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The Green Line is coming to Somerville!
 

August Newsletter August 11, 2009
Community Corridor Planning Partner Organizations
 
 
 
Cambridge Health Alliance logo 
 
 
Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership
Visit Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership
 
 
 
Get Involved with the CCP!
 
1. Get informed. Visit EOT's Green Line Extension website. 
 
2. Spread the word to friends and neighbors about the Green Line extension.
 
3. Volunteer through one of our organizations.
 
4. Host an informational house meeting for your neighbors about the Green Line project. We'll provide the facilitators, visuals, and materials.
 
5. Attend a Green Line meeting
 



Upcoming PhotoVision Workshops
Make the world you want to see!

Over the next week CCP is hosting two PhotoVision workshops.  The objective is to be able to show our visions of Somerville to City officials, MBTA planners, and other Somerville residents as plans for the Green Line Extension are further developed.  Participants will bring photos of things they think are important, and meet with other community members and a professional photographer to learn how to tell a good story with a camera. 
 
If you're tired of sitting in meetings, you'll enjoy the color, vibrancy, and hands on nature of this workshop.  PhotoVision is happening thanks to the work of a stellar team of interns, including youth Aly Lopez and Manish Lama. 

PhotoVision Workshops: Saturday, August 15th from 10am-12pm and Wednesday, August 19th from 6pm-8pm at the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave.
 
Advance registration is necessary by August 14th; contact Abi at 617-776-5931 ext. 225.  Don't have a camera?  We'll give you one!



Seven Community Meetings held this summer!

We held community meetings in the 7 neighborhoods where the proposed Green Line Stations will be located:  Route 16; College Avenue; Ball Square; Lowell Street;  Union Square; Washington Street/Brick Bottom; and Gilman Square.  Each meeting was attended by 15-40 people, who were invited to share their ideas and visions for what they'd like their neighborhood to be like once the Green Line arrives.  The Green Line will have a huge impact on each of these neighborhoods, and the changes that will take place are already starting.  The Community Corridor Planning team is leading this process to encourage residents to have a say in what kinds of changes we will see.
 
A number of common themes and priorities emerged at all of the station meetings.  These include:  Bike and pedestrian safety and access; connectivity between stations and neighborhoods; affordability of housing and businesses; emphasis on stable, local businesses to create vibrant districts by the stations; cultural diversity of res
idents and businesses; open space for people to gather; green space; traffic reduction; and safety.  Other themes that surfaced at several of the meetings include:  good jobs for local residents; noise reduction; minimize light pollution; mixed use development and adaptive reuse of buildings; economic development to increase tax base; no tax hikes for residents.  Finally, a few unique ideas emerged at one or two stations, including: creating a formalized process for residents to address problems as they surface; prevent toxic hazards; create height restrictions; create more community gardens; make sure there is a local school in the station area.
 
We will continue to hold more small meetings in the next 6 weeks to reach residents who haven't been able to attend the first round.  If you are interested in attending a meeting or hosting one with your church, frie
nds, or organization, please contact CCP at 617-628-9988 or 617-776-5931 x 242.  We will then hold a corridor-wide meeting in October to create a shared list of prioritized principles and vision for the Green Line Corridor.

LowellGreenTeam

Mapping


This summer, dozens of residents and other volunteers have been out doing a "windshield survey" of properties within � mile of the proposed stations, o
bserving the characteristics of the parcels like amount of green space, whether or not a property is vacant or blighted, opportunities for creating community amenities, like affordable housing, a community center, or community gardens, and so on. 

As we furiously enter all of this data into a spreadsheet, we are working with a Tufts graduate student, Dan Zinder, to create a series of maps that will show some of the things we are finding out.  We will also add video clips and photographs to our maps of the Green Line corridor, and invite people to answer questions and contribute thei
r own ideas as they dig into this interactive map.  In the fall, we will begin taking these on-line maps to different places in the community to help people explore their own ideas for what they'd like the community to look like along the corridor.
City of Somerville Trends Meetings

In addition, there will be a series of city-hosted meetings on trends in Somerville.  Please attend these meetings for a great source of information!

Housing Trends:   August 25; 6:30-8:30pm; 167 Holland St
                             September 22; 6:30-8:30pm; 150 Glen St
Land Use Trends: September 14; 6:30-8:30pm; 150 Glen St
                             September 28; 6:30-8:30pm; 167 Holland St

Volunteer with CCP!
CollegeAveAbi
As always, we are looking for interested folks to help us out!  Currently there are many exciting ways to become involved



1) Community Mapping: This flexible opportunity will help us to see what our community looks like!
2) Office work: Always essential to any project is help behind the scenes.  We offer weekly opportunities for people to come to our office during the day, nights and weekends to keep us organized and running smoothly.
3) Host a house meeting: Have you been to our community meetings but noticed that nobody from your neighborhood was there?  Help us change that!  Host an informal meeting at your house and invite your neighbors.
4) Go door-to-door with us:  Join us as we knock on doors throughout Somerville to engage as many people as possible.

Contact CCP at 617-628-9988 or at 617-776-5931 for more information.
 
What are the benefits of community participation?
A few words from participants at our community meetings

- "Social justice for the community"


- "Gives us a voice"

- "Knowing what my neighbors are thinking"

- "Allow residents to be heard in a meaningful way"

A special THANK YOU to our summer interns and staff!








CCP would like to make a very special thank you to our summer crew:

Nick Bonard
John Huang
Manish Lama
Aly Lopez
Aaron Nevin
Abi Vladeck
Dan Zinder

Another round of thanks goes to our amazing AmeriCorps NCCC* team, without whom we would not have been able to map quite as much data as we did.  We would also like to give a major thank you to Katie Koopman who organized a great service day early this summer.

A heartfelt thank you goes out to Janine Lotti, who left the CCP partnership after an amazing 9 month stint! Luckily she's not going far as she's President of the SCC Board. We'll miss you, Janine.

CCP Planning Team
Lisa Brukilacchio, SCHA
Joseph Claudy Jules, Organizer, GWS
Lisa Gimbel, Organizer, SCC/GWS
Jen Lawrence, GWS
Meridith Levy, SCC
Mary Regan, Organizer, SCC
Ellin Reisner, STEP
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Check out which Green Line stops are close to you!

Green Line Map 2008