whna | Entries tagged with whna event

Somerville is a renter city. Over 60% of all housing units are rentals. But do you know your rights as a tenant? Do you know what to do if you have a problem with your apartment or your landlord?

The Somerville Office of Housing Stability, The Welcome Project and the Winter Hill Neighborhood Association invite you come learn the rules and the resources that exist for renters. We’ll have a presentation from Ellen Shachter and Lydia Lopez from the Office of Housing Stability followed by a Q&A. All are welcome, whether you rent or not! The space is wheelchair accessible. There will be interpretation available. And there will be food!

Questions? Email: winterhillneighbors@gmail.com

Tenant Rights Workshop:

Wed, Nov. 6, 6:30pm to 8:00pm

Healey Cafeteria, 5 Meacham St.

mem_winterhill

This is the newsletter that comes from our Google Group. I don't always post them here. I will try to remember to do this for the record too.

Hello neighbors--

Well, things have become dramatic around here with our new Winter Hill in Motion paint. We are hearing a lot of chatter around the neighborhood about the issues related to this rollout. It will be one of the topics on our list for the next regular meeting. Also many of the usual issues, and planning for our special upcoming meeting (below). Please join us to add your voice.

Like last time, we have been invited to hold this meeting at Ian and Candace's place.

Regular Winter Hill Neighborhood Association meeting

Join us Wednesday

October 2 2019, 7pm

54 Dartmouth St. #2.

[We'll provide some snacks and beverages. Folks can bring something to add to that if they want, but not necessary. --Ian]

And here's a special save-the-date notice for our next meeting: our November meeting will reprise our popular "Tenant's Rights Workshop" event. Co-sponsored with the Office of Housing Stability and the Welcome Project. Ellen Schacter from the City will help renters to understand their rights and responsibilities, and landlords can learn more about these issues as well. Translations services are expected, details to come.

November 6 2019

6:30 to 8pm

Healey School.

And meeting season has resumed. There are a lot of other things going on around the city. Some other key things we've seen out there:

1. Related to our traffic health and safety issues, there was a series on WGBH about Somerville's problem with particulate pollution: "Car Pollution In Boston Area Neighborhoods Poses Health Risk To Residents, New Research Finds". It's part of a 3-piece series, more details here: https://whna.dreamwidth.org/45877.html

2. Somerville to Host Community Meeting, Discussion on Road Safety Following Recent Pedestrian Crashes https://whna.dreamwidth.org/46218.html Tuesday, October 1, in the auditorium of the East Somerville Community School at 50 Cross Street beginning at 7 p.m.

3. Elections are around the corner, and if you are a voter interested in climate issues you will want to check out this candidate forum: Saturday, October 5th, 11am - 1pm at the VNA Community Room, 259 Lowell St., Somerville. Doors open at 10:45. Ticketing (free, for head count): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/somerville-2019-candidate-climate-forum-tickets-73041602399

4. Fall Resistats have been announced. Since we are comprised of folks in several wards, I have listed them all here: https://whna.dreamwidth.org/45473.html But since the largest number of us are probably Ward 4, I'll post that day/time here. (PS: you can go to others even if you don't live in that Ward. I go to Ward 4 because it's more relevant to me, even though I'm in Ward 5 technically).

Ward 4 Resistat (Winter Hill, Ten Hills):

6:30 to 8 p.m., with refreshments served at 6 p.m

Thurs., Oct. 24, Healey School Cafeteria, 5 Meacham St.

mem_winterhill

I'm sure many of the Winter Hillens will want to help out with the annual neighborhood cleanup this year again. Great turnout last year, and we got so much done.

Here is the city announcement, but we'll have more details as it gets closer. I think this time means the sign-in and breakfast, but the clean up itself will move to the neighborhoods and then run for a couple of more hours.

Put this on your calendar:

https://www.somervillema.gov/events/2019/05/04/annual-spring-clean-breakfast-part-sustainaville-week

Saturday, May 4, 2019 - 9:00am - 10:00am

LOCATION

Blessing of the Bay Boathouse

32 Shore Dr.

Somerville, MA 02145

Clean Up at locations throughout Somerville

Hosted: City of Somerville & Groundwork Somerville

mem_winterhill

Justin and I are working with the city's Historic Preservation team to have a neighborhood walk on May 5 2019. 2pm. Starting at about 425 Broadway on the top of Winter Hill.

If you are new to Jane's Walk, here's more detail: https://janeswalk.org/

We are currently planning to start it at the very top of Winter Hill, and wind our way down to Gilman Square. If you have insights, special stops, great local tidbits, we hope you'll help us out.

DID YOU KNOW: Abigail Adams had coffee on Winter Hill. I have the letter that describes this. I'll share it on the walk.

More details to come, but we wanted to get the word out now to get you thinking about great items for the walk. And put the placeholder on your calendar.

In addition, we hear there will be a showing of the film Citizen Jane: Battle for the City that week. Stay tuned for details, but in case you are curious, this is the film.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3699354/

"Citizen Jane: Battle for the City Official Trailer 1 (2017) - Documentary" (Watch on YouTube)

mem_winterhill

Our Winter Hill Neighborhood Association team and several co-sponsors are hosting this film and discussion in lieu of our monthly meeting this month. Also note: we are not having the first-Wednesday meeting in March to have this instead.

Please note the RSVP link and sign up, because the folks at Mystic have capacity limits.

++++++++++++++++++++

Via Jesse Clingan's newsletter:

"The Staircase" Screening

Wednesday March 13, 2019

6:30pm

Mystic Activity Center

530 Mystic Ave Somerville MA 02145

RSVP http://bit.do/thestaircase

I'm excited to be a co-host for this free screening which shows how together people can make change in their own neighborhood, in this case our very own Ward 4.

The 45 minute film is about the struggle to build a staircase to connect the Mystic housing development with the adjacent Healey School. For years "the mountain," a dangerously steep and unstable slope created a barrier between the housing and the school. Kids either walked the many blocks to go around or risked injury going over. But in the late 1970s and early 1980s community and tenant organizing, multiple youth film projects, local access cable and public meetings finally led to action. It is a success story that we can learn from today and provides important context for the current calls for better connections between the Healey, the Mystics and the river. Please join us for food, the film and a discussion!

mem_winterhill

via the Google groups list, from Ian:

It has been nearly two months since we heard from a potential developer about the Star Market site. Who knows if or when it will move forward, but judging by the turnout and the curtailed discussion, there is still a desire for a deeper community conversation about the site.

Please mark your calendars: On Wednesday, July 11 at 6:30pm at the Mystic Community Room we'll be having a follow up community discussion about the site. The meeting will be organized in a way so that you can familiarize yourself with the property and imagine what it could become. You'll have a chance to discuss with your neighbors and together come up with some general goals that can be communicated to the city or potential developers.

Please bring your ideas, your concerns, and your neighbors. And there will be food!

mem_winterhill

Break out those WHNA T-shirts if you got 'em, neighbors!

We have marching orders for the clean up day. I assume WHNA will target the Ward 4 stuff with Jesse Clingan. The map says we'll be focusing on the Mystic to Healey stairs area. But if that's not your Ward feel free to check out the other tasks and locations.

Here's the Facebook page with details and a sign up page: https://www.facebook.com/events/242532196290732/

I have signed up as Winter Hill Neighborhood Association and I'll help with what they need as a captain. But please also RSVP from the facebook link as individuals so they can get a count.

9am at the Boathouse is a breakfast, not required. But please be there before 10am when we really start the work. You'll get gloves, bags, instructions, and more details about what's up for the project.

On the day: please find me to sign a paper waiver by 10am--I'm told that attendance level counts help them to get grants and demonstrate effectiveness.

At noon there will be a barbecue and chances for conversation. Good time to mention the WHNA efforts, and our survey perhaps. I have to leave that early, though, so I can't drive that part.

Weather seems to be cloudy, but remember the sunscreen if you need it. Maybe a hat.

[Here is a link to the full size image with the map details in case it's too small to read on your device from the post image: https://i.imgur.com/Acafu6F.jpg ]

mem_winterhill

It's not official-official yet, but at a meeting tonight it looks like the city neighborhood clean up event will be April 21. If we can coordinate it with the city's big event this year it will be easier than our small band of folks who had to do an offshoot cleaning session.

They'll provide the gloves, bags, pick up locations, all that stuff for us if we are part of the larger group. And there's food afterwards, we can meet new people and talk up our group.

Save the date on your calendar. Pull out those high-visibility WHNA t-shirts.

Spring cleaning!

mem_winterhill

We had a great event--I counted 9 of our elected officials who were able to make it. I'll add some action shots below.

Thanks to Stephenson Aman and his Mystic Tenants Association team for hosting us at the Mystic Community Center. Great sized room for the big turnout for this one. Thanks to Ian Adelman for leading our WHNA discussion.

Many thanks to FoodLinkMA for donating snacks: http://www.foodlinkma.org/special-event-request

PS to my neighbahs: there's rumor of some sort of proposal for the Star Market site. Now's a good time to engage with our WHNA....

I'll put a couple of photos above, but the rest below the fold. Click to see them. If anyone wants a full size, just ping me. Ian and Steph opened the meeting, and Jesse Clingan leading off.

( Read more... )

mem_winterhill

“Get to know your elected officials” event

At our last meeting we decided that our upcoming meeting would be a chat with our elected officials. The steering group invited the At-Large and Winter Hill Ward alderfolks, and a number of them are going to be able to make it to this next meeting. We can hear about what their priorities are, and it's a chance to influence their thinking about issues in our neighborhood. And we want to learn about what's effective in working with our officials. Note the change from our usual location to ensure we can accomodate a lot of people. Co-sponsored with the Mystic Tenants Association.

Short version:
February 7 2018
7pm
Mystic Community Center room

Here's the announcement that went out on the mailing list. I have only redacted Ian's email address but you can find it over there from our pinned post.

Hello,

Our February 7th meeting will be centered around a discussion with our Ward and At-Large Alderfolks. We hope to hear about their goals for the year/term and share some of our goals and plans too. We want to learn more about the powers, duties and responsibilities of the Board so that we can understand how best to work with them. And we want to talk about ways that a group like ours can best participate in civic life in a meaningful way.

There will certainly be time for an open Q&A, but please help frame the discussion by sharing any questions you want to make sure get asked (especially if you can't attend the meeting). You can reply here or send them directly to me: [Ian's email; redacted]

Please note: The meeting is at 7pm on February 7 at the Mystic Community Center, 530 Mystic Ave.

mem_winterhill

The I did the tree planting with the folks from the city, the Mystic River Watershed Assn, GroundworkSomerville, a bunch of neighbors (and some from other towns). People were asking me what it was like so I'll report back here.

We started at 9am. The holes in the sidewalk had already been opened on the Bailey Road sidewalks. We got a short intro to tree planting (shallower is really better for these urban trees roots). Not too much mulch up to the base (the arborists joke about this being the "mulch volcano" and say it's bad for the tree).

We had about 3 people per team (but as the rest of the day went on that blurred out a bit. We ran out of soil at on spot and moved to another to start something else, waiting for the wires for the stakes, stuff like that. But most of it was very accessible to any activity level. Having someone with a little more strength to move the soil bags or the wheelbarrow full of mulch was handy but not really bad either.

We did 10 trees, 5 were Serviceberry and 5 were hedge maple. The trees were light enough that I can pick them up myself.

We had flyers for the abutters to explain the trees and care, most neighbors were super pleased, of course. One guy not so much. Key point: when the city has contractors plant the trees, they come with a maintenance deal to water for a couple of years. These trees need neighbors to help out. So goodwill and adoption of the idea is important in this project. I should also mention that there was outreach to the homes prior to the planting too, so they knew it was coming presumably.

This was kind of a pilot to see how this goes. The grant that this ran under has budget for 100 trees so they will be looking to do more probably in the spring. This might be a nice project/event for our group. I'd like to run the idea past Vanessa (our city arborist) so maybe we can do a Winter Hill focused one then. I'll bring it up at a meeting later, but wanted plant the idea (see what I did there??) now. Most people I've casually talked to seemed open to the idea.

Below the fold I'm going to add the info and video they gave us so I can refer back to it later when I propose it as a WHNA thing. Open that section for the details.
( Read more... )

Other photos of the event can be seen here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/44914436@N07/sets/72157690268089406

ian_winterhill

At our November meeting we decided to send a letter to the Cohens with regard to the vacant lot on Sewall Street that the community has transformed into an active play space instead of a derelict vacant lot. I can't figure out how to attach a file here, but below is the text of the letter.

Dear Cohen Realty Group,
The Winter Hill Neighborhood Association is a group of neighbors that has come together over the last couple of years to protect and improve upon the things we love about Winter Hill and to be an active agent in its future development. As renters, homeowners, and business owners, long time residents and new transplants, we are a diverse group with diverse interests, but we are unified in our values and our commitment to each other and the place we call home.
We are frustrated by the contradiction facing Winter Hill--on the one side rising rents and home sale prices are forcing out long time residents and, on the other side, we are stuck with a massive vacant lot and shuttered grocery store as the center of our neighborhood. Your property is causing actual harm to our neighborhood, yet everyday that you let it sit vacant it increases in value because of the work, care and advocacy that neighbors like us do. We give vibrancy and value to the neighborhood, while absentee property owners wait for the right moment to cash in on us.
While causing no damage and with almost no monetary costs, we were able to transform the Sewall Street lot into a space that improved our neighborhood instead of degrading it. We will work to remove items from the lot this Saturday, but ask that you remove the chains and the no trespassing signs before then.
We are aware of the outstanding litigation over the property, but no matter when and what that leads to, we would like to be involved. We would like to invite you to our next meeting on December 4 at 7pm to meet with us and talk about the future of the property.
Sincerely,
The Winter Hill Neighborhood Association
https://whna.dreamwidth.org
winterhillneighbors@gmail.com

mem_winterhill

Hey neighbors--

The WHNA wants to have a variety of activities. Some of them will be purely social. Some will be regular meetings. Some may be civic actions. One of the events we did this year was a neighborhood cleanup. With the help of Groundwork Somerville, we got bags, gloves and other gear. Our members designed and printed this nifty t-shirt. And we picked up a lot of detritus that was around the neighborhood in the spring. Action shots follow.

Come to our meetings and learn about other plans we have, and bring your ideas! We think that the cleanup could be a good annual event, but we are open to other types of activites as well. What do you want to see a neighborhood association do?