be here in Somerville. This is where the talent is. This is where the CEO lives. They're really proud to be a strong partner here in Somerville. One other sort of like it's a really tangible aspect of the partnerships that they have here locally is that they've been a key partner in getting the connection between the Eastern Rail Green Line Station to Interbelt Road open.

Tammy, who you see in that picture next to the mayor, she as an individual has been pounding the pavement, making sure that that accurate connection happened, even while we're working on a longer term solution. So they're really embedded here in the city. We love that for them and are thrilled that they have grown with us. Sublime Systems Sublime Systems, similar kind of story. They started five years ago. Actually, they started in 2020, which is not very long at all and have grown substantially. They grew out of Greentown. stayed right at Summer Nova campus. And so their headquarters is now on Park Street. They are producing a low carbon concrete product. They have pilot scale concrete production happening. At Summer Nova's campus, it is nice and quiet, I have to say. I've been next to those machines within two feet, and it is not loud at all.

And it's a really great quality product that's more consistent quality than your typical concrete, as well as being a lot lower carbon footprint. We've been starting to explore if there are partnerships we can have with them to utilize their product here on Somerville projects. they have grown a lot as well their research base is going to probably stay here in Somerville as long as we can keep them but again you're not going to be producing concrete at scale in any of our facilities, most likely they have actually expanded to Holyoke, Massachusetts for their production facility. Again, that's some stickiness though, because of their main production facilities in Massachusetts. That makes it a lot easier for them to keep their research center here as well. The other one I wanted to highlight that's grown a ton and is really probably set for more growth coming up is Transera.

Transera is a, again, they have not moved far from Greentown, they're at Kent Street, but they are producing next generation cooling systems. They actually just had a really successful launch of their cooling system. They did a first install in Florida earlier this fall. It's poised to be a really great innovation for HVAC industry. Again, they've grown a ton and continue to stay and build on their workforce that's here in Somerville. Obviously, that's not all. It's a very long list. We didn't have time to really do it too deep. We don't have a good record. and I spoke Greentown too you know this is a project that we could continue to research if that's of importance but we did pull together a list of you know some of the bigger players so other alumni from Greentown that are still active really locally

Rise Robotics, they expanded into Union Square, Civil, they're on School Street, Reframe Systems has grown a lot locally, they actually built their first product, they built a triple-decker on Gilman Street, Phoenix Tailing Bevy, the water producer, Spark Charge, and Tender, which I didn't actually manage to add to the list, but got a photo of. Tender is producing a... a chicken like product that's vegan and it is you know also in use and direct to consumers at the market at Sauce so it's you know Greentown is really embedded I think throughout um Somerville Ecosystem, and it's in a variety of industries, right? Whereas robotics is not your typical climate tech company, neither really is Bevy, but they are also, right? They are still, have their root and their Their ethos is tied to climate tech goals.

So where are we now? And how do we keep the growth going? I think that's, Councilor Mbah, a little bit of the question you were aiming for too. and wanted to highlight a couple of things that we've been engaged on. So the most recent thing that we have been engaged with them on is we hosted a regional meeting between Greentown Labs, The Engine. The Engine also has Space at the Summer Nova Campus, as well as city staff from Cambridge, Somerville, and Watertown to think about how we can promote and coordinate around issues in the climate tech sector. And so what we did is we gathered actually all of the regulatory bodies that engage with climate tech companies to talk about how do you how do you talk to a innovation company that's doing something innovative? that you've never heard of before and is not in the code books. What does that process look like? What could we be doing?

How do we be synchronized on this between the three communities where this industry cluster is really growing at its strongest right now? Really productive series of conversations. We had building inspector talking to building inspector, fire chief talking to fire chief. Again, really productive set of conversations. There's more to do in that space, but it's something that we are trying to keep of Public Schools continues to be engaged closely with Greentown as well. Again, there's always back and forth for speakers, collaborations. We've been trying to figure out STEM week programming, OSE is really tightly involved in making sure we're pulling this all together along with the innovation team over at Somerville Public Schools. And then the main thing I just wanted to report back, what we sort of heard out of these conversations and what we've been hearing in a variety of places from the member companies. Greentown is always focused on how we keep those member companies growing. And that's our goal, too.

and what they want out of a municipal partnership. Typically what they're looking for is permanent support and expertise. right um if you're a company that wants to do something that um has to you know would make a I'm trying to come up there's one that I met with um they do um residential Energy Performance Monitoring. What they're looking for is some guidance on how would an electrical inspector view their product? What kind of documentation would they need to be able to produce their product in Massachusetts and get it approved? That's the kind of interaction that some of these companies at these early stages are looking for our help on. Understanding what they would need to do to launch their product on the market and make a difference in reducing the carbon footprint of everything in our world. They're looking for pilot opportunities.

Again, companies that might want to have something in public space often are looking to the city and saying, hey, could we do this thing? What would it take? for us to pilot in Somerville. The thing about reframe systems, again, they just built a triple-decker. They needed to get... They're looking for that opportunity to collaborate with anybody and everyone to see if they can pull that off. And then as they're building their products, the collaboration with the fire department, police department, and inspectional services are key. Green Town Labs, and most of those member companies will tell you Somerville Fire Department is one of the best you'll ever meet. and they really do appreciate the work of the fire inspection and prevention teams in collaborating with them and being really sensitive to the innovative nature of their work. These companies are dealing with A lot of sensitive data.

Thank you for joining us. and conversations about things that no one's ever dealt with before. And it's just something that is sort of front of mind for them at all times. So I hope that's a helpful start to the conversation. Wanted to get some data points to you all.

Well, thank you, Director McKinney. This is great. You know, it's like... really along the lines of what I expected to get out of this conversation you know there's a lot we can get into but this is you know for I think most of some of the companies you mentioned we were there when they launched Sublime we were all there and then Rise Robotics I think I also went you know so some of my colleagues as well there you know the I think Rise Robotics even won like Guinness Book of Record for like um strength test You know, I think Councilor Wilson was there. It is good. It is good. I think one key thing I want to see and underscore, which is what I talked to you and I talked to the CEO of Greentown Lab, was that the gap that I saw that was visible was that collaboration between Greentown Lab and Somerville High School.

I've met the superintendent. Everybody's just, nobody's, you know, everybody's clueless. It's just, there's some collaboration. It's from people who have like some connection or somebody knows someone. and then they bring somebody. It is good that we establish a formal relationship so that kids from the high school can benefit. They want to get involved in green tech. So I told Georgia that and she was also excited about the idea and so I would want us to you know especially when somebody's excited about something like that and said they were not even sure what was going on you know and that they just know that some of their colleagues know somebody you know in the school and then so I feel like that was you know if if you can if the city can establish that it will be huge

you know to be able to like really you know get in get this this uh create a pretty robust collaboration between the main You know, not many green tech in North America like and having a footprint, you know, weave into our community.

If I may, there's there's a program where the Schools are trying to start related to the STEM week and trying to establish a more formalized program. They did a really interesting pilot working with a group out of Tufts to test it last year. Establishing a full program for the schools takes actually multiple school years just to launch. Thank you so much for joining us. to get everybody engaged. So we were hoping to launch something for this year. It didn't quite come together after the pilot happened in June. We were trying to pull it off. STEM week happens in October. And June to October was a little bit too tight.

But that idea is very much alive and well within the school department and the administrative staff and the science departments as well. So definitely the energy is there. It's a matter of getting everybody aligned so that it works. has that robustness that you're hoping to see.

Amazing. Thank you. And I would love to be part of those evolution for something like this that I'm pressing on. And then, in fact, the data also that he gave was really big. It's like big picture. It's great. I found most of those also on their website itself. you know so which is great I guess one of the things I was curious about like just like how many jobs have they created in Somerville you know in in in and have been made available to qualified city residents. that is also like you know maybe even just like through their activities you know it could be like do we you know like do we have any of that data?

We don't actually have any of that data. That is not something that we're actively tracking. This is something as we... Again, our workforce development team is sort of in a rebuilding moment. But we have it on our goals for when we have a new senior planner coming. for Workforce Development that their role, one of their main tasks is going to be engaging with our employers around what their employment Thanks for watching! We expect that they'll be engaging with our top employers first. Those are generally not folks in the climate tech sphere, but four might be actually in that top list. are close to it. And then start to work our way through and get a good sense of what are the hiring practices and needs of those companies.

But no, I will say we don't have a A local job board that is sort of tracking us on the local level.

Yeah, no, that's fine. You know, it's just to kind of like, I want to frame the big picture so that as we start to evolve in this conversation, This is the kind of things that we need. Also, what level and volume of wages does Greentown... and the climate sector provide and how significant is this volume as part of the total payroll for all city workers it's like it's just those kind of data that you know it's like it just builds into like that I

Thank you for joining us. Their own workforce is small. Their own workforce is 20-some people right now. The member companies, that's where the employment is. Most of those companies start out really, really small. You're often talking, and this has been one of the challenges that we see in the workforce development conversations we've had, is that Typically, their next hire, when they're ready to grow beyond Greentown, their next hire is business director. You're going from scientist who's now CEO and needs to fill out their C-suite of... A business director level folks.

The next several tiers of jobs might be technicians, engineers, and folks who may have a variety of skill sets. But typically in the early days of hiring, when you're going from the five person to the 10 person, You're going from inventor to inventor plus C-suite. And so this has been a debate that we've been having, too. What is our role and our goal as a municipal support organization? Partner at that stage. Finding a business development partner is maybe not the thing that we are most skilled at supporting in. Nor is it something that we need to track as closely. Where we really care from the workforce side is how are we getting our folks who don't necessarily have

I was wondering how much investment Capita has brought into town and the climate sector brought into Somerville on behalf of their member companies.

Yeah, that's that 9 billion number. It's not a small number.

you know they brought that to Somerville yeah you know and and uh Yeah, no, I think I will probably, you know, pause for now and just open it to my committee members so that I don't, you know, do any committee members have something to, you know, any question?

Mr. Chair, I'll thank you for putting in the item here and thank the director for the presentation. Always good to be looking at what are we getting back for what we're putting in for these sorts of things, right? You know, We're out there trying to do some stuff, stir things up, see what we can get going. We just did the recent TIFF, looking to bring someone in. So I'm just thinking, as we go around... Thank you, Councilor Wilson.

So any other members, you know, any committee member have any more question? You know, and so no, Derek and Kenny, thank you. I'm so glad that we even just, you know, it's like, Just like how like sometime when we put this thing you know it's just because sometime like I remember I told you like I actually it's because somebody introduced me to you know like the CEO and this is like we actually had a mutual friend and they say oh and then I'm like oh Oh, Greentown Lab. Okay, let me see. So I was excited to meet the CEO, but I was excited to understand what the industry is all about. We hear all this big stuff. How do we get some benefits and also talk about it?

If I may, I forgot to mention also, so in my conversations with them over the last couple of days, they definitely said happy to host city councilors for a tour come spring. I know we've got three city councilors who are joining new. They're... You know, definitely willing to put together a specific City of Somerville tour that could be for, you know, for city staff, for council, for... and we could do an open ad they were saying we could do an open advertisement you know tour for community members they do have tours for the high school all the time with science classes so they're definitely again they especially under their new non-profit status you know and really diving deep into the mission and embedding. So we can pull that together in the new year as well, for sure.

Absolutely. No, I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, I forgot to even mention that as well. Maybe this... Just a last, just a curious card here. Like, I'm just curious in terms of like the changes in federal policy, you know, in federal funding, like, is it any way it's affecting Greentown Lab and its member companies?

It is absolutely affecting Greentown and its member companies, for sure. Sublime had a grant that, I mean, for sure the grants... The Cruise of Line, there's an article on their website about one of the grants that they lost. But there's been a lot of pullback in grants that are focused on this sector. Now that said there's a lot of need for this sector. The AI boom is coming actually at a not bad time because there is a need to be more efficient with our energy and we need Thank you so much for joining us. and its ability to support the energy needs of the country. That is a big part of the Houston story with Greentown too.

Being embedded in Houston gives them gives member companies a different, it's a different sector, right? In some ways. But a lot of the technologies that might be more oriented towards improvements to The traditional energy sectors, the greening of the traditional energy sectors, they find a lot of partnership in the Houston office versus if you're the message in Somerville, you're likely to be more involved in a whole variety of things. I think one of the coolest ones I've ever met is somebody who came out of biotech and she's developing a more Energy and a more material efficient bead production using tech like using equipment that you typically use for 3d production like 3d printing In the biotech sector, she adapted it to make 3D-printed beaded fabrics for high-end fashion houses, and she's doing that out of about 30 square feet in Greentown Labs.

And that's not something that you would think of as an energy... Saving Technology, but it is. And so there's a lot of those really unique niche things that are coming out of Greentown and that cross-sector collaboration that we see at our Somerville location is just phenomenal.

Amazing. And you're talking about that. I just remember we've not even gotten into data centers, you know, which has been like a huge proliferation of data centers. You know, when you talk about AI, I'm sure Greentown Live is building something. Thank you so much. Thank you. You know, that symbiosis, you know, between the city and Greentown Lab, I think it will be huge. Thank you, Director Nakani. As always, I appreciate your work. And I think since we have a lot to... To discuss down the road, I'll be inclined to keep this for future conversations so that we can continue to examine what opportunity is there and what

and how we can continue to support Green Town Lab as well. Thank you so much. Is there any member of the committee that has any last minute, any last thought they want to chime in and ask? Yes, your chance or forever hold your peace. Thank you, Dr. Nakani, for your time. Appreciate it. So Liaison Radassi, do we have, is it okay if we take the other item out of order?

Through the chair, yes. Director Oliveira is here so she can speak to the pollinator action plan and the open space and recreation items.

Amazing. Thank you. Wow. I didn't know that this... It's like... Now I see why I could not believe that this took us... Thank you. So we have the next item that we'll take is 10 and 11. Is that correct? Are you going to present both together?

Yes. If it's possible, I am going to do 11 and then 10.

Absolutely. And 11 is that the Director of Public Space in Urban Forestry conveying the Somerville Open Space and Recreation Plan 2025-2026. to 2035. And then 10 is that the Director of Public Space and Urban Forestry conveying the Somerville Pollinator Action Plan related updates. Take it away, Director Oliveira.

Thank you through the chair. Is it possible for me to share screen or I know I sent the slides very late. It's been a week.

You have authorization to do that. You should be able to.

Okay, can everyone see the slides and hear me?

Yes, if you can magnify a little bit so we can presentation mode or something like that.

Does that help at all?

Yeah, a little bit.

Okay, great. Through the chair, my name is Luisa Oliveira. I'm the Director of Public Space and Urban Forestry for the City of Somerville. and I'm going to speak to you about two things that our division just completed. Both of these are available online on the Summer Voice page which many of you may know is where Most project information and plan information lives. And I'm just going to give you a glimpse into these two plan documents, but I encourage you all and welcome you all to please go to the Summer Voice page. and have a look. These are both things that took Thank you. So if you'll allow me, I'll just go through.

I will stop after every slide if anyone has any questions or shall I wait till the end?

I mean, your preference. I think it's like we have some pretty modest people on this. So I think...

Okay, why don't I... I think I'll go through and then if there are any questions. Again, I'm really just giving you a taste of this. So the Open Space and Recreation Plan. is a document that's required to receive state funding. Many of our parks, most of our parks receive funding from the Parkland and Acquisition Parkland Acquisition and Recreation something it's P-A-R-C um For communities, I believe. And PARC is a grant that gives usually about a half million dollars for us to build parks. And one of the requirements is that you have an updated open space and recreation plan. Most cities have a I have one that meets all the requirements, but ours kind of goes above and beyond because we actually use it for setting policy and doing projects in open space and recreation.

This is a plan that has a lot of elements to it, but one thing that I am particularly happy about is that we have highlighted some of our success stories. So you can see on the left, for example, it's about our policy. For privately owned public space, you may know this at Luann David Park, the Cala building, all of those spaces in the middle are also publicly accessible open spaces. This is a photograph of those. It also talks about our privately owned public space policy, also found on Summer Voice. And the acreage as of 2025 that we've added is 6.37 through privately owned public spaces.

Proactive maintenance for trees Thank you for watching! Dr. Bukele plants them. They are under warranty for two years and at about the third year they are assessed for health and given any kind of pruning that helps them to grow in a more structurally sound way. And then we also have a Parks Tree Health Program, which is all of, we have this year completed a cycle of all of our parks to have the same type of treatment for each park, each tree in each park.

Couple of other ones, the Miyawaki Forest, as many of you may know, behind the high school. This was a great example of volunteers and some of them who continue to volunteer today. Volunteer planting with 34 different native species and 410 plants that are planted. It's a micro forest. It's planted in enriched soil and it's supposed to create biomass quickly. So that is also another success story. And then the fields plan which for those of us who have been around for a while we know this Fields Plan that people spent many hours on was completed and we now have renovated six fields. created three new synthetic turf fields.

and one at DCR as well as the rehabilitation of two natural grass fields, one of which is the Dilborn Stadium, which is still being renovated right now. So throughout the plan there are some highlighted stories like that. The other thing that this plan has is a lot of data. So it's very, for example, this is a chart that shows What all of our open space who they're owned by and what protections they have. This is very useful for all of us to know. Does this have... And this is a requirement, so some of these things feel a little weird to say whether it's active or passive, but it's a requirement of... for the Park Grant. So they give us this chart, we fill it out. But important for this is also the protections.

So are they protected in perpetuity? What other protection do they have? So this is just one page of that chart. All of it can be found in the plan itself. Moving on to more data. We also at the end have the accomplishments of what we've done since the last open space plan. And you can see the schoolyards that we've finished and all of the different Renovations and Additional Open Space that we've completed. This is one of, I think, six pages. There's also sections about the geology and the history of Somerville, as well as census data information and How it has changed since the last open space plan. All of these, if you like data, are very much worth having a look at. And if you have a question, you can always refer to this because it is all there.

Another part, another thing that we have, these are more accomplishments. And you can see we're doing pretty well in terms of getting these things done that we said in the last open space plan that we would do. Part of this plan was having a very robust community process where we had different public meetings at different parts of the city as well as one online to engage residents about The Open Space Network and trying to understand what goals and objectives they would like to see and you can see some of these are ones that we had before. Always people want us to add more open space. We're trying our best to do that. But then there is also some trying to keep

Some of the parks that we are, but just make upgrades instead of doing full renovations and making our parks more inclusive, which we're also working towards and resilient landscape practices. Most of our parks. are not only parks, but working landscapes. So many of them have stormwater storage features. The plantings provide habitat and shade. So people want to continue doing that and we really have to because of climate change. and then recreational programming. We did have more people talk about parks and recreation or the recreation programming and continuing to improve and have more equitable programming. So again, these are five goals and then at the end of the plan, at the very end of them, we have those goals put in and have an action plan. So this is just one page.

of the things that goal one is to acquire new ones and here are the steps that we would like to take within the next 10 years to try to get to that goal. Oh, sorry. So that is the last one, and I will take any questions.

Thank you so much. No, this is very rich information. I'm looking at some, just, I mean, this is terrific. Thank you. I think you're doing an amazing job. It's like all this private, privately owned public space, It's a public space, and then one is privately owned. So it means it's not accessible to the public? Or like, why do we... Like the Martha Perry... Lowey Park, New Construction. It says privately owned public space. Just remind me again what it's like.

So through the chair, privately owned public space is space For example, that is new open space that's generated through development. So for example, there are spaces in Assembly Square, there are spaces in Boynton Yards, there's a park in Boynton Yards, there's Martha Perry Lowe Park, and a number of other ones that are built by developers, but they have agreements with us that the public are allowed into them.

Yeah, and it's so funny. You know, honestly, I have some friends that don't even know that that is like a public space. That's why I ask that question. Is there like a sign that says... I think they should, maybe they actually do have it. A sign that just says public space so that nobody feels weird, you know, like that they're encroaching. Do I make sense?

Yes, so as you, through the chair, as you know, I've been here for 15 years and quite early on in my time here, we started to realize that there were Spaces that don't read this way. There's been a considerable amount of research that's been done on how these spaces are used. I'm sorry. And we tried in our policy to try to address some of the problems. So each of these spaces does have a sign. and it says this is public space all are welcomed now sometimes there are some spaces for example there's one near where I live that was sold because the developers will then sell them later on and I noticed that they have a sign up that says only the people this is Millbrook or I think it has a different name now but only people who live here can use this sign that is not allowed so

Thank you for watching. See you next time. So we've been working to both make them more readable to encourage developers to put more active elements in it because They often want to build something that's going to be for their workforce but we also want the parks to be used when there's nobody in the building because they're in communities and we have so little open space that we really need that open space so I can't tell you how many times I've had beef with developers about putting in a basketball hoop We will see some around the city.

and we try our best to make sure that they read that way.

Got you. I can see Councilor Wilson is anxious to ask this question, but just one last one that I have is like, So again, which neighborhood do you think that, you know, face the largest open space deficit in the city? You know, and in any, do you have any kind of like creative ideas? The neighborhood that has the least amount of open space is Brick Bottom.

Unfortunately, that's a transformed neighborhood, so it is getting more open space. But also, one thing that we have with being only four square miles is that our walk shed, which is a measurement of a half mile, 10 minutes walking to a park, is very high and we're at about very close to 100%. So even if there's not a park, In front of your house, you have access to one within 10 minutes or so. The Waukesha analysis is also in the plan. There are a couple of small deserts, but again, either just outside that walk shed and unfortunately doing analysis like that is great because we know where those areas are but we can't necessarily Make the parks appear or even the parcels to purchase. But we are lucky because we're kind of like the kitchen at a party in that everything is pretty close. Like everyone is pretty close to a park. Gotcha.

Thank you.

And do we have any consideration? Again, I think we talked about it like in the past, like for rooftops, you know, like are they, you know, pocket packs, like all this. Are they under consideration also in your chart?

Absolutely. Whenever we are able to make a park, we just finished Ken Kelly Park. That's a pocket park. Quincy Street Park, also a pocket park. I'd call Martha Perry Lowe a pocket park. So even if they're small, there's another one that a developer made. in East Somerville on Tough Street, Leonard Grimes Park, also a pocket park. So even small spaces we are considering. With roof gardens, there is a... and ordinance I believe that was passed that development has to have green roofs or roof gardens and those are great in many many ways but I do have a concern that Green Roofs and Roof Gardens are not accessible to the general public and that not everyone feels welcome going through a lab building to get on top of the roof. So I would like to continue to encourage

you know earth level development that everybody feels uh welcome to go into and there are a lot of um Barriers sometimes to these parks and there's a lot of pushback on certain people being in parks. But in the end, they are public spaces and we all feel very strongly that they should remain public.

Gotcha. Thank you. Wilson. See you in wedding. I appreciate your patience and Councilor Clingan and Councilor Burnley. You guys have the floor now.

Chair, thanks. I wasn't trying to rush you. I was just waiting my turn, but I appreciate you calling on me. I want to really praise our city staff for producing a really excellent report here. I've heard from a lot of committee members who really appreciated this. I'll just say this goes way above and beyond what one might expect for a required report to get grant eligibility. So I am here for that. A thing worth doing is worth doing well. and great to hear the shout out for the Miyawaki Forest. I partially tore my rotator cuff digging holes for that planting. Makes me feel good to see it. It feels like it wasn't all for naught. In the summary of community needs portion, it talks about the desire for unprogrammed passive open spaces. This is something I see a lot.

There's a huge appetite from our community for things like spaces for pickup soccer games, a place to play catch, you know. I'll tell you, coaching soccer, I'll say my least favorite thing is having to show up and kick someone off of a field that's in their community that they were just trying to go use because we have a field permit. I feel like garbage every time doing that. And every time it makes me really wanna try to figure out a way to do community hours on our fields. Is that one of the things that came through loud and clear is the community's desire for something like community hours specifically on our turf athletic fields that can sustain that kind of activity?

Through the chair, honestly, no, that wasn't a conversation that was had. And I think we are very honest about the folks who showed up to the meetings and are acknowledging that they were for the most part a very similar demographic and that we don't hear from all voices so that the fields conversation wasn't so much of A discussion. There was a lot of, and I think this is a post-COVID thing, like people really want to walk and be closer and in nature. and we all want that but it does require some larger parks. I think we will have that with some of our upcoming parks like the art farm. But I do want to acknowledge that our outreach, as always, is not representational of who is on the fields.

and I know that there are many many people who want to use athletic fields and non-athletic fields all the time and that yes they get kicked off because of the permitting. I myself am not a fan of the Only permitted uses because again it's public space and the reason to make all these very expensive turf fields is so that we can get more uses out of it. So I think we certainly could Do community hours or find some other way. The recreation division really does the permitting for the fields. We don't have anything to do with that. But they're public fields and people should be able to go and play on them whether they are playing a pickup soccer game or they want to play Quidditch or whatever people want to play.

Absolutely. Through the chair, you'd mentioned the Parks and Recreation Department that handles the permitting of our outdoor athletic facilities. I'm guessing the scope of this didn't include looking into the permanent hours of those facilities or the hours requested. That was something I remember during the... The athletic field's master plan process, that definitely was something we heard a lot about. You and I engaged a lot on that specific thing, as I recall. But that wasn't within the scope of this.

Through the chair, no. No. and I am not sad about it because I spent many hours of my life pouring through that data. There is a system. and I think that data could be looked at but we didn't look specifically at that that's not in the scope here we did hear you know people want a rec center they want indoor recreation there are there was a lot of Conversation about having a community center or youth center, something like that. And we do we are you know for example when we have pops the developers want to be able to use the space as if it is their own and i have insisted that they need to go into the permitting system just like anybody else because they're public spaces so You know, you can get a permit to have a birthday party or a party or any kind of thing like that through the permitting system. So REC, I think, would be able to gather that data if that was needed.

Yeah, through the chair. Yeah, totally, totally understandable. I want to ask about community gardens. Talks about in the community garden program improvements, Long wait times to get a plotter mentioned.

I know we got an email from... Sorry, I wanted to make sure that... I'm glad you mentioned that because I actually thought it was like another item. But this is probably just in line with this agenda item. So thank you for... Sorry for... I almost wanted to, I thought we were gonna get to that item, but this is actually on point.

Oh, yeah, Chair. Through you, yeah, this is what that email was about, right? In a city where space is really constrained, we're always looking at how can we create more. There were a number of very creative ideas. Thank you for joining us. Do you see any creative solutions out there for creating more of these community gardens?

Through the chair, there will be some community gardens as part of the programming at the art farm. And we are always looking for places to expand. Just a little asterisk on the 600 number. The community gardens are governed by the Conservation Commission. and the Conservation Commission has recently done some, they've had a subcommittee and they've been looking at their community gardening program they they're the community gardens themselves are self-governed and they've always really resisted our involvement because we know for example that they're the Thank you for watching! They don't want our help on this.

But we do know from the subcommittee that the 600 number is a little bit misleading because oftentimes people will put their name on it and then they, you know, maybe they're a student or young or they're moving out of Somerville. Thank you for watching! There is an absolute need for it. We also had conversations with them about limiting the time because once people get a garden, they can stay for life. And it turns out that Those lifetime gardeners are the people who kind of hold these gardens together. So for example, if you go over to Lincoln Park, which that one we piloted having a three-year limit on, and people are not...

you know I think a lot of people want to garden but they don't realize you actually have to do it and do it frequently if you want to get something out of it so we've piloted a number of different things not having fences having fences having open gardens having having um Waitlists, and I think our thinking has changed a bit on that because those stalwart gardens are really the people who hold that community together. We've also realized that most people are not going to be able to feed their families by a community garden plot.

Sorry, director, you're muted.

Sorry, I don't know how I apologize through the chair. What it does is build community more than anything else. And that is very important. There are others in the city who feel that we should abolish the community garden programs altogether because it's a privatization of that space. So, you know, we have 81,000 clients. There's a lot of different opinions, but we are always looking to add more community gardens and to... Really work with the garden committee to be more efficient on the turnover and activating them. We have some community gardens that I think could be better used. For example, the ones at Chucky Harris Park. and there you know there's some issues with the design there but if there are people that wanted to garden flowers that's a perfect place for them I believe the project soup may have been using them for a little bit

But yes, we're absolutely aware of the community gardens. We absolutely want more into our system because there is a need even though some people are vehemently against them. So again, as with everything, we want more open space for everything.

Absolutely. I appreciate that. Question about Art Farm. It's come up here a couple times. I see a couple different statuses listed in there. One says it's... on hold because of the work at the Pappashoot Pump Station. Another says design being finalized. We get asked about that a lot. Here we are, you know, in front of the public. I'll ask, where are we? Where's our farm at right now?

Councilor Wilson, I think Director Rich actually sent a memo about specifically for that. But I'm glad you're asking that because maybe Director Oliveira also has an answer. I already called you director. Aliazon Radassi. Can you comment to that?

Yes, through the chair. I know there's another item on this on the agenda. So Director Rage did submit a memo providing the most up-to-date information for art form.

that's what I would just you know so happy to have that discussion when we take that up it just our farm had come up and I wanted to ask about that uh chair one last question I had uh and and that is to do To do with the Fields Master Plan stuff. Very excited for Dobe-Oxford Field coming online next year. Thank you, CPA Funds. I have to ask, though, about Lincoln Park, specifically the soccer field. It's not able to support the full programmed use it was intended to have just because of our inability to have a healthy... Grass Surface on it. How important is that in the director's view for us to get that field surface issue solved?

Through the chair, I have not been really involved in Lincoln Park soccer field for quite some time. I know that there's the grass was struggling. I thought that there had been some improvements made and it was doing much better. I think that at this point, we do have enough synthetic turf fields to support at least what we have now in some growth. Maintenance of our assets is always a continual thing that we work very hard with DPW on. But I really don't know what status the Lincoln soccer field is at this moment.

Well, Chair, I'll just say this about the Lincoln Park soccer field. It's, you know... Really should be a gem. We've really struggled for a few reasons I won't get into here. We've struggled to maintain that anywhere near the quality it should be at, given the amount of money we put into that and its importance. Yeah, we absolutely, we have a lot of turf fields in the city. We need more grass athletic fields. That's why that field is so important. So, you know, that's going to... I'm just going to name that. That's a problem we have to be working on. We have to get serious about making that surface work. That's all I have. Thanks, Chair. And thanks, Director.

Sure, through the chair, just one word on that. You will see when we open Dillboy, it will be perfect. Just like when we opened the lawn at Prospect Hill Park, it was perfect. And I took a picture because I said to myself, it will never look like this again. And the truth is, these are heavily used public spaces. With dogs, rain, trampling after rainstorms, all the stuff that comes with heavy usage. It is a challenge to maintain them. We don't have enough fields to let them rest while others recuperate. Yeah, unfortunately, this is always a challenge with any municipality, but most especially with ours because we just don't have the space to be able to rotate things around. And also we would have to, you know, cordon off a large part of the park. Which we've done for quite some time at Lincoln, so.

Thank you, Director. Clingan. I appreciate your patience.

No problem. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, through you. Just a couple of quick questions. One, I noticed that and maybe it's I don't I think we acquired it officially but I noticed I didn't see the Sewell Street lot in this line I know it's not named or anything like that but It is officially ours, I believe. I didn't see that on there. I guess my question is, do you know how many square feet of open space that adds? Because that isn't going to be a... Pop. It's not going to be a privately owned public space. We were able to negotiate it to be city land.

Through the chair, Civil Street wasn't Part of the inventory because the inventory was finished before it was negotiated. But yes, I imagine it's less than a half of an acre, if that, because it's quite small. But, you know, we'll take every square inch we have. succeeded in getting in the last 10 years, I think about 16 acres, which maybe 16? I don't know if that's right which doesn't sound like a lot given our goal was 154 or something but it actually is a lot because of how densely populated we are.

Yeah, no problem. I just figured that, you know, I thought it would have been added just because, of course, you know, we want to look as good as possible here on paper. To the chair.

It's true. We do want to look as good as possible, but we actually only add things after a ribbon cutting. That's kind of our standard.

Well, that was my question. That's exactly what I was getting at. Although I didn't see, whatever. Okay, but that's exciting. And then the other question was around... As far as, well, this is kind of on the pollinator garden thing, but have you been in touch with Mystic River Watershed Association around the MROS project and like the kind of, I guess the, I think it's going to kind of decimate the pollinator garden that's over? Currently on the Shore Drive area, which the pipe is going to go right through that pollinator garden. Have you been in touch with them about what the plans might look like?

Through the chair. That's I think the other item is about pollinator. Oh, okay. Yes.

Through the chair. The other item is about the pollinator plan. Councilor Clingan is asking about a project that has the potential to destroy the pollinator garden that's on the Mystic Banks. Oh. I am aware of that and I have made an appropriate amount of noise as has everyone on my staff. But there are infrastructure needs and I don't think it can be avoided. It's also a particular shame because that pollinator garden, people always think that meadows are very easy to establish and that pollinator garden was a perfect example of why we've always been saying It's really not like that because I believe DCR has put more than $150,000 into it and many iterations over years to get it to finally be doing what it's supposed to do.

And yes, this project threatens to go right through it. And it's very unfortunate.

I just brought up in the context of, you know, Blessing of the Bay Park is on there, which this is, that's technically part of the whole park. And then the last question would be, as far as and this may fall you know hopefully the new administration will really kind of re-explore the possibility of getting an MOU with the state for Foss Park. I just you know I get a lot of A lot of the people on Fellsway West, you know, at this point, it seems like there's a few. They just redid all of these softball fields, the furthest ones down towards Mystic Hab, and they don't really get any use, and I just feel like there's so much possibility there with you know potentially because the state doesn't really want to get involved with dog parks it seems like you know that's kind of like they kind of resist that's not

something that they seem interested in doing but it seems like if we were able to get an MOU with the state and could take control of FOSS potentially we could get a dog park there. and maybe even more garden space. There's multiple potential uses where it's currently not being used right now, those softball fields included. Do you have any thoughts on that? I'm just curious in terms of FOSS and what that would add to our stock portfolio.

Through the Chair, DCR made a pretty substantial investment by putting the field there that is heavily, heavily used. and does provide a lot of that. There's always people on it. It provides a lot of the informal games that are not permitted. And we have Thank you so much for joining us. I don't we've not really they have planted trees there additional trees but it's very hard to get them to commit to changing things or which has been very involved.

I mean honestly I personally through you Mr. Chair I don't know that I would want to see us take on another pool per se so I think maybe and they love their soccer fields or maybe you know everything from the new soccer field on they they maintain and we work out a deal where we can develop in some way you know you repurpose the rest of the of the open space that doesn't get a lot of use and it's Thank you for watching! Amenities and stuff like that. Hopefully that's something we can work towards. That's all, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Great presentation, by the way.

Thank you, Councilor Clingan. I guess, Dr. Oliveira, you can see that you continue to have an all-star tonight. But I want to go back to this... Thank you for joining us. I guess one thing I was trying to know is that, so community gardens, are they under your purview?

No, the community gardens are managed within themselves and they're under the purview of the Conservation Commission.

Yeah, I know you mentioned that. So, but do you have... Thank you. And so, but how do we... because you also mentioned about trying to add community gardens. So it seems that you guys overlap. Is that correct?

Through the chair. So PSUF designs and constructs the amenity and then it is managed by Conscom. Also, I believe that this, I don't know if this email is one of the items. Another item. I wasn't sure if it had to do with that. There's another. Let's see.

I don't know if it came to us. I think it was directed just... Just two members of the committee, but it's pretty substantial.

Through the chair, it's very similar to the ones about A policy for the use of open space on municipal property around city buildings for community gardens. 1427. So we could take that up now or we can... Keep going.

Okay, I see. Okay, so that's why I see when Councilor Wilson mentioned it, and then I was like, okay, I thought it was, yeah, no, I think we should, I don't know. I think maybe we should, is that okay if we just take it because you're still going to be here for that one, correct?

Through the chair, today is the Louisa show, so I am here all night.

My cat is now joining me. Okay, so what is the item number for that one?

That one is 1427, but we were moving towards, I think... We were on... Oh, yes, yes.

Okay, let me hold up. Let me just... Okay, do the... I got distracted because of once Councilor Wilson started asking this question, I was like, okay, this is like, it threw me off. Okay, I'll wait. So, pollinator garden.

Through the chair, yes. So next slide is something that we, again, for those of you who have been around for a while, the pollinator, we've had a lot of activism. on pollinator action and also on native species. This really was something that was championed by Mayor Ballantyne Thank you for joining us. Nativity is always changing and plant ranges are actually changing with climate change but as a second part to that we were able to uh the council voted unanimously thank you for This is the first of its kind in the United States. And, um,

you can find it on Summer Voice here's the QR if you want to zap that or again it's on the Summer Voice page and we're constantly adding information The Summer Voice page has the methodology of it. It has videos of different pollinators. It has presentations that the scientists gave us on it and it is really a wealth of information that is a benefit to being open source because many many other cities in the region have used it and we are constantly getting feedback on it, very positive feedback. So, again, it's worth reading. I know we have two New York Times bestsellers, but this plan is very, very good. And it is really an overlay of our city. with the science pollinator science on top of it and then the plants that go with it. So let me just give you a couple of highlights.

So this is the, there was an 11-person advisory committee, citizen advisory committee. This is the one we finished the plan. And there were a number of people who spent a year and a half coming to meetings and writing them, as well as Allison Maurer, who's in the left corner, who is the project manager from Public Space and Urban Forestry. This plan had a lot of, you know, they, the committee was involved in hiring the team that wrote it and in reviewing their work and arguing different points. And I think what we came up with is a is something that is very, very good, very, very hyperlocal, but also very usable to others and user-friendly, we hope. There are some parts that are, for example, there is a database where you can search plants to figure out

if there are particular pollinators you are trying to support or if you're looking for a particular color to use in your garden that is a very detailed excel spreadsheet and then we also have a residence guide That is about 10 pages long so that you can just get a glimpse of it. So it's from gardeners to horticulturalists. We had a, in addition to the advisory committee, there was a lot of outreach that was done. Part of the picking the advisory committee was people that had networks of others that we could really share this work with. We had scientists on the advisory committee, people from the growing center, the garden club, people from the agencies that are working on pollinator projects. stuff statewide. So we had really a lot of expertise. As always, we have a lot of very smart people in Somerville. and we had youth as well.

They're also smart, but we also allowed some young folks and ex-officio members of, for example, Conservation Commission or other adjacent committees. This is the kind of science that was involved in making this plan. So just as a quick, the first step, we had a Brilliant scientist, Dr. Nicholas Dorian, who had also started the Tufts Pollinator Initiative. And the first step was to say, well, which pollinators are in Somerville? Because people often will get a plant that says this supports 52 pollinators. but if only two of them are in your area it's not really that useful of a plant so this is a chart that maps the interaction of pollinators to plants. So on the bottom is your plants, on the top are your pollinators. And when you see the bigger Bands.

It means more insects have visited those more times and those are like the high value pollinator plants. So there are a number of metrics that were done this way and this was done through citizen science by combing Thank you for watching. where people are able to take a photograph of something and geolocate it so we know which insects are actually here. We found over close to 300 Species of Insects and Pollinator, which really goes far to let us know that cities really can be part of the answer to the biodiversity crisis. so heavy on science really fascinating um and then from the plan we we had a number of different things so we uh City Hall.

We don't see them anymore because we're at the TAB building, but three pollinator gardens that were built according to these recipe cards that are in the plan. So for people who don't really know what What plant design they want. They can pick a recipe card and say, I want a purple garden or a garden that supports butterflies. And we had three of them installed in front of City Hall. People now I see getting married in front and taking photos in front of it, which is super cute. And then we also, the iNaturalist program is amazing. Runs. There's a Somerville Pollinator Action account where you can identify pollinators and we would like to encourage everyone to do it because Adding more habitat and then being able to measure the difference is what really tells us if the plan is working. We also, this year, as part of the implementation, were able to add more habitat to five different gardens in the city.

On the right is the wedding nook at Prospect Hill. It's one of the ones that received it. We also put plants in Conway Park, Hoyt Sullivan. Um, Chuckie Harris Park, and There's one more, but I can't remember. But anyway, part of the whole point is to add habitat, to know who is here, and then to add more places for them to overwinter, for them to breed, for them to eat. There's a section in the plan about landscape practices and about leaving leaves, not using pesticides. Trying to buy plants that are neonic free. We had a whole discussion about that last night. All very important things. And I'm really happy to say that this plan has been really highly regarded.

We won both an award from the Boston Society of Landscape Architects and a national award, actually, from the American Society of Landscape Architects. and we presented it at the conference and had just really glowing people were really really happy to have this information and these things are important also because not just because our team is landscape architects but because landscape architects are the ones choosing the plants for most public spaces in the area so that's like a big network of people who now is realizing Okay, here is this plan. This information is relative to us in the Metro Boston area, but also could be replicated in other cities, and here's the methodology for doing it. So very proud of this work. We had the same conversations that we have all the time with some people being more purist, some people being less, and then trying to hunt down the science because this is a science-based plan.

But in the end, I think there is something for everyone in this plan. And I'm really proud of the work that we've done. I think that's, oh, yes, that is the last slide. So here is a bee getting some pollen.

Amazing. Wow. Excellent presentation. When I saw the garden, I always think about my friend Tori Antonino. Always, you know, like trying to create these, you know, plans that are, you know, whenever I see like a bee or like you know in some of those gardens I just think about just how much we are so rich with community members that invest in like building Just kind of like native, you know, gardens that we are aspiring. No, but I appreciate that. This is excellent. You actually, I was, you took words from my mouth because I wanted to build up the new Knicks. conversation into this but you can't like just went right in no it's it's good i appreciate it um any member have any question

Thank you, director. This is excellent. So we will mark 10 and 11 were complete.

So if I may, through the chair, just add a couple of things. There is a discussion about neonics here to increase awareness of. Thank you for watching! you know we're really excited about the collaboration and the work that was done on this plan and it really was I think a super active very engaged advisory committee that Excellent.

Wow, I couldn't believe I did not recognize Tori in that picture.

She's right next to me.

Oh yeah, no, I see her with those glasses. Yeah, I know, I saw that one.

Yeah.

Anyway, thank you, Director. I think we can quickly move. I think maybe Liaison Radassi can pick the different items for you because you You seem to occupy a bunch of the agenda, so I don't know. Which one do you want us to pick up? Maybe nine? Since we're talking about, you know, that the Director of Public Space and Urban Forestry discussed with his council a policy for use of open space on municipal property around city building for community gardens. Yes. Oh my God, this is the one that, you know, if you did not get this memo, I got to make sure that the clerk sends it so you should be attached to it because...

This is like from a resident, very thoughtful, you know, it really explains even like the potential spaces to create, you know, like... Community Gardens, even if it's just for temporary use. And they even mention like 45 College Ave. even describing how convenient the location is, 24 Cross Street, 19 Walnut Street, 9 Allen Street. I mean, they did their homework. And so I just want to hear your thinking because I just think it makes so much sense. I could not believe that, you know, when I read this thing and then realizing that people Like the wait list is just like, it's just like 600 people. It's just too much, you know?

And I mean, and they actually even have suggestion about like how to kind of like Really create these things so that it can be fair and equitable. You know, I mean, of course, the only thing I didn't really... I appreciate this, you know, I mean, the last paragraph says, if these unused spaces cannot be used for community allotment, can they at least be made into temporary pollinator gardens? In a city as dense as Somerville under utilizing municipal-owned space, is positively criminal. I think that was like a little bit of a stretch right there. But I guess, you know, yes, it's something that we should pay attention, you know, to be able to like, I mean, I got the idea, but I mean, I would not have used that last word.

So can you just speak to this item and how you can help Our residents really feel included into some of these underutilized municipal spaces.

Yes, through the chair. Thank you. I have read the email. Oh, you have? I have. And I've actually met with Eilish before to discuss some of these things. So... Yes, and this is actually not the first time that these ideas have come up. They come up quite frequently, but there are unfortunately a number of problems. The first one being that we are in an urban environment and a lot of the land is Thank you for watching. We could go around and test the soil on every single city asset and then we would need to remediate it. Normally, when there is a real estate transaction The developer is the one who remediates the soil when they're building something.

The first thing is that their soil can be contaminated and we do not want people gardening in contaminated soil. We know that all of the community gardens presently have clean soil because we built them. There is also an issue with, you know, sometimes some of these areas So there's a number of categories of areas that she mentioned. Some of them are like city property. And again, there's the contamination issue. 90 Washington is a perfect example. We are trying to dispose of that lot. but we in order to let people garden there and this is really about vegetables but could also be about even gardening flowers depending on the contaminants um Thank you for joining us.

We just have been through Conway Park. We know what kind of stuff that leaves. So that is a big problem. There are, and I have said this to Eilish, there are a number of places that I think are Gardenable now, for example, Chucky Harris Park doesn't have anyone gardening there. We are also have been awarded through participatory budgeting Money to Create Pollinator Gardens, which we will be doing. It's also part of the implementation of the Pollinator Plan. but those have to be in spaces that we know are one safe and two are being cared for and There are volunteers who are very committed and they care for things and do things, but volunteering is not a sure thing to assure success.

The Maintenance of Spaces. Some other things. I think that there are a number of opportunities for residents to be involved, be it through the Growing Center, the Garden Club, through... various pollinator plantings that are going to be coming up through the community gardens for example and find like underutilized ones where they're planting plants but the you know there's also other things that are when people are planting on City Land. Sometimes, for example, in areas of high traffic, there isn't any thought to sight lines or things like that. So, you know, It seems like such a simple idea and why don't we just do it?

But unfortunately, in the land of liability, it is not a simple idea and there's a number of different things to consider. Mm-hmm.

No, I think one thing I'm glad to hear is that, you know, you're meeting with her, which is, for me, it's super helpful, you know. So, yeah, hopefully. you know we'll continue this conversation and you know figure out a better way you know because it's a every community problem you know has a community-based solution so and how it's all about what is that process looks like. No, but thank you for engaging with her. And it's, yeah, I don't know. you know what to say I think um I'm not sure how to dispose of this item and I think um

I don't know. What do you think? I'm asking members of the committee right now. Councilor Wilson, I know you started this conversation as well. You know, so this is now we are not under sauce.

Yeah, Mr. Chair, since you asked, you know, probably our last meeting of the year, right? So these items are all going to expire. at the end of the year. If it was set for discussion and we discussed it, just one man's opinion, but I'd mark it work completed.

Yeah, I thought so too. And also, we can resubmit something in the year if this conversation doesn't really pan out, you know. So, thank you. So, you know, we're going to mark this as well complete as well. Are we going to go back to that? I just feel like we're just going backwards. For some reason, we started from 11, we went to 10, we went to 9. Maybe we should just return to the regular order of business. Can we go to eight? No? Maybe, maybe, no. Well, that's all we have. We want to get rid of you now.

So I got to look at what item applies to you. So you can, we can let you go.

Through the chair, I think there are a couple more. Because I haven't had as long of a city council meeting since the fields debate, so.

Okay, so are you also the one for dog packs? Yes. Okay, so nice. So we're going to move to three. Okay. that the Director of Public Space and Urban Forestry discuss with this council opportunities to create a dog park in West Somerville. So, wow, this is going to be a good time for you and the community to actually, you know, have fun before the end of the year. Davis sent an email that wanted me to read this into the record. So bear with me. Mr. Chair, as we discussed, I wouldn't be able to attend

The open space meeting this evening due to pre-existing conflict. However, I'm providing this message for the benefit of the committee to provide some historical context on the topic. Please read this into the record if you would be so kind. I think I am kind. In June of 2022, I raised the question of An off-leash area in the western part of the city to the administration and suggested perhaps Nathan Turff's park might be an option. Director Oliveira noted that it is an historic district which will necessitate going through the Historic Preservation Committee. I also reached out to a few folks in the ward and heard some resistance to the idea which led me to conclude that it would be an uphill battle and effort would be better focused elsewhere.

At the time, Director Oliveira also noted that the city was working with the state to potentially open an off-leash area somewhere in the vicinity of Jailboy Field. I don't know where the effort stands, but I maintain that that would be an ideal location in many ways if it were possible. Another parcel that will seem to be an obvious location is the Eversource property on Willow Ave. It is currently zoned as civic space, which will allow this use. If the city were able to work out an arrangement with Eversource, it would be I've also long suggested that that parcel will make an excellent location for an eventual replacement

For the Brown School, and this will be a beneficial use of the space that will not foreclose that opportunity. Dr. Oliveira, you get the point. So take it away.

Yes, thank you through the chair. So a lot of this conversation comes from a feasibility study that was funded by the Community Preservation Act, I believe in 2019. and it identified that there are no off-leash recreational areas for dogs in West Somerville. The study had some flaws in it, but in fact there is not. An off-leash recreational area in Somerville that is owned by the city. I know there were people that used to run their dogs at Tufts University. I don't know if that one still exists or not. The problem with as with everything is not having the open space to meet everyone's needs. And there were some places suggested in the study, but they were not feasible.

For example, when you go and look into them like the Nathan Tufts Park and you see it is historical and as many people want a dog park, there are people against it. There's a couple of things when citing a dog park that I think we need to remember. One is that it is able to be fenced so that dogs can run freely but not interfere with other people that may be outside that area. and that it is not adjacent to residential properties. I know that Nunziato is, but that one was done before Really, there was any real thought to it. And we also get a lot of complaints from neighbors about Nunziato Field. So, that said, I know there is a need for this. And I... We... There was some conversation about DCR but I don't believe that DCR allows dogs off leash in their properties anywhere.

There's also a playground there near Dillboy so it would have to be fenced off and again that's something that DCR would need to do. Because it is not our property. As to the Eversource property, people bring this property up to me for many things because it's filled with invasives, because it could be something else. but it is owned by Eversource so our ability to tell anyone what to do with private properties is really very difficult I mean and a little bit you know we I don't really know what to say because it's a private property. I don't know that we have any influence over what the canon cannot do with it. So I acknowledge the need and I wish I had a better solution, but there really aren't parcels that we own in West Somerville for the purpose of this.

Thank you, Director. Any members of the committee have any question? Councilor Wilson.

Thanks, Chair. Yeah, appreciate that update. I will note there have been cases where Folks have gotten DCR to basically be okay with off-leash recreation areas. Sheepfold is one of them. The Tufts Right on Powderhouse Boulevard that has been sort of de facto dog park for a while. Tufts had cracked down on that at one point. I'll just say I've spoken to our main contact at Tufts about formalizing something. Tufts is always looking for ways to demonstrate value to the community Thank you, Chair.

I agree.

Thank you, Chair. I also 100% agree that Tufts should actually create us a dog pack as part of their community benefit agreement so that I can actually go and, you know, maybe kind of like look through the window view because if you're aware somebody from Cameroon, We're not like into dark, but hey, again, I like to see it through the fence. You know, no lishing in an open space, but through the fence, I can just see the dogs run around, jump, and do their... You know, performers, you know, there are some of these dogs. I just love this, you know, the art that actually see how smart they are, like in pulling stuff. But yeah, we definitely need something. And, you know. With our own real estate is so scarce.

But thank you for thinking in that direction. Councilor Clingan.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair, through you. So just to kind of what I was saying earlier, just to Director Oliveira. is it a policy or is it no as far as say dill boy is concerned right like i heard you say you know the state doesn't allow dogs off leash right but Are they sort of just adverse to creating dog parks, I guess, was sort of my question earlier. Is that something that you know to be, you know, I don't know about fact if they have it as down in writing, but, or do you know that? I don't know.

Through the chair. I don't know that. What, you know, in that Dillboy area, there is a playground. So there's that factor. So it would need to be fenced. I don't know if they would be amenable to doing it. Personally, I am... and so on. you know short of having someone there telling people not to put their dogs on it uh we can't really prevent that so And the dogs, you know, in a dog park, they're not damaging anything. But on an athletic field, they are. because they dig and their urine burns the grass so yes I would love to be able to solve this problem I don't know if DCR when we the interactions we have with DCR are really at the staff level of like

Other people that are doing the design work or going through Green Docket Review. I'm not sure and I can try to reach out to one of those contacts to see. Bill Boyd near the playground per se

I guess I mentioned Dillboy because it's state land, but I'm more curious, and it would be great if you could ask that, just because I know a lot of dog parks. I have a dog, and I know all the different... I don't think I know of one off-leash, dedicated... Dog Park that's on state property. And it's been my understanding that, especially since they know about the situation at FOSS, where it's basically become an unofficial off-leash dog park, which you know in the summertime I get complaints because there's the tennis camp and everything they're aware of that situation and I tell people I don't think that the state because of whatever you know reasons I don't think that they're You know, whether it be having to go pick up the bags or whatever. Any of those reasons, it just seems like there is an either unspoken policy or there is a policy somewhere that we just never asked.

because I think about places like if we were to talk to Medford I think it's Medford's land but you know near the corner of danger of Boston Ave and things there's like these odd open spaces where there's no Children's Parks around nearby, but really could satisfy the need for, say, a dog park or something like that. So anyway, that's just kind of my thoughts on dog parks and the state and whether or not because they have the most abundance of sort of free open land in our area.

Yes, through the chair, I imagine it's also a question of resources. You know, they already have so much land that they need to Maintain and renovate and maybe they have decided that's just something they don't want to get into. I don't know. I can ask. With DCR, they're not the best communicators, but I can certainly see if there's a reason.

Yeah, thank you, Councilor. Thank you. It's all about capacity, you know, as well in all these agencies. Wilson.

Yeah, Mr. Chair, I just want to highlight something we just heard, which is that the Ward 4 Councilor is getting questions about Foss Park because we all know Foss Park should be in Ward 4.

Thank you.

Thank you. So, you know, we're all in agreement that we want a dog park, but how to get it? It remains the million-dollar question. So we'll mark this as well complete. Thank you, Director, for those comments. So the next one is item number four, that the director of public space and urban forestry plant new trees and maintain existing trees in Magoon Square on Medford Street and on Broadway. Thank you. I'm not mistaken. I remember. Okay. Yeah.

Through the chair. on Medford Street and on Broadway. So that's a little bit of a broad request. Recently, the Urban Forestry Division has planted various trees on Broadway. And they'll be planting new trees along Central Broadway as part of the Central Broadway project, which is on the Summer Voice page, Broadway Corridor. So that... Those trees, there have been trees planted there. They've also, we have a routine pruning program for medium to large street trees and are cycling through all the streets. And so far we've completed wards one and two and are currently working in ward three. So we'll probably be working through the printing cycle for Magoon within one or two years. Again, we just don't have the resources to do it all at once.

The other thing, I don't know if people know, but anytime there is a place to put a tree, they can submit a 311. or any tree issues that they would like to speak to the arborists about they can send to trees at somervillema.gov and that goes to The Tree Amigos, as we call them, the two arborists in public space and the tree warden in DPW. So, you know, they're there. Plant 350 street trees a year, and we try to spread them out through wards, but many of them are... People that are asking for a tree and you know every single one of those trees Dr. Bukili goes out finds the location finds the appropriate species checks for gas lines to see if the Sidewalk can be built.

So we welcome people telling us where there are spaces for trees because it's pretty labor intensive. and then she goes out and makes sure that they have all been planted as well. So we really do rely on the community to give us information about trees if they are able to.

Thank you, Director. Yeah, no, that makes sense. I guess when I hear like 350 trees a year, that's like a significant amount. So how many of them survive? Because, I mean, we still seem to be like, you know, the area, we're still like the lowest with trees. So how can you, you know, how do we, like, how many of them survive? and since when have we been planting 350 trees a year? I think we should have been like the number one tree city.

Through the Chair. So we've been planting 350 trees a year, probably two years after Dr. Bukele got here. If you want to read a third New York Times bestseller, the Urban Forestry Master Plan has all the data on the Somerville tree canopy. We have probably around 16,000 trees right now. and yes we have less than a lot of other cities because we are more densely populated we also know that we trees are lost a lot to private property and we cannot control that we have a tree protection ordinance which we also enforce but we're not losing our canopy in our public spaces we're losing our canopy in the private spaces. There is a loss of street trees. It's about a 1% death rate. Those get replaced within those two years.

and Street Trees, if you look at what they're growing in, they gotta be really tough. They're in a three by three pit. People trample all over them. Dogs pee in them. Thank you for joining us. uh we every year i'm amazed that she can still find a place to put 350 trees but she's doing a spring and fall planting all of those tree locations are up on our website in gis so anybody can look at those and if there's one I mean there's many things that Dr. Bukili does well but that she has all the data on the urban forest and knows exactly where she has planted and what year she planted them in. It's all in a huge database.

Yes, we would love to plant more trees everywhere, but if there's specific locations, please tell us where and we can, you know, put it in the spring planting.

Yeah, no, thank you. Thank you. No, I appreciate it. And I'm also a big fan of Dr. Bukele. I guess, you know, one of the things I was curious about is just, not a big deal, but just to kind of like, How to tell which... Maybe locations, you know, of priority that will have like the greatest environmental health benefit, you know, like what is like that, like if you're doing that kind of like, You know, I see you nodding.

Yes, so that analysis is in the Urban Forestry Management Plan and we know that the East Somerville, Winterhill but we've actually had a lot of efforts made a lot of efforts to plant in those two neighborhoods because they are the most vulnerable and you know the trees also create a substantial benefit for climate change they're very important and they are the one asset that appreciate as they get older right so when we plant a tree it's worth a lot more in 10 years than it is When we first plant it. So, yes, we're aware of where there is a need and we are trying to work with residents to get as many trees as possible.

Amazing. Amazing. Thank you, director. So we'll mark this as well complete. And then I think we'll have to like move. Jeez, this is what happened. I thought this was going to be like a 30 minute You know, like committee meeting. So the next one is I think maybe you're going to help me with this one too. Well, it says Parks and Rec. But this is just me, you know, like we go at the deal boy pool. This is like item number six. because we've really done number five. And the director of Parks and Rec, you know, install a clock on top of the Dillboy Pool building. You know, I think I see Liaison Radassi wants to take this one. I thought Director Oliveira is going to just knock her socks off tonight.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, any additional context on this item would be really helpful. We have shared this request broadly with Parks and Recreation staff, and I can follow up once a new director is onboarded, but in the meantime, any would be helpful.

Oh, thank you, Lizana. I mean, this is just straightforward. I mean, there was, you know, like during the summer, like people come there and I just overheard like everybody just saying like, I mean, like, hey man, I also felt that we would be nice. you know to kind of and not just put a club we can even do like some solar panel you know like you know like Climate Adaptive kind of innovation because people come use that swimming pool just by seeing the clock on top of like the buildings you can if you even visit here you will see what I'm talking about it's just a nice aesthetic to show that hey This is like our own way to show that community spirit of It's something that's small, but it's also very symbolic that people come to the pool because a bunch of them don't swim with their...

with their watches you know it's like they and then they can see the clock they see the time it's just it wasn't uh it was just a lot of folks have been asking and then I just thought okay maybe I should just Thank you for watching! But again, it feels like it was like the way to go when we got on the council. So it's like, oh, you know, say something. and then maybe somebody has to like send a policy. Yeah, no, it's just as direct as you read it like that. So unless they say, oh, there's no money or there's nothing, you know, but I think it's just a clock because it's a public pool. So in the building, if you go there, you'll see the need. So I don't know.

Also through the chair, I think that would need to also go through DCR because they own that pool, don't they?

Oh.

Yeah, I think that is a DCR poll.

Somebody's making some comment behind. Is that, Director, do you have any comments? I hear somebody speaking behind a mic.

No, no comments. I'm just taking notes on your comments so that I can share them once we have a new director at Parks and Rec.

Okay, sure. And Director Olivera, thank you for that interview. I see Councilor Wilson is back.

Just, uh, I know we operate the Dillboy Pool. I believe it's owned by DCR, though. So, whatever that means for the clock. That's the situation.

I see. Thank you. No matter the outcome, we just want to see that if it's not possible, that's fine. you know but again this is just a need that community members have expressed and then we're like okay let me just bring it and see how we can you know fix it usually again like I said if I had a good rapport with the director I don't need to send you know I think I probably called Dr. Oliveira like a hundred times without sending like a board order because of the relationship. So we'll mark this as work complete. And then moving on, I think we should be wrapping this thing up. Oh, I love this one. I think, Olivera, unless you just... I think you have one more stuff.

It says urban space and urban forestry. Okay. So we'll skip this. We'll skip seven and go to eight so that we can let the director go and rest. It's been a long day. and then we can bring it home pretty quickly. So it says that the Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management and the Director of Public Space and Urban Forestry update this council on the status of AdFarm and the funding for the project. Okay, I know Lezora doesn't send a memo. True, I think Director Rich sent that memo as well. I don't know if members of the committee had a chance to read it. You know, it still had some, you know, Maybe it would have been nice to... I don't know, like, I'll open it to here.

Like, if there's any... Do you have any comment for that, Memo, first?

Do the chaired know those are all the most up-to-date updates for Art Farm? And I'll just mention it's in the memo as well, but it's tied to the CIP.

So, Councilor Wilson, did you get a chance to read that memo? I know you asked about the art form, you know, so... I guess my one question is, I have been hearing about Art Farm for almost my entire time that I've been in Somerville, so... it's it's uh i guess um like i just yeah what is like that current status of capital funding for art farm like you know This is like still, the whole thing is still kind of like missing, including any gaps between planned costs and secure funding. I know the director mentioned that I just want to understand the revised timeline of construction and programming because we've been hearing this. Is it even going to happen?

That's the first thing I want to even know because just so that we can just... Move on to something else because I just don't know what is happening around the ass farm, honestly. Can somebody just share more light?

Through the Chair, my understanding is that we're still moving forward with this project. In the memo, Rich does say that there needs to be a funding strategy, which they think will be figured out early next year. So there'll be more details then and again I just want to highlight again that it's tied to the capital investment plan the CIP so those kind of go hand in hand as well.

Yeah, I'm looking for Councilor Wilson because he jumped in with the art farm questions. Now... allowed me to kind of like, I think I had like some, yeah, well, I mean, I think the memo is, it's, yeah, like you said, It shows that the conversation is still ongoing. But I'm also honestly, like, I'm just tired of seeing this adfam stuff. I'll mark this as work complete. And then we can have this conversation in the new year if there's something else that is missing. Does that make sense? Councilor Wilson, do you agree?

Yes? Okay. Next. So, Director Oliveira, I think... You can literally space out, honestly. I don't see anything that requires you here, except you want to sit for the... The second to the last item is number seven. That says the Director of Health and Human Services created a summer job in the Mayor's Jobs Program by which youth can travel by bike to water public trees all around the city.

Through the chair, this one is also an item that I will respond to if that's okay.

Yeah, absolutely.

So the administration has started to have some internal conversations about this proposal. When I raised it with DPW, they had some initial concerns. Thank you for joining us. But this is something that IGA is planning to flag for the new administration to see if there's any way to implement this.

Excellent. Well complete. Thank you. That is very succinct. It makes sense to me. Unless any member of the community feels differently. We probably have the last item now. Because I just went in reverse order. I'm checking. I don't see. I think the only one that we have is item number two. The Director of Sustainability and Environment conveying an overview of Commonwealth's Clean Energy Goals, Electric Sector Modernization Plan, Demand Growth in Somerville, and Capital Projects on the Way or Plan. Yeah, I think this is a big one. We had such a, you know,

like a preliminary but also like theater conversation on this in the past and I guess One of the things that I was curious just for this is just to know where things are, especially given the projected demand growth in Somerville, what are the most significant risks? to great reliability over the next decade. And what capital projects are already funded or pending to address like all this vulnerability if there are any of this stuff because it was such a detailed conversation but I know because of the timing like you said in your memo you know we couldn't um have Eversauce here, which, you know, understandable, but I'm happy to hear, you know, your thinking and the direction that you want us to go.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, so this is an item that was an office communication from 2024. So it was discussed in December of 2024 and earlier this year. And at both of those meetings, Eversource, and Director Blaze presented to the committee on the item. And I know that part of the discussion, at least for earlier this year, I'm not sure because I wasn't here in December 2024, but part of the conversation for earlier this year was talking about some of the Long-term strategies over the next decade. So in terms of there's no further updates to provide on this item. And yeah, if there's any specific questions, but I think most of them were addressed. at the last committee meeting earlier this year.

Did I just mute myself or did somebody mute me? So, no, I think this is, again, yeah, this is not... I don't think we have... Yeah, I mean, we can... This one is a little tricky, but I'm happy to... I'm inclined to leave it just so that, you know, like the following year, because this is like a whole long-term... stuff that is going to be happening you know in case people ever saw has like an updated you know like plan which we are happy to

Through the chair, since it's an officer's communication, if there was an update to the plan, it would be submitted again as an officer's communication.

Perfect. Okay. Yep. That makes sense. Okay. So we'll mark this again. We're complete. Thank you, Lizana. You see, we're a team here. Sometimes we're not sure how to dispose of an item. So I guess, you know, we'll probably come to the end of our agenda. Let's clap for Celeste. Yes. And happy birthday. Thank you for making it to the end of this agenda item. I was saying, wow, when you said you were the clerk, I was excited because it was your birthday week. So happy birthday to our great clerk for always being there for us. I think we'll take every item, you know. We probably have just maybe... Complete every item except one that we kept. I don't remember which.

Yes, I have item five that's kept in committee. Everything else was work completed.

Perfect. Perfect. Sounds good. And so... With that, we can, you know, make the motion to adjoin and then work complete for those items and then we want to keep in committee.

On adjournment, Councilor Clingan. Yes. Councilor Wilson.

I want to vote no, but I'll vote yes, please.

Councilor Burnley. Councilor Sait. and Councilor Barr.

Yes, and thank you so much, everybody.

Mr. Chair, three members have voted to adjourn. Two are absent, and we are adjourned.

Happy birthday, Peter.

Thank you.

Happy birthday, Peter.

Thank you.

and more.