Somerville isn’t alone in making hard choices driven by budget shortfalls, but that doesn’t make it any less upsetting to see thirteen dedicated city staffers lose their jobs.
If we’d like to avoid doing that again in the future, it’s worth thinking about what might have created greater fiscal resilience for our city. One key factor: our tendency to reject or shrink development proposals that would have generated badly needed revenue.
For one example, take a look at 197 Washington Street near Union Square, the home of Nu Cafe and a couple dozen apartments. Before then, though, it was a funeral home operating just two days a week. In the early 2010s, builders began planning to redevelop the site and an adjacent building as 84 apartments, spurring lengthy debate about whether the site should be preserved. After several years of community input the proposal was shrunk to 75 apartments. Then, after more input, it was shrunk again, to 65 apartments.
Does that pattern sound familiar? You may not remember 10-15-year-old neighborhood arguments about this site, but you’ve probably seen something like it. Whether it’s commercial or residential or mixed-use, every proposal that doesn’t get canceled gets shrunk and delayed. A surprising number of people think that building less stuff over a longer period of time, despite its costs, is a positive outcome — even people who are trying to build things.
But they don’t see the full cost: it’s not just that the new apartments are late or scarce or more expensive. The city budget loses out as well. A typical new apartment can generate around $8,000 in tax revenue each year, meaning that the 197 Washington could be generating an additional $160,000 in tax revenue every year if it had been built at the originally proposed size. The city seems to have just decided it didn’t need or want that additional money.
Well, we sure could use it now.
It’s too late to build bigger at 197 Washington, but even in today’s economic climate, there are plenty of opportunities for Somerville to expand its tax base and build a sturdier bulwark against future economic headwinds.
All we need is the courage to say yes to new homes, new neighbors, and new sources of revenue.