Elizabeth Weinbloom

07/20/2016

The Somerville Police Employee's Union is asking Mayor Joe Curtatone to remove the banner from City Hall and replace it with one reading "all lives matter." I won't quote the letter here, but follow the link to read it if you wish; you can guess what it says, I'm sure.

Like many in Somerville, I have been very pleased with Mayor Curtatone's strong and vocal support of the Black Lives Matter movement and, locally, of the I-93 protesters. I have full faith that the Mayor will continue Somerville City Hall's public display of solidarity. But I'm sure he'd appreciate knowing he has our support!

The Mayor reads his Facebook mentions and messages, so tag him in a post or write a message on his page to express your continued support of the city's partnership with , and of the community outreach programs and anti-bias trainings that I understand the Somerville Police Department has adopted following the Mayor's conversations with BLM activists last year. Link to relevant article in comments. Thanks to Greg Cook for drawing attention to this!

06/07/2016

Cambridge is adopting Indigenous Peoples Day! Thrilled and proud of our neighbor for becoming the first city east of the Mississippi to honor the people who lived here first.

Now let's make this a trend and get the ball rolling on Indigenous Peoples Day in Somerville, Boston, and the United States of America. Your move, Joe Curtatone and Somerville, Massachusetts.

Goodbye Columbus.

06/06/2016

The judge who sentenced an unrepentant ra**st to six months in prison because longer would impact his athletic career -- surely you've all read and vomited over the victim statement by now -- that judge is up for reelection in Santa Clara, CA, tomorrow. The judge's name is Aaron Persky.

But I can't tell you all to go make sure anyone you know in Santa Clara votes against Persky on this down ballot race while they're voting in tomorrow's primary, and I can't spend the evening phone-canvassing for Persky's opponent. He doesn't have an opponent. He is running unopposed for reelection. The most unpopular judge in America this week is going to have his job re-upped tomorrow and the totally ridiculous system wherein some judgeships are elected positions won't even function in the ridiculous way it is intended (hint: as mob justice).

We've all been doing a lot of stressing and handwringing over the operations of our democratic republic recently. But there are more important things you can do to bolster this limping heap of a democracy than engaging in another theoretical recount of today's superdelegates:

+ Vote in down ballot elections.
+ Run for local offices.
+ Ask a friend to run for office, preferably a woman, a person of color, or someone of another underrepresented demographic.

Don't let anyone run for reelection unopposed. It is only a democracy when your ballot contains a choice.

Oh and follow the link for instructions on how to have Judge Aaron Persky removed. If someone hears of a coordinated write-in campaign against Persky, let me know and I'll update this.

Update: Judge Aaron Persky is running unopposed for Seat 18 so, he is not even on the ballot. We can all file complaints about his ethics violation however (Bias/appearing to show bias toward a particular class). Instructions at the end Brock Allen Turner is the Stanford swimmer who was convicted...

05/17/2016

Sometimes I go to city meetings and think, "Somerville, you're done for. The GLX has us on the hook for $50 mil and still won't open until 2021 at the earliest, at which point none of us will be living here anyway because we'll have been priced out. You done, Somerville."

And sometimes I look at something like the map of Somerville Arts Council Porchfest performances this Saturday, and see how practically every block all across the city has someone who wants to play music from their porch or driveway for their neighbors, and I think "Somerville, you alright."

Porchfest 2016

03/02/2016

Amused and somewhat befuddled to see that in the "race" for the Ward Committee -- which I didn't realize until a few days ago meant that my name would be on the ballot for the third election in a row -- I received the second highest number of votes (out of 20 names for 35 spots). This means there's a good number of you who went out of your way to select just my name and not the "select all" bubble. Thanks - I am touched by the gesture!

Next up: finding out if the Ward Committee actually does anything?

02/26/2016

Local TV coverage of last week's Young Somerville discussion of millennial representation and engagement. This open meeting -- inspired by a piece in Scout Somerville, receiving advance press in Metro Boston, a write-up in Wicked Local Somerville, and now a segment on Somerville Neighborhood News -- clearly demonstrates one thing above all: the local media's desire to amplify millennial voices.

The breadth of coverage this one meeting received is a fabulous example of how we can draw City Hall's attention to the issues that most affect our demographic: not just through the ballot, but through speaking up and making some noise. Not many people read the local papers, but you know who does? Mayor Joe Curtatone, his staff, and our other elected officials.

So let's keep up the good work of having great conversations that are worthy of press attention, and let's get into the habit of attending other city meetings and speaking up -- I guarantee the press would rather quote a new-face millennial than the same ten people who show up at every meeting.

Two thirds of Somerville residents are renters, and many of those are young and have no ties to the city, and no political involvement. Getting young voters ...

02/25/2016

In which I introduce the campsite rule for transitory urban millennials: leave a city better than you found it.

And in which I and many others discuss how to achieve that goal, including voting in local elections, showing up at meetings, and generally making your presence seen, heard, and felt by the city's power brokers.

One potential first step? Join the Young Somerville Advisory Group, which sponsored the discussion featured in this article.

Asked what she learned about engaging millennials while running for Ward 6 alderman, Elizabeth Weinbloom’s answer was swift.“U-Haul chasing,

02/16/2016

Today in Metro Boston, I talk about millennial voices in Somerville politics.

>> It isn’t just a case of voter apathy, Weinbloom said.
“There’s a really strong institutional bias against renters,” she said. “There is this sense that a transient population is not going to care about or be involved in the community.”

What role should Somerville’s young renters – who may not spend more than a few years at a time in the city – play in local politics?

02/15/2016

I'll be joining a Young Somerville panel this Wednesday to discuss whether the lack of millennial representation at Somerville City Hall is "our fault." (Spoiler: it's not)

Join us to talk about if the city is meeting the needs of Somerville's younger residents (spoiler: it's not), and to demonstrate that the city must address millennials' concerns (such as car-free living in housing we can afford). Stick around after the panel for the first meeting of the Housing & Affordability Action Group, which I will be co-leading -- let's figure out how best we can add our voices to affordability advocacy.

Also I think there will be pizza?

Join us for the next Young Somerville event, on Wednesday, February 17 at 6:30pm at Workbar in Union! We will discuss millennial civic engagement in Somerville, inspired by this recent article: http://scoutsomerville.com/new-year-pols/. We are appreciative of Workbar providing us space for this even…

01/25/2016

The conversation continues. Shortly after the election, Somerville Scout asked me to discuss the accessibility of the political process to renters, newcomers, and millennials. Pick up a print copy of this month's Scout from most coffee shops etc in Somerville, or read the article online.

When Elizabeth Weinbloom was running for Ward 6 Alderman last fall, she called herself “the U-Haul version of an ambulance chaser.” As hoards of renters set upon their new (and likely temporary) homes, she was eager to introduce herself and suggest...

01/22/2016

Somerville is having an open zoning meeting on Monday for public comment on proposed changes to the residential zoning code, including the ordinance limiting the number of unrelated tenants per unit. I strongly oppose this ban, which discriminates on the basis of relation/marital status, and I support a replacement ordinance to limit the number of occupants per bedroom or by square footage, regardless of family status.

Agree? Join me at the public zoning hearing on Monday at 6:30 at the VNA at 259 Lowell St.

Not sure if you agree? Here are my thoughts:

- The current ordinance is discriminatory on the basis of marital and family status. If the intent of the ordinance is to limit overcrowding, why does it matter whether the occupants are blood relatives? If a unit is unsafe for five friends, it is also unsafe for five siblings.

- It unfairly targets Tufts students. A few months ago I spoke with a group of Tufts undergrads about this ordinance, and almost every student present had themselves or a friend been forced to move because their landlords received warnings from the city. I did not meet any households of non-students who had received official warnings about violating this ban.

- It doesn't actually prevent overcrowding. Under the current ordinance, it is perfectly legal to have four unrelated tenants sharing a studio apartment. And if the tenants are a family, then the landlord can squish them in like sardines with no limit. Meanwhile, having five roommates in a house or unit with five bedrooms is against the law. A revised ordinance based on square footage or number of bedrooms -- without regard to family status -- would do a much better job of actually preventing overcrowding.

- It doesn't protect families. There is currently no limit at all on the number of family members who can share a unit, regardless of the unit's size. A new overcrowding ordinance that doesn't discriminate on the basis of family status would protect families as well as unrelated households.

- It creates unsafe situations for vulnerable tenants. The current ban encourages tenants to illegally sublet and otherwise go behind their landlord's back in order to keep their households together in violation of this ban (this is especially the case with Tufts students who may share bedrooms to keep costs down, as is perfectly normal for students, as well as with other cost-burdened populations). This creates a situation where tenants are unable to access appropriate recourse against actual bad landlords.

- It makes co-ops essentially illegal. Co-ops are among the most stable, community-oriented, and long-term household units there are outside of nuclear families. Why would we want to discourage this living arrangement?

- It keeps bedrooms off the market. Landlords with larger units are incentivized to rent to fewer individuals than a unit can support, or to split up our city's rare larger units and even rarer single-family houses into smaller, more expensive units.

I'm happy to discuss this issue further with anyone who is interested, and I hope to see a big turn-out at the hearing on Monday, 6:30 at the VNA at 259 Lowell St!

11/04/2015

I am honored to have received 35% of the vote yesterday.

When I pulled papers six months ago, no one in Somerville outside the arts community knew who I was. I was out-spent by a margin of 10 to 1, in a race against a candidate who was supported by the city's elected officials. As late as yesterday, the prospect of a young renter newcomer running for office was still meeting with reactions of "how dare you".

And yet, 35% of ward 6 voters came out to show City Hall that renters and young people WILL vote; that homeowners and long-time residents are excited to create a more equitable housing market for their neighbors and newcomers; that doing everything by the book is not the only option.

Somerville, I hope you're listening.