Elections for the Davis Square Neighborhood Council board will take place April 13 through April 27, 2026. If you live, work, or receive services in or near Davis Square, you may be eligible to vote, and your vote will have a critical impact on the future of the neighborhood. In particular, we’d like to request your support for Somerville YIMBY members:
Elaine Almquist
Christopher Beland
Alex Dehnert
Peter (PJ) Kim-Santos
If you wish to vote online, you will need to register in advance. Same-day registration and voting will also be available in person at the West Branch Library.
We’ll be discussing the election and the full list of candidates over on our Discourse messageboard. Feel free to join in with questions, comments, and thoughts!
More Davis Square Updates
We’re excited to share that the Somerville Times published our letter to the editor, titled Somerville’s Housing Crisis Won’t Wait – And Neither Should We.
And we’re even more happy to report that the Somerville Homeless Coalition and the First Church of Somerville have prevailed in their legal battle to provide services to our most needy neighbors. Congratulations!
Next Up at Land Use
This week’s Land Use/Planning Board joint meeting will be a big one, with several significant agenda items:
A proposal from Somerville YIMBY to simplify the city rules on dormers.
Proposals from former councilors Denise Provost and Bill White to make it harder to split lots and to build backyard cottages.
A property owner’s request to change a Union Square parcel currently zoned for 5-story commercial to allow 6-story mixed-use construction.
There will be public comment on all three items, and the meeting will be hybrid, both in person at city hall and online. Please attend if you can and speak in favor of the Somerville YIMBY dormer proposal, and against the Provost/White cottage proposals. You can also submit written comments following the meeting.
We hope to see you there and in our Discord chat where we’ll be discussing it in real time.
(Note: to join the Discord chat, sign into the mesageboard and click the invitation link in the top menu bar).
YIMBYS in the Park
Grab the kids and some snacks, it’s time for another edition of YIMBYs in the Park! Drop by Conway Park on Sunday, April 26 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm and chat about things like where our children will live when they grow up, and whether it’ll be close enough that they can come over for dinner.
Great News on Street Safety
Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen’s most recent newsletter highlighted some truly excellent news about street safety in Somerville:
Three years in a row with zero traffic fatalities
16.5% fewer total crashes and 50% fewer serious injury crashes in 2025 compared to 2024
The Summer Street redesign has reduced speeding by more than 50%
In addition, final designs for the Elm/Beacon connector are now available. Learn more at voice.somervillema.gov.
Recommended
Under the (Neighbor)Hood: Understanding Interactions Among Zoning Regulations — A new economic study of the real-world impact of Massachusetts zoning, finding that “restrictive zoning regulations shift housing stock towards larger units, increasing prices per housing unit.”
Feminism with YIMBY Characteristics — What does the YIMBY movement have to do with feminism or the liberation of LGBT+ people? Quite a bit, it turns out!
North America's Elevator Problem — Elevators cost nearly three times as much in North America compared to its peers. This video from Sightline explains why.