Somerville's roots as a working class urban bedroom community created the naturally-occurring affordable housing, commercial, and arts space that made our city the place we love. It's the reason we have a diverse population with a sizable immigrant community, beloved local businesses, and our arts scene.

But our city has been in the grips of a housing stability crisis for a while now, as the forces of development have been coming for Somerville for decades. Gentrification that began in earnest in the 1990s saw a large jump in property values and housing costs around the turn of the century, then again in the last 15 years. Now speculative development is a very real threat for Somervillians who live, work, and make art in these well-worn-but-affordable spaces.

As a proponent of smart development, I've had an excellent working relationship over the years with Somerville YIMBY, who I've found to be a refreshing exception to the YIMBY movement's national reputation as a libertarian stalking horse. Our local YIMBY group has previously backed rent stabilization and tenant protections, and I've really appreciated that about them.

Lately, however, I've found myself at odds with Somerville YIMBY over their support for upzoning the entire city, similar to what Cambridge did this past winter. First in meetings with members of the group and then in my response on this topic on my candidate questionnaire, I explained that it's not the height that worries me about allowing up to four stories by right with no inclusionary affordable housing requirement throughout the city, but rather the impact on displacement.

Citywide upzoning would pour gasoline on our displacement crisis by increasing the likelihood that naturally-occurring affordable spaces are sold and redeveloped. Our city's most vulnerable populations will be the first to face displacement if we were to do this. So I can't justify this when there's a smarter, better approach of doing transit-oriented upzoning around our transit stations.

As a matter of fact, the Land Use Committee is looking to do exactly that this fall, and I'm excited to play a role in this process as a member of that committee. Somerville can't solve the region's housing crisis by ourselves, nor should we try. But we should do our part, and that means coming up with holistic neighborhood plans to bring density around the seven T stations now in Somerville -- plus Porter Square just across the city line. And then passing the zoning map changes to make this a reality.

I knew taking this stance against citywide upzoning might cost me the Somerville YIMBY mayoral endorsement, but I wasn't willing to abandon my principles in pursuit of an endorsement. Real leadership means standing for something and not just telling people what they want to hear. And in this case I'm standing by our vulnerable residents, businesses, and artists facing a displacement crisis by refusing to embrace a policy that would make it likelier they are pushed out of the city.

Somerville is not Cambridge. We don't have exclusionary single-family zoning like Cambridge did up until this year. As a matter of fact, I was proud to play a role in re-legalizing triple-deckers -- a symbol of Somerville -- in late 2023. I'm a big believer in the Urban Residence (UR) zoning and I expect this will play a big role in the transit-oriented upzoning the council takes up in the coming months.

As for Somerville YIMBY, I'm disappointed the group opted to essentially make their endorsement for mayor a single-issue matter this year with the citywide upzoning question. But I don't hold grudges, and I'll be here to work with them -- many of whom I'm proud to call friends -- on all the other things we continue to align on.

-Jake

We need your help!

Our campaign's recent polling shows Jake's net approval rating is by far the best in the race. Where he lags behind is in name recognition. When voters know about Jake, they tend to support him. So let's create more high-information voters ahead of the September 16 election!

We can do that by making sure voters are familiar with Jake and his vision for the city. You can help make that happen by volunteering with our campaign.

It's looking like perfect weather this weekend for knocking doors, so come to one of our canvass launches to do your part. We have late morning, mid-day, and afternoon shifts available on Saturday and a Sunday mid-day launch.

Whether you're a first-timer or a veteran canvasser, we'll give you everything you need for an enjoyable and productive shift knocking doors and talking to your neighbors about why Jake is the right choice to move our city forward.

If you can't join us this weekend, we have plenty of events coming up. Check out future volunteering opportunities next week and beyond on our calendar, and RSVP for something today!