Here's How To Speak One-On-One With Somerville Mayor, City Councilors

SOMERVILLE, MA – Somerville community members can learn more about city programs and activities, meet neighbors, and speak directly with elected officials and city staff at the upcoming spring 2023 City Hall Community Meetings.

The meetings are held twice a year in each of Somerville’s seven wards to share the latest city and neighborhood updates with community members.

Mayor Katjana Ballantyne and the Somerville City Council will attend the in-person meetings, which will begin with a social half-hour with pizza and kid-friendly snacks. Residents can chat one-on-one with the mayor and ward city councilor or at-large councilors about important issues.

The meetings will also include presentations by the mayor and staff on projects in residents’ neighborhoods, updates on citywide initiatives, and a look at neighborhood crime stats followed by a roughly 20-minute open Q&A session.

This year, city officials will be collecting ideas for how to spend $1 million dedicated to the city’s first-ever participatory budgeting process.

All ward meetings will be held in person and one all-virtual, all-ward meeting will be held on Zoom and will be accessible online or by any phone. Two additional, all-ward meetings will take place in person: one in Spanish and one in Portuguese. All in-person meetings will be recorded for later on-demand or TV viewing.

The meetings for all seven wards will be held from the end of April through mid-May.

Meetings run from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., with refreshments and meet-and-greets starting at 6 p.m. Somerville residents who are unsure about which ward they live in can find out with the MySomerville address lookup tool.

See the spring 2023 community meeting schedule below:

Tuesday, April 25

• Ward 3 (N. Union Sq., Prospect Hill, Spring Hill, Central Hill, and more)
• Somerville High School Cafeteria, 81 Highland Ave.

Wednesday, April 26

• Ward 5 (Magoun Sq., NE Ball Sq., Cedar & Lowell St. areas, NW Porter Sq., and more)
• Kennedy School Cafeteria, 5 Cherry St.

Tuesday, May 2

• All Ward Meeting in Portuguese*
• East Somerville Community School Cafeteria, 50 Cross St.
• *This meeting will also be livestreamed on the City of Somerville YouTube page, and shared on Portuguese language Facebook page.

Monday, May 8

• Ward 6 (Greater Davis Sq. neighborhood and more)
• Somerville Community Baptist Church, 31 College Ave.

Tuesday, May 9

• Ward 1 (East Somerville, Assembly Sq., and more)
• East Somerville Community School Cafeteria, 50 Cross St.

Wednesday, May 10

• All Ward Meeting in Spanish*
• East Somerville Community School Cafeteria, 50 Cross St.
• *This meeting will also be livestreamed on the City of Somerville YouTube page, and shared on the Spanish language Facebook page.

Monday, May 15

• Ward 2 (S. Union Sq., Perry and Lincoln Park neighborhoods, Beacon St. area, and more)
• Argenziano School Cafeteria, 290 Washington St.

Tuesday, May 16

• Ward 4 (Winter Hill, Ten Hills, and more)
• Healey School Cafeteria, 5 Meacham St.

Thursday, May 18

• Ward 7 (West Somerville, Teele Sq., and more)
• West Somerville Neighborhood School Cafeteria, 177 Powder House Blvd.

Monday, May 22

• All Ward Virtual Meeting
• Online via Zoom with interpretation into Spanish and Portuguese, as well as other languages by request. You may join online or call in on any phone. For sign-in information, please visit this website or call 311 at 617-666-3311.

All meetings will be recorded by the City’s GovTV team. Watch them on-demand with optional closed-captioning (select the CC icon) on YouTube. Or watch on cable TV at GovTV Comcast Ch. 22 and GovTV Astound (RCN) Ch. 13 & 613. Videos generally post within one business day of recording.

Interpretation into your language is available for all meetings upon advance request by contacting the SomerViva Office of Immigrant Affairs at somerviva@somervillema.gov or calling 311 at 617-666-3311. Interpretation availability is also being advertised in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Kreyol, Nepali, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

For more information about the Community Meetings, visit the city’s community meetings website. For questions, please contact Victoria MacGregor at vmacgregor@somervillema.gov or 617-625-6600 x2620.