The City of Somerville completed the first-ever Participatory Budgeting cycle in 2023. In Participatory Budgeting, residents submit ideas for how to improve Somerville with one million dollars; volunteers score and select the 20 best ideas; and residents vote on the final ideas.
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| year | category | theme | idea | description | citywide | near_address | longitude | latitude | comment_count | support_count |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Community Resources | Safe use site | Somerville should purchase a property to open an overdose prevention site. | Dozens of Somerville residents die every year from overdoses. The city should purchase a property to open an overdose prevention site that would include wraparound services to help those suffering from substance use disorder to stay alive. No one has ever died in an overdose prevention site in locations in North America and around the world. | 1 | 2 | 13 | |||
| 2023 | Streets & Sidewalks | Bike infrastructure | Get rid of the bike lanes. | Make parking spaces available again. | 1 | 12 | 3 | |||
| 2023 | Parks & Green Spaces | Sport facility | More workout things in outdoor spaces | Physical wellness is associated with better mental and physical health. By adding some workout components (pull up, dip bars) to exiting public spaces it will facilitate this. Other cities (including locally) have taken the same approach. I have not seen or am aware of these in the local parks in West Somerville. | 1 | 3 | 15 | |||
| 2023 | Streets & Sidewalks | Pedestrian infrastructure | Teale Square Redevelopment. Improved walkability. Bike lane connections to community bike path at Davis. . | Increased mobility will boost the economy and attract residents to the area. Increase property value. Provide alternatives to driving. Keep residents safe. | 0 | 248 Holland Street, Somerville, Massachusetts 02144, United States | -71.12717862 | 42.40312309 | 1 | 30 |
| 2023 | Streets & Sidewalks | Regulatory | Allowing residents to vote about adding bike/bus lanes to certain streets in the city. | It protects the current residents that live in Somerville. Reducing taking about business to local stores/restaurants. Taking away parking on a street, for example certain area of Broadway, to add a bike/bus lane does not help the residents of this city. There are homes that do not have driveways and then would have no where to park when they come home. The local business/residents will lose parking for visitors, visitors from the city or outside the city. | 0 | 154 Broadway, Somerville, Massachusetts 02145, United States | -71.08529752 | 42.38833663 | 19 | 9 |
| 2023 | Education | School infrastructure | Improve our school buildings! | Keep families in somerville | 1 | 1 | 9 | |||
| 2023 | Streets & Sidewalks | Pedestrian infrastructure | Pedestrian walking bridge at Foss Park | Improve safety and walkability/accessibility around Foss Park at Fellsway intersection, connect communities of East Somerville and Assembly, increase access to grocery stores, retail, and healthcare facilities | 0 | 360 Mystic Avenue, Somerville, Massachusetts 02145, United States | -71.08618589 | 42.39352836 | 5 | 15 |
| 2023 | Parks & Green Spaces | Public bathroom | Bathrooms/port a potties at all playgrounds/parks. | It will make the green space more useful to community members. It will stop kids from peeing in the trees/on properties. | 1 | 3 | 28 | |||
| 2023 | Education | School infrastructure | Maintain School Buildings | The children of Somerville needs safe and clean spaces to learn. Most school buildings had failing heat this past winter. More than one are not up to current code. | 1 | 1 | 7 | |||
| 2023 | Streets & Sidewalks | Pedestrian infrastructure | Pearl Street Improvements/ESomerville Sidewalks | Allow pedestrians and families to walk around East Somerville | 0 | 61 Florence Street, Somerville, Massachusetts 02145, United States | -71.08268248 | 42.38413821 | 6 | 12 |
| 2023 | Parks & Green Spaces | Accessibility | Inclusive playgrounds | Kids of all abilities will be able to play. Kids learn through play and right now there no playgrounds in the city that have fully accessible play structures. Why is that? Cambridge does! Let’s do better for our Somerville kids!!! | 1 | 3 | 10 | |||
| 2023 | Streets & Sidewalks | Pedestrian infrastructure | Better access between Assembly Row and East Somerville, as currently it is annoying to get to the other side from both sides without worrying about safety. | This will bring better access between Assembly row and East Somerville. People from both sides have to worry about their safety when going to the other side. Better underbridge walkways, maybe even over bridge walkways, would help. | 0 | Mystic Avenue, Somerville, Massachusetts 02145, United States | -71.08378172 | 42.39247966 | 11 | 62 |
| 2023 | Streets & Sidewalks | Road repairs | Repave, add drainage and traffic calming to Pitman St | Pitman is ridden with potholes. Sidewalks there are too narrow on the south side. Drainage is missing. None of these things should exist in a good city. | 0 | 10 Pitman Street, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143, United States | -71.10817409 | 42.38415712 | 2 | 5 |
| 2023 | Streets & Sidewalks | Parking | residential parking around Assembly | May large managed buildings are taking advantage of the lack of parking and charging residents over 200+ dollars to park their car in their respective garage. Residential parking would alleviate so much of the trouble and costs that residents are subjected to. | 0 | 340 Grand Union Boulevard, Somerville, Massachusetts 02145, United States | -71.0801053 | 42.39139701 | 8 | 0 |
| 2023 | Parks & Green Spaces | street trees | Plant trees in chicanes | Somerville plants trees in the sidewalk and they often become too narrow. Start planting them on the street instead to help manage storm water and drainage, reduce motorist speeds, improve quality of life associated with green space and shade, improve walkability. | 1 | 3 | 17 | |||
| 2023 | Streets & Sidewalks | Traffic calming | Add Turning Arrows or Lanes to Webster/Prospect Intersection | This is an extremely busy intersection that can become quite chaotic with traffic that is heading North/South on Prospect, and turning left onto Webster. Vehicles waiting for a left turn then force northbound Prospect traffic into the bike lane, and are themselves in the way of traffic making a left turn onto Webster southbound. Turning Lanes / Turning Lights could drastically calm down this busy intersection | 0 | 47 Webster Avenue, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143, United States | -71.09559774 | 42.37697183 | 9 | 33 |
| 2023 | Parks & Green Spaces | Street beautification | Takeover 10 Walnut Street lot from private ownership and beautify it | This corner lot is privately owned but has not been maintained and is full of rats, garbage, and a dilapidated rusty chain link fence. The owner rarely clears snow or garbage. It's right across from a playground and near the old parks and rec building, so seems out of place with those better maintained spaces. It's a waste of such a nice, large open space. It also has a lot of shade that the playground doesn't, so could be useful in the summer for people to escape the heat. I hope there's some way to work with the owner for public good. | 0 | 10 Walnut Street, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143, United States | -71.09694765 | 42.38155111 | 3 | 16 |
| 2023 | Community Resources | EV Charging | Porter Square EV charger | allow for EV charging at Porter Square parking lot | 0 | 14 Acadia Park, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143, United States | -71.11730218 | 42.38826292 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | Parks & Green Spaces | Dog park | Dog park/dog run accessible from the community path | Many residents have dogs, but there is nowhere around here for us to convene, allow our dogs to be social, and give space for dogs to run around and get exercise off-leash. By making it accessible from the community path, many of us who already use the path can stop by and utilize a dog park as well. | 0 | 41 Thorndike Street, Somerville, Massachusetts 02144, United States | -71.12606947 | 42.39744514 | 5 | 44 |
| 2023 | Parks & Green Spaces | Dog park | Dog park for west Somerville | There is no safe space to bring dogs in west Somerville. An added dog park will create connection amongst dog owners AND keep dogs off the local sports fields where kids play. | 0 | 379 Alewife Brook Parkway, Somerville, Massachusetts 02144, United States | -71.1319685 | 42.41385698 | 3 | 19 |
| 2023 | Streets & Sidewalks | Pedestrian infrastructure | Crosswalk | Help pedestrians get safely across the treacherous alewife Brook parkway. | 0 | 395 Alewife Brook Parkway, Somerville, Massachusetts 02144, United States | -71.13127848 | 42.41406536 | 3 | 15 |
| 2023 | Parks & Green Spaces | Share-based community | Vertical gardens on retaining wall and buildings | It will help combat climate change by adding more greenery while helping to beautify our city. | 0 | 12 Richdale Avenue, Somerville, Massachusetts 02145, United States | -71.09805766 | 42.38896347 | 1 | 19 |
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