Somerville Community Press Conference: Don't let the Green Line become the Gentrification Line!

On Monday morning, March 21st, more than 70 residents joined the CAAS Organizing team at the entrance of the recently re-opened MBTA Lechmere Station for our Somerville Community Press Conference: Don’t Let the Green Line Become the Gentrification Line!

We celebrated the long-awaited arrival of the Green Line Extension (GLX), heard from residents who are experiencing gentrification first hand, and set forth a vision for an anti-displacement plan for Somerville to slow this crisis. After waiting decades for equitable transit access, it’s an absolute injustice that the residents the GLX was built for are also the first ones being priced and pushed out of our city. 

Since the Red Line came to Davis Square in 1985, we’ve known for decades about the unintended consequences that new transit can bring to our community: building sales, condo conversions, skyrocketing rents and property taxes, the loss of working class and immigrant residents and small businesses – the transformation of entire neighborhoods. Now with the GLX open, we cannot let history repeat itself. 

We cannot lose our neighbors like Vanessa, Candice, Sandra – and the countless others who are voluntarily evicting themselves and leaving Somerville – because they’ve been priced out, and the city’s leadership doesn’t seem to care. We refuse to allow this institutionalized abandonment to be the norm in Somerville. We refuse to accept the mass displacement of our neighbors as inevitable.

That’s why we are calling for our local, state, and federal officials to work on an immediate, intentional anti-displacement plan that, at minimum, includes the following: 

  1. Preserves and increases affordable housing, especially for residents making below $30k/year

  2. Place limits on investor purchases so that housing is treated as a human right in Somerville, not as an opportunity for profit-minded greed 

  3. Increases tenant protections, such as enacting good cause evictions and mitigating unaffordable rent increases through rent stabilization 

  4. Is implemented with an equity lens to protect our most vulnerable Somerville residents

Listen to the powerful remarks given by Vanessa, Candice, and Sandra who reminded us of what’s at stake (additional photos at bottom of page): 

Speakers in order of appearance:

  • Nicole Eigbrett, CAAS Director of Community Organizing

  • Magda Gomez, CAAS Community Organizer

  • Vanessa Vela, resident of Gilman Square

  • Candice Cole, resident of Union Square

  • Sandra Brown, resident of Union Square and member of Union United

Thank you to our solidarity partners who co-sponsored the event: 

  • Union United

  • Somerville Stands Together

  • City Life / Vida Urbana

  • Boston Liberation Center

  • Union Square Neighborhood Council


Thank you to our dedicated volunteers from the ERN, Renters Committee, and BLC:

Larry, Greg, Merit, Kate, Michael, Allie, Leigh, Denise, Colin, Matthew, Daniel, Sarah, Kevin, Rachel, Lillian, and Marie-Elle


Thank you to our attending elected officials:

Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, Somerville City Councilors Charlotte Kelly, Jake Wilson, Willie Burnley Jr, Kristen Strezo, JT Scott, Judy Pineda Neufeld, Ben Ewen-Campen, State Senator Pat Jehlen, State Representatives Christine Barber, Mike Connolly, and Erika Uyterhoeven, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, and Senator Ed Markey


Media coverage of the event in conjunction with the GLX grand opening: 

And if you haven’t already, read this Boston Globe article published on the front page of Sunday, March 20th’s paper. It features stories from Vanessa, Candace, Afruza from Union United, and Bill and Ann from UU and USNC. 

While we celebrate this long-awaited arrival of the GLX, we know our work to prevent displacement is far from over. Transit justice must also be housing justice, racial justice, and environmental justice. We look forward to continuing this struggle in Somerville with you!

Contact the CAAS Organizing team if you want to become more actively involved in this movement.

Event photos courtesy of Kevin Foster: 

Kate Berliner