The Tufts Daily - Friday, November 12, 2021

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 32

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

tuftsdaily.com

Friday, November 12, 2021

Updated Tufts shuttle system includes new buses and routes by Elizabeth Zacks Contributing Writer

Tufts overhauled its shuttle system this semester to accommodate the increasing size of the student body and offer more frequent and efficient service for riders. The updated shuttle system has multiple routes for students to choose from depending on their destination: SMFA, Davis Direct, Davis All Stops, Hyatt Direct and Beacon Street Direct. John Savino, assistant director of transportation and contact services at Tufts, explained that the old shuttle system used smaller buses and offered fewer direct routes. “The campus has grown, and campus needs were no longer being met with the smaller buses,” Savino wrote in an email. “This became clearer during COVID when physical distancing measures were put in place. This is the point at which Tufts moved the SMFA shuttle over to the bigger buses.” According to Savino, the new shuttles can accommodate up to 55 passengers each and have hydraulic ramps at

IAN LAU / THE TUFTS DAILY

A Tufts shuttle bus is pictured on Nov. 3. the front, making them ADA accessible. Savino explained how the new system transports students to and from Davis Square. “Davis Square buses use the Davis Direct Route during

peak commuting time, picking up and dropping off at the Campus Center and Davis Square only,” Savino said. “After 7 pm and on weekends, this route becomes the Davis All Stops Route serving Davis

Square, Carmichael, Olin and the Campus Center.” Savino added that the updated shuttle system allows for more direct access to the SMFA, with shuttles taking Route 93 for a faster trip to the Fenway campus.

In addition to the Davis and SMFA shuttles, Tufts now has a shuttle that transports students to and from the Hyatt Place Medford, where approximately see SHUTTLES, page 2

Somerville City Council votes to add new precincts in response to 7% population growth by Olivia Field

Contributing Writer

The Somerville City Council voted on Nov. 9 to adopt a new ward and precinct map for the city at the recommendation of an internal city council working group. The map, developed by the working group in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, shifts the boundaries of the city’s seven wards only minimally, while increasing the number of precincts within each ward from three to four in order to accommodate the city’s growth. Somerville’s population grew from 75,754 to 81,045 in the past decade, a 7% increase. Somerville’s redistricting process was part of a statewide requirement to update precinct and ward maps in accordance with demographic changes following the 2020 Census. Federal regulations state that each ward within a city must have roughly the same population. As a result of its population growth, Somerville’s previous ward boundaries did not divide up the city’s popula-

ASHA IYER / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

A street and houses in Somerville are pictured on March 27, 2018. tion equally and needed to be adjusted. SomerStat is the Somerville Mayor’s Office of Innovation and Analytics, which uses data to help make policy decisions for the city. Cortni Desir, SomerStat acting director and leader of the working group, discussed the purpose and goals of the redistricting process.

“You don’t want a precinct to have long protruding fingers. It should be an intuitive geography that aligns with the census block boundaries,” Desir said. Ensuring that minority voting blocs remain intact was also a factor when dividing precincts. “You need to consider that changing precinct lines won’t

dilute a minority group vote, either by packing or by diluting votes,” Desir said. Desir and the working group also considered Somerville’s predicted future growth when drawing new precinct and ward boundaries. “We wouldn’t want a scenario where we drew the boundaries

FEATURES / page 3

ARTS / page 4

OPINION / page 7

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In diversity, faculty lag behind the student body. This needs to change.

for a precinct and then one or two years from now, a big development comes in and causes the population in that precinct to then exceed the 5% or exceed the maximum,” Desir explained. “So, in the working group, we take into account those things and take into account projected housing growth.” Though the adjustments to Somerville’s ward and precinct boundaries are not predicted to impact most voters, a small number will be shifted into a neighboring ward to meet state guidelines. These residents will be represented by a new ward councilor and school committee member. The working group proposed the addition of new precincts within preexisting ward boundaries in order to minimize the effects on voters. According to Associate Professor of Mathematics Moon Duchin, founder of the MGGG Redistricting lab, voters who are shifted into a new precinct within the same ward will be minimally impacted; they will retain the same local government repsee REDISTRICTING, page 2 NEWS

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