RE FE AT U here. It’s very much alive and changing. And because it’s not a precious community, like Cambridge, it’s more funky, more flexible.” “We’re a tough, scrappy community, because we’ve had to fend for ourselves for a long time,” said Brad Rawson, Senior Planner in the City of Somerville’s Economic Development Department, in an email. “And we are proud of Somerville. Our residents, people from every walk of life and every corner of the world, are really informed and engaged in civic affairs.” Indeed, Somerville, like many other municipalities of its size, is on a tight budget that relies heavily on state aid. With aid declining by nearly eight percent between 2000 and 2006, Somerville doesn’t have a whole lot of financial resources to put into its projects and programs. But with innovation and enthusiasm, the city has formed what Rawson describes as “excellent” public services while still spending the least amount of money per capita of any municipal government in Massachusetts. One of the programs that allows for such fiscal efficiency is the SomerStat program, which regularly brings together key city decision-makers in different departments to talk data. With extensive financial, personnel, and operation data at their fingertips, they can better assess opportunities for improvement. They can also track the changes that occur when they put something new into practice. This is Somerville’s tool in answering the perpetual question: How can we improve our city? But the most important program in discussing citizen inclusion is undeniably the
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program’s corollary ResiStat program, which, according to the ResiStat website, “is the City of Somerville’s effort to bring data-driven discussions and decision-making to residents and promote civic engagement via the Internet and regular community meetings.” Meetings occur semiannually and provide citizens with an opportunity to voice their opinions and give input on various aspects of the city in the presence of officials that have the power to enact change. The meetings are also informational, and present an opportunity for residents to formulate opinions on the basis of concrete data. Though ResiStat’s pilot year was 2007-2008, it has met with success thus far. “Thousands of Somerville residents are part of the ResiStat network, and hundreds show up for the semiannual community meetings in their neighborhoods,” said Rawson, adding, “These programs have really enabled a culture change in Somerville, where municipal agencies have bought into transparency and accountability on all levels, and residents are more informed and empowered than ever before.” The project that has arguably created the most buzz around Somerville, however, is the “happiness survey” that went out with the census in 2010. Asking questions such as, “How happy are you right now?” and, “How satisfied are you with Somerville as a place to live?” the survey was the first of its kind to be implemented by a municipality in the US asking residents to gauge their own happiness and well-being. In a wonderfully progressive nod to Somerville’s inclusiveness and diversity, the survey even had “Transgender” listed
right alongside “Male” and “Female” under the options for “Gender.” Not surprisingly, of the 7,500-plus residents that mailed back the survey or spoke to a surveyor on the phone, the average ranking of happiness with Somerville came out at a solid 7.5 out of 10. It’s no wonder, in light of all this, that Somerville won the All-America City Award in 2009 for “outstanding civic accomplishments” and demonstrating “innovation, inclusiveness, civic engagement, and cross sector collaboration.” The Boston Globe also described it in a 2006 article as a “model city” and “the best-run city in Massachusetts.” This year, the America’s Promise Alliance listed it as one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People for the fourth consecutive year. Other cities ask for advice from Somerville to implement similarly inclusive programs, including the not-yetmentioned 311 phone-number system that allows Somerville residents to call and get any piece of information, be it simple or complex, about the city. It’s basically a customer-service line for an entire city—and bigger, more notable cities want one of their own. So it becomes clear: our cities have an obligation to step-up to the challenge of an increasingly urbanized US population. There’s no simple solution to creating community-minded, sustainable, and equitable city places with effective public services. The first step, however, is most definitely to ask residents: What do you think? As Hollander noted, “You can only really know how well you’re doing if you ask.” O
Eliza Mills