somershade.bsky.social
Hyper local in Somerville, MA. FOIA requests & long threads live-tweeting city meetings. Also @fdmts
3,495 posts
1,863 followers
197 following
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Super chill 35 miles, including blue hills, which is always a treat.
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Yeah. It’s one reason that I repost myself so often. There’s a bigger picture thread here, but it’s hard to see in this frenzied stroboscope we’ve got going on.
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Soon.
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Wut wut?
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Why was I not told about Round Head Brewing in Hyde Park? Cerveza que Reúne!
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I've heard a lot of things. In my experience, it's always good to think it through and check what I can.
I have hummingbirds who visit the feeders, I'll keep an eye out.
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www.arbico-organics.com
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I don’t think they do … just based on the relative sizes. First I’ve heard of it.
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Unfortunately, we also know that people can make very different choices as mayor instead of councilor.
These surveys are about as impactful as a dropped pie.
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The compromise on the underlying zoning was to reduce it to a maximum of two stories by right while still updating allowed uses.
That holds closer to the original intent of FAB - which is to preserve existing old/cheap ispace in a tiny, tiny percentage of the city.
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And with that, we are at the two hours I decided to allocate to this meeting this evening.
Which is a shame because I really wanted to hear about the police ... but I guess that's not going to happen.
Thanks for listening, everybody. Establish boundaries! Protect your mental health!
22/22
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Man, the councilors are really going deep on a budget that they cannot directly control.
Which kinda makes sense if you accept that they're not here to cut, but rather here to publicize and to goad.
21/?
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We're on Water and Sewer, which is not actually within the council's direct purview.
Councilor @willieburnleyjr.bsky.social notes that the right hand column in this chart seems to just be wrong.
Chair @jake4somerville.bsky.social confirms - yep - that's a copy paste error.
20/?
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One theme here is that some departments are coming up to full strength, which is awesome. Keep going in that direction.
Paaaaaaaahking!
19/?
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Next up. Paahking.
Paahking enforcement is basically cost neutral to the city, by design. We're not allowed to make money on it. That's one reason we don't really put the screws to violators. Also equity.
18/?
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Anyway, nobody uses "AFAB" to mean "All Firefighters are Bastards."
Big thanks to the chief. Good job.
17/?
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Search sucks on this site, so I can't pull up the link, but after all the drama last year about using lateral hiring to rapidly staff up for the Assembly row station (a) the fire department got to 100% without using it and (b) the fire station is still not open.
bsky.app/profile/some...
16/?
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Man, it takes me back to hear Councilor @jtforward2.bsky.social point out that when you budget 10% overtime it -really- means you need to hire more full time staff.
I mean, that's what you do if you're budgeting in the interest of the city - not the individual staff.
15/?
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Next up is the Fire Department.
Oh shit, Councilor @jtforward2.bsky.social notes that the Assembly Row fire station is still not open.
Do you remember the drama about -that-? All the hiring stuff? The hard line in the sand by the council?
Yeah, still not open.
14/?
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Councilor @willieburnleyjr.bsky.social picks up on a comment by the director of emergency management that after emergencies they prepare an "after action report."
He asks when the council might get to see one of those.
Oh goodness. Oh my. What was the question again?
Oh that little thing?
13/?
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Councilor Clingan asks whether this team will be tasked to address 'emergencies' like Racial and Social Justice, Housing, and all the other places that we use that word ... or whether they will be reserved for things like trains leaking toxic chemicals.
More of a comment than a question.
12/?
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While I might seem critical - recall that back when Covid hit, then Mayor @joecurtatone.bsky.social re-hired his former chief of staff to coordinate the emergency response.
I do think that having a couple of strong hands on deck is a decent idea.
11/?
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Councilor @jtforward2.bsky.social notes that, while it is hard to tell exactly what is going on as our federal government collapses, he heard that the President might eliminate FEMA.
He asks, in light of that, whether the two person emergency management department might need more resources.
10/?
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Next up is Emergency Management, which is a two person department: A director and an deputy director.
Between them, they spend $440k.
9/?
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Councilor Clingan asks after the Public Safety For All Project Manager (who does not appear on the org chart). He asks why they are not under Racial and Social Justice.
Apparently this is more of a coordination role, tasked to "bring the administration together."
8/?
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This thread is going to be a lot of inside baseball unless I do a lot of exposition.
The Mayor stalled the Charter for more than a year by pushing for a four year term. The Overdose Prevention Center is cancelled, and the PSFA initiative is -where- again now?
Again, those were the wins.
7/?
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Just to say, this blows my mind:
"Passed charter in partnership with City Council and sent to legislature, continued advocacy work toward an Overdose Prevention Center, worked with RSJ to launch Public Safety for All (PSFA) and related reports"
Those were the wins?
6/?
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Here is the collegial tenor of the questions and responses.
No mention is made of last year's fractious conversation surrounding the Chief Administrative Officer (who is also a Rhode Island State Senator).
5/?
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Here's what the Mayor and her immediate staff get paid.
As @willieburnleyjr.bsky.social says, it's quite enriched for six figure salaries. "Not saying that's right or wrong, just pointing out that it is."
4/?
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Ah, something must have knocked loose on the budget site web server juuuuuuust as the meeting started and now the answers are available.
Man, this is right on the edge of what's allowed under open meeting law.
Like -right- on the edge.
It's maddening to try to review this stuff live.
3/?
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We start with a semi-cringe bit of flailing to get the memo with answers to council questions to the Executive Administration on the screen.
For what it's worth, I still do not see the link when -I- log into the budget website, but I'm sure that'll get fixed at some point.
2/?
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I didn’t know how awesome their song was until this year.
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They are deffo in abundance.
I also saw a pair of cedar waxwings yesterday. I know they’ve been around, but this is the first time I’ve seen them from my porch.
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Durrell. On Beacon St.
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And, you know, I don't know that I have much more to say about it than that.
City budgets are complex, and we're all about to get a firsthand lesson in why "move fast and break stuff" is a pretty terrible idea when you're talking about things like public health and sewage management.
G'night.
8/8